‘Credit to him’: Liam Cooper shares who was going to take Leeds United second penalty vs Arsenal

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Leeds United defender Liam Cooper has said that forward Patrick Bamford wanted to take their second penalty before it was overturned.

Leeds fell to a third defeat in five games yesterday, but were unlucky not to come away with a point against Arsenal.

In an interview with the club’s official website after the match, Liam Cooper has spoken about the penalty incidents.

A first-half Bukayo Saka goal decided the result, but Leeds certainly had their chances to equalise.

Patrick Bamford stepped up to take Leeds’ first spot kick, but he dragged his shot wide.

Cooper has admitted after the match that Bamford wanted to step up to take the second penalty.

However, Bamford was adjudged to have fouled Gabriel before the Brazilian defender kicked out.

The decision was overturned by referee Chris Kavanagh and Bamford didn’t get the opportunity to atone for his error.

Marsch backed Bamford before the match to find his best form again, and he showed glimpses yesterday.

He scored a brilliant instinctive finish in the box, but it was unfortunately ruled out.

Bamford wanted to take second Leeds penalty

Speaking after the match, Cooper said: “Pat has had a rough year and nobody works harder.

“Strikers have patches of form and when we got the second penalty before it was overruled, Pat was the first one to step up and want it and that is credit to him.

“That’s the type of characters you need in a team and we had that today.”

Bamford has struggled with injury issues over the last 12 months, but finally looks to be returning to full fitness.

Marsch has said he’ll be playing plenty of minutes leading up to the World Cup.

Although Bamford’s chance of going to Qatar right now look slim, finding the back of the net is essential for Leeds to get out this slump.

Leeds haven’t won in the Premier League since a convincing home win against Chelsea.

Leeds now sit just one point above the relegation zone, and travel to struggling Leicester City on Thursday.

Marsch would have been encouraged by yesterday’s match, but need to turn to those performances into points.