The reasons are circumstantial, but Leeds United’s season has clearly been the sight of Ravenha playing at right-back. The more Leeds needed from the Brazilian in attack, the deeper he would have to retreat, plunging into a position the goalkeepers can safely admire.
Serious injury Stewart Dallas one week, a red card for Luke Ayling the next, one of the most electric wingers in the Premier League is behind the halfway line, a leopard in a cage. Jesse Marsh is considering resolving that by turning to Jimmy Shackleton against Chelsea tomorrow, and capitalizing on the remarkable diversity of the midfielder who has played every 57 minutes this side of Christmas. In addition to ca change, since the ordeal of the season began.
This is the case for Leeds, though; Possession of a weak hand and left with no choice but to improvise and take advantage of it. There is certainly no other choice tomorrow night than to push Ravenha forward again, unless the club is willing to risk the visual spectacle of going down with him as he hovers on the right side of their defence. Regardless of how to fill the void behind him, Marsh is quickly approaching an even more pressing dilemma: if and when he can take the last chance on Patrick Bamford’s fitness.
Leeds need goals because Leeds desperately need results, but had it not been for the state of the Premier League table, they would have been very tempted to avoid the debate over Bamford; To send him on vacation with the slate of matches running out, just as they did with Adam Furshaw a year ago. Absent any danger, there would be no motivation to push him at all, not at the end of a season in which his antics have been dismantled by his rehab from foot, ankle and hamstring injuries. Rest, recovery, reset and restart. Football is back again soon enough, and for any player relatively close to the international stage there is a World Cup later this year.
In a better case, the club may be asking itself to err on the side of caution. And Bamford’s health may be forcing them to err on the side of caution anyway. He’s already paid for his gnashing of teeth more than once: playing with an ankle injury at Newcastle, pulling his hamstrings against Brentford after a longer-than-planned Under-23 appearance in the same week, hurting his foot in shooting practice under Marcelo Bielsa. Staring at Thorp Arch and then exacerbating the same injury after he pushed himself back to Marsch in March. He has been, more than any other Leeds footballer, a victim of his own importance, unable to escape the fact that the club is incomplete without him at No. 9 and, in many moments, even worse. It will be hard for him to avoid talking about how much he misses him.
As he began his final bout of rehab, on the back of a hitherto unfamiliar plantar fascia strain during Leeds’ 3-2 win over Wolves, there were hints in Marsh’s comments about him, however big the pad under Leeds was in late March and early March. April, Bamford wasn’t out of sight or mind. His recovery was set at six weeks, and Marsh said as the diagnosis came back he was close to entering Bamford’s last two games for Leeds, albeit temporarily and without much expectation. He would have liked his decision on the attacker’s condition to be tempered, without consequences or pressure. As it stands, there won’t be much game-breaking for the remaining three matches.
Bamford completed his ball and fitness exercises at Thorp Arch last week, giving Marsh the impression he would be ready to join full training this week. The timing suggests that tomorrow will come too early for Leeds to gamble there and then, but nothing happening against Chelsea will guarantee they will take the sting out of the next two games.
Bamford receives treatment during Leeds’ match against Wolves (Photo: Isaac Parkin/PA Images via Getty Images)
These are where Bamford’s finishing, movement and tenderness in creating an offensive flow can be most acutely felt and where Leeds may need it most. Ravenha on the right will have a target to shoot at. The opposing central defender will have a suitable attacking position to think about. It is, with just about every slice on the table, conceivable the remaining trick that Marsch could pull.
Having Leeds in this position is neither Bamford’s responsibility nor his fault and Leeds owe him not to bring him back. It is also clear that for Bamford’s presence to mean anything, Leeds and Marsh must show more effectiveness than they have been since Marsh’s appointment as head coach, furthering their quality in the future.
Despite criticism of Bamford for finishing the match over the years, he is cleverly skilled to get end of chances and his entire throwing gamble will depend on giving him chances to take it. Maybe it’s too late for him. Perhaps the way out of the chaos in Leeds will depend entirely on others. But it’s fitting that at the end of this season, the final chapter may be an urgent call for the player he missed the most.
(Top Image: George Wood/Getty Images)
