{"id":529202,"date":"2025-10-26T13:23:19","date_gmt":"2025-10-26T13:23:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/529202\/"},"modified":"2025-10-26T13:23:19","modified_gmt":"2025-10-26T13:23:19","slug":"ao-tanaka-delivers-blunt-assessment-of-leeds-uniteds-fight-against-relegation-so-far","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/529202\/","title":{"rendered":"Ao Tanaka delivers blunt assessment of Leeds United’s fight against relegation so far"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

After Saturday\u2019s results, Leeds United sit in 15th in the Premier League after securing a third win of the season against West Ham, but Ao Tanaka knows there is plenty more to do.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Goals from Brenden Aaronson and Joe Rodon secured a win for Leeds<\/a> over West Ham at Elland Road<\/a>, even if Manuel Fernandes netted a late consolation. The win comes off the back of two defeats in a row.<\/p>\n

It also ended a run of just one win in seven Premier League<\/a> games, after securing victory in the opening game of the season against Everton. Leeds are above the required point-a-game curve to stay up.<\/p>\n

Leeds are perhaps, over a quarter of the way towards securing Premier League safety when it comes to points. But, Ao Tanaka<\/a> has delivered his verdict in a four-word post on Instagram after Friday\u2019s win.<\/p>\n

\"AoPhoto by Robbie Jay Barratt \u2013 AMA\/Getty ImagesAo Tanaka posts four-word message to Leeds fans on Instagram<\/p>\n

]Tanaka was inserted into Daniel Farke\u2019s<\/a> starting line-up on Friday night, one of four changes made by the Leeds gaffer. Lucas Perri, Jaka Bijol, and Noah Okafor also came into the side to face West Ham on Friday.<\/p>\n

The Japan star had not started for Leeds since the 5-0 loss to Arsenal, Leeds\u2019 second Premier League game of the season. A knee injury saw him drop out of the Leeds side, but Tanaka is back in currently.<\/p>\n

Taking to Instagram, the former D\u00fcsseldorf midfielder told fans that Leeds don\u2019t have \u201cenough\u201d points currently and that the focus is on obtaining more, with Brighton away up next for Farke\u2019s Leeds side.<\/p>\n

MORE LEEDS UNITED STORIES<\/p>\n

Who starts against Brighton \u2013 Ao Tanaka or Anton Stach?<\/p>\n

The \u00a33.4m signing probably didn\u2019t enjoy his best game in a Leeds shirt on Friday night, but there is no doubt that Leeds\u2019 midfield was a whole lot more energetic than West Ham\u2019s middle of the park.<\/p>\n

Ethan Ampadu rode forward with the ball on a few occasions, and Aaronson even ran right through the middle of the pitch before hitting the bar. Farke has a decision to make when Leeds take on Brighton.<\/p>\n

Does he stick with the 11 that beat West Ham? Or does he continue to rotate and keep things fresh. One key decision he will have to make is Tanaka or Anton Stach. Stach\u2019s form has dipped in recent weeks.<\/p>\n

But Farke said that is because Stach has a broken finger and a rib injury<\/a>. Given he will have been rested for West Ham and gets another week before Brighton, he could be ready to go when Leeds face Brighton.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After Saturday\u2019s results, Leeds United sit in 15th in the Premier League after securing a third win of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":529203,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8814],"tags":[12409,748,393,4884,1860,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-529202","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leeds","8":"tag-ao-tanaka","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-leeds","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115440688569066509","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=529202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529202\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/529203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=529202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=529202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=529202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}