Good Morning. It's Wednesday 19th April, and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road Has Bamford become a passenger During Bielsa's reign, we saw all players covering every blade of grass. If they didn't, they wouldn't be in the squad. Since returning from long term injury, it's fair to say that Patrick Bamford no longer fits into that category. With approximately 18,000 miles on the clock, the 29yo still shows glimpses of brilliance, but is it enough to guarantee him a starting position? Although his job description probably doesn't mention tracking back, Leeds can ill afford to carry passengers, especially when their present plight looks so onimous. please log in to view this image How long will Bamford be out for With 1134 minutes of game time under his belt, it was hoped that Patrick Bamford's injury woes were behind him, and that he would rediscover his form, and save Leeds from relegation. Unfortunately, neither scenario looks plausible after his latest injury set back. The 29yo picked up a calf strain during the Palace massacre, and could be out for weeks. Although not thought to be serious, the Leeds No 9's injury records over the past several years have hit Forshawesque proportions, and the physio's will be taking extra care to ensure he's match fit before returning to first team action. please log in to view this image Building for the future flawed, if in the short term, Leeds are relegated Phil Hay has written an interested article in 'The Athletic' this morning covering the recruitment process at Elland Road. Whilst Messrs Radrizzani and Orta should be commented for building a squad for the future, the entire recruitment process is flawed, should Leeds get relegated. Not only will they lose their portion of the Sky monies, but every predator worth their salt will be circling around West Yorkshire, ready to pick apart the Leeds Utd carcass until nothing is left. Hay highlights Rutter's cameo role against Liverpool as a 'partial example of why their season has reached crisis mode for a second time'. The raw facts are Leeds only have limited funds. They can't afford to splash out circa £30m and not expect that player to have an immediate impact on the game, a point Hay makes blatantly clear:- "Money alone says Georginio Rutter should possess an ounce of that talismanic dust. Rutter is young, admittedly, and visibly raw but he is Leeds’ most costly signing and 25 benign minutes on the pitch against Liverpool on Monday were, in microcosm, a partial example of why their season has reached crisis mode for a second time. Here is where vision crosses the line into luxury." "As a club and a business, Leeds like to build or to tell themselves they are building: hefty academy recruitment, a squad intended to peak at a later date and stadium redevelopment ideas that might get off the ground some day." "In future years, the theory is supposed to speak for itself because the decisions taken now, the gambles on longer-term growth, will be justified in time. Except to the naked eye, the short term is on fire and what comes next is wholly linked to it. Put another way, the blueprint of growth cannot have included the process of Leeds going down." "Rutter, to return to him, is a well-regarded prospect. There were plenty of recruitment departments in Europe watching him while Leeds were scouting him and plenty who saw him as a potentially worthwhile investment. There are clubs out there who could have signed him without the need for immediate impact on the basis that impact was already coming from existing players in their camp." "But Leeds? Leeds needed Rutter to make his presence felt in some form, to influence this season and nudge them forward. Peak Rutter wasn’t going to materialise at the age of 20 but at £30million ($37.3m) or thereabouts had to make an impact on results that were nowhere near under control when he signed in January." please log in to view this image
Morning all. Im fed up reading about prospects and most never materialise. At least in the Championship we were paying small money for flops, now we're throwing away tens of millions on similar. Am I missing something in that article. What squad for the future have they built?. I couldn't care less if every last one of them leaves. As fans we always demand 100% effort, that's all. This current lot couldn't care less. As for Bamford,
Good Morning from a chilly Bardsey The 9 teams vying for relegation has been whitled down to 5 Southampton LeicesterEverton Notts F and Leeds any 3 from 5 If Crystal P aand Liverpool can score over 5 goals each against us what will Man C score I am very affraid we are doomedto relegation unless we have a miracle and we have no Bamford well we have not had him for 2 yearsso its Plymouth etc next season
Hey Mike, hope you and Moe are well. I think its important for the team to just take one game at a time. I think we need a draw at Fulham, and a win against Leicester City to get back on track. Anything less.....
Bamford I’m afraid is goosed and will never get back to the form that saw him score 17 in the Prem. Too many injuries have taken a toll on his body and we cannot afford the time it takes him to get match fit and in fact he still isn’t match fit and still carries on picking up strains due the fact that he cannot get back full fitness, his body is goosed and even keeping him out and giving him time as Marsch tried to do an Gracia tried to do only results in another strain or pulled muscle. In effect the minutes played this season equates to 12.6 games and thats on top of the non playing time he had last season. Hay is correct we cannot afford to wait Rutter but we also cannot wait for Bamford. Not his fault he hasn’t played enough over the last 2 seasons, but our problems are in part due to him so for me he can go
https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co...allery-and-how-they-have-fared-4109189?page=1 Lot more misses than hits. As someone mentioned previously, Radz as spent but it's not been spent wisely, we've had,imo, an unbalanced squad for 4 seasons, big part of the reason we keep struggling.
Simple question. If Bamford was someone else’s player and was made available on a free, would our fans want to see us signing him
Afternoon all We are judging Rutter on the price tag, it's us who paid over the top for him, it isn't the poor lads fault. Saying that you have to look at our second most expensive signing and seeing how he is doing, Dan James out on loan, each day that passes it baffles me more and more how Orta hasn't been sacked and when you throw in the total spend on JKA including court costs and wages, you couldn't make it up. Back to Rutter, he is so out of his depth, Dan James or Joffy would be stronger options on the bench but we loaned them out. Bamford passed his sell by date over a season ago. If we survive this season, we need a coach who can have an immediate impact on Rutter or we loan him out, he is no use to us in his current form and appearing for 10 minutes off the bench
Wow I had forgot half of those, I went through counting the successes and I even included Costa as a success as he got us promoted as well as the likes of Bamford and being what I felt was generous with some, I counted 17 as being a success and my classification of success was you could class them as average. The other 30 a total waste of money. If they included the appointment of coaches it would read worse
If our squad was stronger we could afford to have the luxury of someone who could concentrate in the final third, but its literally all hands to the pump. I take your point about Sinisterra. I'd much rather start with Gnonto on the left wing, Summerville on the right, I'd have Harrison playing a more central role with Adams (obviously injured), Roca and McKennie lying for the double pivot role (which is wasted due as the line up can't put together 5 or 6 passes). The back four picks itself, only because we don't have anybody else.
Three out of first 24 I read. Other 21 failures for us. Can't be arsed reading further. Interesting tit bit I picked up at weekend from an extremely reliable source was re a certain IP currently on loan with Blackpool. On 29k a week and has an awful attitude allegedly
Exactly. On that dosh you expect the finished product not this nonsense of one for the future. We've hundreds of them
