Leeds United certainly didn't get off to the start they thought they would when the Championship restarted at the weekend. 

Marcelo Bielsa's side were beaten 2-0 by play-off chasing Cardiff City on Sunday afternoon, which saw them miss out on an opportunity to return to the top of the second tier standings.

Junior Hoilett and Robert Glatzel scored for the Bluebirds, as they closed the gap on their play-off chasing rivals with eight matches remaining in this year's campaign.

One player that struggled on the day was Patrick Bamford, with the forward failing to find the back of the net for Marcelo Bielsa's side at the Cardiff City Stadium.

Speaking to Football Insider, former Leeds man Noel Whelan claimed that Bamford didn't have his head in the game against Cardiff City.

"I have defended Patrick all season.

"I think he has done fantastic work and taken a lot of criticism from a lot of people but he looked very much out of sorts. He did not have his head in the game."

Whelan went on to admit that the Leeds forward wasn't hungry to score goals, which led to the Yorkshire-based side dropping vital points in the race for promotion into the Premier League this term.

"Generally, even if he does not score he does a lot of work holding the ball up and bringing people into play but we did not see much of him yesterday.

"It did not seem like he believed he could score a goal. His first touch was not right. A lovely cross for him in the second half and he should have done more. He wasn’t hungry to score goals."

The former Leeds player claimed that there needs to be a 'massive improvement' shown by Bamford when the Whites return to action against promotion rivals Fulham this weekend.

"There needs to be a massive improvement from Patrick for the game against Fulham.

"He will be disappointed that he did not make the most of the little chances that came his way. It did not happen for Patrick yesterday."

Can you score full marks in this Leeds United quiz? 

The Verdict: 

You can understand why some of the Elland Road faithful have voiced their criticisms of Bamford this season.

In an ideal world, a team challenging for promotion into the Premier League would have a striker that is scoring 20+ goals in the Championship.

But this hasn't been the case for Bamford, and for me, he's had one too many 'off days' for Leeds in front of goal, which has led to them struggling in some matches this season.

I agree with Whelan in saying that he simply must show improvement against Fulham this weekend.