Former Tottenham Hotspur striker Darren Bent has come out and praised Leeds United’s Patrick Bamford after the 26-year-old ended his goal drought against Blackburn.
Bamford ended his 10-game goal drought against Blackburn Rovers from the penalty spot in the 30th minute, taking his tally to five goals in 16 Championship games so far this season ahead of the current international break.
Former Spurs striker Bent has recently praised the 26-year-old for ‘playing really well‘ and ending his goal drought. When speaking to Football Insider, Bent said: “It’s tough, it’s really tough but for him it’s brilliant, he knew he was playing really well so that’s half the battle. When you’re playing really well, that’s all the fans can ask for.”
When speaking about how Bamford must have felt to finally end his awful run in front of goal, the 35-year-old said: “The moment that goal went in it probably relieved a lot of pressure and gave him another five, six games. Hopefully, he’ll go on a run, he doesn’t really go on runs but because he’s working hard and playing well, the fans will forgive him for that.”
It was surprising to see Marcelo Bielsa showing full faith in a striker in concerning form. Failing to score in 10 consecutive games would have seen most attackers dropped, let alone your sole striker. If the 26-year-old would have been dropped after five or six games, that would have likely opened up the opportunity for Eddie Nketiah to get his shot, which may have led to a lot more goals.
TIF Tactics – Why did Bielsa back Bamford?
Bamford doesn’t add much when going forward, having on average 3.1 shots per game and being dispossessed 1.9 times per match, he also loses the ball frequently with a poor touch being dispossessed that way 2.1 times each game. Which makes you wonder why Bielsa kept the faith in the 26-year-old, with Nketiah being the obvious option to replace him.
Despite not starting a Championship match this season, Nketiah has scored three goals but only averages 1.2 shots per game. However, the 20-year-old is much better when in control of the ball, being dispossessed just 0.6 times per 90 minutes.
Verdict
Should Bamford have been dropped? In our opinion, yes. However, we now have to see how much of a boost this goal will be for the 26-year-old and hopefully, the fans don’t have to see another goal drought from their frontman.
Indeed, Nketiah may not appreciate the lack of game time, which could impact the amount of time he has left at the club. It would have been good to see what the young man could have done and we are sure the fans would have liked to see that too.