The Leeds United Thread

Theatre of Dreams83 said:
Branford wow on the FF!
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He has always in it. I really hated when our fans durned on him because he missed a bit more changes in Championship. That league is not easy to any striker and tends more to benefit faster strikers as the defenderes are more slow but stronger and man mark harder. Thats why we see so many top scores who are pacey coming to PL and are not living up to the hype. Gameplan is comepltly different and more robust in league down.

+ he has Bielsa to guide him. He was lost in his previous club, but if coach knows how to motivate and train, you will flurish.
I think also that Bammy strongest atribute is not finishing, he is not natural in it as some strikers are in PL. But the way he harash defenders, off the ball movment, press, etc makes him so effecient. I amd **** sure that even Klopp would take him in and swap between him and Firmino to just push hard. Then think what would happen if Firmino and Bammy both run and push at front together :cool: I am sure @Scouseinthehouse sees some similarities between them?

PS. @Theatre of Dreams83 on topic, yeah he saved my fantasy weak with his haul. Hope Kane(C) and Son haul also.
 
theathletic.com

Patrick Bamford under Marcelo Bielsa proof of power of love

At one Premier League club they didn't know if he was right or left-footed, at Leeds Bamford is loved for everything he does on the pitch
theathletic.com theathletic.com

Just look at the video, I think only Klopp and Bielsa are with these kind of passion coaches with theyr players in PL. Sure Bielsa is more down to earth in games etc, always tinkering in his head, but the man has huge heart.

The indifference that greeted Patrick Bamford at some of his previous Premier League clubs was demonstrated by a training session with Crystal Palace five years ago.

Alan Pardew, his manager at Palace, had devised a shooting drill and asked the squad to split into two groups: right-footers in one line, left-footers in another. Bamford sidled into position but was told by one of Pardew’s coaches that he was in the wrong place. “You’re right-footed,” the coach said. “Move over there.”

Bamford was bemused. His other foot was his strongest and had always been his strongest. The reason he had played on the right at Middlesbrough during the previous season was because Aitor Karanka thought he would thrive by cutting inside and shooting with his left. Karanka made it his job to know Bamford inside out. His only stipulation when the forward moved to the Championship on loan from Chelsea was that he would start on the bench and earn a place on the same terms as everyone else. “But he was the best,” Karanka admitted. Bamford quickly discovered a niche.

Elsewhere, and in the Premier League, the striker was met by a wall of ambivalence. At Burnley, an unhealthy personality clash with Sean Dyche developed. Dyche thought Bamford, from an affluent upbringing, was pampered and arrogant. Bamford thought Dyche’s assessment of him was presumptuous and unfair. At Norwich City, he and Alex Neil struggled to rub along. And before those transfers came Palace and Pardew, who told Bamford he would be first choice for them but then signed Conor Wickham within a fortnight. Bamford, whichever foot he preferred, did not start a league game in six months at Selhurst Park

It made him nomadic and his star began to fade. Middlesbrough paid £6 million to sign him permanently in 2017 but Chelsea were merely farming money from their academy. Promises of first-team football made whenever Bamford extended his contract at Stamford Bridge came to nothing and he was already into his mid-twenties. Soon after he moved north, Middlesbrough sacked Karanka. Tony Pulis got the odd tune out of him but in the summer of 2018, a £7 million offer from Leeds United was accepted without a fight. Not for the first time, Bamford was seen as expendable. The claim by Victor Orta, Leeds’ director of football, that he had “stolen (Middlesbrough’s) main guy” did not tally with the forward’s CV.

At Leeds, though, Bamford found himself a home and a coach who saw reasons to play him rather than reasons to leave him out. Bamford’s childhood — the violins, the private school education, all the low-hanging fruit — was an irrelevance to Marcelo Bielsa. It is doubtful whether Bielsa knows anything of his personal history.

Leeds needed a striker in Bielsa’s first summer as head coach and Bamford was right for him; the right type with the right strengths and the right temperament. He would run the channels and he would forage alone up front. When he found his touch, he would finish like he finished in a 3-0 win at Aston Villa last night, the first Leeds forward to score a Premier League hat-trick since Mark Viduka at Charlton in 2003.

“He could have scored six or seven,” said one of Villa’s stewards as he swept up stray teamsheets in the press box afterwards and with Bamford it is always the way. Punditry leans towards the chances he misses instead of the chances he takes but after sending a header and shot wide in the first half yesterday, he found the gaps between Villa’s ribs brilliantly in the second.

Villa were hopelessly stretched when Bamford arrived to smash in the rebound from Rodrigo’s shot in the 55th minute. Goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez stood still as he effortlessly battered a 20-yard effort in off the crossbar 11 minutes later. There was very little point in Martinez moving when Bamford skipped away from a group of defenders and dinked a left-footed effort into the far corner, his third of the evening. Villa were gone, with Ollie Watkins — all £28m of him — wandering alone at the other end of the pitch.

Bamford, for all but 10 minutes of Leeds’ consummate victory, was in among some bling at Villa Park. Watkins broke Villa’s transfer record when he signed from Brentford last month. Rodrigo, who is ticking over nicely in a supporting role behind Bamford, broke Leeds’ transfer record after joining from Valencia for £27 million a week or so earlier.

Both clubs went big on attacking mettle in the market, matching each other pound for pound, but when it came to the question of who looked like the better bargain, neither could compete with Bamford at £7 million. At Elland Road, no one ever competes with Bamford. Even when goals dried up for him last season and the masses clamoured for Eddie Nketiah to start, Bielsa’s resolve only hardened. Nketiah’s chance did come but only briefly and Bielsa made him crawl over broken glass first, reiterating the fact that Bamford was everything he wanted in a player and more.

There is a touching video, taken at Leeds’ training ground in Bielsa’s first season, of Bamford banging in an improbable volley on a cold, misty day. Bielsa — so resistant to touchy-feely management — reacted to it by running 40 yards to applaud the 27-year-old and embrace him. Bamford was trying desperately to get fit. He had injured knee ligaments twice in quick succession and could not get going.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1065727887083491331

Perhaps, on that foggy afternoon, Bielsa sensed vulnerability in him. Perhaps Bamford feels like a bit of a son to him. Bamford’s father, Russell, was convinced that, after several stabs at the division previously, the Premier League would see his son as a different player this time. “In Bielsa he’s got a coach who really believes in him,” Russell told The Athletic. “That makes such a difference.”
Bamford has scored hat-tricks before and coaches who know him fight his corner when it comes to his ability to finish. He wastes chances, of course, but when the wind is with him he is natural and he is clinical. He took the match ball home after scoring three times against Leeds in 2017, an embarrassment of a game in which Leeds were horrendous and their German centre-forward, Pierre-Michel Lasogga, pranced around in leggings. Bamford was on a bit of a roll for Middlesbrough but Pulis did not seem wholly convinced by him. A fresh start was good for Bamford. A fresh start, when it came in the form of Bielsa, was good for Leeds. The pair of them have ridden this wave hand in hand, third in the Premier League as it stands this morning. No hat-trick will tingle like this one.
“I’m very happy for him,” Bielsa said after last night’s game. “But I don’t think there have been too many changes with him. He’s just being more efficient.”
The proof of that efficiency is in the numbers: six goals scored by Bamford against an expected goals ratio of 2.87. Finally he can give xG two fingers. Finally xG is chasing him. His form encapsulates the difference between a coach who has the wit to obliterate Villa’s perfect league record with a makeshift defence, as Bielsa did yesterday, and one who could not tell you which foot was Bamford’s strongest. Bamford has never found himself pleading with Bielsa to have faith. On the contrary, Bielsa made it clear to all and sundry after promotion last season that the N0 9 shirt was staying where it was.
Bielsa will not be told that he has played any part in nurturing Bamford’s soul or that Bamford is better because of him. “Everything Bamford gets, he gets because he deserves it, not because I have any sympathy for him,” Bielsa insisted. “From my point of view he’s a player with a lot of qualities. If he continues to improve his efficiency he’ll receive greater plaudits.”
The plaudits are flowing Bamford’s way already, cutting through the worn and weary chatter about where his game is lacking. Bielsa had no interest in asking that question. All he wanted to know when Bamford’s name first came up was what it was the striker did well. Bielsa fell for him and Leeds are falling for him. In this sport, it pays to be loved.
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Bujakaa92 said:
..... + he has Bielsa to guide him. He was lost in his previous club, but if coach knows how to motivate and train, you will flurish.
I think also that Bammy strongest atribute is not finishing, he is not natural in it as some strikers are in PL. But the way he harash defenders, off the ball movment, press, etc makes him so effecient. I amd **** sure that even Klopp would take him in and swap between him and Firmino to just push hard. Then think what would happen if Firmino and Bammy both run and push at front together :cool: I am sure @Scouseinthehouse sees some similarities between them? .....
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There's similarities in work rate but there it ends mate. Sure we could find a place for Bamford with what he brings. But we'd have to tweak our system to make it work. Bobby's not a #9 to start with. He's just unique at what he does and is liable to be defending in our own area as much as he is attacking in the oppositions. Stylistically I'm struggling for anyone like him outside of maybe Müller at Munich? Taki is about as close you can find given how technical and intelligent he is. He likes to drop in a lot deeper in a 10 role and allow our two 'strikers', Mo and Sadio, the space to do their thing.

Firmino has redefined the #9 role to such an extent that getting someone to do what he does, who's a traditional 9, is nigh on impossible. But there are signs that players are starting to be coached differently now in that role coming through so maybe we're into the next evolution of the game?
 
Grealish to Ref: " Ref, can we have a new ball?"

Ref to Grealish: "What's wrong with the one you've got?"

Grealish to Ref: "Leeds are playing with that one"

??
 
MATCHDAY​
7/38​
Kick-Off​
20:00​
Date​
2nd November 2020​
Venue​
Elland Road, Leeds​
Referee (VAR)​
Andre Marriner (Lee Mason)​
Broadcasting (UK)​
Sky Sports Main Event & Premier League​

LEEDS UNITED​
6th​
Form Table (Last 5)​
4th​
Match Form (Recent on Right)​
WWDLW​
Top Scorer (Penalties)​
Bamford - 6 (0)​
Top Assister​
Klich & Costa - 2​
Injuries & Suspensions​
Forshaw, Berardi, Llorente & Phillips​

LEICESTER CITY​
4th​
Form Table (Last 5)​
7th​
Match Form (Recent on Right)​
WWLLW​
Top Scorer (Penalties)​
Vardy - 6 (4)​
Top Assister​
Castagne - 2​
Injuries & Suspensions​
Pereira, Castagne, Ndidi, Söyüncü, Amartey​

Bit scared about this side. Not afraid being over played tacticaly but Vardy really does not need many changes. Still missing Phillips a lot, hope we have lads making up for it and push good form forward.
@Scouseinthehouse hope we can keep up the good work and offer another fine game to watch ;)
 
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It is like we are playing first time on rainy night. Small dears on ice. Nothing working, need to get head back to the game
 
Just when we talked strong mentality. There is zero om the pitch. Guys are all.out focus and seemed like bothered too much by the rain and want to be drinking some tea at home...

Hope Bielsa tears a new one at half time.
And boy we miss Philips
 
Scouseinthehouse said:
Welcome to the PL.

Such fine margins in taking chances and not,
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We wasted chances for sure, but the overall performance was bad. The first goal knucked motivation down and add that bad weather that our lads could not coup in the first half. Second half was better, but we missed still that spark and we can see how much we miss Philips, Klich could not play his role at all and middle of the park was always not covered. There was zero confidence in the back 4, passin was rubish and seemed out of focus most of the game. Bammy missed some great chances, but that first touch...

I think this was coming so no hussle. Never tought we would push hardly to top10, just want to see good performance and desire. We have much to grow into.
Really missed Philips, Pablo cant play full game, he is 35. Rodrgiues is isoleted because covid case he was next to. Luckily it seems he did not got covid himslef. Raphinha also got small injury before game, but hopefully will be back next game.
Take this as wake up call. We had good run, now need to get back up.
 
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Literally just turned it on.

Did the Chelsea sewer dwellers join Millwall and West Ham in booing the knee taking?

Not that they’re racist mind. NO Sir! Proper ‘family’ clubs those welcome to all .....
 
Scouseinthehouse said:
Literally just turned it on.

Did the Chelsea sewer dwellers join Millwall and West Ham in booing the knee taking?

Not that they’re racist mind. NO Sir! Proper ‘family’ clubs those welcome to all .....
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I was grabbing whisky at the start of game and just walked into room when game started so hopefully they did not boo... This is good opportunity to narrow down who this slurs are in the growd.

Goal for u also
streamable.com

Streamable Video

Watch this video on Streamable.
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Oeh Giroud, why Lamp wont bench him now...
 
Ta. The absolutely shambolic goalkeeping aside, great counterattacking goal.
 
We are so shaky at the back. Need to group up. But lets face it, Llorente has not played single first team game because of injury and now needs to step up against very attacking side. Luckily Cooper is playing for two players for now and Phillips is there to help.

Think we need Costa in for better pace in counter
 
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