Patrick Bamford says Leeds United's players will never be questioning Marcelo Bielsa's approach

LEEDS United striker Patrick Bamford knows the scoreline in Sunday’s clash at Manchester United could have been anything.
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Red Devils boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer felt the game could have ended 12-4 and Bamford held a similar opinion.

“It could have been 10-2 to Man United” admitted the Whites no 9 – who also felt there was reason for optimists to suggest Leeds could have taken a 6-6 draw.

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As it was, the Whites are now licking their wounds following the heaviest defeat of Whites head coach Marcelo Bielsa’s tenure following a 6-2 chasing.

BELIEF: From Leeds United striker Patrick Bamford and the rest of the Whites squad as Bamford shows his frustration during Sunday's 6-2 hiding at Manchester United. Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images.BELIEF: From Leeds United striker Patrick Bamford and the rest of the Whites squad as Bamford shows his frustration during Sunday's 6-2 hiding at Manchester United. Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images.
BELIEF: From Leeds United striker Patrick Bamford and the rest of the Whites squad as Bamford shows his frustration during Sunday's 6-2 hiding at Manchester United. Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images.

Ultimately, Bielsa’s high press and attacking football failed to produce the desired outcome in the club’s first league clash at Old Trafford for nearly 17 years.

Yet Bamford says there is no chance of Leeds’ players questioning Bielsa’s style of play with the Whites forward saying it is instead down to himself and his team-mates to better execute Bielsa’s plan.

As the dust settled at Old Trafford following the heavy reverse, Bamford was asked if there might come a time when United’s players could suggest to Bielsa that they tweak the way they play.

The answer, though, was clear.

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“No I don’t think so,” Bamford told BBC’s West Yorkshire Sport.

“We’re fully behind the manager, the majority of us have worked with him for three years now.

“We know what he demands, we know the high levels that he demands.

“Ultimately if we play exactly the way he wanted to we’d win the game – we’d win every match.

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"But we’re human so we make errors and we’re sometimes not quite at it.

“It’s fine margins. If we win the ball the way we play, we have won it outside their 18-yard box and it’s a great chance of scoring a goal but if we’re a little bit late to the press we’re then caught out and when you get caught out against Rashford and Martial and people with that kind of pace, with Bruno Fernandes they can make you pay for it.”

Solskjaer’s side did exactly that in a game featuring 43 attempts at goal for the two sides as Leeds looked to attack from the off.

That, though, meant space for the Red Devils to exploit and the ruthless hosts netted with six of their 26 attempts in goal, 14 of which were on target.

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Leeds themselves had 17 attempts at goal with Bamford responsible for three of them which were all wide of the mark.

He wasn’t alone with only three of United’s attempts on target.

In any case, by the third minute, the Whites were already 2-0 down.

Assessing whether Leeds were surprised by the home side’s start, Bamford reasoned: “I don’t know if it surprised us, but you can probably say that given they scored straight away.

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“But they penned us in, they’ve obviously watched us a lot and saw where to try and push us down an alleyway.

“We started softly to be honest and that’s the most disappointing thing – in a big game like this, a derby, where it means so much to the club and the fans and I’m almost glad that the fans weren’t allowed in here to watch that because that it would have felt even worse sending them home after seeing that.

“But it’s tough one because 6-2 – if you are an optimistic Leeds fan it could have been 6-6 or you could also say it could have been 10-2 to Man United.

“It was a strange game and we just didn’t do ourselves justice.

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Bamford added: “Everyone is frustrated and disappointed but we’ve got to stick together.

"That was one of the things that the captains of the group have come in and said ‘look lads, we can’t play like that, but we stick together, we don’t blame anyone and don’t single people out, it’s a team game’.

“We as a team haven’t performed to the level that we should have today and we’ve got to take that on the chin.

“It’s frustrating and difficult to go back in there and look at everyone, after knowing that we’ve given all we can but that we have not performed to the level that we should.”

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This is, after all, a Leeds side that have already taken points off three sides in the division’s current top nine in Manchester City, Everton and Aston Villa with the latter two falling to defeat.

Sunday’s victory put the Red Devils third, but Bamford knows Leeds were capable of better.

Yet again, the Whites still took the plaudits for their impressive attacking football – yet that was of little consolation for Bamford whose side will now be working hard on perfecting Bielsa’s plan.

Bamford reasoned: “I can imagine for the neutral that watching Leeds is a fascinating watch all the time.

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"But to be honest ’d have much preferred a boring 1-0 win but it is our style of play.

“It is fine margins, sometimes it works but if you’re one yard out of place, one step out of time you get picked off against the best players like they have.”

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Thank you Laura Collins