Leeds United: Phil Hay believes Patrick Bamford must start midweek

Phil Hay has claimed that Jesse Marsch has to start Patrick Bamford when Leeds United play again on Thursday evening.

Leeds are still very firmly in a rut having lost once again on the weekend, although it was in a slightly controversial fashion having missed a penalty and then saw a spot-kick finally overturned by VAR which would have left them with a last-minute chance to claim a point.

However, even if Leeds had clawed back a point, it wouldn’t have been the ideal scenario given that Marsch’s side are now winless in their last six league games and haven’t won a game since August.

Hay has now claimed on The Phil Hay Show that Bamford must start for Leeds vs Leicester City on Thursday to try and turn around the club’s poor run of form.

(11:55) “The concern is always when is Bamford going to be fit enough to play 90 minutes after 90 minutes after 90 minutes, I guess I would say that if you’re looking at the team for the next game and thinking about the lineup for the next game, he comes into it, doesn’t he?

“I don’t say just because of Rodrigo’s mistake I think he comes into it because he looked like the player who turned Leeds into a dangerous animal in the second half.”

TIF Thoughts on Bamford…

A worrying stat has recently emerged that shows Bamford, who has only played 300 minutes of league action this season, has already missed eight big chances, which shows how concerning his form has been of late.

Even against Arsenal, despite coming on and being heavily involved in the game, he missed a one-on-one and then dragged his penalty wide of the left-hand post leaving Leeds with a mountain to climb.

However he is the club’s most senior natural striker given that Rodrigo hasn’t played that role enough during his time at Elland Road, so Marsch will likely want to hand him as many minutes as possible to get him fit, and playing against the league’s worst defence, it could be the perfect time for him to find his goalscoring boots.