Easy Patrick Bamford target, brutal Leeds United truth and Whites player priority: David Prutton

If you look at the results during the course of mid-week, if you base it on that alone, it's not going to be straightforward. Who would have seen Leicester City losing at Millwall? Who would have seen Ipswich Town drawing a blank at home to Watford and Leeds doing the same at home to Sunderland? It's the first time in a long while that all three teams haven't scored a goal in a match round.

Obviously, the preference would be for Leeds United's automatic promotion destiny to be in their own hands. But it's absolutely not over given the dynamics of what the Championship is and there are some big games coming up in there too with Leicester against Southampton being one that jumps out.

A fundamental of what Leeds United are about is not giving up. Leeds had a wonderful run of results and the last two have been disappointing, the Coventry City defeat in particular. But all is not lost.

There would be an element of worry about Leeds' recent actual performances. I think that in the last four games, maybe that real top level rhythm that they've been in, hasn't quite been there. But when you do judge it you have got to look at the standards that they've set, unbelievable standards.

The start of the season was such a long time ago and Leeds then got up through the gears with this wonderful unbeaten run at home. What they've got in reserve and the type of players that they've got have by and large performed very, very well.

The Championship is unrelenting and unforgiving and we know that Daniel Farke has called upon a lot of the same players for a lot of the time. I'm not saying there's any fatigue in it, but it would be understandable given the pressure that they're working under.

Yes, pressure is relative when you are talking about a game. But there is so much about what Leeds have done to like. I'm not saying you can just dismiss it but you can forgive them a couple of games of not being at the top level, just as long as this next game against Blackburn is then back to something near their best and killing teams off.

Blackburn's recent results inherently shows what the Championship is, totally unpredictable. They smash five past Sunderland and then get hammered a couple of weeks later by five themselves at Bristol City this week.Rovers boss John Eustace will be looking for a reaction.

He knows that his remit as Rovers boss is getting to the summer and maybe look to replenish and rebuild but get to the summer in one piece and don't get dragged inexorably towards that bottom three. They will know that they are coming up against a Leeds side against whom they will concede a lot of possession.

They are going to have to potentially work on the counter attack and the pressure is not necessarily on them. The pressure is on them to get three points, of course. But we are there on the telly looking at Leeds United looking to try and get back to the top of the league and the pressure is on them to go and perform, to dominate the game, to dominate possession, to create chances, to attack freely as we know they can do. So that's where that pressure comes in.

Blackburn have got some very, very good players, not least Sammie Szmodics of course as long as he's fit. He has racked up a comical amount of goals this season and Blackburn can hurt you. But again, as I keep saying, these teams that come in front of Leeds, they've got to absolutely respect them.

But you have got to realise that if you want Premier League football, you have to beat teams like this because - let's be brutally honest - what Leeds saw in the Premier League are better teams than this on a weekly basis.So if you can't be a team that's been inconsistent in the Championship, then what God given right have you got to get up into the Premier League? That's the way they have got to see it.

People will call for changes after two games without a win and Patrick Bamford appears to be getting flak. But flak for what? Georginio Rutter has not been at his best. Crysencio Summerville has set wonderful standards but there's still got to be more from him and are we looking at more from Dan James creatively? Then Leeds need better set pieces I think all round from everyone that steps up to take them.

Patrick getting criticised is such an easy one and he will always be an easy one but he's always the first one to step up and talk about the game. He's always the first to front up and take responsibility for his performances and the team.

But because of the demeanour of the fella, I think people just think it's an easy one to be able to kind of steam it and say what the situation is with regards to him. It's easy to go after him at the minute which is rubbish really. But that's just how things go and that happens to a player at times.

I'm sure Patrick is tough enough to take it on the chin but he will also know that he needs to be scoring goals just as the team as a whole needs to be scoring goals. Therein lies that responsibility.

We've also seen Stuart Dallas announce his retirement this week due to injury and I was able to get a message to him because Jonathan Douglas, an ex-Leeds United captain of course, knows him very, very well. I asked for his number just to send a quick text because I'd seen his speech to the rest of the team which is obviously on Twitter and I saw his message to the fans as well which was also put out on socials. And it just really does reaffirm how fragile that type of job and profession can be and how precarious it is.

First and foremost, you look at the length of time he has been out. We did a game earlier on in the season where we had spoken to him. When you cover so much football, you talk about so many different football teams and football players and then you have a quick look at how long Stu has been out. Two years. You think crikey.

That is an awfully long time to then think that there's going to be a happy ending from a playing point of view. There can't be many people that have been out for that length of time that get back into the game. The hard-headed side of you is thinking that if gets back it'll be a wonderful achievement so when the news does come out after such a long time, your heart does break for him because you know for a fact that with the type of player that he is and the type of professional that he would have worked everything, mentally, emotionally, physically. No stone would have been left unturned trying to get back fit.

Knowing the physio department, they're all very good people, all very highly skilled people who would have done absolutely everything for him. Living in the area and now knowing lots of Leeds fans, I know that he was as big a part of that Marcelo Bielsa team as anyone else. He was a huge part of it in the way that he performed.

His levels went up under Marcelo and the player and as a person he was very much the absolute epitome of what you want from a Leeds United Premier League footballer. His standards were high on and off the pitch, he was approachable, personable, hard as nails, worked his socks off.

I'm saying all this and then you mention his actual ability, international standard ability so that's testament to the type of player that he was and the fact that he's hoovered up teammates across his career that are all standing and stepping forward to pay tribute to him, really does reflect what an all round, proper professional person he was, and he will be fondly remembered. It's a sad way to finish.

I finished at 32 - the same age - for different reasons. My career dried up. So for them to think there's still professional gas left in the tank, but your body can't do that, will be something that he'll have to work through. It won't be easy but I'm sure he's got very, very good people around him and he's surrounded himself with good people.

From what I hear and from the tributes that I have seen, he has got a lovely family as well, which is another wonderful, wonderful part of his life that he's got to be very, very proud of. There is a lot to be sad about with this but he does strike me as a man that has got a lot of perspective in his life, that will grow into what post playing looks like. There'll be a little period now which maybe he has spent a couple of years/18 months getting his head around of what comes next.

As ever in football, if you get into your 30s you've done an amazing job but you are still a young man. In any other profession, you are just spreading your wings a little bit. There will be an element of that which he will need to work through which he will have to keep an eye on and those loved ones and those closest to him will have to keep an eye out to make sure he's all right.

But the main thing that you want to make sure that he takes from it, which is not necessarily a reflection of the type of player that he is and nor is it an ego thing is that he just needs to know and I'm sure he does and hopefully you'll see against Blackburn, just how unbelievably loved he is.

It helps when you affect football on the pitch. It helps when you help a club out of its slumber back into the Premier League. It helps when you are part of one of the most recent successful times of Leeds United. All of this really does help. But fundamentally it's the person that's kind of set those foundations at Leeds United and he'll always be fondly remembered.

I passed through the club very, very briefly, messed around for a bit and people still talk to me about it. But he actually did something for the club, lifted the Championship title, gave it its pride back, got people back in the stadium, bums back on seats, noise back in that wonderful stadium and really kind of re-energised what the fan base and the club meant to people.

He's got to take a huge amount of responsibility for that and as everyone kind of waves him fondly on his way he will always be remembered.