BILL 'N' BAM - The Square Ball 30/11/21
Build Bamford back better
Written by: Rob Conlon
Under-23s football is not supposed to be about the results,
so the returns of Patrick Bamford and Luke Ayling from injury at least added
some tension to Leeds’ trip to Manchester City on Monday night. We’re usually
trying to spot whether Lewis Bate has reached the required BMI to get a game
for the first team, but instead I was panicking in case Ayling had pulled his
hamstring or was just scratching his arse. I was ready to write the season off,
resigned to relegation, because Bamford looked like he was holding his poorly
ankle, when it turned out he was tying his bootlaces.
Leeds’ U23s lost 3-2, throwing away the chance to win 2-1 at
the reigning champions of children and continuing a run of frustrating results
comparable to the grown-ups’. Their last league win dates all the way back to
the lift off of Joffymania against Liverpool in mid-September. But the real
focus against City was whether head of medicine and performance Rob Price has
built Bamford and Ayling back to their usual robustness.
Bamford knows all about Price’s factory of Frankensteins,
recovering from what were meant to be two season-ending injuries in Marcelo
Bielsa’s first season, helping to keep numbers up in a squad missing a decent
seven-a-side team most weeks (people forget it has always been this way under
Bielsa). Bamford was only able to recover after Price recycled limbs from Jamal
Blackman and Izzy Brown. More recently, Adam Forshaw swapped a few teeth for a
fixed hip. Hopefully, Robin Koch’s pubis is feeling less rebellious now one
half has been fused with Bamford’s ankle and the other has reinforced Ayling’s
knee.
The early signs against City were an encouraging reflection
on Price’s craft. Within two minutes Bamford was wrestling with centre-backs
while energetically leading the press, and the rest of his first half was like
a game of Bambo Bingo. There were two consecutive headers to clear away City
corners at Leeds’ near post, neat link-up play to hold the ball up and bring
his teammates into the game, a petty argument with the referee and a cheap
free-kick won out of his running battle with City’s no.5. He went calmly
dribbling past defenders to win a free-kick on the edge of the box, and there
was a goal ruled out for offside, Bamford battering the ball into the top
corner with a finish reminiscent of his best at Aston Villa and Leicester last
season. There was so much of the best of Bambam it looked like Price may have
made a RoboBambo.
Bamford was meant to be replaced by Gelhardt at some point,
but an injury to Leo Hjelde meant he was needed for the full ninety. Ayling
played until half-time and was also reassuringly familiar, nailing an early
Ayling Flop, a number of galloping runs down the right, and some audible words
of advice for the linesman on the opposite side of the pitch. One run from
Ayling opened the pitch up and led to Leeds’ opener, by beating his man and
creating space for Lewis Bate. Bamford had been so dazzling that Ben Parker, on
LUTV’s commentary, tried giving him credit for Bate’s incisive pass that tempted
City’s defence into bringing down Crysencio Summerville in the box. Bamford
deferred to his captain, giving the ball to Sam Greenwood to score and have a
few words with the goalkeeper. By the end of the first half, the adults were
looking a little ragged, sharing a laugh when Bamford was booked for sliding in
on a player while trying to reach Ayling’s overhit pass.
I was still trying to work out who was playing where when
City equalised a minute into the second half, by which point Liam McCarron had
replaced Ayling and Archie Gray was on for Hjelde, spending the rest of his
school night playing midfield behind England’s no.9. It took the players about
fifteen minutes to work it out too. Bate eventually re-emerged after
disappearing among a fog of frozen breath and steam generated by Bielsaball
industry. Leeds’ kids showed a ruthlessness the adults lack by punishing Romeo
Lavia’s second yellow card with Greenwood’s second goal a minute later, a sharp
near-post finish after cutting in from the right. But they were undone twice in
the last fifteen minutes by the cavalier approach they share with the seniors,
leaving themselves open even with a numerical advantage. Fresh from making his
first Premier League start at the weekend, Cole Palmer spent all night dribbling
past Leeds defenders, cutting onto his left foot and shooting at Kristoffer
Klaesson. Klaesson gifted Palmer a goal in the last minute as a reward for his
persistence, and for all the talk of where Leeds can improve in January, a
back-up goalkeeper might be the most sensible move should [touch every piece of
wood around you] anything bad happen to Illan Meslier.
Bamford spent much of the second half looking understandably
knackered. On his podcast last week Pat said Joffy was unbelievable on his full
debut at Spurs “until his legs went around the 60th minute”, and maybe young
Gelhardt had a smile about that while watching the old man suffer. The question
now is, were those ninety minutes, and the half for ol’ Bill, enough to get two
important first team players ready for the Premier League again? Bielsa broke
convention at Spurs and Brighton by swiftly promoting Junior Firpo into his
starting eleven without any minutes with the Under-23s following his most
recent injury, and Firpo’s response was a strong advert for cautious comebacks,
however frustrating that feels. Ayling and Bamford won’t be able to fix things
immediately, but it’s comforting to know help is on the way.