BBC Radio Leeds pundit Noel Whelan has suggested that Eddie Nketiah should start up front instead of Patrick Bamford for Leeds United’s clash against Barnsley at Oakwell on Sunday.
Leeds lost their first league match of the season before the international break when Swansea won 1-0 at Elland Road.
Nketiah, 20, has also been in good form over the break, scoring two goals for England’s Under-21s as they beat Turkey last week.
Ex-Leeds striker Whelan reckons that now is as good a time as any for Marcelo Bielsa to switch his strikers due to the form that Nketiah is in and the fact that Bamford fired a blank last time out in the loss to Swansea.
“We’re not a winning side now so the team can be changed. We know Bielsa doesn’t like to change a winning side, now it’s different, we’re coming off the back of a defeat,” Whelan told Football Insider.
“Nketiah is off the back of a great international break with the under-21s, scoring twice – he’s going to be full of confidence. He’s put a massive question mark and a huge problem there for Marcelo Bielsa, what does he do?
“You’ve got a striker that’s firing on all cylinders, he could be the one that causes more problems than Patrick, he’s a different type of player. Maybe it is the time to give him this outing.”
TIF Tactics – Nketiah v Bamford
Both strikers have started the season well for Leeds with Bamford scoring four goals in seven appearances across all competitions and Nketiah scoring three goals in five total outings.
Nketiah is yet to start a match in the Championship and is yet to play for more than 30 minutes off the bench.
He did score the winning goal against Brentford last month but Bamford has also shown one of the best goalscoring runs of his time at Elland Road when he bagged four in five league matches before the 1-0 defeat to Swansea.
According to stats by WhoScored, Nketiah has averaged more shots at goal per 90 minutes [6.2] that Bamford [4] while the Arsenal loanee has also averaged more key passes per 90 minutes [1.6] than the former Chelsea striker [0.5]
Nketiah has played far fewer minutes than Bamford in the Championship so far this term so those stats cannot be the be-all and end-all of the debate between the two Leeds strikers but Bielsa has shown during his time at Elland Road that he thrives on consistency.
Bamford has started six Championship matches this term for a reason – because he is Bielsa’s first-choice.
One match where he failed to score should not lead to Bielsa dropping the axe on him and bringing in Nketiah, who is a lot less experienced.
It would be a risk and Bielsa does not seem to take risks with his team selection.