Noel Whelan reacts to Patrick Bamford’s display in Leeds’ win

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Patrick Bamford endured a poor afternoon as Leeds United produced a stunning victory at Elland Road.

Noel Whelan has told BBC Radio Leeds’ post-match coverage of Leeds’ win over Millwall on Saturday that Patrick Bamford looked a little lost during the game, but insisted that his off-day also sends out a positive message.

Marcelo Bielsa’s side are back in the top two in the Championship after producing a wonderful fightback against the Lions at Elland Road. Leeds were 2-1 down with 20 minutes left, but goals from Luke Ayling and Pablo Hernandez sent the Whites second with seven games remaining.

It had previously appeared that it was not going to be Leeds’ day. After Millwall went in front, the home side were awarded a penalty after a foul on Gjanni Alioski. But Bamford’s effort was poor and comfortably saved.

And after the game, Whelan suggested that the spot-kick was the perfect incident to sum up how Bamford’s afternoon played out as he struggled to get into the game and produce the kind of display that would have shut the door on the idea of Kemar Roofe making an immediate return to the side when he comes back from injury.

“A little bit lost out there today. It wasn’t an easy afternoon for him. Nothing went right for him, and I think the penalty summed it up for me really,” he told BBC Radio Leeds.

“It wasn’t convicting enough. He’s caught in two minds. It just shows a little bit of a lack of confidence in the striker at the minute in Patrick Bamford. Everything he tried to do wasn’t really coming off. A difficult afternoon, but it’s good to know that we don’t always have to count on the centre forward to get the winning goals.”

As Whelan noted, Bamford’s struggles could be looked back upon as something of a positive as Leeds still managed to score three times and earn the vital win. It is at this stage of the season where the performance itself becomes largely irrelevant if the team manages to win.

Bielsa knows how lethal Bamford can be when everything clicks, so it seems highly unlikely that the Leeds boss will feel any need to panic after the striker’s off-day.