Manchester United vs Leeds result: Player ratings as Red Devils hit six at Old Trafford

Man United 6-2 Leeds: The home side finally found their scoring touch at Old Trafford

Karl Matchett
Sunday 20 December 2020 18:22
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Leeds put three past Manchester United in classic win

Manchester United beat Leeds 6-2 in a Sunday Premier League goal fest.

The opening goal came just 67 seconds in as Scott McTominay leathered one in from the edge of the box - then the Scot doubled the lead two minutes later with a brilliant run and left-footed finish. Patrick Bamford missed one great chance and netted another from an offside position, before Bruno Fernandes hammered in United’s third - all this inside 20 minutes.

Bamford missed another couple of chances as Leeds continued to threaten in spells, but United were then left able to counter-attack at will into spaces. One such foray ended in a corner which Victor Lindelof scored from, before Liam Cooper headed one back right before the break.

READ MORE: Premier League fixtures and table - all matches by date and kick-off time

The chances kept coming after the break, with David de Gea saving twice from Raphina, Dan James scoring a fifth and Fernandes netting a penalty for six, before Dallas put a second Leeds strike into the top corner.

Here are the player ratings from Old Trafford.

Manchester United

David de Gea - 7. Made a tremendous save from Raphina after half time and one or two other decent stops.

Aaron Wan-Bissaka - 5. Struggled against Raphina and didn’t do too much going forward.

Victor Lindelof - 7. Neat finish for his goal. Did well at the back when the away side pushed on second half.

Harry Maguire - 6. Alternated between winning his battles and being soundly beaten. Nowhere near his best form at present.

Luke Shaw - 6. Played an hour. Decent supporting role but not always involved in the counters.

Fred - 8. Quick to win the ball, quick to release the ball. Exposed Leeds’ big gaps in the centre with simple, fast passes.

Scott McTominay - 9. Scored twice before most players had touched the ball. Lovely assist for the fifth. Great all-round drive and work. Basically a combination of Kevin de Bruyne and Steven Gerrard in this 90 minutes. Or maybe a prime Paul Pogba.

Dan James - 6. Booked for diving. Lightning on the break but too often had no idea what to do at the end of them - until he just hammered one left-footed through the ‘keeper’s legs.

Bruno Fernandes - 8. Smashed in the third goal, found space between the lines time after time. Could have picked passes between Leeds’ defence all day long.

Marcus Rashford - 7. A big outlet all the time, didn’t quite have the finishing touch though.

Anthony Martial - 8. Two assists and should have scored at least one of his own. Great movement all day to open up chances.

Leeds

Illan Meslier - 5. Couldn’t do anything about the first four goals but should have done better with James’. Made a few saves after the break.

Stuart Dallas - 5. Beaten inside and out by United’s fast attack. Scored a beauty though.

Luke Ayling - 4. The man-to-man approach doesn’t work so well when you don’t track the attacker’s run or miss cutting out a pass.

Liam Cooper - 4. Good header for Leeds’ goal but such huge open spaces betwen he and his partner in the middle.

Ezgjan Alioski - 4. Like the rest of the defence, nowhere near enough tenacity or winning the individual battles.

Kalvin Phillips - 4. Everything bypassed him first half and couldn’t keep track of the runners. Taken off at half-time.

Raphina - 7. Leeds’ biggest attacking threat. Put over some good crosses and should have scored just after the break. Two assists.

Rodrigo - 4. Overrun in the middle and had a poor touch far too often.

Mateusz Klich - 5. Subbed at the break. Didn’t stop anything defensively but could have been any of them.

Jack Harrison - 4. Didn’t track back as much as he could have against United’s wide counters and offered very little in terms of attacking delivery.

Patrick Bamford - 5. Led the line well but missed a huge chance at 2-0 to get his team back in it. Wayward with his shooting throughout.

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