Speaking on the Doing A Leeds podcast, Jermaine Beckford has claimed that he’d be kicking off with his teammates if he was in Patrick Bamford’s shoes after the Whites’ game against West Ham.
Beckford noticed that Bamford was making a lot of good runs in the box whenever the ball got into wide areas, and he believes that the striker should be annoyed by the lack of service he was getting from out wide.
“You know me, I’m a glass half full kind of guy, I always have been, always will be. My frustration stems from being a centre-forward and seeing myself in Patrick Bamford’s position, in his boots right now,” Beckford said.
“He made a couple of great movements when we had the ball out wide in both wide areas, and instead of the ball getting flashed across the second six yard box, which is the space between the six yard box and the penalty spot, it was cut back and then passed across the edge of the 18-yard box, and then went out the other side, we’re trying to be too intricate.”
Beckford then finished his point by saying he’d have been kicking off with his teammates is
“My frustration, as I touched on briefly, if I was in Patrick’s boots I would have been kicking off as soon as it got to half-time, saying put the ball in the box, sometimes the most simple thing is the most effective.”
Beckford is absolutely right, Leeds were trying to be a bit too nice with their build-up play, despite the fact that Bamford was often free in the area.
Hopefully, Marcelo Bielsa has spotted this problem and it’s something he’s spoken to the wide players about in training as he attempts to turn around Leeds’ recent poor form.
Leeds’ next game against Newcastle will be another match in which the Whites are expected to dominate possession, so it may be worth keeping an eye on Bamford’s movements and how direct United are when they get the ball out wide.
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