
Some of England’s forwards pick themselves. The likes of Harry Kane, Marcus Rashford, Raheem Sterling and Jadon Sancho were always going to feature in Gareth Southgate’s squad. But there was plenty of conversation surrounding those who could join that particular quartet.
This season has been dominated by some outstanding English goal scorers. Behind Harry Kane who finished the year with the golden boot and 23 goals, the likes of Ollie Watkins and Dominic Calvert-Lewin also impressed.
However, many believed the next best English striker after Kane was Leeds United’s Patrick Bamford and the stats back that up. So, why was Bamford left out of Southgate’s England squad and was he right to make that controversial call?
Some may argue that Southgate’s judgement was correct. Bamford has often been inconsistent in front of goal leaving plenty of Leeds United fans frustrated in their Championship days. Some even believed he was the reason Leeds failed to gain promotion in 2019.
That said, he still poached nine goals in the 2018-19 season in just 23 games before scoring 16 in 45 the year Leeds secured promotion back to the top flight. Granted, he squandered a fair few opportunities in those two campaigns but no striker can put away every chance and the fact he was finding himself in such positions can only be a good thing.
As is his work off the ball. There was much discussion around why Eddie Nketiah – despite his prolific scoring record – never got consistent football in a Leeds shirt. Ultimately, it was down to what Bamford offered off the ball as well as on it.
Remarkably, Bamford came up with 21 tackles last season which is an impressive amount for a striker displaying the amount of pressure he applies on defenders as teams look to break out of Leeds’ high press.
He’s also registered 10 interceptions this season and 36 fouls showing he’s willing to shut an attack down instantly with a foul to allow his team a chance to reset and trap the opposition into their own third.
With an average of over 18 pressures per 9o, he’s in the top 15% of the league in terms of pressing – focal point of any attacking team in modern football and an aspect of the game Southgate will want to master this summer if he wants to go far.
He’s a team player too. Interestingly, considering he’s the furthest point of Leeds’ attack, he averages over 6 progressive passes per 90 as well meaning he is willing to drop deep and feed other players in behind.
All of this was accompanied by a betterment in front of goal this season. Bamford scored 17 Premier League goals this campaign just six behind Harry Kane. Bamford’s tally also leaves him as the most potent English forward after the England skipper himself.
These stats seem to pour further confusion over his absence from the England squad. Not only has he been reliable in front of goal, but his role without the ball and in deeper positions is reflective of most modern attackers in the top teams.
He emulates the brilliance Roberto Firmino has offered for Liverpool in a similar role and even echoes the transformation of Harry Kane into a more well-rounded striker capable of scoring and creating. Moreover, his willingness to press high and win the ball back creating attacking opportunities off the back of tackles arguably exceeds Kane’s and would enable culminate in more opportunities for Sterling and Sancho. He would compliment their speed with his tenacity and ability to get the ball back against unset defences.
Ultimately, as a Bielsa player, he has all the attributes a top modern forward has and would fit perfectly into Southgate’s team as he tries to adopt the modern style of play we see dominate the Premier League including Elland Road. Statistically, it seems he’d be the ideal understudy for Kane on the big stage.
This reinforces the need to ask why he was left out. Perhaps it’s simply down to the element of inconsistency which can still be found in his performances this year. He’s missed a whopping 21 ‘big chances’ this campaign and perhaps this is the reason Southgate would rather bring Watkins and Calvert-Lewin with him for the Euros.
Of his 107 shots in the league this year, 48 of them were on target culminating in a shot accuracy of 45%. So, you might suggest that his shot accuracy was perhaps insufficient to see him picked but Kane’s shot accuracy was worse at 39%. Despite having 30 more shots than Bamford this season, Kane only registered five more shots on target than the ex-Middlesbrough man.
It could be argued, as it has in the past, that club size and performance has played a part in the his absence but then again Leeds finished in the top half above Calvert-Lewin’s Everton and are a huge club by anyone’s reckoning.
Could it be form? The answer seems to be no. He’s scored three goals in his last four games whereas Watkins’ last three goals came in twice as many fixtures whilst Calvert-Lewin has only scored three goals in his last 13 games which isn’t the best. In fact, after being the first player to reach the 10-goal maker this season, Calvert-Lewin has only scored six league goals since. Yet he and Watkins, who only scored 14 league goals this season, were selected ahead of Bamford.
Ultimately, I feel it’s clear that Southgate was wrong to leave one of the league’s in-form front men out and it’s certainly hard to understand why this decision was made.
