Leeds United were nowhere near their best when they faced Millwall in the FA Cup on Saturday.
The Whites fell to a 2-0 defeat against Alex Neil’s men and seemed to be on the back foot for most of the clash.
Fortunately for the West Yorkshire outfit, however, now that they don’t have the FA Cup to think about, they can turn their full focus towards earning Premier League promotion.
While 10 changes were made by Daniel Farke to his starting XI, it still feels like they should have put up a better fight than what they did.
However, as that many changes were made to his team, it meant that Willy Gnonto got a starting jersey and youngster Sam Chambers also started the game.
And, according to Graham Smyth, the duo were spotted in a rather nice off-camera encounter.
Willy Gnonto unseen moment shows what sort of person he is
The Whites have been one of the most dominant forces in the league since the season kicked off and to be quite frank, it was quite a surprise to see them fall to a defeat against the Lions.
Players such as Ethan Ampadu and Josuha Guilavogui played well below their expectations and were arguably one of the main reasons that Leeds were defeated.
However, writing for the Yorkshire Evening Post’s website (9 February), Smyth shared an off-camera moment between Gnonto and Chambers that will have been greatly appreciated by the manager.
“Willy Gnonto applauding Chambers after playing the youngster into space on the right only for him to concede a free-kick, encouraging him to continue with that kind of movement,” he wrote.
Sam Chambers could have a bright future at Leeds United
Although the game against the Lions was Chambers’ first start of the season, it was evident how much talent the youngster possesses.
While he didn’t set the world alight, his movement both on and off the ball was fairly impressive and he more than filled the shoes of Brenden Aaronson.
He even managed to get Leeds’ first chance of the game when he sent a half-volley just over the bar after a corner kick was taken.
Chambers picked out a couple of chances for his teammates and even ended up having a couple more chances of his own as the game went on.
The 17-year-old was hooked in the 69th minute but he can certainly look back on his first first-start for the West Yorkshire outfit with plenty of pride.
Only time will tell if Farke has any imminent plans for the future of the youngster but even just from the 70 minutes that he played on Saturday, it’s evident that the Whites have a mega talent on their hands, which, at the end of the day, is all they could ask for.
