Adam Pope shares what Leeds United fans chanted at Javi Gracia in draw v Leicester City
Leeds United fans were chanting “make a sub” at Javi Gracia in relation to out-of-favour attacker Willy Gnonto at Elland Road on Tuesday night (25 April), according to BBC journalist Adam Pope.
The Whites drew their Premier League relegation showdown against Leicester City 1-1, with Jaime Vardy netting a late equaliser after Luis Sinisterra gave the home side the lead after 20 minutes.
The surprise of the evening was the omission of Gnonto, who has now not started a Premier League game for over a month and was once again an unused substitute by Gracia.
“The problem was that the fans were urgent to go forward and get the winner and were pleading for Wilfried Gnonto,” Pope told Off The Ball (Wednesday 26 April, 1:30).
“And I heard something I’d never heard before.
“Literally, the fans were singing ‘make a sub’ to Javi Gracia.
“And I think they felt one of the problems was that it wasn’t brave enough in the sense of the changes he made.”
Discontent
The atmosphere at Elland Road was always going to be full of nerves, but when the lineup was announced and Willy Gnonto didn’t feature in the starting team, more questions were raised about Gracia’s tactics.
The Italian has been Leeds’ main creative force in the final third this season and offers a mercurial edge that makes him extremely hard to defend against.
Considering the 19-year-old wasn’t even called upon from the bench, Leeds fans had every right to be voicing their opinions, especially considering the growing foothold that the Foxes gained in the second half of the crunch clash.
It was almost inevitable that Leicester would grab a late equaliser when Gracia decided against bringing Gnonto off the bench and instead brought Brenden Aaronson from the bench for Rodrigo.
After a bright start in the Elland Road dugout, things have catapulted out of control for Gracia in the last two and a half games.
Gnonto simply needs to start against Bournemouth at the weekend, otherwise yet more chants could be sent in his direction.
In other Leeds United news, Laura Woods tried to get Gabby Agbonlahor in trouble by revealing what he supposedly said off air about the fans.