The best Leeds United striker choice and rivals' template to beat Bournemouth: David Prutton

Leeds United's win at Liverpool was amazing and a bonus three points that nobody saw coming, even allowing for the uncharacteristic vulnerability that Jurgen Klopp's side have shown at times this season.
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But, even so, everything that came out of that game from a Leeds point of view was utterly joyous. Even Jesse Marsch's dancing is something that we can forgive in a situation such as that. I am always a bit sceptical over whether a team 'deserved' the three points or not because fundamentally all that matters is that Leeds won the game.

Leeds took their chances, Liverpool didn't take theirs and if you are profligate and if the goalie has a worldly then why doesn't he deserve the win? I don't think Leeds fans care a stuff really about 'deserving' the win and they just came away from what has been an extremely tough place to get three points from for a long, long time as winners.

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I have played in games such as those where you have to rely on everyone being at least a seven or above out of ten and you have got to pray that your goalie has a very good day which he did. As and when you get your chances, you have also got to take them. From a trip that was very very ominous, from a Leeds point of view they came out of there with a wonderful glow but we all know that today's clash against Bournemouth comes around very, very quickly and this is now the most important game.

EXAMPLE: David Prutton says Leeds United can take a leaf out of Southampton's book and how they recorded a 1-0 victory against Bournemouth last month in which Che Adams, pictured, headed home the only goal of the game. Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images.EXAMPLE: David Prutton says Leeds United can take a leaf out of Southampton's book and how they recorded a 1-0 victory against Bournemouth last month in which Che Adams, pictured, headed home the only goal of the game. Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images.
EXAMPLE: David Prutton says Leeds United can take a leaf out of Southampton's book and how they recorded a 1-0 victory against Bournemouth last month in which Che Adams, pictured, headed home the only goal of the game. Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images.

I think the general consensus would be that Leeds picked up bonus points against Liverpool and are now looking at expected points against Bournemouth. But this where Leeds have probably fallen down so far this season, playing against teams that you would deem to be of a similar level. I understand that a Leeds fan could read that and question that but I mean it literally in being in the Premier League and in the top division.

I think interim Cherries boss Gary O'Neil is seeing how tough the job is there at Bournemouth but he's making a decent fist of it in his first run of being a Premier League manager and as much as it is a point of debate, VAR has been the bane of his life with regards to how Bournemouth have got on.

But let's not dial it down, Bournemouth can cause Leeds problems and there's no way Leeds can take it lightly after beating Liverpool. Just take the Nottingham Forest example, the literal example of them beating Liverpool but then getting absolutely battered in the next game.

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The high that you get from winning a game such as against Liverpool has got to feed into the fundamentals that then become your bread and butter against a Bournemouth side that will fancy themselves against Leeds and Leeds should fancy themselves against Bournemouth. But this is the test of the players' mettle when it comes to being expected to go into a game and getting at least a point whereas at Liverpool we all thought that anything other than a defeat would be a bonus.

Luis Sinisterra is facing a spell out injured but Crysencio Summerville has shown composure in big games and we also had the mystical introduction of the Italian that nobody had seen at Liverpool in Willy Gnonto. Leeds had tried just about everything else but they hadn't tried him for whatever reason that I can't understand and I thought he had a great impact. He and Summerville both showed what they could do and sometimes that fearlessness pays off.

The best version of Leeds that we have seen in the past couple of years has been one that has been fearless but also disciplined if that's too much of an oxymoron so give them a bit more of a go. Obviously there is the tried and tested and there are injuries but welcome to the Premier League heading into a World Cup. Everybody has got injuries and while they can be a reason for a situation, they cannot be used as an excuse at all because they are part and parcel of what football is. But both Gnonto and Summerville did well at Liverpool and Summerville should be having the time of his life having just turned 21.

The main Leeds selection issue concerns who will start upfront out of Patrick Bamford and Rodrigo and that's a tough one. I would err on the side of Patrick because he reminds me of being more hardworking than Rodrigo but it's getting a bit beyond that in that goals are needed and there is a reliance on other areas.

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I think there has always been a question mark on that with Leeds when they haven't had a striker that is getting the volume of goals that you need to be competitive in the Premier League. You have then got to look around as to where they are coming from. Between the two of them it's not for the want of trying and they have had their chances. It's literally the toss of a coin.

Maybe it will be Bamford because of what Leeds did in the second half at Liverpool and if they can do that with that type of player against Liverpool then, in theory, on paper, you think that they should beat Bournemouth. But it won't be as easy as that and collectively it is something that needs to be addressed whether that's by the service into them or them being profligate.

I think it's fair to say that neither of them are in that purple patch that Leeds need them in at all and it's a tough one but Patrick has proved himself as a no 9 for Leeds whereas the jury was still firmly out with Rodrigo going into the new season.

He had a bright start which was then curtailed by an injury but scoring in football is the hardest thing to do. It's a collective responsibility that always falls on the shoulders of a single player and I will be intrigued to see what they do to try and remedy that.

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I watched Southampton play Bournemouth down at Bournemouth's gaff and this was a Southampton side that have been up and down. Even at some stages in that game when they were making changes I heard Southampton fans singing about their own manager losing his job.

There are similarities with Leeds in the form of a bit of discontent, how it has been approached and how things have happened. But what Southampton did to Bournemouth was have Che Adams upfront with Adam Armstrong and I have not seen a centre forward work that hard in a long time.

That's no detriment to the centre forwards that I have seen but Che Adams was above and beyond what I have seen and we are talking about a player that took a while to find his feet in the Premier League. There was a lot of pressure on him to be the next Southampton centre forward to get the goals but from that point of view, there's your benchmark. Every single Southampton player worked their socks off and we are talking about a Southampton side that have flirted at the wrong end of the division at times and can go in fits and starts.

But that's the template. In any Premier League game, if you get your front two working like that then everyone takes a lead off them and they were well worthy winners on the night. There's an example of how you beat Bournemouth.