Joey P hysteria

The false poacher

Written by: Chris McMenamy
Artwork by: Adam Hopkins
A drawing of Joel Piroe, showing the 'Piroe 7' on the back of his white Leeds shirt

After another afternoon of anonymity, I turned to the lad beside me and asked, โ€œDoes Piroe actually do anything?โ€ Thirty seconds later, he was tapping in at the back post to give Leeds the lead against Watford. The answer is yes, he does something. He does goals. Perhaps thatโ€™s all he does. Is that okay? Is it enough? Well, itโ€™s what we paid Swansea more than ยฃ10m for, so it must be enough.

To my untrained eye, Joel Piroe appears to be a modern poacher who Daniel Farke has decided to play as a โ€˜10โ€™ because itโ€™s Leeds. We do things the Unbelievable Hardโ„ข way here. Always have, always will. The only problem is that a lot of us have spent several years asking nicely for Leeds to be furnished with a proper goalscorer, and now that we have him, weโ€™re not playing him where heโ€™s โ€˜supposedโ€™ to play.

Instead, weโ€™ve created a role that is wholly new to football: the false poacher. Itโ€™s like a traditional goalhanger, but rather than creeping between defenders heโ€™s playing neat little one-twos near the halfway line before gliding into the box to score. How does it work? Who knows. Football magic maybe.

โฌข

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