BBC pundit Chris Sutton has defended Leeds United striker Patrick Bamford against claims that he can’t perform under pressure.
What’s the latest on Leeds and Patrick Bamford?
It certainly wasn’t a good day for the £70k-p/w striker when coming up against Newcastle United in the club’s latest Premier League outing.
Indeed, having already taken the lead through Luke Ayling, Bamford had the chance to make it 2-0 inside the first half an hour but missed from the spot kick.
To make things worse, the Magpies scored their own penalty just minutes later as Callum Wilson finished the day having netted twice from the spot while Rasmus Kristensen at least rescued a point in the 2-2 draw.
The English forward was slammed in the Daily Mail player ratings, getting a 3/10 with journalist Jason Mellor writing: “You can’t miss penalties, especially in Leeds’ predicament. Bamford’s latest costly gaffe helped turn the tide Newcastle’s way.”
While adding of NUFC’s Wilson: “Twice held his nerve to make it seven goals in the last five games to show the hapless Bamford exactly how to take penalties under pressure.”
This is the second time Bamford has missed from 12 yards this season, having also missed against Arsenal and it seems some supporters simply feel he can’t cope with the pressure.
Indeed, while talking about a fan theory that claims as much on BBC Radio Show 606, Sutton actually came to the striker’s defence, saying it was “unfair”.
The pundit explained (1:01:39): “There is this theory from Leeds fans that the season which Bamford scored all those goals was the [virus] season. And he doesn’t necessarily handle pressure very well.
“I mean, where are you on that? I think that’s slightly unfair. I think he scores the goals anyway.”
How many big chances has Bamford missed this season?
When you look at the fact that Bamford’s best-ever goalscoring season in the Premier League did come when games were mostly played behind closed doors – as he netted 17 times in 2020/21 – it’s easy to come to one conclusion.
However, that doesn’t take into account the fact that it’s also the only campaign where he’s been fit enough to play every game – as he featured just nine times the season after and has been in and out of the team with injury issues this term too.
What’s more, he seemed to handle the pressure comfortably enough when helping the club get promoted from the Championship, netting 16 times in the league.
With all that in mind, it probably is a bit unfair to completely dismiss the striker as a bottle job but at the same time, he’s not done much to help his cause in recent times.
In fact, when you look across the division, he ranks eighth for the most ‘big chances missed’ (with 38) but has far fewer goals than any of the strikers above him with only four to his name in the league.
