The Yorkshire Evening Post’s Lee Sobot debates whether young Italian winger, Willy Gnonto could be a solution to some of Leeds’ current problems.
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00:00Is there anything else Daniel Fokker could do? I mean, obviously, you've got Dan Jamies
00:05playing at the moment, but then could Willy Nonto come into the side on the wing, perhaps?
00:10Is there anything in the midfield? You mentioned Rutez not particularly playing well at the
00:14moment. Is there anyone else who could fill in for him? Even a change of system, perhaps?
00:17Yeah, well, I mean, they've obviously got a very, very strong squad. I think the Mark
00:21Robbins commentary boss described it as a joke, how good their squad was. And I can
00:24see where it's coming from, because they have got, when everybody's fit, they have got lots
00:27of options. And even when there's players injured, they've still got decent options
00:30on the bench. And probably time to sort of, you know, they've got to make the most of
00:33that squad, really. And, you know, Willy Nonto is an obvious one for me. The big bonus at
00:37the weekend, obviously, was the three returns from injury. I mean, we were sort of chatting
00:41before and we wondered what would happen with Ilya Gruev, whether we probably thought he
00:45might be back on the bench, but he came straight back into the XI. And the huge surprise was
00:48obviously Nonto and Conor Roberts both reappearing on the bench. I mean, they were expected to
00:52be out for around three weeks from the international break, and they've basically come back in
00:55about half of that. So that was a huge bonus. And both of them looked pretty sprightly when
00:59they came on. Conor Roberts tried his best to get forward from right back as Archie Gray
01:03went into midfield. And Nonto came on with like four minutes left, but he did look lively
01:08straight away and stuff, and looked like he was ready to roll. And he would be the obvious
01:11one to me. That would probably have to come in for Dan James, which would be pretty harsh
01:15on Dan, because he's had a fantastic season. I mean, obviously, he always talks about end
01:18products, but you just have to look at the number of goals and assists he's got. And
01:22he did all right. I thought Coventry all right, probably being about as good as it
01:25got there. He sent in a few good crosses, but no one was on the end of them. But Nonto
01:29on his day is a very, very special talent, obviously. And it would be quite a nice story
01:33if you got Nonto back into the team, or at least gave him more of a prominent role in
01:36these last few games. And he ended up scoring the goals that ultimately took Leeds up, bearing
01:40in mind what happened in the summer when it looked like he was going to go. I mean, that
01:42would be a nice sort of full-circlish moment, really, if something like that happened. So
01:46he'd be the obvious one for me. Obviously, Kroos sends you a Somerville star man on the
01:49other side, so you have to start him. Again, it didn't happen for him at Coventry, but
01:52even so, he was booed all the time by the Coventry fans after the first game. But he
01:57was still probably Leeds' biggest threat in terms of the outfield players.
02:00Routier, you're right. I mean, he didn't play well at all at Coventry, but not many people
02:04did. But I mean, there's no doubt that when he's on Somme, you know, like he's just levels
02:07above the championship and just a nightmare for defender. And he'd hope that he would...
02:10And you've got to remember, he's also come back from surgery. So, I mean, he's probably
02:13going to benefit from those two outings now and stuff. And hopefully, he'll really get
02:16rocking in these next two games at Elland Road. And there are still other options. You
02:20look at full-back. As I say, Conor Roberts came off the bench. I think maybe get him
02:23into the side, but how that sort of works out, whether you put Archie back to right
02:28back. What you do need is you need Glenn Kamara to be playing better. I mean, he's been fantastic
02:31since he signed, but I mean, he really struggled at the weekend. You know, and there's other
02:36options. I mean, Sam Byron's another one, obviously. And then in terms of attackers,
02:39obviously, Joel Pirou came on and scored a goal, but then obviously missed a very big
02:43chance. I don't think you start him in the head of route there at the moment, but again,
02:46maybe, you know, it can be brought on quicker. And Jadon Antony's also there as well on the
02:50bench. So there are options. I don't think you particularly change the defence, not when it's
02:54like been as solid as it has throughout the season.