Leeds United dropped out of the automatic promotion places in the Championship after they were held to a 1-1 draw by Luton Town at Kenilworth Road on Saturday.
The Whites found themselves 1-0 down early on in the game when Isaiah Jones was left completely unmarked to volley into the back of the net from close range.
Dan James equalised for the away side with a sublime left-footed strike into the bottom corner from the edge of the box before half-time, but the West Yorkshire outfit were unable to push on for a winning goal.
There were several players who let head coach Daniel Farke down with their performances on the pitch, and Wilfried Gnonto was one of those flops.
Why Wilfried Gnonto was ineffectual against Luton Town
The Italy U21 international was selected to play in the number ten position ahead of Brenden Aaronson, who scored against Swansea last time out, and failed to justify the manager’s call.
Gnonto played the opening 63 minutes of the match before Farke decided to withdraw him from the pitch to bring Patrick Bamford on, and failed to register a single shot on goal.
The 21-year-old attacker also failed to create a single chance for his teammates to find the back of the net, whilst completing just 13 passes in his 63 minutes.
He was ineffectual in the number ten role because Gnonto was unable to find pockets of space to cause damage in the final third, hence why he ended the game without a shot or a chance created.
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There was a Leeds attacker, however, who was even worse than the Italian flop against Luton, as Joel Piroe put in a disappointing showing up front.
Why Leeds should drop Joel Piroe
Farke must ruthlessly ditch the Dutch centre-forward from the starting line-up when the Whites return to action against Middlesbrough in the Championship on Tuesday night.
Piroe started the game as the lone number nine ahead of Gnonto and let his team down with a weak display against the Luton centre-backs, who dominated him with ease throughout the game.
Whilst Gnonto, at least, won four of his eight duels, the former Swansea striker lost a whopping seven of his eight ground duels and all eight of his aerial contests during his 79 minutes on the pitch, which shows that it was far too easy for the Hatters to bully him out of the match.
Minutes
79
Shots
0
Key passes
0
Dribbles completed
0/3
Ground duels won
1/8
Aerial duels won
0/8
As you can see in the table above, like the Italian attacking midfield, Piroe also failed to register a single shot or key pass to trouble the Luton goal, to go along with his woeful play out of possession.
He was tackled in all three of his dribble attempts, further illustrating how ineffectual the forward was in the final third, and it was an easy afternoon for the Hatters centre-backs up against him.
The Dutch lightweight, who lost 94% of his physical duels, was as bad as Gnonto in possession, but even worse than him off the ball with his weak play.
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That is why Farke must, now, ruthlessly ditch him from the starting line-up for the clash with Middlesbrough next time out, because his performance against Luton was simply not good enough in any context.
