Marco Silvestri was Leeds United’s hero against Norwich City at Elland Road last season, and Felix Wiedwald needs a similarly inspired performance.
Going into Saturday’s game against Queens Park Rangers, Felix Wiedwald had enjoyed a fairly unspectacular return to the Leeds side following his recall ahead of the Yorkshire derby with Barnsley last month.
The German had initially been dropped after a string of mistakes, but Andy Lonergan’s stint in goal led to Thomas Christiansen giving him a second chance to prove that he could be a success at Elland Road.
His displays against the Tykes and then against Aston Villa seemed to pass without drama, and it appeared that the game at Loftus Road this past weekend was similarly going to end without many questions being asked of Wiedwald – until stoppage-time.
Leeds were leading 2-0 when Pawal Wszolek launched a fairly harmless ball back into the box as the home side desperately searched for a lifeline.
However, the cross went from being harmless to being the lifeline Rangers were looking for in one split-second as Wiedwald got himself in a terrible position and was lobbed by the bounce of the ball when under little pressure.
Luckily for the stopper, Kemar Roofe would complete his hat-trick moments later – admittedly, after Wiedwald had made a good save just before to deny the home side an equaliser – to give Leeds the three points and ensure that the mistake was not costly. But the pressure is certainly back on the goalkeeper ahead of this weekend’s game with Norwich.
So perhaps Wiedwald should take some encouragement and inspiration from one of Norwich’s visits to Elland Road last season when another maligned goalkeeper made himself the hero to send Leeds into the quarter-final of the League Cup.
Marco Silvestri spent last season relying on the cup games for game-time with the first-team, and when the Canaries visited in October 2016, the Italian was simply inspired.
The goalkeeper made a number of stops during the game and subsequently saved three penalties in the shootout to help the Whites book their place in the last eight. It was undoubtedly the highlight of a difficult Leeds spell for Silvestri, who returned to Italy this past summer.
Leeds fans will certainly not want Wiedwald to replicate Silvestri in too many ways, and would undoubtedly rather that he was not busy at all this weekend, but if he has to answer a lot of questions from the Canaries, he will silence a lot of his critics by producing a performance on the level of Silvestri’s 14 months ago.
Will Wiedwald prove a success at Leeds?
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
