This article is part of Football FanCast’s The Chalkboard series, which provides a tactical insight into teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…
Patrick Bamford has caught a lot of flack this season for his failure to find the back of the net.
You can understand why the striker has been criticised for his lack of cutting edge in front of goal as he’s Leeds’ starting striker, but he’s scored just five times in 16 starts this term.
Of course, that return isn’t good enough, but there’s another part of his game that he needs to improve, and on Saturday he showed that he’s got what it takes to do just that.
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On the chalkboard
There are a number of supporters who are willing to cut Bamford some slack due to the amount of work he does for his team, but even within that, there is one area that is lacking.
The striker doesn’t find assists often enough as he’s set up just two goals this season, and that’s something that he should be looking to change in the near future.
Of course, in an ideal world, Bamford would be more clinical in front of goal, but he could easily have an impact on Leeds’ attacks through his creativity.
With Jack Harrison hitting goalscoring form, netting two in two, and Tyler Roberts being reintroduced into the team, Bamford has two great outlets that he should utilise more often, and on Saturday he did just that.
He set Harrison up for the Whites’ second strike, and if he did more of that his personal woes in front of goal wouldn’t be too much of a problem.
If he’s not going to be scoring bags of goals this term he could easily subsidise that by assisting his teammates who are more than capable of putting the ball in the net.
Bamford has proven a useful outlet with his work rate but if his goal from the spot was just a one-off, this could help him evade further criticism.
Via WhoScored, the forward has just nine assists in 170 games. Considering he plays with his back to goal a lot of the time this might be somewhat of a surprise.
