Manchester United 5 - 1 Leeds 14/08/2021

We're back!

Pre game

The city centre

For the first time since Scott McTominay made Ederson look silly in the Manchester derby all that time ago, a capacity crowd was set to return to Old Trafford.  Videos of fighting in the city centre and policeman chasing after Leeds fans really ensured everyone new that not just the premier league was back, but one of its fiercest rivalries was too.

Team news

As always, twitter was full of complaints when 11:30 struck and the poor twitter admin knew it was time to release the team.  

Starting in goal was David De Gea.  With Henderson out with COVID, there were no complaints about this one.

The back 4 was as expected: Shaw, Maguire, Lindelof, AWB.  Absolutely no complaints with this one, we all knew Varane hadn't been registered so this was the obvious choice.

Protecting the back 4, the infamous McFred!  Ole's go to defensive midfield partnership were sure to bring the effort, desire and running we've become accustomed to with these boys, however this did of course infuriated those that wanted to see us play with 6 wingers.

Unsurprisingly, Bruno filled the number 10 role, with Mata and Pereira on the bench and Lingard out with COVID.

On the left hand side, returning from heartbreak at the euros was Paul Pogba, accompanied by the unfairly abused Welsh sonic the hedgehog on the other flank.

Greenwood started up top.  

The bench consisted of Sancho, Martial, Andreas, Mata, Williams, Dalot, Matic, Van De Been and Heaton.

He's here and he's perfect!

Finally, to give the fans something to cheer about, Ole brought out a special guest just before the game.  The club finally unveiled the very popular Raphael Varane who walked out onto the pitch, posing with his number 19 shirt and even had time for a quick hug with his childhood hero Rio Ferdinand.  Welcome Raphael!

The first half

In the first fifteen minutes the game was fast, hectic and thankfully free flowing despite some strong challenges flying in.  Greenwood looked the most likely to open the scoring forcing Meslier into a couple of standard saves.  The second of Mason's efforts on target was a tackle after Patrick Strujk showed his sloppiness on the ball, illustrating Leeds' potentially fragility at the back.  Pogba then went on to put a one on one wide and we really began to grow into the game.  

Predictably, we then loosened our clasp on proceedings for the next ten minutes with De Gea forced into a couple of standard saves after Matheus Klich was the maestro beginning to make Leeds tick (excuse the pun!).  

Thankfully, the hard work finally paid off for united with McTominay laying the ball of to Pogba who played an exquisite ball through to Bruno Fernandes before he fired the ball past Meslier with his left foot, opening our 2021/22 premier league account.

We then really began to find out feet before half time Luke Shaw and Dan James providing a couple of attempts at goal dealt with by Leeds.  All in all a really positive first half.

First half stats (courtesy of INFOGOL)

Possession = MUFC 53% - 47% LEEDS

Completed passes = MUFC 174 - 180 LEEDS

xG = MUFC 0.78 - 0.16 LEEDS

Noteable xG misses = MUFC, Paul Pogba 12', 0.23 xG

Second half

A substitute for Leeds as the emerged back out on the pitch at Old Trafford with the very well thought of Junior Firpo replacing the underwhelming Rodrigo as Leeds changed up their system.

4 minutes after the restart and our hard work was cut out as Luke Ayling fired a rocket to David De Gea's left, opening Leeds' account for the season in style.  Yes there is of course an argument Paul Pogba was at fault for the goal but the whole team were just slower to react.  After a competitive first half, Leeds had certainly come out sharper for the second half.

However, Ole's tricky reds were not ready to fall back into Jose's old patterns and in typical OGS fashion, conceding the goal was a wake up call and three minutes later, a lovely cross goal strike from Mason Greenwood clipped the post and nestled sweetly in the back of the net as we once again restored our lead. Although not looking particularly comfortable positionally as a number 9, Mason was certainly showing he was comfortable finishing like one. 

Just like clock work, we had two in two minutes as Bruno netted an opening day brace.  Bruno danced his way around the box, putting Leeds new boy Firpo and Meslier onto their backsides as he fired the ball towards the line with his left foot once again.  Leeds man on the line Luke Ayling was unable to prevent the ball going over the line and after a few seconds of uncertainty, referee Paul Tierney felt the vibration on his watch and pointed towards the halfway to signal Bruno's second.  Not only did this signal Bruno's brace, it was also a third Paul Pogba assist as he asserted his dominance from the inside left channel.

6 minutes later, Bruno had his hat trick and the Stratford end could be heard from outer space.  Victor Lindelof's outstanding line breaking pass found our Portuguese magnifico who had made a run that found him on the shoulder of the last man before he fired passed Meslier, this time with his right and we now had 4.  

Frustrations began to kick in for Leeds as the away section fell silent and Raphinha flew into a tackle on Luke Shaw, picking up a caution for his actions.  

Jadon Sancho emerged from the bench for the first time and was met with a standing ovation as he paced down the touchline in his warm up gear.  Not only was Jadon met with a brilliant applause, but he was also met with a goal before reaching the byline!  Another lovely bit of work from Pogba as Fred was the fifth scorer of the day, jumping on Pogba's back and joining in with new boy Jadon in the celebrations.

Following this, the out of steam Scott McTominay was replaced by one of my standouts of pre-season Nemanja Matic.  At the sometime, Helder Costa replaced ex-city man Jack Harrison for Bielsa's side.

3 minutes later Sancho replaced superstar Paul Pogba who walked off the pitch with his head held high and four assists to his name.  Other subs that followed included Martial for James and Bamford for Roberts in the opposing dugout.

The highlight from a red point of view of the last 20 minutes was Luke Shaw getting revenge on Raphinha and a couple of missed chances for the Leeds winger as we cruised to a 5-1 win in the end.  Well done lads!

Full games stats

Possession = MUFC 55% - 45% LEEDS

GK saves = MUFC 2 - 3 LEEDS

Completed passes = MUFC 341 - 342 LEEDS

Foulds = MUFC 11 - 9 LEEDS

xG - MUFC 1.34 - 0.61 LEEDS

Analysing the xG map

United had a surprisingly low xG for the scoreline, however I believe this was more about the high quality finishing rather than poor shot stopping by Islan Meslier.  Pogba's 0.23 effort was the biggest miss of the game (and anyone than watched can agree on this).  Impressively, Luke Ayling's goal came from a 0.02 xG effort, showing just how incredible this strike was.  Leeds' highest xG miss was Raphinha's 0.19 effort in the 86th minute, summing up his performance today.  

Player ratings

DDG - Infogol 6.44, CT - 6

The Spaniard was rarely tested and could do very little about Ayling's finish.

Luke Shaw - Infogol 6.57, CT - 6

The Euro 2021 superstar looked good going forwards but a little leggy (which was completely understandable).  He dealt with Raphinha really well and created a few chances overlapping Paul Pogba.

Harry Maguire - Infogol 6.32, CT - 6 

Harry looked good gaining territory as he pushed his way through the midfield, but noticeably a bit rusty on the ball, giving it away a couple of times.

Victor Lindfelof - Infogol 6.86, CT - 7

With Varane watching over in the stands, Victor needed to put in a good performance if he wished to keep his place, and I thought he did exactly that.  As ever, Victor showed his excellence talent on the ball in his assist to Bruno Fernandes and rarely made a mistake defensively.

AWB - Infogol 5.71, CT - 6 

Had a few driving runs, rarely tested at the back so I didn't feel comfortable marking him down

Fred - Infogol 7.29, CT - 8 

Forgetting the goal, Fred was assured on the ball, worked well with Pogba as he liked to move in from the left hand side and as ever was fearless in his breakup play.  A real good performance from the Copa America runner up.

McSauce - Infogol 6.97, CT - 6

Scott gave everything as always, however his pre-season injury showed as he was withdrawn early.

Paul Pogba - Infogol 9.12, CT - 9

Excellent.  If he wouldn't taken his chance it would've been a 10 from ne

Bruno Fernandes - Infogol 9.30, CT - 9

Hat trick on the opening day with two weak footed finishes... wow!  

The Welsh sonic the hedgehog - Infogol 6.98, CT - 7

The perfect game for Dan James and he never stopped running.  Hard work in attack and defence, a well earned 7.

Mason Greenwood - Infogol 7.73, CT - 9

Lethal finishing but positionally a little off.  Whether this kid ends up doing a Rashford and becomes a winger or establishes himself as a centre forward, he's going to be a superstar.

N/A - Sancho, Martial, Matic