Leeds United 0 Manchester United 2
Anyone unfortunate to have used the shambolic TransPennine Express rail service between Leeds and Manchester this winter could be forgiven for suspecting the distance between the cities has somehow increased.
Unfortunately for Michael Skubala, the Leeds caretaker manager, the gap between his club and Erik ten Hag’s now looks almost unbridgeable. At the end of an afternoon in which Leeds had fought hard and, deceptively, gone toe to toe with their guests for long periods, they ran out of physical and mental energy, allowing Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho to secure an ultimately comfortable win for Manchester United.
While Ten Hag’s Champions League-chasing team now sit five points clear of fourth-placed Newcastle and seven ahead of fifth-placed Tottenham, Leeds are in deep relegation trouble.
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Rashford admitted that he and his Manchester United team-mates were “shocked and surprised” by the Leeds side that secured a 2-2 draw at Old Trafford last Wednesday night.
Five days on it initially appeared that little had changed. Within seconds of kick-off Rashford was, to Elland Road’s considerable delight, unceremoniously bundled off the ball by Luke Ayling, while, a few minutes later, a feisty Tyler Adams challenge left Jadon Sancho crumpled in a heap and requiring treatment.
Leeds were heartened by the defensive wobbles among a visiting back four featuring a centre back pairing of Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw protected by a central midfield axis of Fred and Marcel Sabitzer.
It did not seem the most secure of arrangements, particularly as Tyrell Malacia, nominally Erik ten Hag’s left-back drifted so far out of position that, at times, he could be spotted in central midfield.
Attacking, tucked in, full-backs are all very well but this seemed to be taking things to extremes, particularly as Shaw was often required to cover his more familiar left-back patch in addition to the centre of defence.
The upshot was that Manchester United conceded a series of free-kicks in dangerous positions and Leeds sensed opportunity. Although Junior Firpo was booked for lunging at Sancho the winger, making his first league start since October, struggled to get into the game and briefly swapped flanks with Rashford.
With Bruno Fernandes also failing to make an impact, Wout Weghorst found himself isolated and it seemed abundantly clear that Ten Hag was missing the midfield control customarily provided by the suspended Casemiro.
Further back. Maguire endured, but survived, a potentially embarrassing cameo involving his dispossession by Jack Harrison before atoning himself by making a decent recovery tackle on the Leeds forward.
Yet for all the apparent visiting flaws there were few clear cut – or even half – chances in a scrappy, niggly, foul-punctuated first half.
Highlights were few and far between, although David De Gea did save smartly from Crysencio Summerville and Illan Meslier reacted well to divert Fernandes’s shot with an outstretched foot.
Otherwise, there were so many fouls that any sort of flow, let alone rhythmic passing, proved impossible for either side. Remarkably this minor war of attrition produced only three yellow cards in the opening 45 minutes; maybe a few more on Paul Tierney’s part might have enhanced the aesthetics?
Off the pitch the raucously aggressive soundtrack from the stands was blemished by a moronic rendition of the appalling “Munich Song” from a small minority of Leeds fans. Last week marked the 65th anniversary of the 1958 air crash in which eight Manchester United players lost their lives.
The sometimes unpleasantly attritional atmosphere was affecting the game in a negative way but Malacia’s penchant for pushing forwards and inward frequently left his side effectively operating a makeshift back three.
At one point Patrick Bamford looked to have unhinged that over stretched rearguard but, just as the striker shaped to shoot, Fred nipped in to the space where Malacia should really have been to whisk the ball from his toecaps. Perhaps sensibly Ten Hag swiftly replaced the latter with Lisandro Martínez, leaving Shaw to revert to left back.
By then though Manchester United had experienced a reprieve when Harrison directed a decent chance wide and, endeavouring to identify a finish touch, Skubala replaced Bamford with Georginio Rutter, the France under-21 January attacking signing.
Yet despite Rutter showing off some nifty touches, Leeds were tiring and were lucky not to fall behind when Diogo Dalot hit the crossbar from distance with Meslier wrong footed.
Despite De Gea making an important save to deny Summerville, home concentration levels were slipping Rashford was eventually able to head a potentially priceless winner after Shaw connected with Sabitzer’s wonderful diagonal ball and provided a defence deconstructing cross.
Rashford’s ensuing finish, his 21st goal for Manchester United this season, was similarly high calibre, offering Meslier no chance.
The Leeds goalkeeper was soon picking out of the net again after a glorious run and angled, perfectly calibrated, shot from the substitute Garnacho. Poor Meslier could only watch in despair as it brushed the inside of a post before whizzing beyond him.
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The dismay writ large on the faces of the Leeds chief executive, Angus Kinnear, and the director of football, Victor Orta, confirmed that, not for the first time this season, Leeds had burnt themselves out and Skubala was fortunate that Rashford and Weghorst had late goals disallowed for offside.
“Leeds are falling apart,” crowed the away fans. A successor for Jesse Marsch, sacked last Monday, is needed and fast.
