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

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Karl Matchett

Sunday 20 December 2020 13:22 EST

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Scott McTominay (Manchester United via Getty Imag)

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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.

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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