Leeds United fans on Whites surprises, 'impressive' player emergence and fresh survival hope

Here is what our YEP Jury had to say on Saturday’s clash at the Etihad including an “impressive” player emergence, some Whites surprises and new survival hope under ‘Big Sam’.

NEIL GREWER

The first half at Manchester City saw Leeds struggle to gain possession and waste it quickly when they did have the ball. Ilkay Gundogan was running the show for City and United gave him far too much space on two occasions allowing him to fire in two great shots into the Leeds goal.

It was complete City domination but only resulted in two goals, thankfully. The second half saw Leeds win the half 1-0 – not often we can say that in recent times. Clearly an improvement under Big Sam and at the end, City were playing for time to see the result through.

Whilst an equaliser would have been unjust, it was a possibility for a short while. City are clearly streets above teams in the lower reaches of the Premier League, and ultimately Leeds can take confidence and hope from the second-half showing.

Whilst there were no stand-out performers in Leeds shirts this was partly due to the quality of the opposition. The fans’ standing ovation for the team at the end summed up the performance and views of those watching – it could have been a lot worse.

Man of the match: The United supporters.

ANDY RHODES

Going into this week’s game at the Etihad, fans could be forgiven for expecting another drubbing. Manchester City, in their best run of form all season and the top scorers in Europe’s top five divisions, could have and should have scored a hatful but Leeds were surprisingly resolute, despite offering little threat of their own.

United and Sam Allardyce gave it a good go and although they got away with the hosts missing some gilt-edged chances, they stayed in the game and could have nicked a point at the end. The decision to play Rasmus Kristensen at centre-half raised a few eyebrows but the defence looked solid enough and should give the side confidence going into the final three fixtures where playing a settled team will be crucial.

This game was never going to showcase how Leeds truly intend to play under Allardyce. With the special measures sides need to make against Manchester City, you would hope that United can have more of a go of it next week against high-flying Newcastle.

Man of the match: Joel Robles.

DAVID WATKINS

I think we can all be satisfied with Saturday’s performance can’t we? Many people expected a cricket score at the Etihad but it didn’t turn out quite like that. Okay, Erling Haaland looked like he was trying to help us in front of his dad (who was at the ground) by missing a few good chances, but we worked hard, looked like we wanted to be out there and, in the end only lost by the odd goal in three.

Probably the most encouraging aspect was the way the players all seemed to have come together – huddles of all the staff at the end of the warm up, at kick-off and again at full time led by Big Sam himself, suggested that any recent disagreements had finally been put behind us and the vibe at the end was so very different from that we saw at Bournemouth just a week ago.

At the end of that game I felt all hope was gone, now, maybe just a little has been brought back into the camp. It’s still an almost impossible task but the impossible can be achieved, it’s miracles that don’t come around very often!

Man of the match: Joel Robles.

KEITH INGHAM

There was not another ‘miracle’ at the Etihad Stadium as Manchester City edged closer to Pep Guardiola’s fifth title during his tenure there. After a poor first half where City could have been five up, Leeds improved in the second half to at least keep the scoreline down and even gave themselves half a chance thanks to Rodrigo’s late goal.

Sam’s biggest call was the goalkeeper’s position and he dropped Illan Meslier with Joel Robles getting his first Premier League start with Leeds. Gundogan’s two goals had put City in control. Record-breaking Erling Haaland could have added to his tally but Robles and the post denied him.

Haaland should have got on the scoresheet but gave his second-half penalty opportunity to Gundogan but Robles and the post denied his hat-trick effort. What pleased me most was the effort displayed after a week when players were openly questioned about their commitment.

That was clearly there for the fans to see and both fans and players showed their appreciation of each other at the end of the game. That has to be a plus when it looked broken between the two groups. On to Saturday with hope that tonight’s results are kind to Leeds.

Man of the match: Joel Robles, impressive.

MIKE GILL

This wasn’t pretty but the inescapable conclusion is that if the Whites had played like this earlier in the season then they would not be staring relegation in the face at this stage. The first half was totally predictable with two well-taken goals from Ilkay Gundogan. Leeds fought hard but were outclassed.

After the interval, the dynamic changed but when the referee pointed to the penalty spot after Pascal Struijk upended Phil Foden, the phrase ‘here we go again’ came to mind. When Erling Harland’s act of charity allowed Gundogan to miss the penalty by striking the post things changed again, this time in favour of Leeds.

Their grit and industry was rewarded when Rodrigo skipped around the hesitant Manuel Akanji to leave Ederson with no chance. In the remaining minutes, the home side paid United the ultimate compliment by holding the ball near the corner flag to waste time. For the first time in weeks the Whites were not turned over or humiliated and that was encouraging.

Man of the match: Max Wober.