Leeds United's Jesse Marsch admits: I need to be braver with my young forwards

Since Patrick Bamford’s ankle injury at St James' Park in September 2021, Leeds have struggled for convincing centre-forward solutions.

Rodrigo scored four goals in August but none since.

Joe Gelhardt has one Premier League start this season and was not on the bench against Aston Villa.

September signing Willy Gnonto is yet to debut despite being named one of Europe’s 20 best young players on Friday, and having won six caps for European champions Italy as an 18-year-old.

Marsch also recently spoke of the need to give more opportunities to Sonny Perkins, who scored five goals in his first three England Under-19 appearances last month.

Whilst the hope is Bamford will be fit to start for a second consecutive Sunday at home to Arsenal, he is unlikely to play 90 minutes.

Leeds tried to sign a senior centre-forward in the last transfer window, only to decide to bring forward Gnonto's signing when they were unable to land their targets.

"The young group of attacking players we have now is really exciting," said Marsch. "When they're playing with the (under-)21s and training with us they're showing that quality every day. It's continuing to make me think about the right time to start to let some of these guys go a little bit more and give them more opportunities with the first team.

"It’s a little bit of a shame results haven't been better because maybe I could be a little bit riskier or braver with some of the younger players.

"I need to still consider that because I want this to be part of our process and I need to be brave regardless. I'm trying to evaluate every week what bites to give them."

Bamford, though, remains a key figure for what he brings to the team’s all-round play beyond his finishing. Marsch is confident the goal which has eluded him this year will be forthcoming, but knows he must manage the 29-year-old carefully

"He's part of the solution for us in terms of finding ways to score more goals," said his coach.

"Patrick almost missed the entire season (in 2021-22) and I spoke with Patrick at one point to say we have to manage you.

"Even when we're making progress we have to understand when to slow it down at the right moment.

"It's not necessarily the plantar that bothers him, it's other injuries.

"How have we done? Probably not as good as I would have hoped but I think we're still okay.

"(On Friday) he was given a down day, he didn't train, he had a regen(eration) day."

Footballers tend to have a habit of becoming better regarded the longer they are out injured but Marsch is unconcerned about other players abdicating responsibility to score the goals Leeds are lacking.

"We believe that Patrick can be a big bonus for us but I don't think anyone assumes that it's only his role," said Marsch. "The make-up of attacking players is generally more selfish, they are a little bit more driven by individual goals and their ego to find those moments.

"We had a good meeting this week where I was with the attacking players and Rene (Maric, his assistant) was with the defensive players. I spoke with them about where we need more out of them, how to be more connected in moments, how to have more poise in the final third, how to sometimes be a little bit more individually driven by taking players on, being a little bit more creative and getting the balance right."