‘No one even looking’… BBC pundit says £10m Leeds man was ignored 25 times by his teammates yesterday

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BBC pundit Jon Newsome has expressed his frustration at Leeds United’s insistence to keep passing ‘sidewards and backwards’ at West Brom.

Leeds suffered back-to-back defeats for the first time under Daniel Farke at the Hawthorns following the 2-1 defeat at Preston North End on Boxing Day.

The loss was Leeds’ sixth on the road already this season with it a familiar tale of being unable to break down a side content to defend deep, due to a lack of urgency in the final third.

Having made four changes to his starting XI from Tuesday, Farke opted to make a triple substitution on the hour mark after a lacklustre Leeds display, one of which included bringing on Patrick Bamford.

Speaking on BBC Radio Leeds’ post-match show, Newsome says Bamford was the only player looking to do something different and run in behind, but his teammates persistently ignored him.

Bamford could be the answer away from home

He said: “Patrick Bamford getting a bit of stick about being caught offside but at least he came on and said, play in behind. Let me a make threat in behind, one clip over the top, Rutter did it first half and should’ve scored.

“When you’re playing a game of football there’s not just one way of playing, it’s a game of cat and mouse. I just think we’re so intent on keeping the ball, Gruev and Ampadu passing it sidewards and backwards.

“Bamford must’ve made 25 runs in that second half that no one even looked at. A number of times he was curving, running across the line and wanting to dive in, then when he was caught offside he was saying quicker.

“I get it, I’m not saying he’s the answer to everything but I just think sometimes we have to find a different way of scoring goals.”

Bamford was caught offside a couple of times when one of his runs was eventually picked out by Gruev, but part of the blame should be absorbed by how long it was taking to find him.

When Leeds are away from home, Joel Piroe has proven to be incredibly ineffective in recent weeks, with his last goal on the road coming all the way back in September at Millwall.

In order to solve the current away day struggles, Farke should consider handing the £10m man a start over Piroe, with Georginio Rutter dropping a bit deeper, just to provide a new dynamic to Leeds’ attack.