This flawed, fabulous game had everything except a winner. This match had wretched defending, spectacular goals, one of the cheekiest penalties imaginable from Lucas Paquetá, a high boot that cut Declan Rice’s ear open, and one of the fingertip saves of the season from a stretching Lukasz Fabianski to deny Rodrigo a winner for Leeds United seconds before the final whistle.
From first to last, this was compelling. It underlined why the Premier League is the most popular sporting league in the world. It was the commitment of the players and the managers, the passion of the fans, the execution of skill at speed with the entertainment enhanced by mistakes at the back.
It was played in teeming rain in front of a seething, beseeching crowd between two sides looking nervously over their shoulder at the table but constantly looking forward confidently here, especially Leeds. Their head coach, Jesse Marsch, who admits how “stressful” he finds management, was so emotionally engaged in the game, so constantly urging on his players and disputing decisions, that he was eventually booked.
Marsch looked disappointed with only a point afterwards as his youthful team, big of heart if not frame, showed signs of why they could mature into something more substantial. Tyler Adams impressed in central midfield. Rodrigo looked more of a threatening centre forward. Jack Harrison was lively when he came on. Wilfried Gnonto was a bag of tricks for Leeds and a bundle of trouble for West Ham United.
Gnonto was only 293 minutes into his Premier League career when he scored his spectacular first goal in the competition. The Italian, a £3.8 million signing from Zurich, is enjoying an eclectic season in which he has played in the Swiss League, the Champions League, the Europa League, the Nations League and the Premier League.
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Gnonto turned 19 only on Bonfire Night but he already looks a livewire talent. He took his goal superbly. The clock showed 27 minutes when Luke Ayling took a throw-in on the right, delivering the ball to Rodrigo who swiftly transferred it into the path of Gnonto.
He slipped it to Crysencio Summerville, who played a disguised pass behind Craig Dawson to release Gnonto through the middle and into the area. The teenager used his right foot to control the ball and then his left to power it between Fabianski and the goalkeeper’s right-hand upright.
As Leeds celebrated, David Moyes turned to his small video screen to watch a replay. His team had been opened up far too easily. He needed them to respond for the points, to still some of the critical noise around him, and also as a tribute to David Gold, West Ham’s joint-chairman who had died aged 86 after a short illness.
Moyes spoke for all at West Ham when he talked of Gold as “always a source of great support and encouragement to myself and the players” and ���a true supporter at heart”. Up in the directors’ box, Mr West Ham, Mark Noble, the club’s smartly suited sporting director, wore a crisp white shirt and black tie. Yards away, in the seat that should have been filled by Gold for the night, lay a beautiful floral tribute from Leeds.
Gold would have loved the way his team fought back. Jarrod Bowen began running at Pascal Struijk, the Leeds left back. Marsch began becoming agitated, living every rise and fall of the game’s fortunes, almost playing every tackle.
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Marsch describes management as “awful, stressful beyond belief”, and his defence will have added to that feeling. Leeds did have the sight of Marsch’s former Red Bull Salzburg defender, Max Wöber, a £10 million signing, saluting the fans on the pitch beforehand, and they could have done with him last night.
For all the recent questioning of Moyes, he is an experienced manager who knows how to organise a team, and his lone frontrunner, Gianluca Scamacca, was impressing in attack, a mobile outlet. With seconds of the half remaining, Scamacca strode down the left and crossed into the box. Bowen knocked the ball past Struijk, who was caught out by the winger’s run, and mistimed the challenge.
David Coote signalled for play to continue, and Pablo Fornals shot wide, but the referee did not initially take the move back. Inevitably, he was surrounded by West Ham players demanding a penalty, and eventually went to the monitor on VAR’s suggestion.
Leeds fans sighed, knowing what was coming. It was a penalty. Coote overturned his decision, Illan Meslier eventually returned the ball to West Ham while Gnonto materialised by the spot and appeared about to engage in some gardening until Rice intervened, ushering him away.
Paquetá placed the ball on the unscuffed spot. The Brazil player was confidence and impudence personified, running in, slowing, stuttering his run, and then whipping his kick left-footed past Meslier, who had no chance.
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The first half closed, and the game re-opened in similar fashion with West Ham scoring. Brenden Aaronson underhit a ball back and it fell perfectly for Scamacca. He let it drop, used Liam Cooper as a shield, and curled the ball around the Leeds captain and in past the unsighted Meslier.
Now it was Leeds’ turn to demonstrate their resolve, and the game turned feisty. Summerville responded to a foul by Vladimir Coufal by flying back in and nailing him with a late challenge. Vlad the Impaled.
Summerville was booked and soon replaced by Mateusz Klich, while Harrison came on for Aaronson.
Harrison was electric. With 20 minutes remaining, he collected a pass from the tireless Adams, turned and slipped the ball behind Rice to guide Rodrigo into the box. Rice tried to get back but Rodrigo was too quick and determined and placed a low left-footed shot past Fabianski.
Leeds gave everything in pursuit of a winner. Their fans howled in frustration when Fabianski pushed Rodrigo’s shot over, then Michail Antonio cleared the striker’s header off the line and then Fabianski defied him.
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As if the Leeds fans had not been entirely wrung of all emotion, tears then flowed as the club said farewell to Klich, who is moving to MLS.
Marsch donned a T-shirt adorned with a picture of Klich, his players formed a guard of honour and fans serenaded the departing 32-year-old with a chant of “You’re Leeds, and you know you are.”
The Polish midfield player has been a great servant to the club, scoring 24 times in 193 appearances, and he left with the sound of Elland Road reverberating in his ears. It was one of those classic, noisy Elland Road nights.
‘Gold wanted the best for West Ham’
David Moyes paid tribute to David Gold after the death of the West Ham United co-chairman hours before the club’s 2-2 draw with Leeds United, saying that he will be a “big miss” (Martin Hardy writes).
Gold died at the age of 86 after a short illness and Moyes admitted that he had been a regular visitor to the club’s training ground and had wanted him to stay after his first spell in charge at West Ham. “He was an old man but a good man and a sensible man,” Moyes said. “It is a big miss for us, but especially for his family. He hasn’t been well for a while.
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“David was incredibly supportive of me personally — he wanted me to stay after the first time [during Moyes’s first spell at West Ham, in 2017-18].
“We heard the news in mid-morning in training. He was really important, a big West Ham supporter. He was desperate for West Ham to do well. He wanted only the best. He will be missed and probably more by [his co-chairs] David Sullivan and Karren Brady.”
“I’m really pleased [about the result],” Moyes said. “Even though we were 1-0 down I don’t think we really deserved it. I thought, ‘Here we go again,’ but we came back and it felt a step in the right direction. It is a good result, but we missed an opportunity.”
Meanwhile, the Leeds manager Jesse Marsch spoke of his frustration at the result: “I’m pleased with the way we pushed the game at 2-1 but I am very frustrated,” he said. “It took our players to go down to play with their ability and fearlessness. The first half for me wasn’t good enough, we played backwards too much and invited them into the game too much.”
Leeds (4-3-3): I Meslier 7 — L Ayling 6, R Koch 7, L Cooper 7, P Struijk 5 — M Roca 6 (sub: S Greenwood 78min), T Adams 8, C Summerville 7 (J Harrison 63, 6) — B Aaronson 5 (M Klich 63, 5), Rodrigo 7, W Gnonto 7 (J Gelhardt 90+1). Booked Cooper, Summerville, Rodrigo.
West Ham (4-1-4-1): L Fabianski 7 — V Coufal 6 (R Cresswell 68, 5), C Dawson 7, N Aguerd 6, T Kehrer 7 — D Rice 7 — J Bowen 7, L Paqueta 7 (Benrahma 80), T Soucek 6, P Fornals 6 (F Downes 80) — G Scamacca 7 (M Antonio 67, 5). Booked Aguerd.
Referee D Coote.
