Joe Rothwell impressed Aidy White with his “tremendous” pass to Brenden Aaronson, which helped Leeds United open the scoring in their Championship win over Sheffield Wednesday.
The midfielder came in from the left wing and saw the US international make a darting run into the Owls’ box, prompting James Beadle to commit to running out of his goal to try to halt the threat.
In the end, the ‘keeper ended up fumbling the ball into the feet of Manor Solomon who coolly put the ball into the back of the net which helped Leeds win their Yorkshire rivals 3-0 on 19 January.
Speaking live on BBC Radio Leeds (19 January, 12:02pm), ex-Leeds player White discussed the pass from the Bournemouth loanee.
“I tell you what, tremendous play initially from Joe Rothwell, he finds himself in a left false full-back position, he takes the ball inside, spots Brenden Aaronson making a run behind the Sheffield Wednesday back four,” he went on:
“Terrific ball making James Beadle, the Sheffield Wednesday goalkeeper commit, come out [and] he spills it at Aaronson’s feet, falls to Manor Solomon, takes a lovely touch, composure, two Sheffield Wednesday in front of the goal and he puts it in between the middle of them.”
Joe Rothwell has played a crucial part for Leeds United this season,
despite the return of Ethan Ampadu to defensive midfield.
His eye for a pass, combined with his great finishing ability, make the former Blackburn Rovers player a key cog in Daniel Farke’s system.
While both Ampadu and Ilia Gruev were out injured, Ao Tanaka and Rothwell were the players that the German counted upon to pull his team through the injury crisis which they managed to do with ease.
While the 29-year-old is just on loan, it appears that he is an important member of Leeds’ squad and might be the person Farke looks to if the Whites need a win.
At the present, he appears to be rotating between his four healthy defensive midfielders, but as the season progresses, it will be intriguing to watch how things play out.
