Daniel Farke risks Leeds relegation if he doesn’t axe this star immediately after scenes in loss vs Newcastle
Leeds fell to a heartbreaking 4-3 defeat to Newcastle on Wednesday despite Daniel Farke’s side leading three times.
It was a huge blow for Leeds, who looked set to continue their bright form at St James’ Park.
However, a late Harvey Barnes goal robbed Leeds of a point at the death as they fell to their first defeat in eight matches.
Plenty of Leeds stars were poor on the night, with Pascal Struijk perhaps being the worst offender.
Daniel Farke needs to consider dropping Pascal Struijk at Leeds United
While Leeds managed to keep hold of Struijk this summer, the defender has proven to be inconsistent so far this campaign.
This has cost the Peacocks on multiple occasions, with this yet again occurring on Wednesday.
According to Fotmob on 7 January, the defender only won 43 per cent of his aerial duels and did not win a single ground duel throughout the match.
| Pascal Struijk’s stats vs Newcastle | |
| Minutes | 90 |
| Passing accuracy | 83% |
| Tackles | 0 |
| Clearances | 9 |
| Aerial duels won | 43% |
| Ground duels won | 0% |
This no doubt helped contribute to the defeat as they shipped four goals to Newcastle.
Now, Farke seriously has to consider dropping the defender before his performances drag Leeds back into the bottom three.
👏 Tough one to take but thank you to our travelling fans for your amazing support this evening. We move on to the FA Cup this Sunday! pic.twitter.com/qvzvIMcLxI
— Leeds United (@LUFC) January 7, 2026
With Fulham up next in the Premier League, a clean sheet could be vital if Leeds are to get a win from the match. However, if Struijk starts, the odds of achieving this would take a dramatic downturn.
What did Daniel Farke say after Leeds’ defeat to Newcastle?
Farke was obviously gutted that Leeds lost to Newcastle late on.
It looked as if Brenden Aaronson had won the Peacocks a memorable three points 10 minutes from time when he found the net.
However, Leeds simply could not contain Newcastle as the hosts flipped the result on its head before full-time.
Speaking to BBC Match of the Day after the match on 7 January, Farke labelled the defeat as “heartbreaking” as their seven-match unbeaten run came to an end in dramatic fashion.
He said: “It’s football, it was a great advertisement for the Premier League. A game full of class. Of course there were mistakes otherwise there wouldn’t be goals. But more or less football how we want to see it – emotional, offensive, great from us here at Newcastle. It was always clear the not-losing streak would come to an end and I would prefer to do it like this, a top performance from the lads.
“Of course it’s heart-breaking to concede a penalty in the 91st minute and the 12th minute of added time, the winner for them. Heart-breaking.
“We should have been a bit smarter in the final stages in terms of game management because it was like a basketball game, and a point for us would have been a bit more valuable. We were a bit naïve.”