Leeds United return to Championship action this afternoon in the hope of picking up their first win of the season against West Bromwich Albion.
The Whites travel to The Hawthorns to take on the Baggies in their second match of the second tier campaign, having drawn 3-3 with Portsmouth at Elland Road last weekend.
Daniel Farke's team competed in the League Cup in West Yorkshire on Wednesday night and endured a rough evening as they were beaten 3-0 by Middlesbrough.
The German head coach must now make changes to the starting XI from that match. Patrick Bamford is one player who must be ruthlessly ditched from the side.
Why Patrick Bamford should be dropped
The former England international was given an opportunity to impress from the start after he had been left on the bench for the draw with Pompey.
Unfortunately, it was not one that he grasped with both hands. Instead, Bamford put in a disappointing performance at the top end of the pitch.
Minutes played
90
Shots on target
0
Goals
0
Key passes
0
Assists
0
Duels won
1/6
As you can see in the table above, the 30-year-old attacker did not make any impact in the final third and struggled out of possession, as Middlesbrough's players dominated him in duels.
LeedsLive journalist Beren Cross awarded him a player rating of 3/10 and stated that the striker did not give the opposition defenders anything to think about, which is backed up by his dreadful statistics from the game.
Due to his poor display, Farke must ruthlessly ditch the liability, on and off the ball, from the starting XI and unleash academy graduate Mateo Joseph in his place this afternoon.
Why Farke must unleash Joseph
Whilst Bamford is in the latter stages of his playing career, the 20-year-old starlet is at the start of his Leeds career and will benefit from regular game time this season.
He showed signs of promise as a starter against Portsmouth last weekend, with four duels won, two out of three dribbles completed, and two shots on target – more than Bamford managed on Wednesday.
Joseph, as you can see in the clips above, also scored four goals in pre-season to convince Farke that he was ready to start the season as the club's first-choice number nine.
It is now down to the 5 foot 11 star, who was described as "dynamite" in the box by U23 scout Antonio Mango, had caught the eye at youth level prior to his first-team emergence.
The Spain U21 international scored a fantastic 19 goals in 33 appearances for the club's U21s, which suggests that the potential is there for him to score goals on a regular basis, if he can eventually translate that to the senior side.
Joseph did show signs of promise in a first-team start against Premier League side Chelsea last term, with two goals at Stamford Bridge in a 3-2 defeat.
Therefore, Farke must unleash the talented young prospect again from the start and drop Bamford from the starting XI that lost to Middlesbrough during the week, as he has the potential to develop into a lethal scorer for the Whites.
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1 ByDan EmeryAug 15, 2024