Leeds United presently sits in 18th place in the English top-flight with three draws. Their points score took another major hit last week after a last-minute winner by Michael Antonio for West Ham.

The Whites’ backline was missing four possible starting options with Robin Koch, Diego Llorente, Pascal Struijk, and Luke Ayling injured or suspended.

Leeds will now play Watford on Saturday and they will be happy to hear that Struijk will be back in action after completing his red-card suspension as well as winger Jack Harrison being fully recovered from Covid-19.

Fulham fans: "Who are ya?"
Joe Gelhardt: "That's who!" pic.twitter.com/3w0cAcB852

— Leeds United (@LUFC) September 22, 2021

Manager Bielsa has now spoken about some of the other injury concerns at a recent press conference.

Defender Llorente has been missing since he limped off early against Liverpool this month. He has confirmed that this muscular injury in his leg will not be a long-term problem and a decision will be made tomorrow if he will tog at the weekend.

Fellow center-back Koch has been missing since he sustained a pelvic injury in the first game of the season against Manchester United. Bielsa spoke last week that the German was not ready to play against West Ham and it is unlikely that he will be ready for Saturday.

Luke Ayling is one of the defenders that has shown promising signs of recovery this week. He missed a full week of fixtures after getting a knock against Newcastle. He will be expected to make his return against Watford in three days’ time.

Brazilian winger Raphinha is another doubt for the weekend. The manager confirmed that he had a pelvic issue in St. James’ Park and the boss will want him to rest. He might be seen coming off the bench with Daniel James and Harrison able to cover for him.

Leeds’ starman Patrick Bamford missed last week’s game after being in a tough collision. With the lack of replacements in his squad, Bielsa will want to mind Leeds’ top goalscorer last season.

Lastly, the Spanish boss confirmed that Forshaw has sustained a new injury after appearing for 35 minutes against Fulham, this will put the team leader out for a few more weeks.

Leeds will be without Patrick Bamford tomorrow. He’s played in 89/90 of our recent league and play-off matches, scored 19% of our goals & is our top scorer under Bielsa (44/232). You’d have to go back to Dec 29th 2019 (4-5 win at Birmingham) for our last league game without him. pic.twitter.com/guxCK9CFYW

— LUFCDATA (@LUFCDATA) September 24, 2021

All the problems may worry Leeds fans as they languish in the relegation zone. This could be another tough week as they face an exciting Watford team.

For more in-depth and up-to-date football and Premier League news, click here.

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All of this happened at a time when the striker was battling away for promotion to the Premier League with Leeds United. It has to be said that any Championship forward that is offered the chance to play on the international stage is normally quick to take it with both hands. Indeed, there is a lot to gain from playing internationally. Apart from the obvious financial incentive, players are also able to enjoy the honour that comes with being an international player. 

Patrick Bamford, however, seems at peace with letting that opportunity slip by, at least for Ireland. The feeling is that Bamford, who is a proud Englishman, would rather give up on the chance of many international appearances for Ireland, in the hope that he can eventually get a cap for England. Now, there will be many who scoff at that but since his club side Leeds returned to the Premier League after getting promoted last season, Bamford has done himself no harm in throwing his name into Gareth Southgate’s England hat.

Virgil van Dijk doesn’t make mistakes like this very often

But Patrick Bamford made sure to punish him pic.twitter.com/u6PkcC7c6i

— Goal (@goal) September 13, 2020

The 27-year-old is enjoying a 100% strike rate having netted in both of Leeds’ games. The first came in a sensational 4-3 thriller at Anfield after he capitalised on some poor defending from Virgil Van Dijk, by cooly chipping the onrushing Alisson.

The second was a clever finish against Fulham in a game that would see Leeds run out 4-3 winners this time around. Of course, many may point to Fulham’s defensive frailties and if you were to look at the Lottoland Sportsbook, you’d see the Cottagers are indeed the favourites to be relegated from the Premier League. This may lead you to think that Bamford’s achievement of scoring against them wasn’t all that impressive, but for the first time in his career, the striker is getting into the right place at the right time.

Patrick Bamford gets his goal thanks to a cool finish!

He has two in two this season after scoring only once in his previous 2⃣7⃣ Premier League games pic.twitter.com/LJ5DlLAkmb

— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) September 19, 2020

What’s more, both of his goals have come from his right foot, which was always considered to be his weaker one. All of this suggests that Bamford has addressed some of the problems that were hindering his progress in front of goal. Whether the floodgates open for good and Southgate does actually begin to see Bamford as part of his plans remains to be seen. 

But this all points to the fact that there is no almost zero chance that the 27-year-old will ever play for Ireland as his outside odds of being picked for England have increased ever so slightly. That’s probably all the justification that Bamford needs to keep sticking to his decision by giving the Irish national team the cold shoulder. 

The post Why Patrick Bamford is now even more unlikely to ever answer Ireland’s call appeared first on SportsNewsIreland.

Bamford’s eligibility for Ireland is no secret, with the Whites striker featuring for the nation once at under-18 level. Former boss Mick McCarthy tried to bring the 27-year-old into the fold last year but said that, ultimately, the decision would rest with the player himself, who at the time was focusing on Leeds’ promotion push.

Many questioned if Bamford would be able to make the step up to starting regularly in the Premier League, having helped Leeds win the Championship title last season. The former Chelsea academy starlet has so far answered those critics with seven goals in the first eight league games of the campaign, including a hat-trick against Aston Villa.

There seems to be little doubt that Bamford is ready to test himself at international level, after what he has done with Leeds, who are 9/1 in the mobile betting to be relegated from the Premier League this season. Now it appears Bamford is waiting to make up his mind on whether he will pledge his allegiance to Ireland or England.

Three Lions manager Gareth Southgate has already spoken about Bamford’s start to the campaign, with the national boss being seen at Elland Road this season. Competition for places is strong in the England squad, with skipper Harry Kane almost guaranteed a starting role, while the likes of Jadon Sancho, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Tammy Abraham, Raheem Sterling and Marcus Rashford all compete for the other attacking roles.

If Bamford can continue his current form at Leeds then perhaps he has a chance of earning a call-up but the dilemma rests on where his long-term future is best suited. There is no doubt Bamford would earn regular game time with Ireland and could find himself as a key figure for Kenny’s side.

Kenny has looked to bring a new style to the Ireland squad, with the boys in green looking to play a bit more football and be slightly less direct than they have in the past. That would certainly suit Bamford, who has come on leaps and bounds since Marcelo Bielsa’s arrival at Elland Road. The forward’s ability to press and hound defenders, to link up play and of course finish, makes him an extremely attractive prospect for Ireland.

Bamford might still harbour hopes of being an outside England pick for Euro 2020 but, again, competition will be fierce for the major tournament next summer. If Ireland can convince him that the green jersey is the way to go, then it could go a long way to solving the team’s goalscoring issues at present.

Ireland have now gone seven games without a goal following their goalless stalemate against Bulgaria in their last match of 2020. The high level of withdrawals from the squad due to illness and injury has been well-documented and that has certainly not helped matters. But a host of first-team regulars back in the fold, and Bamford in the number nine jersey next year, could see Ireland back pushing for tournament football once again.

The post Ireland must up efforts to land Bamford appeared first on SportsNewsIreland.

Aston Villa have had an unthinkable season so far, but tonight they suffered their first loss in the Premier League at the hands of Leeds United. If they won tonight – or even drew – they would have gone ahead of Everton to top the table. Unfortunately for them, that was not the case. Despite their failure tonight, Aston Villa have performed well above expectations so far.

They’ve shown they have what it takes to compete with the best this season with some impressive wins against top sides. The Liverpool result stands out as they broke up Jurgen Klopp’s side to win 7-2. They also beat Leicester last weekend, which is no mean feat given the season the Foxes had last term.

Like Villa, Leeds have also surpassed expectations so far this season. They now sit 3^rd in the table after tonight’s victory, albeit with a game in hand. Marcelo Bielsa must receive credit a tonne of credit for how Leeds are performing so far, the Argentine has completely transformed the Leeds squad since taking over. After years of struggling for promotion from the Championship, Bielsa took just 2 seasons to make their Premier League dream a reality. Not only did he get promoted, but he done so in style. Quick passing, hard work and intense pressing is a staple of this Leeds United team. They demonstrated their entertaining style of play tonight as they cruised to a comfortable win.

WHAT. A. PERFORMANCE.

— Leeds United (@LUFC) OCTOBER 23, 2020

As expected, the match was an enjoyable affair – as long as you’re not a Villa fan.

One of the main talking points of the first half was Bielsa’s controversial substitution of Pascal Struijk with just 21 minutes played. The substitution may have been a result of the defender receiving an early yellow card. Barkley and Grealish were trying to draw fouls out of him, so maybe Bielsa was right in his judgement.

Speaking of Grealish, he came the closest to breaking the deadlock in the first half. He shot from a tight angle after being fed by Trzeguet, but his shot was expertly cleared off the line by the hard-working Luke Ayling. Ayling made the mistake in the first place which led to the opportunity but he more than made amends as he made the incredible goal line clearance. Goal line technology had to be called into play to determine if it crossed the line or not, which shows just how close Grealish went.

Grealish was involved again towards the end of the half as he was bundled over inside the box. There were claims for a penalty, but VAR determined there was minimal contact to warrant a spot kick.

Bamford went close a handful of times during the first half and his determination paid off in the 55^th minute. Bamford turned poacher as Emi Martinez’s palmed save fell to his feet and he made no mistake with the finish.

There was a penalty claim not long afterwards as Bamford went down theatrically after a coming together with Mings. Replays, however, showed that there was no contact made by Mings.

Moments after the penalty incident, Bamford got his second. This time it was a brilliant goal. Klich ran through the middle before finding Bamford who took a touch before blasting the ball into the top corner from outside the box. It was a stunning goal from the Leeds striker.

Bamford completed his hat trick on the 73^rd with another spectacular goal. Leeds once again moved the ball well before the ball made its way to Bamford. He displayed some expert close control to find himself some space before bending his shot around the opposition defender to find the net. Bamford has had his critics in the past few years but he showed tonight that he was capable of performing at a very high level.

Hat-trick Bamford #AVLLEE @LUFC pic.twitter.com/TJpQmuNgny

— Premier League (@premierleague) OCTOBER 23, 2020

Pablo Hernandez went close for Leeds a couple of times before the final whistle ended but failed to find the net.

It was a brilliant performance by Leeds tonight as they easily dismantled of an inform Aston Villa outfit. If they continue to perform like they have tonight for the remainder of the season, who knows how far they could go.

Leeds’ next Premier League fixture is against Leicester on Monday. Like tonight’s game, Leeds vs. Leicester should also prove to be an enticing affair.

The post Bamford masterclass as Leeds cruise to victory against Aston Villa appeared first on SportsNewsIreland.

Despite receiving numerous amounts of criticism last season while playing in the Championship, due to the number of chances that he missed, the striker still racked up an impressive tally of 16 goals in a Leeds team that makes creating chances look easy.

While it might be a gamble to include Bamford in the Republic of Ireland national squad, there have been many instances in both life and business where gambles have paid off as football fans themselves will know. Gambling and football are closely related and with football-based slots from NetEnt such as the Champions Cup Slot, picking Bamford could be similar to hitting the jackpot.

Having cantered to the Championship title last season, Leeds have continued their fine form in the Premier League and that is largely in no small part, thanks to Bamford. With three impressive finishes in his club’s first three top flight games of the campaign, including a masterful strike against last season’s champions Liverpool, it seems that at long last, he really is starting to show his potential.

Could Marcelo Bielsa’s coaching of Bamford help Republic of Ireland?

Under the maverick Leeds boss [Marcelo] Bielsa, Bamford is clearly one player who has come on leaps and bounds under the Argentinian’s stewardship. A coach who is renowned for his extraordinary levels of detail, this is reflected in the way his team’s play, with a focus on high intensity and flowing football.

One area of Bamford’s game that has never been called into question is his work rate and willingness to put in the extra yard for his team. While he was criticised on many occasions for missing chances, there is also the argument that thanks to his endeavour, he was able to get into those positions. Something that Bielsa has no doubt drilled into him.

In addition to this, his physical nature means that he can bring other players into the game by being able to hold up the ball, while his aerial presence makes him a threat from attacking set-pieces, while he can also defend aerial deliveries for his own rearguard. Again, a trait that has undoubtedly been influenced by Bielsa.

Could this benefit the Republic of Ireland squad?

Currently, the national team have David McGoldrick who plays for fellow Premier League side Sheffield United (who Bamford bagged the winner against this season), however, at 32, question marks remain how long the Blades striker can keep on playing at the highest level.

Other options include Scott Hogan, who has shown promise but plays for Championship side Birmingham City, while Troy Parrott (Tottenham) is definitely one for the future.

With midfielders Conor Hourihane, Jeff Hendrick and James McCarthy, Republic of Ireland certainly have enough creativity in their team for Bamford to benefit. His progress under Bielsa will only carry on getting better and following Leeds United’s club record signing of Spain international striker Rodrigo, it appears that this has spurred the former Chelsea youth player on.

When should Kenny act?

Arguably, he should have been picked for the latest internationals. This is because if he continues his fine form for Leeds then Republic of Ireland could be in danger of losing him to England. It would be interesting to see who Bamford would opt for if he was given both choices.

However, England boss Gareth Southgate is arguably spoilt for choice in that area, with Harry Kane, Marcus Rashford and recent call-up Dominic Calvert-Lewin of Everton. This means that he would arguably have a much better chance of starting for Kenny’s side.

The post Could now be the time to see Patrick Bamford in a Republic of Ireland shirt? appeared first on SportsNewsIreland.

The 61-year-old, who was the Ireland manager at the time, had asked Bamford to consider his Irish ancestry and turn out for the men from the boys in green. As civil as ever, Bamford politely refused and said he needed time to think, which, naturally, did very little for McCarthy’s usual charitable disposition. 

All of this happened at a time when the striker was battling away for promotion to the Premier League with Leeds United. It has to be said that any Championship forward that is offered the chance to play on the international stage is normally quick to take it with both hands. Indeed, there is a lot to gain from playing internationally. Apart from the obvious financial incentive, players are also able to enjoy the honour that comes with being an international player. 

Patrick Bamford, however, seems at peace with letting that opportunity slip by, at least for Ireland. The feeling is that Bamford, who is a proud Englishman, would rather give up on the chance of many international appearances for Ireland, in the hope that he can eventually get a cap for England. Now, there will be many who scoff at that but since his club side Leeds returned to the Premier League after getting promoted last season, Bamford has done himself no harm in throwing his name into Gareth Southgate’s England hat.

Virgil van Dijk doesn’t make mistakes like this very often

But Patrick Bamford made sure to punish him pic.twitter.com/u6PkcC7c6i

— Goal (@goal) September 13, 2020

The 27-year-old is enjoying a 100% strike rate having netted in both of Leeds’ games. The first came in a sensational 4-3 thriller at Anfield after he capitalised on some poor defending from Virgil Van Dijk, by cooly chipping the onrushing Alisson.

The second was a clever finish against Fulham in a game that would see Leeds run out 4-3 winners this time around. Of course, many may point to Fulham’s defensive frailties and if you were to look at the Lottoland Sportsbook, you’d see the Cottagers are indeed the favourites to be relegated from the Premier League. This may lead you to think that Bamford’s achievement of scoring against them wasn’t all that impressive, but for the first time in his career, the striker is getting into the right place at the right time.

Patrick Bamford gets his goal thanks to a cool finish!

He has two in two this season after scoring only once in his previous 2⃣7⃣ Premier League games pic.twitter.com/LJ5DlLAkmb

— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) September 19, 2020

What’s more, both of his goals have come from his right foot, which was always considered to be his weaker one. All of this suggests that Bamford has addressed some of the problems that were hindering his progress in front of goal. Whether the floodgates open for good and Southgate does actually begin to see Bamford as part of his plans remains to be seen. 

But this all points to the fact that there is no almost zero chance that the 27-year-old will ever play for Ireland as his outside odds of being picked for England have increased ever so slightly. That’s probably all the justification that Bamford needs to keep sticking to his decision by giving the Irish national team the cold shoulder. 

The post Why Patrick Bamford is unlikely to ever answer Ireland’s call appeared first on SportsNewsIreland.