The #LUFC Breakfast Debate (Thursday 6th October) - Do Leeds lack Premier League quality firepower?
Good Morning. It's Thursday 6th October, and here are the latest headlines from Elland Road...
Leeds lack quality in the Premier League
Former Liverpool and England star Michael Owen believes Leeds should be concerned about the lack of fire power they have up front, and are destined to be fighting for survival, come May. Speaking candidly to 'Premier League Predictions', the 42yo named the Whites as being 'one of the teams that lack quality in the Premier League' and shared his concerns that lately Leeds 'don't really look like scoring'.
On face value, you think, ‘oh, you only just survived last season and now you have lost your best players’. Now they have recruited, but who knows what they will turn out like? They don’t score enough goals. Under the previous manager, they scored and conceded loads of goals.
But nowadays, they don’t really look like scoring goals. So, I would be quite concerned. They have had a decent enough start to the season, but I will be concerned for their future. They are one of the teams that lack quality in the Premier League and they could be one of them battling it out for survival at the end of the season.
Is Bamford the answer
With 193 (senior) minutes under his belt so far this term, it is hoped that Patrick Bamford's injury woes are finally behind him, and normal service can once again be resumed. His latest ailment (a knock he picked up in training) kept the 29yo out of the starting line up against Villa last weekend; fortunately, it was not serious.
On his day, Paddy can be prolific, and mix it with the best in the Premier League, but after an injury plagued (last) season, many are suggesting that his best days are behind him. In 560 minutes of game time (last season), he netted twice, and provided two assists, a far cry from the 17 goals, and 7 assists the season before.
Did Michael Owen make a valid point that Leeds don't look like they're going to score? Marsch has a host of young talent coming through the under 21 ranks, but as we have seen with Gelhardt, making the step-up to the first team is far from easy. Former player, now pundit Paul Scholes believes Bamford must stay fit if Leeds have a chance of survival this season...
The atmosphere is brilliant at Leeds. Once you get them fans going, it’s a really tough place to go. Has he got the team this year to survive? I don’t know. On the evidence against Aston Villa, they didn’t look great, they didn’t look like they had much of a threat up front.
Obviously, getting Bamford fit will be a big bonus for them. But the lad just can’t seem to stay fit for long. If he stays fit, then they have a chance because he scores goals, but they were lucky against Aston Villa and it was only Villa’s bad finishing that got them the point.
Raphinha - More smoke than fire
Italian media have slated Raphinha after his latest performance, as Barcelona slipped down to third place (out of four) in the Champions League group stages. A first half injury time winner from Inter Milan's Hakan Calhanoglu left the Catalan outfit with an uphill task of qualifying for the knockout stage, having already lost at Bayern Munich 2-0 several weeks ago.
Barcelona's money concerns have been well documented, and whilst they are flying domestically (six wins and a draw), a European Cup run is necessary to bolster their empty coffers. Since arriving in Catalonia, Raphinha has only found the back of the net once. After his lacklustre performance last night, 'Corriere Dello Sport' ripped into the Brazilian criticising him for "struggling to get past Matteo Darmian all evening", labelling him "more smoke than fire".
The most scathing report came from 'La Gazzetta Dello Sport', who pointed out that Raphinha "never bites, cuts in without purpose, doesn’t shoot and never finds the end product".