Journalist Daniel Storey has issued his concerns about the abilities of Leeds United striker Patrick Bamford this season.
Storey appeared as a guest on the latest episode of the Totally Football Show podcast and the panel discussed multiple issues involving the Premier League. One topic of discussion was Leeds’ recent 6-2 loss to Manchester United this past weekend. Storey talked about Bamford and he issued some concerns about the Englishman, casting doubts about whether he can keep up his goalscoring rate this season.
Bamford had featured for the Whites against Man Utd at the weekend. In the game, the striker had picked up a poor rating of 6.32. He registered three shots on goal but failed to score. He had a passing percentage of 83.3% (as per WhoScored). He is currently valued at £13.50m.
Can Bamford perform consistently this season?
Yes
No
Storey raised questions about whether Bamford can maintain his form consistently in the Premier League.
He said: “Their fitness and their running, their sprints and the pressing was like nothing the Championship had seen. They did exactly the same the season before and carried it on and arguably were better at it. And Patrick Bamford took his chances, there’s potentially a slight worry whether that can continue in the Premier League.
“He’s been brilliant so far, but he missed one at 2-0, which if he scores and probably should have done, maybe it’s a slightly different game. So yeah, that’s my one concern.”
TIF Thoughts on Storey’s comments about Bamford…
In the current campaign, Bamford has underperformed on his Expected Goals metric by 0.6. This suggests that his finishing in the season hasn’t been great. Earlier in the season, he was overperforming on xG and this shows that he hasn’t exactly been performing too well in front of goal since a bright start to the season (as per FBRef).
Having said that, Bamford’s goal contribution tally per 90 minutes in the Premier League this season has increased. It was 0.47 per 90 minutes last season and it is now at 0.76 this season (as per FBRef). So while his finishing hasn’t been great, his overall output has increased.