Daniel Farke remained unbeaten against former side Norwich City in his fifth match against his old club as Leeds United manager, but his side could only manage a 1-1 draw at Carrow Road.
Norwich opened the scoring when Joe Rodon fouled Josh Sargent in the penalty area. USA star Sargent was linked with Leeds in the summer, and he turned Rodon, going down under the Welshman’s tackle.
A no-brainer of a penalty given by referee Stephen Martin, and up-stepped Sargent to score from the spot. Leeds equalised in the second half when Wilfried Gnonto laid in Largie Ramazani to score for Leeds.
A fair result for both sides, with Norwich boss Johannes Hoff Thorup saying he expected Leeds to be in the mix for promotion before the game. Leeds will be happy to have come from behind to avoid a loss.
Especially after losing Ethan Ampadu following the win over Coventry, and Ilia Gruev going off inside the first 20 minutes. But, Farke did think Leeds deserved to have a penalty for a foul on Italy star Gnonto.
Daniel Farke thinks Leeds and Wilfried Gnonto deserved a penalty
In the second half after Leeds had scored an equaliser, Kenny McLean seemed to take out Gnonto after the winger had turned the Scotland midfielder inside out. But referee Martin chose to wave play on.
Farke spoke after the match and he feels Gnonto gets unfairly targeted by referees due to his seemingly inability to stay on his feet. The Leeds manager said Gnonto doesn’t deserve the reputation he gets.
“Willy is important, he has proved this in the last game with many end products and today was involved in many good things. I think we deserved to get a penalty in this situation,” Farke said on the incident.
“Referees make their lives too easy with Gnonto – each and every decision is against him. This lad doesn’t deserve it, he has adapted to English football. He’s there with proper physicality, we have to live with it.”
Referee Stephen Martin at the centre of Leeds draw last night
Tony Dorigo was getting particularly hot under the collar during his role as co-commentator on LUTV as Martin made some questionable decisions throughout the game. He was right to give Norwich a penalty.
But there were a few decisions he got wrong. Borja Sainz should have got a yellow card for a foul on USA star Brenden Aaronson, but he got away with it and moments later, Joe Rothwell was awarded a yellow.
Leeds had Martin as referee four times last season, not conceding a single goal and picking up 10 points from a possible 12. But, he did send off Joe Rodon at Hull and it is fair to say Leeds deserved more.
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