Andrew Hughes was blown away by the performance of Patrick Bamford in Leeds United’s 2-0 win against Preston at Deepdale last week.
Bamford, 25, scored both of Leeds’ goals in the win, but struggled to find the net on Saturday in the Whites’ 1-0 victory over Sheffield Wednesday.
Ex-Leeds striker Hughes has suggested that although Bamford has been criticised this season, he has been impressed by the centre-forward.
“I thought Bamford the other night was incredible,” Hughes told Sporting Life, as shown via their Twitter account. “I know he has been coming in for a lot of stick, and I said it before the Preston game that Bamford will be most important player tonight – and he was.
“He plays the other day, he misses a chance one second, and then he comes off. But this is what it means at the top.
“Most important thing for Leeds United now is the team – it’s the 10 or 11 players that aren’t playing. They are the most important players now to Bielsa.”
? Just what happens in a Leeds United training session under Marcelo Bielsa?
Ex @LUFC @Andrew10dog recently attended a Leeds training session to see the guru at work
Listen to our whole #lufc conversation in our latest Championship Podcast https://t.co/M7wPvepTK2 pic.twitter.com/AHOfDxkk8H
— Sport on Sporting Life (@SLSport_) April 16, 2019
OPINION
Bamford has divided opinion among most Leeds supporters this season, but you cannot deny that he has scored some crucial goal for the Yorkshire club as they aim to close in on automatic promotion to the Premier League. The former Middlesbrough striker has missed a lot of the season through injury and it wasn’t until February when he made his first Championship start for the Whites. In all competitions this term, Bamford has scored nine goals in 21 appearances, and that is good enough for a striker who has been plagued by injury and wasn’t in Marcelo Bielsa’s starting line-up in the first half of the campaign. He has scored vitals goals in wins against West Brom, Bolton, Bristol City and Preston, and Leeds fans should know that the way that Bielsa’s team sets up helps players from all positions get on the scoresheet. West Brom have two strikers on over 20 goals each this season, but they are fourth and not in the race for automatic promotion. Do Leeds really need Bamford to be firing on all cylinders when all of their players are scoring goals?