Rodrigo deals Moyes a late hammer blow
More Marsch madness as Spaniard saves the day
TIME spent at Elland Road rarely feels wasted. Games here are often dramatic, emotional and unpredictable affairs. No wonder Leeds manager Jesse Marsch says he finds his job stressful.
Here, on another night of muck and nettles football, Marsch was spared another few days of despair by a lovely equaliser by his Spanish forward Rodrigo. A point for both these teams felt about right. It was a fractious, niggly game of football — Marsch himself was booked — interrupted by some very good goals. But at some point Marsch and his players are going to have to learn some lessons. It can’t always be like this, not if they want to move forwards.
Leeds led after half an hour, a nice goal constructed by Crysencio Summerville and finished by the bright Italian Wilfried Gnoto.
But a penalty conceded just before half-time — Lucas Paqueta the scorer — and a 25-yard effort from Gianluca Scamacca after 45 seconds of the second half starting threatened to torpedo Leeds’ hopes of steadying what often seems to be a perpetually rocking ship in this part of Yorkshire.
As it was, there came a late surge and a reprieve and Leeds could easily have won it at the death. Prior to late chances for Liam Cooper and Rodrigo — denied in added time by a superb save - Jack Harrison set up Rodrigo on the edge of the penalty area and he spanked the ball low in to the corner of the goal as though it was the easiest thing in the world.
For West Ham, this was a result that brought to a close a run of five straight League defeats. New director of football Mark Noble was here to see it and he will have recognised the fight in David Moyes’ team if also a lack of cohesion, confidence and consistent quality. Moyes will fight on in east London, we would imagine, even if his team only sit outside of the relegation zone on goal difference.
The Gnonto-Summerville axis is already one recognisable to Leeds fans. The two players combined for Summerville to score the winner at Liverpool at the end of October and again as they clinched a breathless win against Bournemouth here a week later. This time, the Italian was the beneficiary of the link-up as he scored his first goal for his club. It was a lovely goal, too, and quite in keeping with what had gone before.
Both teams looked anxious early on which was strange given that it’s only the first week of the New Year. Nobody gets relegated in January. West Ham were slightly the better of the two teams but it was a close call and when Leeds took the lead just before the halfhour, it was a surprise.
Gnonto’s lay-off to Summerville 25 yards out shouldn’t have alarmed West Ham but they failed to track the forward’s run into the box. When the ball arrived back, Gnonto still had plenty to do but the way he cushioned it on his right instep allowed him to strike first time and the ball arrowed low into Lukasz Fabianski’s right-hand corner. The West Ham goalkeeper didn’t dive. Even if he had, he’d have got nowhere near it.
On the back of the goal, Leeds came again and West Ham threatened to wilt. Suddenly, there seemed to be more white shirts available for the ball, more runners and more options. From a corner, Brenden Aaronson cleared the bar on the half-volley after moving away from Jarrod Bowen to reach a near-post flick-on.
During periods like this, Leeds can appear a more than capable side but they are also a team with a soft centre. Indeed, not long after West Ham’s Vladimir Coufal had landed a 40-yard effort on the top of the goal following a wayward clearance from Leeds goalkeeper Illan Meslier, they handed their opponents a reprieve.
West Ham’s movement into the box was decent enough but Pascal Struijk’s challenge on Bowen was rash and a penalty was awarded once referee David Coote had studied the pitchside monitor. Paqueta took the kick and beat Meslier high to his left.
That was a blow to Leeds. What happened next felt much worse. Only 40 seconds of the second period had passed when Aaronson passed straight to Scamacca, who shifted it forwards a couple of yards before beating Meslier with a low shot from distance that went in via the post. A super goal to score, a dreadful one to concede.
So now Leeds were back in that familiar position of desperately chasing. It happens a lot. For a while, they looked incapable of it. The game grew scrappy and fractious and referee David Coote was not in control of it.
But after West Ham had snatched at a couple of chances to kill the game — Paqueta and Pablo Fornals the players involved — Leeds somehow found a way back.
Marsch had thrown Jack Harrison on after the hour and in the 70th minute he eased a pass on to Rodrigo just outside the area and the Spaniard shifted it from his feet and then lashed another wellstruck goal low into the corner. For a game high on jeopardy and drama but low on quality, three of the four goals really had been quite something.
Leeds could have clinched it at the end, too. Cooper had a header from a corner hacked off the line by Michail Antonio in the 85th minute and then launched the loose ball over the bar. In the sixth minute of added time, Rodrigo diverted a header towards the top corner and somehow Fabianski clawed the ball away.
LEEDS (4-2-3-1): Meslier 6; Ayling 6,
Koch 6, Cooper 6, Struijk 5.5; Roca 6 (Greenwood 77min, 6), Adams 7; Aaronson 5.5 (Harrison 63, 7), GNONTO 7 (Gelhardt 90), Summerville 6.5 (Klich 63, 6); Rodrigo 7. Booked: Rodrigo, Cooper, Summerville. Scorers: Gnonto 27, Rodrigo 70.
Manager: Jesse Marsch 6.
WEST HAM (4-2-3-1): Fabianski 6; Coufal 6 (Cresswell 68, 6), Dawson 6.5, Aguerd 6.5, Kehrer 6; Rice 6.5, Soucek 7; Bowen 6, Paqueta 6.5 (Downes 80), Fornals 6.5 (Benrahma 80); Scamacca 7 (Antonio 67, 6). Booked: Aguerd.
Scorers: Paqueta (pen) 45, Scamacca 46. Manager: David Moyes 6.
Referee: David Coote 4. Attendance: 36,173