Burnley 1-1 Leeds United - Patrick Bamford's good day, Rodrigo's bad day and Marcelo Bielsa's off-camera gesture - Yorkshire Evening Post 30/8/21


Leeds United left Turf Moor with a few bumps and bruises after a physical encounter with Burnley, but most importantly they left with a point.

By Graham Smyth

The performance was far from vintage Bielsaball but it was vital for the sake of the mood around the club that they did not end the game empty handed, particularly with a transfer deadline and an international break looming.

As ever, it was a good day for some and a bad day for others.

Good day

Patrick Bamford

An England call-up and a goal against Sean Dyche's Burnley all in the space of a week. There will be no wiping the smile off his face. He and Dyche did not gel when they worked together and that appears to have morphed into the classic 'former player' routine that plays out between fanbases and individuals who used to wear the shirt. Plainly, they don't much like Bamford at Turf Moor and this game won't have changed that. He found himself in the trenches against the Burnley defence, but seemed to relish it, kept battling and got his reward late on. Dyche called it a 'stuffy' goal that Burnley were unlucky to concede, just to add the icing to Bamford's cake.

Bad day

Rodrigo

It looked like a struggle to get on the same page as his team-mates, or to get them on the same page as him. Couldn't look after the ball well enough and that put Kalvin Phillips under pressure to do a lot of defensive mopping up. His desire to make something happen was so evident, especially in the early stages of the second half but it never really happened for him and he was replaced before Leeds made their eventual breakthrough. He will be well aware of the expectations on him and the question marks over his impact since his arrival, so this will have been another frustrating afternoon. His intelligence and vision were on display at times, some of his work was excellent but Leeds need much more from him. If anyone can get it, it's surely Bielsa.

Turning point

Burnley's goal

After scoring, Burnley seemed content to sit back, defend deep and frustrate Leeds. It was a risk and it didn't pay off. Had they continued to play as they did just before they scored, they might well have been celebrating a first win of the season. Leeds were not enjoying that spell where Burnley put them under pressure and played a bit of football.

Number of the day

12

Leeds had 64 per cent of the possession and completed 425 passes to Burnley's 192, yet each side created the same number of shots at goal. There's more than one way to skin a cat, although some ways are a little more basic than others and you might not like to watch those every week. Not that anyone wants to see a cat skinned, of course, this week or any week. The use of that proverb has fallen apart entirely here, but Leeds did not when they went a goal behind and Burnley did not, when Leeds took control of large parts of the game. In their own ways both sides are incredibly well drilled and players know their roles inside out.

Off-camera moment

Bielsa's kind gesture

Marcelo Bielsa was walking back around the Turf Moor pitch from the corner where his pre-game broadcast duties had taken place, to where the away dressing room is staged, when a young Burnley fan sitting in the disabled section held out her programme towards him. Bielsa did not hesitate, approaching to do the honours and leaving her with a huge smile on her face. Kindness costs nothing, but it is priceless. The re-introduction of fans has made football so much better and a simple gesture like this showed how valuable the human contact still is between the stars of the show and the most important people in the game.

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