Rodrigo Moreno produced one of his best performances in a Leeds United shirt against Norwich City on Sunday. The Spaniard’s display was night and day from the one he produced against Aston Villa just three days earlier, where his frequent concession of possession saw him hooked at half time.
Against Norwich, though, Rodrigo looked like a player looking to prove a point. He remains the club’s record signing at £27 million and question marks over whether he has justified that price tag intensified in the wake of the Villa defeat, which appeared to light a fire in his belly against the Canaries.
Rodrigo set the tempo for a fast start early on with some intricate one touch passes in midfield; he particularly seemed to benefit from the return of Patrick Bamford as his hold up play allowed the 31-year-old to pick the ball up in more dangerous areas of the field. Perhaps one of his biggest plus points of the afternoon, though, was the work he did out of possession.
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He never hid from any of his defensive responsibilities and on a number of occasions was the man leading the press in attack, which forced Norwich into giving up possession in good areas of the pitch for Leeds. Via stats from FBRef, Rodrigo completed 14 pressures during his 59 minutes on the field, which if he had completed 90 minutes, would’ve been among of the highest in the whole Leeds side.
On average this season, Rodrigo completes 16.38 pressures per 90, a number he was well on course to beating against Norwich – which highlights the level of effort he was putting into the game. Rodrigo also had the highest pass completion of any outfielder on the pitch from either side with 88% according to WhoScored.
He successfully completed 29 of his 33 passes and when you consider a fairly high number of those are quick one touch flicks, that is an impressive number. What Rodrigo’s task is now, though, is to ensure that he produces that level of performance on a consistent basis from now until the end of the season.
There is no doubt he is among Leeds’ most talented players and when he is on song, the Whites tend to create a higher number of goalscoring chances. He and Bamford together could be just the partnership Leeds need to fire themselves out of trouble.
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