The Sun Newspaper

LEEDS legend Lee Chapman has urged Patrick Bamford to ‘lose his temper’ and ‘hurt a few people’ if he is to win a senior England cap.
Laid-back Bamford, 27, has notched 12 Premier League goals for Marcelo Bielsa’s side this season — including a career 100th in Monday’s 2-0 home win over Crystal Palace.

Bamford has bagged 12 goals this seasonCredit: Reuters

As Gareth Southgate prepares to name his squad for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers against San Marino, Albania and Poland, calls for Bamford to be picked are growing.
The forward represented the Republic of Ireland at Under-18 level but switched to England and played for the Three Lions  Under-21s when Southgate was still boss.
Ex-striker Chapman, 61, said: “Bamford is very level-headed and nothing fazes him — but I’d like to see him lose his temper a few times!
“I want to see him get stuck in, hurt a few people, and be a bit more aggressive.

“Sometimes you can be too nice and if Bamford misses chances, he doesn’t seem too upset, so I think he needs to push himself a little bit harder.
“But he’s improving every year and I think he could be a useful back-up to Harry Kane.
“If you compare Bamford to Kane, there is only one winner because Kane is a better all-round player who also scores more goals.
“I’m not saying Bamford shouldn’t be given a chance but he’s behind Kane, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Marcus Rashford in the pecking order.

Chapman scored 80 goals for Leeds in the early ninetiesCredit: Getty Images – Getty
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“The big problem I had with Bamford two seasons ago was that he didn’t score enough goals and got too involved in the build-up play.
“Now what I’ve noticed — and I was at Leeds’ game at Tottenham a few weeks ago — is that he’s staying in the box more and in positions where he can score goals.
“That said, I saw Bamford miss a great chance at Tottenham — he headed well over the bar at a crucial time in the game — and those are the sort of chances you’ve got to take.
“He’s improving but I still think he needs to be a bit more clinical, ruthless and aggressive in the box.
“If there are injuries to Kane, Calvert-Lewin or Rashford, and Bamford is playing well, then he’s definitely worth a chance.
“I think he could be a good squad player, who Southgate could maybe throw on from the bench.”
Chapman scored 179 English top-flight goals during his career — more than Thierry Henry, Les Ferdinand, Ian Wright, Robbie Fowler, Michael Owen and Gary Lineker.
His match-winning header at Bournemouth earned Leeds promotion from the old Second Division under Howard Wilkinson in 1990 — and he was instrumental in their top-flight title success two years later.

I was a victim of the new era and even when I scored 31 goals in 1990-91, they just gave me an England B cap as a consolation prize
Lee Chapman

Chapman represented England once at U-21 level and once for the B-team but never won full international honours.
He added: “At the time, Gary Lineker was the main striker and the old-fashioned centre-forward, which I was, had kind of gone out of fashion.
“I was a victim of the new era and even when I scored 31 goals in 1990-91, they just gave me an England B cap as a consolation prize.
“It was against Iceland at a cold Vicarage Road — it was absolutely dreadful! But that was the era I was in, I reached my peak at the wrong time.”
Chapman also scored 16 top-flight goals in the 1991-92 season.
Meanwhile, research from 888 Sport shows that Leeds’ record on a Sunday should give them hope ahead of the match against Arsenal.

Chapman, 61, still keeps an eye out for his old teamsCredit: Getty Images – Getty

Bamford has been linked with an England call-upCredit: AFP
They have won 60 per cent of their Sunday matches so far, while Arsenal have only won two of their eight Sunday games.
Chapman, who played for Arsenal in the early 1980s, said: “I predicted a top-ten finish for Leeds and I’m sticking with that.
“They can be too predictable at times in trying to play out from the back and Tottenham just kept setting traps in the recent game I attended.
“I think Arsenal will give Mikel Arteta until the end of the season but they’re vulnerable at the back — and Leeds have a great chance this weekend.”
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FRANK LAMPARD would need to be offered a job too good to turn down to tempt him back into management and give up the £1.8million in wages due from Chelsea.
When Lampard was sacked by Chelsea last month the club did not pay-up the remainder of his contract after a change of policy in the wake of coughing up huge sums to get rid of Jose Mourinho.

Frank Lampard has been replaced by Thomas Tuchel at ChelseaCredit: AFP

Instead they have kept his £75,000-a-week salary on the wage bill – with an agreement that will continue to be paid until July unless he takes a job elsewhere.
And that leaves Lampard in a position where he any offer of employment that comes in would potentially cost him a fortune.
The 42-year-old is understood to be happy to be taking a break from the game for a short period following his sacking, having had three highly-pressured seasons since becoming a manager at Derby.
The run to the play-off final with the Rams was followed by the major challenge of guiding Chelsea into a Champions League finish with a squad of youngsters and those he inherited from Maurizio Sarri.

The short turnaround between seasons meant the intensity didn’t ease off going into the current campaign, so he is now enjoying time with his family.
That was the major reason why Lampard did not push himself forward to be considered for the vacant job at Bournemouth when he would have been well-placed to get the role.
But also a part of the consideration was the fact it would immediately mean the money Chelsea continue to pay him would stop, which would cost him just under £2m.
In practice what it means is that Lampard would effectively be taking a pay cut if he was to get back into the game before next season.

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So it would have to be an offer which is too good to turn down which would tempt him back in over the foreseeable future.
Lampard was swiftly replaced by former Paris Saint-Germain boss Thomas Tuchel at Stamford Bridge.
Blues stars Hakim Ziyech has praised Tuchel’s tactics since he was appointed last month.
And Antonio Rudiger has praised the ‘positive’ new manager for ‘knowing what he wants’.
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LEICESTER tore Liverpool apart five years ago this month on the way to their incredible Premier League title triumph.
Jamie Vardy’s deadly double at the King Power — including a wonder strike that left new Reds manager Jurgen Klopp on the verge of applauding it — did the job.

Leicester icon Shinji Okazaki is currently plying his trade at Huesca in LaLiga

In that Foxes side was Japanese star Shinji Okazaki — a fans’ favourite and cult hero who played his part in one of the most incredible sporting moments in history.
And ahead of reigning champions Liverpool returning to the East Midlands today, Leicester are once again involved in another astonishing title race.
For Okazaki, it proves Brendan Rodgers’ side are no longer improbable contenders after floating back down to earth following their 5000-1 2016  triumph.
The striker — now playing for LaLiga minnows Huesca — remains devoted to following his beloved Foxes and watches the majority of their games.

Now aged 34, he said: “I think Leicester are doing fantastically well.
“Vardy is doing well still which is incredible given how long he has been at the top level.
“There have been some injuries for the team but I saw their win over Fulham and that shows just how solid their football is at the moment.
“It doesn’t matter who is on the pitch and that is all down to Brendan Rodgers, who has got them dreaming of winning titles again.”

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Okazaki was a key part of the Leicester side that won the Premier League in 2016Credit: Getty Images – Getty
Okazaki spent four seasons with the club — his first being the surge to the title under ‘the Tinkerman’, Claudio Ranieri.
He admits to having regrets over his time there, despite more than playing his part in the overachieving squad.
But that title-winning campaign left him with winning qualities that will still be with a portion of Rodgers’ current squad.
Vardy, 34, who picked up 26 England caps, Danish star Kasper Schmeichel, Jamaican defender Wes Morgan, Christian Fuchs from Austria and former England Under-21 winger Marc Albrighton are the survivors at the disposal of Rodgers.
Okazaki said: “There was a lot of support for me at Leicester and I just have gratitude for those people, but during those four years I had to revisit my value as a striker.
“It is very difficult to improve that in a short space of time. There were a lot of struggles I had to go through playing in a different environment.
“I was able to contribute to the team winning but within me personally I wanted to push myself more so I could contribute more.
“But I was also proud and really thankful for the experience I had with the Premier League.

Okazaki scored a sublime overhead kick against Newcastle in the Foxes’ title-winning seasonCredit: Getty Images – Getty
“I then went over to LaLiga with Malaga and now Huesca but that was all because of my experience with Leicester.
Okazaki added:  “That has added to my confidence and tells me what my mindset should be — how to have a winning mindset and how to win coming from a losing position.
“At the moment we are trying to do the same as we did with Leicester. We are solidifying mentally and physically to move forward.”
It certainly would be another sporting miracle should Huesca — currently bottom of LaLiga having won just two games in only their second ever campaign in the Spanish top-flight — rival Leicester’s journey.
Okazaki’s experience came into play to help Huesca back into LaLiga last season by winning the Spanish second division title.
So which title means more? Leicester 2016 or Huesca 2020?
Okazaki explained: “It is very difficult to compare the two. In terms of goalscoring and what I did as a striker, the win with Huesca last year was big.

Okazaki formed a formidable partnership with Jamie Vardy at the King Power StadiumCredit: PA:Empics Sport

“But at Leicester I fitted in well and contributed on and off the pitch behind the scenes.
“As a Japanese player, the higher value of working well within a team would suggest the Leicester win, but I am comparing apples to apples. They were both valuable experiences.”
Rodgers will be hoping those survivors of the class of 2016 use their own experience to fire Leicester into a second, and arguably even more impressive, Premier League title shout.
Watch LaLiga, all in one place on LaLigaTV — available to Sky UK, Virgin and Amazon Prime customers across the UK from £6.99 a month.

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DAVID SEAMAN knows more than most how cup glory can ease league misery.
After winning the old First Division title in 1991, Seaman and Arsenal went seven years before their next and even finished as low as 12th in that time.

David Seaman has urged Mikel Arteta not to give up on the Premier LeagueCredit: Reuters

The former England star knows how cup glory can ease league miseryCredit: Getty Images – Getty

Fans were appeased during those dark days by silverware — one FA Cup, one League Cup, and a Cup Winners’ Cup in 1994 which could have been two but for Nayim’s infamous lob over Seaman the following season.
The Gunners now find themselves in similar circumstances under Mikel Arteta, with last campaign’s eighth-placed finish smoothed over by a record 14th FA Cup triumph.
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And this year, as they lie 11th ahead of Sunday’s visit of Leeds, their only hope of sealing Champions League football for next season will be through the Europa League.

But Arsenal legend Seaman — who lifted 12 trophies during his 13-year spell at the club — has urged boss Arteta to not allow the club to become merely a cup team.
Former keeper Seaman said: “Around 1993 we dropped off in the league but in the cups we were doing OK.
“When Arsenal are not challenging it is a bad season and we were well off it — and it wasn’t until Arsene Wenger came in that things started to change.
“And even then it took two years to win the league and the first Double.

It’s a dangerous game to play if you want to end your bad league form. You can’t just turn it on for the cup
David Seaman

“It’s maybe like what’s going on now. The team’s focus has changed towards the cups with the league out of reach.
“But it’s a dangerous game to play if you want to end your bad league form. You can’t just turn it on for the cup.
“You have to start building confidence in the league or you could be cut adrift.
“I like what I am seeing so far, the team just needs to be more consistent.
“We are getting performances and little runs, then we get beat and I think, ‘Really? We got beat by them?’.

Seaman remained a constant during the Gunners’ rebuilding phase in the mid-90s and he admitted: “At that time Man United were on a big run in terms of league titles and that determination to catch them and beat them was growing and growing.
“But my confidence took a massive hit in that period, from finishing mid-table in the league to losing to Zaragoza in the Cup Winners’ Cup final.
“And just like throughout my whole career, I always wanted to prove people wrong or shut them up. I always wanted to bounce back.”
Those qualities in the former England shot-stopper are exactly what Arteta will need if he is to wake Arsenal from their prolonged slumber.
They are on a run of three Prem games without victory and cannot fall back on the FA Cup this time, after the defending champions were knocked out by Southampton last month.

From what I see and hear he is the right man and he gives me confidence
David Seaman on Mikel Arteta

It may only be February but Seaman feels the clash with Leeds is a must-win for the North Londoners.
A boyhood Leeds fan, the Rotherham-born star started out at Elland Road and remembers a day of mixed emotions in 2004 as Arsenal won the league as the Invincibles while United were relegated, sparking a 16-year absence from the top flight.
How times have changed, with Leeds now above the Gunners in the table.
With the likes of Frank Lampard being sacked at Chelsea for a similar drop in form, many see Arteta as the next in line to face the chop.
But Seaman believes the Spanish coach is the one to rebuild Arsenal just like Wenger did in 1996.
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He added: “He definitely needs to be given more time. He is slowly sifting through the squad, getting rid of players he knows he doesn’t want.
“The board need to back him in the summer window and he needs his own team. The players he has currently, a lot of them he has inherited so it is difficult for him at the moment.
“From what I see and hear he is the right man and he gives me confidence. I’d be disappointed if they did sack him, we have got a good one.”
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