Joe Rothwell and Ao Tanaka stroked the ball about with ease as Leeds United eased past Sheffield United. Both were unfazed by the prospect of facing an unbeaten side in only their third game playing together and their opponents were forced to watch on in awe, like cavemen watching their mate rub two sticks together for the first time.

This was supposed to be a brutal test and the Rothwell-Tanaka tandem were expected to wilt more than Ethan Ampadu might have alongside our other injured midfielder, Ilia Gruev. The imagined battle was anticlimactic. Perhaps we should have seen it coming when, instead of going on one of his vintage tirades, Chris Wilder chose to praise Leeds and even referred to them as a “top six club”. What?! This isn’t the Chris Wilder we know and despise.

I was more impressed with Rothwell on Friday night, but only because my expectations were lower. Had we signed a silky playmaking midfielder from Spain rather than Salford, perhaps my own footballing prejudices would have allowed me to get excited about Rothwell’s signing. Instead, all I knew about him prior to this summer was that I signed him for Leeds when playing Football Manager 20. Now? I’m tempted to anoint Rothwell as our saviour for setting up Pascal Struijk’s “top bins” strike against Sheffield United. A goal from a set-piece at last.

Seven cameo league appearances and a full debut in that League Cup nightmare against Middlesbrough, Rothwell’s Leeds career was following the Jaidon Anthony trajectory prior to Ampadu and Gruev’s injuries. The latter limping off at Carrow Road has allowed us to see much more of a sample size upon which to judge Rothwell, and I like what I see.

He’s calm on the ball and isn’t afraid to play the less obvious ball, missing a man out in favour of a risky pass that might unbalance the opponent a little more, which is less ‘Farkeball’ and more freedom of expression. Much like Struijk in defence, his passing often feels more intentional than most of his Champo contemporaries. He plays with his head up at all times and you can be sure that if the ball goes sideways, it’s with good reason. Even when the forward option wasn’t there for Rothwell on Friday night, his second choice still appeared to do its bit to unsettle the opposing defence. Rather than allowing Sheffield United to shuffle from side to side as Leeds knocked it about safely, a miss pass or looping crossfield ball here and there helped to keep the Blades’ defence on its toes.

Tanaka’s performance only proved to hasten his accession to the status of Leeds United cult hero. Being serenaded by 35,000 people in an eight-minute cameo on your debut is one thing, but to show up in a big game under the lights endears yourself to the masses in a way that few can.

The best way to get in the Elland Road good books is often to get blood on your boots. Tanaka, however, is showing us that you can break a defence down not by kicking the door through but by unscrewing the hinges. Just as Rothwell mixes up his passing, Tanaka shows versatility in his role. He can play with restraint and retain possession just as easily as he can change the pace of the game and drive his team forward, looking to unsettle a defence. He managed all this against Sheffield United despite playing the full ninety minutes for Japan only three days earlier, almost 10,000km from Leeds. The meagre transfer fee paid for Tanaka already seems like a bargain and he’s starting to look like a cut above at this level.

I was worried that the loss of both Ampadu and Gruev at the same time would leave Leeds’ defence much more exposed with two vibey midfielders replacing our injured worker bees. It hasn’t been the case, but it feels as though that may be down to Daniel Farke’s careful tweaking of Leeds’ approach, which he has mentioned on a few occasions as being necessary to succeed with a midfield two of Rothwell and Tanaka.

With Amapdu expected to return in January, the question will be which player drops out, rather than pondering whether Leeds’ captain will immediately come back into the team or not. Ampadu makes Leeds better, it’s simple, and it’s a fine selection ‘headache’ to have. However, may I present a third option?

A midfield three of Ampadu, Tanaka and Rothwell could be a wonderful option on days when Leeds are just trying to pass teams into oblivion or protect a lead. Perhaps I’m just romanticising the first six weeks of our last promotion season, a time when Kalvin Phillips, Mateusz Klich and Adam Forshaw combined to create the best midfield I’ve seen in the Championship era at Leeds. It just feels like a midfield three might be the better option for a tough away game and, not to get ahead ourselves, more applicable in the Premier League. Plus, it would give us plenty of opportunities to break out this meme:

Tanaka, Ampadu and Rothwell at Champ level: pic.twitter.com/BMM3MNNx70

— Jibber Jabber (@EthanFromOnline) October 19, 2024

Ampadu offers more defensive nous and solidity, though Friday night did show that Joe Rothwell enjoys getting stuck in. Anyway, we’ve still got to get through another fifteen games without Ampadu, and Gruev is much further off if reports are correct. For now, we’ll just have to keep enjoying the Tanaka-Rothwell duo and their silky skills, and that’s fine by me. ⬢