Leeds United have been one of the teams to watch so far this season. After their bright start to the season against Liverpool, Leeds United are now settling in well in England’s top flight of football. After their promotion from the Championship last season, Leeds recruited Rodrigo from Valencia, but Bamford was still tipped by club insiders to lead the line for the club from Yorkshire. There were some doubts and eyebrows raised if Bamford, the club’s top scorer last season in the Championship with 16 goals, was the right man to get the goals for Leeds in the Premier League.
However, six games into the Premier League season, Bamford has six goals at the rate of 1.10 goals per 90 minutes. This is an impressive return for someone who has very little previous experience in one of the world’s toughest leagues. Bamford scored his first Premier League hat trick against Aston Villa on Friday night. The below visualisation shows where his actions were in that game.
As the visualisation shows us, a majority of Bamford’s actions came from inside the box, which is common for any number nine. However, Bielsa’s teams are known for intense and organized playing style and Bamford is key in this system. The forward also drops deep to hold up play. This is quite evident in the map above.
Only Liverpool have attempted more shots than Leeds, and in the game against Aston Villa, Leeds had 28 attempts on goal with Bamford having the most attempts. The former Chelsea player has started the season well proving his doubters wrong, and if Leeds United are looking to finish high up the table, they will need Bamford to find the back of the net consistently.
