Patrick Bamford Reveals Marcelo Bielsa’s Lengthy Analysis Meetings After Leeds Win

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Patrick Bamford Reveals Marcelo Bielsa’s Lengthy Analysis Meetings After Leeds Win

Patrick Bamford is braced for some extended team meetings with Marcelo Bielsa next week after Leeds featured in another seven-goal thriller.

Bielsa’s side, beaten 4-3 at Liverpool on the opening day, came out on top this time as their first Premier League fixture at Elland Road in 16 years ended in victory by the same score against Fulham.

Leeds appeared to be cruising at 4-1 up with over half an hour remaining, but it was all hands on deck after Fulham struck twice in five minutes soon after.

“We wanted to win, but that was too close in the end,” Bamford told LUTV.

“There’s going to be a few long meetings this week to pick out what we can do better, but we won and that’s the main thing.”

Bamford, on target at Anfield last week, applied a clinical low finish to put Leeds 3-1 ahead early in the second half.

Bielsa’s side had been 2-1 ahead at the interval, regaining the lead through Mateusz Klich’s penalty after Aleksandar Mitrovic’s spot-kick had cancelled out Helder Costa’s early opener.

Fulham hit back as goals from substitute Bobby Decordova-Reid and Mitrovic’s towering header made it 4-3 in the 67th minute, but Leeds held on and Bamford reflected on his second Premier League goal of the season.

“It’s a nice start, hopefully I can keep it up,” he said. “The main thing is I’m doing my bit for the team and if that’s scoring goals, that’s probably the best thing a striker can do.

“But if it’s not, then it’s doing the other things and while it’s tiring, I just try and do as much as I can and hopefully the team appreciate it.”

Bamford said he and his team-mates will welcome Bielsa’s forensic analysis.

“We’re very demanding,” Bamford said. “He’s kind of instilled that into us. If we weren’t before then we certainly are now.

“We nit-pick everything and go into fine detail and everyone’s willing to learn.

“He’s shown us all that we can become better players, so we’re keen to learn and he’s the perfect guy to learn from.”

Fulham’s late defiance on the pitch was mirrored off it by manager Scott Parker, whose side slipped to back-to-back league defeats having lost 3-0 at home to Arsenal on the opening day.

“We won’t let these defeats cripple us,” he said. “We will come back fighting again.

“We were down 4-1 against a team who had the champions on the run last week. We battled back.

“I thought for large parts we were dominating. But we need to know we can’t be weak in the defensive half like we were here.

“I have an unbelievable group. A group that want to learn and improve and we will.

“I have no doubt we will come out of this stronger and I have no doubt we will improve.”