Steve McClaren managed Leeds United striker Patrick Bamford during his time at Derby County.
Steve McClaren has suggested that Leeds should perhaps try to play Patrick Bamford on the right-wing rather than as a striker because it would allow him to ‘ghost in’ from the wide areas rather than being a target man, which isn’t his strength.
Speaking to Sky Sports News (11/02/20 at 10:05 am), McClaren, who managed Bamford during his time at Derby, shared an interesting insight in how to seemingly get the best out of the Leeds man.
“Patrick’s a goalscorer,” McClaren told Sky Sports. “I remember him as a young boy at Forest coming through the ranks and we took him at Derby.
“We played him on the right-wing. We had a centre-forward and played him on the right-wing. We gave him a free role, come inside and he was prolific. And he was one of those players that ghosted in from the wide.
“I think when you play down the middle, you don’t ghost in. You are there to be marked. One marks you or two marks you and they are very physical. I wouldn’t say that he’s not coping with that well but that’s not his strength. He’s not a target man. He went to Middlesbrough, he went to play alongside a target man in Nugent who did a lot of work for him and played as a two. He scored goals there. He scored goals on the right or left-hand side when he played for us.
“When he plays down the middle for Leeds, he gets chances but he’s not that natural of a goalscorer. He needs plenty of chances to put one away. But he can have spells, like he did for us, he scored so many goals in about 10 games and nearly got us promotion, and he’ll do the same with Leeds United.”
During his time at Derby, Bamford scored eight goals and supplied four assists in 23 games for the Rams, who reached the Championship play-off final losing to QPR [transfermarkt].
Bamford has been a major talking point during his time at Leeds, with frustration brewing from the fact that he misses a number of big chances.
He has scored two goals since the turn of the year, and over the course of the campaign, he has netted 12 goals from his 33 matches [transfermarkt].
It has made him a marmite-like figure at Leeds. On one hand, he is key to how Marcelo Bielsa plays given what he provides off the ball, but then he frustrates the fans with the chances he misses.
He has always played as a centre-forward during his time at Elland Road, and there’s no chance that Bielsa will change what he wants from Bamford because it is always about making sure Plan A works.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
