Patrick Bamford must never take a Leeds United penalty again after ending 15-year record
Most Leeds United players will be eager to forget their trip to Stoke City on Wednesday (25 October) as the Whites were beaten 1-0 by Alex Neil’s side.
Nobody had a particularly great evening for Daniel Farke’s side, but arguably no one struggled more than Patrick Bamford as the striker had the perfect opportunity to open his goalscoring account for the season after he was fouled in the box.
With the game poised at 0-0, the forward got to his feet and fought off competition to take the penalty himself, only to see his effort sail over the crossbar only five minutes before Pascal Struijk’s own goal ensured Leeds would return empty-handed.
According to Peter Smith (26 October) Bamford’s missed penalty was the first in 15 years against Stoke, with no player missing the target from the spot since Stuart Downing hit the bar when playing for Middlesbrough in a 2-1 win in 2008.
The Leeds United striker’s effort didn’t just clash with the bar either, it sailed over Mark Travers’ bar before landing in row 24 at the Bet365 Stadium in what proved to be an incredibly costly mistake from the 30-year-old forward.
While Stoke have saved several penalties since 2008, the 15-year hiatus since a player last failed to hit the target shows just how big a blunder it was from Bamford and he surely cannot take another penalty for Farke’s side, or even appear regularly in future matches.
Bamford has been a shell of his former self ever since his debut season in the Premier League and so far this season has failed to even impose himself on the starting XI, with Farke preferring to utilise Joel Piroe and Georginio Rutter as his striking pair.
Wednesday night’s penalty served as the perfect opportunity for the former England international to breathe new life into his fledgling Elland Road career and you have to wonder how many better chances he will get to get his career back on track.
Given Stoke’s recent record, Bamford had to convert that spot-kick and had his strike hit the back of the net it could well have earned Leeds all three points and could have represented the turning point in his otherwise dreary return to the Championship.
Instead, it has left him further away from Farke’s starting XI than ever before, maybe, it’s time to freeze him out.
In other Leeds United news, Joel Piroe is looking to Erling Haaland and Julian Alvarez for inspiration in his new role