Leeds United are under extreme pressure following their poor run of form in 2020.
The Whites have now lost four times in their last five Championship games, and have squandered the lead they had over other promotion chasers.
One Leeds player who has come under intense criticism from the fans recently is Patrick Bamford.
The 26-year-old has scored 12 goals this season, and has been the club’s first-choice striker under Marcelo Bielsa. However, he has scored twice (in one game vs Millwall) in his last eight games, and has been really poor in recent games.
Bamford is an important player for Leeds. He works extremely hard and brings energy to the side, but the amount of chances he has missed has cost Leeds dearly.
Legendary Arsenal striker turned football pundit, Ian Wright, has offered advice to the former Chelsea striker. Bamford has previously worked with him at MK Dons, and Wright says the striker has got a ‘brilliant’ left foot.
“The pressure he is under with Leeds wanting to come up, it’s massive. The weight of expectation, especially after what happened last season, is massive, but you can only do the same things in training as long as you’re getting chances created for you,” he told BBC Radio 5 Live (h/t Leeds Live).
“We’ve seen the amount of chances he’s missed and you just hope he can start converting, but all he can do is get back in the right positions, near post, far post, hit the target and hope you can start converting a few.
“The problem you get is if you’re afraid to get into those positions and miss those chances, if you’re afraid to do that then you’ve got no chance.
“I worked with him at MK Dons. His left foot is brilliant. When you say natural finisher, when we’re in the positions where he could finish, he finished pretty cleanly, but it’s a different thing when you’re in training or in a lower league, when you’re not playing for Leeds, who are desperate to get into the Premier League, it’s a different pressure.”
Leeds signed Jean Kevin-Augustin in the January transfer window but he has hardly featured. Bielsa feels that Augustin is not yet ready to start a game, and that is why he is sticking with Bamford.
Leeds will face Brentford away from home on Tuesday in the Championship, and Bamford will be hoping to get back among the goals to boost his confidence.
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