Daniel Farke must axe Patrick Bamford in January as Leeds United sit bottom of new Championship ranking
On the whole Leeds United have had an excellent start to the Championship season and Daniel Farke’s side are well and truly in the race for the automatic promotion places.
That has come as little of a surprise given the strength in depth in the Whites side, with several players that are already considered Premier League standard being limited to roles from the bench in the opening weeks of the campaign.
However, that depth of quality in Farke’s side has barely been on show so far this season and the German has instead been reliant on his starting XI to make the difference in matches week in and week out.
According to the Yorkshire Evening Post (14 December), the Whites are level with table-toppers Leicester City for the most goals scored by players picked in the starting XI in England’s second tier this season as the likes of Crysencio Summerville and Dan James have managed to consistently find the net.
While that stat can be viewed as a positive, it has also shown just how reliant Leeds have been on their initial XI this season. In fact, no team in the Championship have scored fewer goals via their substitutes than the Whites, with only one in the opening 21 matches.
That single strike came way back in September when Jaidon Anthony scored his only goal in Leeds United colours in a 3-0 win at Elland Road. Other than that, all of the Whites’ substitutes have failed to truly impact matches.
One man that has been repeatedly thrust into the action by Farke in the closing stages of matches this season has been Patrick Bamford with the former England international making 12 appearances from the bench, without starting a single game of the campaign.
In his 157 minutes of action, the 30-year-old has only hit the target with five attempts and spurned his best chance to find the net when he skied a penalty high into the stands during the Whites’ defeat away to Stoke City.
Teams that win automatic promotion from the Championship need to be able to call upon substitutes to produce a moment of magic and there has been little in Bamford’s appearances this season to suggest that he is capable of being that difference maker at Elland Road.
If Leeds and Farke have genuine ambitions of making an immediate return to the Premier League, they have to find a way to move Bamford in the January transfer window and instead sign a new striker. He has been one of Leeds’ most regular attacking substitutes and has played a big part in the Whites’ sitting bottom of the division’s standings.
It has been a long time since the 30-year-old has been prolific at any level and it might finally be time for the Whites to cut their ties, otherwise, it could prove costly in the long run.
In other Leeds United news, Andy Goldstein has offered his verdict on a potential Elland Road return for Kalvin Phillips