Both of Leeds United’s Championship defeats this season can certainly be filed in the frustrating category.
The Whites‘ 1-0 loss to Burnley in September was followed by a defeat via the same scoreline at Millwall on Wednesday night.
In both matches Leeds dominated the vast majority of possession but struggled to do anything meaningful with it, conceding to a pair of soft goals.
Leeds huffed and puffed in the second half at the Den and despite their inability to create chances, it was not until the 70th minute when Daniel Farke decided to make a change.
Pundit Jon Newsome criticised Farke for his choice of substitutions, which saw him throw all of Leeds’ attack options on, thus losing any sort of shape in midfield, and their creativity with it.
How Patrick Bamford reacted at full-time of Leeds loss
Leeds fans have grown frustrated at Farke for how long he takes before looking to his bench in games where they are trailing, with last night no different.
Joel Piroe played the full 90 minutes in attack despite having little to no impact throughout, again something which Leeds have become accustomed to in these difficult away matches.
It was not until less than 10 minutes from time that Farke opted to bring both Mateo Joseph and Patrick Bamford on. Unfortunately, it was no where near enough time for them to make an impact.
And according to Leeds Live‘s off-camera moments piece from the match, Bamford visibly expressed his frustration at the full-time whistle.
They wrote: “As the striker went off after full-time, he was slapping the outreached hands of his team-mates, but in a highly exaggerated, frustrated manner with a big swing each time.”
Whether that was down to how little time he got on the pitch, or a dreadful refereeing decision that had gone against him a few minutes earlier is another question, but clearly he wasn’t happy.
He touched the ball just twice after coming on, giving him virtually no chance to stake a claim for a starting spot in Leeds’ side.
Gary Rowett shares how Bamford is feeling at Leeds
After last night’s game at Millwall, Bamford has now played just 56 minutes of football in the Championship so far this season.
Part of that has been down to injury, but Farke has barely used Bamford whenever he has been available, as he is now third-choice.
Speaking even before he entered the field of play on commentary, Gary Rowett spoke of how frustrated Bamford will be right now.
He said: “He’s hardly played, I bet he’s utterly frustrated at the moment at Leeds. He’s got five or six players ahead of him.”
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