I wonder how many more hints Marcelo Bielsa is going to need.
You’ve got pundits saying it, there are fans saying it, now you’ve even got members of the current Leeds squad suggesting that it could and should happen. I’m talking of course about giving Eddie Nketiah more minutes, but more specifically about pairing him with Patrick Bamford and putting an end to the trend that Leeds seem to be developing.
They know how to dominate the game, and yet on occasions they are struggling to find the back of the net. It happened against Nottingham Forest and just recently against Swansea City, and now one of the men at the very centre of the issue has had his say on the matter. That man is Patrick Bamford.
He spoke to the BBC’s Adam Pope during a recent visit to St James’s Hospital in Leeds about the young Arsenal loanee and whether or not he envisions the two of them starting together:
“I think so. Before coming here he’s played across the whole front three. He’s not just a striker. He can play no 7 & 11. Having 2 strikers automatically means they can’t just focus on 1 of you.”
Can there be a clearer message to Bielsa than that? When even someone in the squad can realise that there is something that needs to change within the team and is more or less calling out for it? I sometimes feel that Bielsa is sometimes a little too smart for his own good. Like his fascination with carrying small squads, then suffering the consequences when there’s a spate of injuries. Or bringing in so many players on loan that one of them ends up more or less frozen out of the squad.
How long must it take Bielsa to realise that the solution is right there under his nose? I’ve spoken before that Nketiah needs to be given more game time if his loan deal is to be worth it, so the sooner he works it out the better.
Do you think that Bielsa will make the change after the international break? Or do you think he’s going to have to wait to be forced into the change before it happens.