Leeds United forward Rodrigo put in a breathless performance out of possession when the Whites drew 1-1 with Leicester City at home.
As we look ahead to five more games in Leeds’ battle to stay in the Premier League, there is a huge amount of fight needed from this side in order to get the results needed.
Quality is going to be vital too, but one thing that the fans demand as a bare minimum is 100% effort from start to finish.
Rodrigo’s relentless efforts against Leicester
The first half saw Leeds take the lead through Luis Sinisterra’s fine back-post header from Jack Harrison’s cross, and when the home side needed to keep up the intensity, they had one man leading the charge.
Rodrigo was starting just behind Patrick Bamford in attack, heading up the intense press to terrorise the Foxes full-backs who had a really hard time at Elland Road.
The Spaniard was justifiably blowing by half-time, and then by the time he came off in the 68th minute for Brenden Aaronson, making four tackles (joint most for Leeds) and committing three fouls to keep up intensity while Javi Gracia tried his best to do the opposite.
What has Ben Parker said about the matter?
Speaking on the LS11 stream, former Leeds man Ben Parker was delighted with the effort put in by Rodrigo during that hour he was on the pitch.
The LUTV commentator had this to say on the striker, comparing him to Leeds legend David Batty in the process:
“Rodrigo set the tone, in the first half in particular. He channeled his inner David Batty, going around just smashing people. Booted the ball into the crowd, gave it a massive cheer. That’s what we needed.
“Everyone was so nervous before the game, but we needed passion and chasing second balls – it matters. We needed that and we saw it from Rodrigo.”
Should Gracia play Bamford and Rodrigo together?
Yes
No - just Bamford
No - just Rodrigo
The main thing that Leeds need in this battle is incredible effort and grit to grind out results, because quality shines through.
Rodrigo was running himself into the ground for the team, and that is exactly what the fans want to see.
He’s already someone the fans love for his connection to them during games, but some of the challenges he put in during the game were incredible, not least in the first half where he forced a throw-in to then boot the ball high into the East Stand.
More of that please, Rodrigo.