Beckford shares Gnonto verdict in Leeds draw at Manchester United

Leeds United cult hero and Premier League pundit Jermaine Beckford has praised Wilfried Gnonto’s “great, great” goal against Manchester United.

Managerless Leeds headed to Old Trafford on Wednesday night for their rescheduled fixture against Erik ten Hag’s Red Devils.

The Whites had sacked Jesse Marsch two days earlier. Michael Skubala, Paco Gallardo and Chris Armas took charge of Leeds for the game.

And Leeds got off to a flying start at Old Trafford, with Gnonto opening the scoring within the first minute.

The £20,000-a-week ace played a one-two with Patrick Bamford before firing a low shot from the edge of the box into the corner of David de Gea’s net.

‘An incredible start’

At half-time, Beckford spoke about the Leeds goal. He noted how much space Bamford had, and praised Gnonto for his first touch and finish.

“It was an incredible start,” he said, as per the Premier League website (8/2/23, 21:04).

“The goal started from Manchester United having the ball.

“They were playing really high up but they were overloaded going forward.

“You’ve always got to have players back in case you lose the ball.

“Patrick Bamford was in so much space in the middle of the pitch, it’s a lovely first touch from Gnonto and a great, great finish.”

Leeds went on to double their lead early on in the second half, with Gnonto playing a role once again.

The Italian threaded a pass for Crysencio Summerville to hit on the overlap.

Summerville sent in a low cross which Raphael Varane deflected into his own goal past De Gea.

However, Manchester United fought back to cancel out the Whites’ two-goal lead.

On 62 minutes, Marcus Rashford leapt high to head Diogo Dalot’s cross into the far corner of Illan Meslier’s net.

Then, the returning Jadon Sancho got the Red Devils’ second eight minutes later.

He picked out Luke Shaw and got the ball back via a deflection before slotting home from 12 yards.

Leeds held on for a valuable point, albeit after seemingly cruising towards victory.

The Whites and the Red Devils face off again on Sunday, with potentially a new permanent manager in the Elland Road dugout.