Patrick Bamford

[johnh]

It's not cupping but covering... You were right with your first assessment I think.

He is being a bit childish in my opinion. reacting to the crowd in an ill manner, rather than understanding the frustrations the fans feel. Fans are paying a lot of money to see the team week in week out, not just at the stadium but in the sports shops buying merchandise etc. I have been vocal against fans who get on his back and scapegoating him as i see its not good for him or the team in general, but, I do agree he is not performing to the standards he should be regarding his goal return rate per chances he gets.

Killer instinct? Not many modern forwards up and down the country have it to be fair. PB certainly has an eye for goal, he has two of them, but the reality is his feet don't connect too well with the ball. He is at best a Championship player and has always been that for me, but while he's a Leeds United player I will always hope he gets us the goals we need to get promoted.

Sometimes the size of our club and the reputation we have doesn't help our cause as the expectation levels are in excess of the players qualities. We are a team these days and its taken 16 years to get a team together after the Ridsdale era. we've gone down a very long and hard road to finally feel we are worth a chance at the Premiership and in truth... Rightly so.... We're the best team in the league, unfortunately our firepower is what has let us down. I'm glad that we finally went out and got two really good players to counter that.

I believe if Bielsa can somehow move away from being PB's baby sitter and have a rotation with Big Kev, and PB we could very well be a Premier team in 5 months time. We have the credentials to do it now. Lets just do it.

Good post that, sums up my views. Against Millwall he got two 'tap-ins' but WAS IN THE RIGHT PLACE TO DO IT. Should have had (at least) his hat-trick, still missing easy chances. Scored two, did his job, deserves the accolades.

[johnnysmiles]

Every time someone posts a snide comment, a bit of abuse, about Bamford, or any other Leeds player, it has a negative effect on their confidence. It may not seem like much, but it’s a steady drip, drip, drip that undermines a players ability and will to fight for the badge. Paddy’s goal celebration last night showed us all that he was aware of the abuse he’s faced, and it had obviously hurt him.

I’ve been appalled in recent weeks by the abuse that Bamford has received by our own so-called supporters, not so much here, but especially on Facebook and Twitter. Any player who steps over that line wearing our famous white shirt is a hero to me. They will have my eternal support and undying respect.

Sometimes they’ll be bathed in glory, but many times they’ll have to face failure or defeat. It’s up to us, as fans, to support them come what may. To carry them through the hardship to glory and victory!

Well said, Otherworld... couldn't agree more... some players definitely get more criticism than others.... I love Luke Ayling but for me he was definitely at fault for the first goal against Millwall, and I think it was him rather than Alioski (as others have stated) that committed the foul that gave away the penalty for the second goal and although he was the one who assisted the winning goal, I just feel that Bamford is given less leeway for error than others such as Luke...

[phil62]

I dont blame PB at all. He has suffered awful abuse and theres only so much a person can take.

[johnnysmiles]

Like someone mentioned Woody did a few years ago and went on a scoring run, hopefully for Bamford he will do the same. With the celebration I have no problem with it, i would if he did a Mark Aizlewood one though!

Roofe also did it last season I think... I think that most people would agree that in the last 5 years Wood, Roofe and Bamford have been our best strikers so the fact that they have all celebrated goals in a similar way at one stage or another suggests either that 1. you need that kind of petulance to succeed at Leeds or 2. we as Leeds fans should be more supportive (at least on social media) or, 3. both of the above!

[Costy]

I dont blame PB at all. He has suffered awful abuse and theres only so much a person can take.

Abuse is completely wrong and doesn't do anybody any good. People who do it are idiots. It's fair though for fans to point out that he does miss a lot of good chances and it's fair to be worried that it could end up costing us. Hopefully those two goals, that performance and win and the fact that he now has competition will give him a boost and see him being a bit more clinical with his chances.

[PhoenixUnited]

Patrick Bamford has had dogs abuse. Deserved or not some of it has been well nasty. So he gave a bit back. I don't have a problem with the response. You'd have to be pretty thick skinned to not let some of that get through

[Gaz109]

According to Sky Bamford has missed 6 (SIX) !!!!!!!!! Clear cut chances, if you think this is his best season then we are destined to stay in the championship for ever. Augustin not even in the squad. Bielsa has lost the plot sticking with him and he can’t justify that anymore

[Barlow Boy]

I didn’t see Bamford’s ‘celebration’ at the time, I was too busy trying to keep my balance, whilst jumping up and down on the seat in front and giving the Millwall fans some

He’s taken some stick, rightly so in my opinion, as I’ve said on here myself, this ‘he works hard’ business doesn’t wash with me, that’s the minimum I expect from a player of my team. He has missed chance, after chance, after chance, if he wants to give a bit back to the fans fine (Chris Wood did something similar) but be prepared to back it up in the next few weeks as fans in the stadium tend not to forget that sort of thing,

Oh dear Patrick, oh dear, oh dear, oh dear.

[Gaz109]

If I wasn’t in the first team at the minute I would be seriously asking what I had to do to get a chance. Maybe PB is cleaning Bielsas car and doing his washing for him

[Deleted User 728]

I've not got anything against non-scoring strikers but if you're going to play with one, they obviously need to cover a lot of ground, take a lot of damage, hold up the ball really well and bring other players into the game.

Giroud and Guivarch have won World Cups for France without scoring in the tournament, while Emile Heskey proved highly adept at all those things for England during an excellent partnership with Michael Owen - if you doubt that statement, check the numbers between them and compare them to the Beardsley-Lineker duo, which played a similar number of matches.

On a few occasions this and last term, we've dropped points after Bamford's been substituted : this could be a coincidence but I think it's more likely that we have less of an outlet up top and less height when defending, so would argue the two factors are linked.
Given that he's likely to play every game till the end of the season if Bielsa's previous 80-odd games in charge are anything to go by, we clearly need more goals from elsewhere in the team or for him to hit a purple patch if we go up.

Trouble is, I don't think he's all that at setting up others.
He's fine receiving the ball under pressure but he generally doesn't assist too often (3 in 29 this season) so I think we need to play someone off him. This could be Pablo, but is more likely to be Augustin or Roberts, as we saw in the second half against Wigan.
I really like Roberts and would love to see us do that because I think given more game-time he'll become a dangerous player.
The likelihood is pretty slim though, unless something happens to Hernandez and Roberts manages to stay fit for a while.

The only hope is that the competition pushes him to be more consistent or the penny drops with Bielsa and Augustin hits the ground running and Bamford is quietly dropped. I'd bring him on with 15 minutes to go to close out a game - that could be where his real value lies in the run-in, but this really does depend on the Frenchman being up to the task.

Here's hoping !