Leeds United coach reveals Joe Gelhardt and Sam Greenwood thinking as Willy Gnonto shines - YEP 11/10/22

Leeds United U21s boss Michael Skubala has revealed the thinking behind tactical tinkering aimed at getting more out of Joe Gelhardt and Sam Greenwood.

By Graham Smyth

Both youngsters started in Monday night's 1-0 Premier League 2 win at Sunderland, a game won thanks to Willy Gnonto's first goal for the Whites.

The 18-year-old might already have experienced goalscoring at senior international level for Italy, but he was still delighted to hit the net for the 21s.

Skubala felt Gnonto could have added a second and even a third, too.

"He's got his first, he's really happy," said the 21s head coach.

"I think he was lively, I think he got a couple more [chances] so he could have had a couple more [goals] as the game went on, but I think he's happy to get a goal."

If Gnonto's first was the highlight, the biggest downside to the evening was the sight of Harvey Sutcliffe hobbling off injured in the second half.

"We're going to assess it in the morning, see what it is," said Skubala.

"It's a bit early to call it really, something with his knee. So yeah, we'll just see then how he's getting on."

Although several of the 21s' outings this season have been all too comfortable, particularly for the attacking talent at Skubala's disposal, the strength of the Sunderland XI presented a stiff challenge and necessitated some tactical interventions.

First team squad members Gelhardt and Greenwood were two intended beneficiaries of Skubala's technical area tweaks in the second half.

The coach had his striker, Mateo Joseph, pulling out to the right in an attempt to free Gelhardt through the middle.

"It was by design at half-time to try and stretch them a little bit more, so unleash the 10 rather than the nine to go in behind, and I think Joffy actually nearly got in, fully in," he said.

"They're good players, they take on good information, and it's just tweaking things sometimes. And we did, and that's what went on second half."

As for Greenwood, who operated again as a central midfielder next to Darko Gyabi, Skubala was conscious of the workload being heaped upon his sixes.

"Towards the end players are getting tired and we're sort of tactically making changes on the bench, rather than just getting bodies on, we try and do things to stop, slow the game down to give players respite," he said.

"Darko, Sam the shift they put in physically, they had a tough game as sixes because the game at times was open, but I think they've got through really, really well. I thought Sam controlled the second half, Sam and Darko. Like I said, at halftime, we were worried the sixes were getting pulled a bit too far and then second half positionally we were on top of it."

Another of Skubala's decisions was to send on midfielder Charlie Allen for Sutcliffe in a swap that saw the Northern Irishman go to left-back.

The 79th minute substitution put Allen in unfamiliar territory as Leeds looked to grind out the win, and Skubala felt it worked a treat.

"So Charlie's a right footer, [the winger is] a left footer who ducks inside, so it causes a crash," he said.

"Charlie's really nimble and quick so actually going out there, getting pressure on the ball really quick and just stopping their threat - he's out of position definitely - but as a sub for five minutes it just takes the sting out of the winger.

"And I thought he did really well. He came up with the ball because the winger kept coming inside onto Charlie's right foot and Charlie's quick and quick off the mark. So even though out of position actually I thought he did well when he came on."