When Isaac Schmidt met Willy Gnonto — and almost kneecapped him — The Square Ball 5/9/24
Got the ball, ref
Written by: Patrick Gunn
The night before Isaac Schmidt signed for Leeds, he was in
Turkey, playing for St Gallen against Trabzonspor in the final qualifying round
of the Europa Conference League. The first leg had ended 0-0, and the second
was going the same way, until Schmidt — playing at right back — found space
free on the edge of the area, with the ball rolling towards him. At the first
time of asking, he hit a sweet, left-footed strike past a straining Ugurcan
Cakir in the Trabzonspor goal, setting St Gallen on the way to qualification.
Not a bad way to sign things off before embarking for pastures new, eh?
Isaac Schmidt - expected to sign for Leeds on deadline day tomorrow - scored for current club St. Gallen in their Conference League qualifier against Trabzonspor tonight. He was subbed off on the hour mark. #lufc
— Tom Carnduff (@TomCarnduff) August 29, 2024
pic.twitter.com/sWUV45SQRK
Now, success is all well and good, but let’s go back in time
a little to when things didn’t work out so well for our new man.
The 2022/23 season was in its infancy when FC Zürich, fresh
off the back of their first Swiss title win in thirteen years, travelled east
across their cantonal border with St Gallen to play the side that finished 5th
the previous season. FCZ had lost their title-winning coach, Andre
Breitenreiter, who had moved to Hoffenheim to try his hand in Germany once
more, but probably wondered what he had done once he turned up in Huddersfield
just a few years later.
Nevertheless, they had replaced Breitenreiter with Franco
Foda, who had only recently left his post as Austria’s head coach, and still
boasted the majority of their championship squad, including a young Italian
forward who had made his international debut a month earlier aged just
eighteen. Despite his inexperience, Wilfried Gnonto had scored an impressive
eight goals during Zürich’s successful campaign, and was tipped to be one of
the stars of the upcoming season.
FC St Gallen, on the other hand, were aiming to improve
after a mediocre league campaign. They had made the final of the Swiss Cup
(their second in a row), but lost 1-4 to FC Lugano (again, two in a row), and
head coach Peter Zeidler was determined to improve the standings of one of
Switzerland’s most historic sides. Zeidler, a Red Bull man, had coached under
Ralf Rangnick before taking over at FC Liefering — Red Bull’s ‘minor’ team in
Austria — and, later, Red Bull Salzburg.
Zeidler’s St Gallen side played a distinctly Red Bull style:
very little width, focusing on high pressing and disrupting their opponent, and
pointlessly playing themselves into trouble in situations that would be best
suited by playing it safe. Isaac Schmidt, a young full-back who Zeidler had
brought in from Lausanne Sport in the French-speaking region, had become a key
component of his side.
Schmidt, just 22, had played in just about every position
possible, though Zeidler had mainly used him either on the left side of
defence, or the left side of his midfield diamond. Schmidt’s ability on the
ball and willingness to push forward meant that, in FCSG’s aggressive system,
he was well suited to both. For the visit of the reigning champions, Zeidler
pushed him up into the diamond, tasking him with keeping an eye on the likes of
Gnonto, who would look to push out to the right hand side and take advantage of
the space available.
For the majority of the game, however, Schmidt had little to
do. St Gallen dominated the opening half, huge pressure coming from their
attacking trio of Schubert, Von Moos, and Latte Lath (now of Middlesbrough via
Atalanta – again, what was he thinking?). By half-time, St Gallen were two up,
both goals courtesy of Von Moos. The second, after some quick thinking on the
touchline, could have even been squared to Schmidt, waiting in the box, but the
striker took matters into his own hands.
Zürich fought back in the second half, mainly through
wayward passing on St Gallen’s behalf, but couldn’t find a way past Lawrence
Ati-Zigi in their opponent’s goal. Antonio Marchesano came closest after a
lovely through ball from Gnonto. Though they didn’t know it at the time, this
kind of result would become a trend for FCZ under Foda, who was eventually
relieved of his duties by September, a few weeks after Gnonto’s move to Leeds.
Their wait for a league win lasted until October 30th.
St Gallen’s dominance, on top of Zürich’s lacklustre
performance, made it all the more strange when, in the 73rd minute, VAR stepped
in to have a look at Isaac Schmidt’s tackle on Gnonto in the middle of the
park. It seemed an innocuous coming together between two players who hadn’t
seen much of each other all game, but Gnonto had gone down and stayed down,
clutching his leg in apparent agony.
Willy Gnonto & Isaac Schmidt, July 2022
— George (@_go_fan_) August 29, 2024
Credit to @LeedsAllOver
#lufc pic.twitter.com/ytLWoWcOUa
It wasn’t a difficult decision for the referee upon viewing
the replay. Schmidt had, for whatever reason, gone over the ball and brought
his studs down into Gnonto’s knee. It was a wild challenge that, more than
anything, felt utterly unnecessary given both the scoreline and the lack of
threat in Gnonto’s position. There were no complaints when the red card was
drawn — merely a shake of the head as Schmidt made his way off the field — but
that seemed to come from annoyance at his mistake, rather than disbelief.
In a recent interview, Schmidt claimed that his red card had
come from Gnonto being “fast”, but in reality pace had very little to do with
what looked more like a young player forgetting where he was for a moment.
Since then, Schmidt has only been sent off once more, for a second yellow later
in the same season. One would hope that, based on that record, we won’t have to
worry too much about history repeating itself. Willy might want to watch
himself in training, mind you.