Leeds boss Thomas Christiansen asked why he left Pierre-Michel Lasogga out against Cardiff

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Leeds United suffered only their second defeat of the season as Cardiff City knocked them off top spot in the Championship.

Kemar Roofe

Thomas Christiansen has told BBC Radio Leeds that Pierre-Michel Lasogga was left out of the Leeds side that took on Cardiff on Tuesday because he felt that Kemar Roofe was the right forward to combat the Bluebirds’ style.

Christiansen seemed to catch many by surprise heading into the game that pitted two of the Championship’s high-flyers against each other with the decision to leave Lasogga on the bench and pick Roofe up front.

Lasogga scored a wonderful goal at the weekend against Ipswich Town and appeared to have the physicality to handle and perhaps thrive against Cardiff’s defence.

But Christiansen decided to hand Roofe a rare start in the central striker role, leaving Lasogga as an unused substitute in a game that Leeds would go on to lose 3-1 to be knocked off top spot.

And after the defeat, Christiansen confirmed that the decision to select Roofe ahead of the German was purely a tactical one, before explaining why he made the call that he did.

“Well, it was a tactical call,” he told BBC Radio Leeds when asked why Lasogga was left out.

“I wanted to see Roofe up front to bring a lot of mobility. We needed to move a team that works a lot man to man and he’s the right guy to have in that position.”

Christiansen has got little wrong since arriving in the summer, but many will argue that leaving an in-form Lasogga out was the incorrect decision. Roofe struggled to make an impact while he was leading the line which suggested that Lasogga’s presence would have given Leeds a much better chance of putting more pressure on Cardiff while the game was still in the balance.