Patrick Bamford has just gone five games without a goal for Leeds United.
Bamford started for Leeds in this afternoon’s 2-0 defeat away to Brighton & Hove Albion.
But the 27-year-old striker, who is the Whites’ top goalscorer this season, endured a frustrating afternoon and Marcelo Bielsa took him off for Rodrigo on 58 minutes.
The former Middlesbrough marksman didn’t look delighted as he trudged off the field after seeing his barren spell extend to five matches, having not scored since March 19.
But only four players in the whole Premier League – Harry Kane, Mohamed Salah, Bruno Fernandes and Son Heung-min – have scored more than Bamford’s 14 goals for Leeds this season.
United were still trailing 1-0 when the striker was removed and Andy Townsend has told Optus Sport that he was very surprised to see Bielsa take off his biggest goal threat when they were losing.
Townsend said: “Well he [Bamford] is not happy but he hasn’t really imposed himself on the game. Hasn’t seen a lot of the ball, but he’s a goalscorer and when you need a goal, it’s a surprise when he does take his top goalscorer off the pitch.”
To be fair, Leeds did improve once Rodrigo came on.
Bamford, as good as he’s been this season, was totally out of the match and only managed 15 touches [according to WhoScored] of the ball in almost an hour – and managed no shots.
The game pretty much passed him by completely and you can’t really blame Bielsa.
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