Mateusz Klich was outstanding as Leeds United picked up an important win in the Championship promotion race.
Unsurprisingly, Patrick Bamford is dominating many of the headlines following his outstanding brace in Leeds’ 2-0 win against Preston North End on Tuesday night.
Bamford has taken a lot of criticism in recent weeks. He has struggled in front of goal at a time when the Whites have desperately needed the 25-year-old to live up to his transfer fee, but he has surely now done enough to ensure that he will lead the line against Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday if Marcelo Bielsa has the same options available.
With Kemar Roofe only just coming back from a lengthy lay-off, Bamford’s confidence boost is as timely as it gets for Leeds. But it could be argued that there was another performance at Deepdale that was almost as notable.
Mateusz Klich’s form since the turn of the year has gone a lot more under the radar than his performance in the first-half of the campaign did. The brace at Rotherham was huge for Leeds, and he started the rout at Reading last month. But they have been his only goals in 2019 to go with two assists.
It is difficult to think of a point in the campaign when Klich has played poorly. But there have been times when he has struggled to make an impact, and Bielsa took the blame for his underwhelming afternoon at Birmingham City at the weekend (via Yorkshire Evening Post).
But just a few days later at Preston, Klich looked so much more like the player that set the tone against the likes of Stoke City and Derby County back in August. He was constantly involved and nearly broke the deadlock in the first-half when his strike slid just by the post.
His cross for Bamford’s second was his eighth assist of the season in the league. The Poland international has scored the same number of goals. Only Pablo Hernandez has had a direct hand in more goals.
Given that Bielsa has previously suggested that few players could do the job that Klich does in the current Leeds system (via Yorkshire Post), it seems fair to say that the 28-year-old playing well in the final weeks of the season is hugely important.
In fact, while Bamford’s brace could definitely prove to be a defining moment in Leeds’ season, perhaps, with Roofe now waiting in the wings to put pressure on the striker, Klich getting back to his best actually has the potential to be even more significant.
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