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‘Can fly under the radar’ – These Leeds fans discuss if ‘19/20 will see 5 ft 9 ace flourish

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Tyler Roberts enjoyed his breakthrough campaign at Elland Road last season, but the young Leeds forward faces question marks over his role under Marcelo Bielsa in the upcoming term.

The 5 ft 9 ace was overlooked in the early stages of the Argentine’s inaugural season at the helm, but caught a break in September when Kemar Roofe suffered a calf problem in training that would ensure he missed the next six games.

Patrick Bamford was likewise sidelined at the time after he damaged ligaments in his knee during an Under 23s clash, which ruled the summer signing from Middlesbrough out of 15 matches.

We now go into the new campaign without Roofe once more after a collision in Australia left the Walsall-born forward with an ankle injury, which was thankfully not as bad as first feared when images surfaced of the 26-year-old wearing a protective boot.

Bamford is fit this time around, though, so he will likely be the man called on by Bielsa when United travel to Bristol City at the start of August. However, some of the Elland Road faithful continue to harbour doubt in the striker’s ability to find the back of the net after his efforts last season.

When fit, the 25-year-old recorded the most touches per ninety minutes inside the box of any Championship player, but was often jeered by the Whites supporters at games for his struggles to fashion shots on target.

Altogether across his 23 second-tier outings for the Whites, totalling 1,450 minutes on the field, Bamford took 68 shots on goal, with just 24 actually being deemed to have found the target by WhoScored.

One of his strikes was marked as hitting the post, while 17 were blocked and 27 were considered to have gone wide – accounting for 38 per cent of his shots.

Roofe, meanwhile, played 2,510 minutes across his 33 appearances, in which he found the target with 38 of his 101 efforts, with 42 being deemed off target, 21 blocked and likewise saw one hit the post.

Roberts, on the other hand, played in 28 of our fixtures with his outings spread across the attack and midfield, yet saw 21 of his 57 strikes find the target, and three ripple the back of the net.

The question marks over whether Bamford will be able to improve his numbers next term, and whether Roofe can deliver at the same level again, has led to some debate over whether Roberts can flourish in 2019/20 and cement his place in the first-team.

Here’s what these United supporters have shared…

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