Bamford goal sends Leeds top of the table
BOLTON WANDERERS 0 LEEDS UNITED 1 Bamford (66)
Marcelo Bielsa saluted Leeds’ match-winner Patrick Bamford as his £7 million striker returned from injury to shoot his side to the top of the table with a 1-0 win at a wet and windy Bolton.
Bamford hadn’t featured for the first team since August and his 66th minute strike was his first league goal since his summer move from Middlesbrough.
“He can be very important for us,” said Bielsa after Leeds’ fifth successive win over their relegation-haunted hosts.
“For him, it is very good for his confidence. He has worked very hard to gain his full fitness.
“And it’s important to have two important strikers in our team. It is very difficult to play in an offensive position for any team and to have different possibilities.
“But we also have Jack Clarke, Jack Harrison, Tyler Roberts and Bamford in offensive positions.
“I always have the idea of having 18 starters in the team and also to have some youngsters to cover the necessities.”
Leeds weren’t at their best and Bielsa agreed: “It was a hard win, but a deserved one.
“We had the possession, but we didn’t have the chances to score. With that possession we might have thought we would have created more chances, but it wasn’t the case.”
Bielsa moved to explain Samu Saiz’s absence from the squad with La Liga outfit Getafe apparently poised to land the playmaker on loan.
“He has a personal situation to solve and the club allowed him to be absent,” said the Leeds chief.
“But I can’t tell you what will happen. What I can tell you is that he has the permission of the club to be absent, but I don’t know what the personal reasons are for his absence.
“It is a decision between the club and Saiz. And I don’t know the facts,” added Bielsa on the former Real Madrid youth player.
“What will happen in the future is linked to the club and Samu Saiz. As I don’t have information, I can’t say anything more.”
Bolton manager Phil Parkinson was disappointed with the result and the lack of a late penalty for a possible foul on Craig Noone.
But he insisted: “The lads gave absolutely everything. I feel for them and they left nothing in the pitch at all
“Leeds are a good side, but we pressed them really well.
“We restricted them to very few chances. We just lacked that bit of quality.”