Leeds pulled out all the stops last night in a dominant 5-2 victory against Cardiff City to advance to the fourth round of the FA Cup. Two consolation goals made the scoreline look more presentable for the visitors, but it was Jesse Marsch’s side who took all the plaudits. Former footballer Roy Keane was notably impressed with the performance of one player in particular.
Last night’s cup tie gave Leeds fans yet another reason to be excited about the emergence of 19 year old winger Wilfried Gnonto. Like most who have been watching Leeds, us at Vital Leeds have discussed how enamoured we’ve been by the teenager’s ability, and how he’s been a breath of fresh air since coming off the bench in our 2-1 victory away to Liverpool at Anfield.
Gnonto bagged another 2 goals for Leeds – the first of which was a sublime volley reminiscent of fellow Italian player Paolo Di Canio’s famous strike against Wimbledon. On top of his goals, he is a constant handful for defenders, and causes problems all game long.
After Leeds’ defeat to Aston Villa last Friday, we covered Gary Neville’s high praise for the young winger, and tonight an old teammate of his was also very impressed by what he saw in Willy Gnonto.
Speaking before the game as a pundit for ITV’s coverage of the FA Cup third round clash, Roy Keane posed the question as to whether or not Gnonto would be able to maintain his form and showcase his end product.
“He’s obviously got talent but the big question mark over the next few months for the player is whether he has the end product – goals and assists.”
Gnonto must have heard the Irishman say that, because his peach of a volley came in the opening 26 seconds of the game, leaving Leeds fans mesmerised.
Not too long after, the 19 year old scored his second goal of the game to put the Whites 3-0 ahead, as he placed his shot through the legs of the defender, slotting it past the keeper who had no chance of getting down to it.
This second goal almost seemed to catch the eye of Keane more-so than the first, comparing it to his old colleague Ole Gunnar Solskjaer:
“You see a lot of strikers doing it, particularly the really top strikers. They seem to always put it between players’ legs, they hit it early and back across the goalkeeper. Solskjaer used to do that all the time”.
Keane remarked that Solskjaer was one of the greatest finishers of all time, so to hear him liken Gnonto to the Norwegian striker is quite a statement.
We’ll be hoping that Willy Gnonto can keep up the great form with games coming in hard and fast, as well as hoping the club have a plan to keep him at Elland Road long term.