Gabby Agbonlahor thinks Sam Allardyce will start Wilfried Gnonto on the left wing for his opening game as Leeds United boss at Manchester City on Saturday.
The former striker thinks Leeds will be ‘physical’ against Pep Guardiola’s men, as the likes of Wilfried Gnonto will be advised to ‘get the ball in the box’ for Patrick Bamford.
One thing is for certain, Leeds’ center-backs won’t be splitting at the Etihad and there will be no playing out from the back.
Therefore, Bamford has to start, even though he is suffering from confidence because he is the best player to hold the ball up in the final third and win those aerial duels.
Leeds won’t see much of the ball, probably not even 20%, but like West Ham United on Wednesday night, if they can keep it at 0-0 going into the break, then things will get very interesting.
Either way, Agbonlahor admitted that he never expected to see Sam Allardyce back in a Premier League dugout, as he told talkSPORT (03/05/23).
“I didn’t, no (see Allardyce coming back to the Premier League),” said Agbonlahor. “Especially after the West Brom (gig) and not keeping them up. I thought that dented his record of keeping teams up.
“But Leeds are desperate. The teams are desperate this season. It’s so important for teams like Forest and Leeds to stay in the Premier League. It has taken them so long to get back into it.
“They don’t have the players to play any managers way. Since Bielsa left, under Jesse Marsch, they haven’t performed.
“These players are going to get typical Sam Allardyce. Be physical. Get the ball in the box for Bamford. Gnotno is on the left wing. They will play him as well.”
LEEDS NEEDS GNONTO’S MAGIC
Whilst the 19-year-old started Javi Gracia’s last game in charge against Bournemouth, and that’s probably because Luis Sinisterra was ruled out for the rest of the season, for one reason or another, his minutes were decreasing in recent weeks.
Gnonto needs to play as many minutes as possible under Allardyce because, whilst he needs to fix one of the league’s worst defenses, they still need that magic in the final third.
And the £40k-a-week star (Spotrac), if he is allowed to motor forward, can provide that in bucket loads.
Leave a Reply