Leeds 0-2 Manchester United - Mail 12/2/23
Leeds 0-2 Manchester United: Late goals from Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho see Red Devils beat bitter rivals at the second attempt this week at Elland Road to cement top four spot
Manchester United secured a 2-0 victory away to Leeds at the
second attempt against their rivals this week
Erik ten Hag's side had to be patient but Marcus Rashford
scored and then Alejandro Garnacho netted
Leeds, who are still without a permanent manager, put in a
spirited display but couldn't take any points
By OLIVER HOLT
They had built a wall of sound at Elland Road and the volume
had barely dropped, every minute full of fury, loathing, visceral roars and
taunts.
There were screams of approbation when tackles flew in and
jeers of derision when a Manchester United player was hurt. The noise and
intensity were relentless. For Erik ten Hag and his team this was football as a
test of character. This was trial by hostility.
Then, 10 minutes from the end, the noise, fury and hope
ceased. The ball hung in the air from Luke Shaw's superb cross from the left
and the home fans saw Marcus Rashford rising unmarked eight yards out.
Suddenly, there was silence. Time stopped. Rashford guided
the ball precisely past Illan Meslier in the Leeds goal. Still, there was
silence. All the energy had gone. All the optimism had vanished.
After a beat, the silence was punctured. In the far corner
of the ground, away fans bounced and leapt with joy and Rashford ran to them to
celebrate.
What a season he is having and this was one of the
highlights of it, a goal that said a lot about his fortitude as well as his
ability. It was the England striker's 21st goal of the campaign, one shy of his
biggest ever total, amassed during 2019-20. He is not just back to his best, he
is better than ever.
It must have felt like deliverance as well as victory for
Rashford and his team-mates after so long running the gauntlet. Premier League
footballers as pampered millionaires? They did not play like that yesterday.
This was a good old-fashioned street-fight, no holds barred. A crowd of 36,919,
most of them Leeds supporters, tried to will their team away from the
relegation zone, but now they had to admit defeat.
Leeds probably deserved a point in the second meeting
between these sides in five days but it was hard to begrudge Ten Hag's team the
victory, too.
There are not many places like Elland Road in English
football any more. There are not many places like this in a Premier League that
sometimes feels as though it is too neat, ordered, controlled and corporate.
Elland Road is a throwback atmosphere and Manchester United showed they could
handle it and prosper.
That atmosphere, sadly, included Leeds fans goading visiting
supporters about the Munich Air Disaster and away followers singing about the
deaths of Leeds supporters in Istanbul in 2000. It remains a revolting part of
the modern game and disfigured the match. 'The league is treating the issue of
tragedy chanting as a priority,' a Premier League statement said later, 'and as
a matter of urgency.'
United's victory was garnished by a second goal, from
substitute Alejandro Garnacho, and it was a fitting way for them to move ahead
of Manchester City, at least for a couple of hours, into second in the Premier
League.
A few years ago, in a time before Ten Hag, United would have
folded in the white heat of this game, but they are made of sterner stuff now.
Defeat sent Leeds deeper into trouble and they have now gone
nine league games without a win. They sacked their manager, Jesse Marsch, last
week and are still looking for a replacement.
Caretaker manager Michael Skubala took charge again here,
but Leeds will hope to name a permanent replacement soon because they are
teetering on the brink of the relegation zone. They play Everton next weekend.
Their fans did their best for them yesterday. The atmosphere
was relentlessly intense and adversarial from the kick-off. The visitors took
it and it was met with a thunderous roar of derision. Harry Maguire's first
long ball forward was repelled by a towering header from Robin Koch. That was
greeted with a visceral shout of approval that seemed to come deep from the
stands.
Then Tyler Adams stopped Jadon Sancho, who was making his
first start since October, in his tracks with an unforgiving but fair tackle.
Sancho was catapulted into the air and another roar cracked the Yorkshire
skies.
When Weston McKennie launched a well-timed sliding tackle
that sent Tyrell Malacia flying, there was another roar, followed by hoots of
derision when Malacia stayed down. Adams and McKennie were superb in midfield.
Marsch may have gone but there is still American steel at this club.
There was even the occasional chance amid the mayhem. Leeds
created the first when Max Wober hooked a ball from the goal-line towards the
near post. Patrick Bamford tried to help it on but failed to make contact.
David de Gea only half cleared and Crysencio Summerville rushed in to sidefoot
the loose ball just over the bar.
Soon the bookings came as Junior Firpo was shown a yellow
card for another foul on Sancho, Fred was booked for a challenge on Summerville
and McKennie had his name taken for kicking Rashford up in the air. The crowd
approved of all of it. 'Get into them, f*** them up,' they roared.
Bruno Fernandes wasted a rare opening by dragging his shot
across goal after Sancho had played him in and at the other end Maguire, who
was making a rare start, dwelled too long on the ball and was dispossessed by
Jack Harrison.
The Leeds man raced in on goal but Maguire had the
intelligence to anticipate him moving the ball back on to his left foot and won
it back.
De Gea made another mess of clearing a scooped shot from
Summerville just before the interval but it was as the half edged into added
time that the first shot on target was produced.
It was a gift from Leeds. Wober tried to pass the ball out
from the back but Fernandes blocked it and sprinted in on Meslier. He steadied
himself and tried to drill a low shot into the corner but the French goalkeeper
deflected it to safety with his right boot.
The pace did not drop after the break. De Gea saved well
from Summerville and Luke Ayling's shot was deflected just wide by Shaw, while
Diogo Dalot crashed a piledriver off the face of the Leeds bar.
The atmosphere had not calmed, either. When Fernandes went
down after a grapple with Wober, the Leeds fans taunted him. 'You're just a
soft, scum b******,' they sang over and over again.
As the game moved into its closing stages, De Gea saved well
to deny Summerville again but when the visitors broke forward 10 minutes from
time, they finally broke the deadlock.
The ball was worked to Shaw on the left and he curled a
brilliant cross into the box. Rashford had found space between Firpo and Wober
and rose to guide a precise header into the net. Meslier did not move.
Five minutes later, United doubled their lead. Wout
Weghorst, who had played a peripheral role, played in Garnacho. He shaped to
curl his shot around Meslier but caught him out by drilling it to the near post
instead. The keeper got a hand to it but could only deflect it on to the
woodwork and then watch it bounce over the line.
After the game, Skubala praised Ten Hag for the job he has
done at Manchester United 'getting them fighting' again.
As for the Dutchman himself, he seemed surprised when asked
about the intensity of the occasion. 'I didn't feel the hostility,' he said.
'It was a great ambience.'
Things have changed at Old Trafford. It has been a long time
coming, but this manager and these players are up for the fight.