Leeds United ace Willy Gnonto blasted by Sky Sports pundit in ‘criminal’ sequence vs Leicester City
Andy Hinchcliffe blasted Willy Gnonto for wasting a glorious Leeds United chance when left in a “criminal” amount of space by Leicester City at Elland Road.
The Sky Sports pundit reacted live on the broadcaster’s match commentary on 23 February during the first half, when the Italian was played in by Georginio Rutter but passed up the chance to shoot when in acres of space inside the Foxes box.
Trailing 1-0 from Wout Faes’ opener only a few minutes before, Gnonto decided to cut inside back into traffic and saw his shot blocked by Harry Winks, with Hinchcliffe annoyed at both the attacking and the defending.
He said (8.22pm): “Shoot first time or take one touch and shoot. Don’t go back infield into traffic. Another opportunity goes begging for Leeds.
“Leicester defensively were all over the place. The space that Gnonto had was criminal really, defensively, but he’s got to be burying that. As I say, take it first time or one touch and then smash it home.”
Andy Hincliffe slams Willy Gnonto in Leeds United waste
For much of the night it looked like squandered opportunities like Gnonto’s, as well as a few from Joel Piroe and Crysencio Summerville, would see Leicester’s own profligacy and some erratic officiating go unpunished.
Instead a wild end to the game saw Leeds United turn a one-goal deficit into a 3-1 win as Connor Roberts stepped off the bench to equalise, before Archie Gray thought he’d scored his first for the club moments later.
The doubly-deflected strike went down as a Faes own-goal, while Dan James’ stoppage-time third skimmed in off Patrick Bamford’s knee and could be claimed by both.
Although events from the 80th minute onwards changed everything, cutting the lead at the top of the table to six points and extending the Whites’ run of wins to nine, the home side were uncharacteristically off-colour for much of the night.
Gnonto has been in excellent form of late and usually players on such a run take chances without hesitation, but after scoring five goals in all competitions this month he hesitated and it was lost.
Few could have predicted the way the momentum would swing late on to let him and his teammates off the hook, and amid jubilant scenes at Elland Road Daniel Farke’s men are without doubt on the charge.
In other Leeds United news, the Whites have landed a new pair of attacking talents.
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