Patrick Bamford is “in the balance” at Leeds United and if he recovers from his latest set back at Stoke it will show “remarkable mental strength”, according to Adam Pope.
Speaking on Don’t Go To Bed Just Yet on 30 October the BBC Leeds journalist said the 30-year-old had “gone back several paces” after his missed penalty against Stoke City on 25 October, but believes the Whites are likely to need him this term still with injuries to the likes of Georginio Rutter and Joel Piroe always a possibility.
After an apparently mixed reception for the Englishman when he came off the bench against Huddersfield at the weekend Pope believes the fans will continue to support Bamford despite his struggles.
Pope said (19m 20s) of the Stoke penalty: “He brought a lot of stuff on himself there that he didn’t need to, and nobody would have complained if he hadn’t taken it. [Crysencio] Summerville was gagging for it, maybe on-field [Pascal] Struijk should have said, ‘Right okay, make a decision, we do that’.
“But look, it’s gone now, he had a chance when he came on to try and score [against Huddersfield] and didn’t strike the ball very well.
“He’s gone back several paces because of that in midweek and who knows. If he recovers from this that’s a remarkable mental strength.
“But it’s in the balance right now that he can isn’t it, because the fans will still try and back him. We heard it the other night, there was a lot of signing for him in amongst the initial mixture of boos, so they will try and get with him.
“Let’s face it, there’s every chance he might well be needed because if Rutter does get injured or Piroe then they’ve got to play him haven’t they.”
Difficulties
Bamford has been operating under huge pressure for the past couple of years as his body broke down repeatedly with injury set back after injury set back.
Enough players have spoken about how demoralising that is at the best of times, but when Leeds United have relied so much on the striker and struggled so badly through his various absences it surely made it that much worse for him.
Since relegation wasn’t escaped and a new team is now mounting a comeback the pressure has been lifted somewhat for Bamford to get fit and try to be the main man, but he clearly wants to be part of the new era.
With hindsight it was obviously the wrong decision to take the penalty since the points for the team became tied up in his own personal situation.
But Daniel Farke still sees him as the next man up in attack behind Rutter and Piroe so if he can make a key contribution at some point in the coming months then perhaps Bamford can start to regain some confidence and forget the current situation.
High profile misses have dogged him in the past year and it is tempting to believe that he would be better off with a move, but for now it looks like his commitment to trying to right things at Elland Road remains strong.
So for everyone’s sake, but especially his, the hope is that he is able to get the weight off his shoulders with a goal sooner rather than later.
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