Manchester United’s match against Leeds was like a throwback to a bygone era at the weekend. Firstly, the opponents, Leeds, have rarely been seen in the Premier League over the past few decades. Then came the rain.
Football has been sanitised in recent years, with fans used to pristine pitches thanks to a combination of technology and hard work from groundstaff, while during lockdown, there were no fans in attendance at all.
Leeds’ raucous crowd generated an atmosphere matched loudly by the vociferous United away support, which combined to give the tie a real edge missing from last season’s passionless 0-0 at an empty Elland Road.
How would Manchester United’s multi-million squad cope in such conditions? Pretty well actually. £73 million signing Jadon Sancho turned in a twinkle-toes-esque performance even in slippery conditions, while Paul Pogba looked like he was on another planet to the Leeds players in the first half.
But for all their skill, no player quite epitomised the rough and ready approach United needed to win the midfield battle like Scott McTominay did.
McTominay took out everybody in his path
With the fixture and conditions a hark back to yesteryear, McTominay was like a player had been transported right out of the 1980s via a time machine and plonked onto the pitch at Elland Road.
He ran up and down the pitch tirelessly, clattering every Leeds player in his path, competing for every ball. It wasn’t pretty, at times he lost possession, at times he won it. What you didn’t get, was a lack of effort.
McTominay might have got carried away in the second half a little and been fortunate to escape a second booking, but it was that type of game. United needed a leader in the middle of the pitch to compete with Leeds’ usual full-on display.
With Leeds pulling the score back to 2-2, the home crowd were rocking. This was a moment where a lesser side would have felt, ‘we don’t fancy this’ in the pouring rain with 35 minutes to go, and wilted. McTominay made sure there was absolutely no chance of this happening.
Instead of folding, this seemed to inspire him, and he continued to motor on, and the rest of his teammates followed suit. United went on to win 4-2 and seal all three points.
Throw the stats out, McTominay’s display was more than that
You can look at the statistics from Sunday’s game and what you will get will leave you shrugging your shoulders. From McTominay’s perspective they were nothing to write home about.
For the record, 76 per cent passing accuracy, no chances created, six fouls given away, three tackles won, one clearance.
This may feel selective, but for this game, you can throw the stats in the bin. This throwback fixture was like a game from decades ago, before assists were even a popular metric to measure, let alone ‘expected goals’ or ‘progressive actions’.
McTominay’s performance was full on bull-in-a-china-shop as he ran, bumped, and slid around in the mud and rain, to inspire his team and clatter his opponents. The galvanising impact he had on the rest of the team, the supporters, and the demoralising effect he had on the Leeds players, simply can’t be measured in numbers beyond the final scoreline.
It wasn’t pretty from a technical perspective, but for fans who dislike what modern football has become, his performance had it’s own beauty to it.
The midfielder showed off his battle scars and cuts and bruises after the match, declaring the encounter as a ‘proper game’. And it was. There won’t be many matches like this between now and the end of the season, so it is worth savouring the moment classic football returned, and the player who embraced it more than any other.
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