Big, Big, Big Win for Manchester United over Everton
I haven’t read any of the match reports - the following is my personal view of what happened during the game and what it means for both Manchester United and Everton.
Watching this game, I had to stop myself time and time again for applauding Everton’s play - the ’smaller’ club from Merseyside showed the fighting spirit, tactical nous, aggression and sheer quality of a club worthy of playing in the Champions League next season.
In August I had commented somewhere that Everton had perhaps the best transfer policy of the Premier League - a thought that was proven beyond doubt today as Jagielka, Baines and Yakubu gave Everton not only a fighting chance to win the game but will also have led many viewers to consider that Everton were ‘unlucky’ not to have taken 3 points from the game. I don’t agree with that but apart from the result (and that bullet header by Vidic - god bless his Serbian noggin) there was little to choose between the two sides.
Manchester United Players
It was good to see Wayne Rooney not on the bench (he needs to be rested as much as possible for his own good) but seeing Silvestre starting for Manchester United and Saha on the bench was cause for concern. After two weeks, Louis Saha is still not fit enough to get a full 90 minutes for Manchester United - he’s already played a few reserve games and a 4-4-2 with Saha’s pace up front would have made a lot of difference in the early exchanges. Still, the gaffer has his reasons and if Saha needs to be eased in, no problems with that.
But are we really that badly off in defense that we have Silvestre playing at left-back? Presumably the move was to give Manchester United more defensive cover as Patrice Evra can be exposed at times, but our 3rd choice left back from last season and a player who has never been a fan favourite is now the first person Ferguson looks to when we need a reliable defender?
I’ve discussed this more here.
Overall, we did good in a difficult game, although we sorely missed Hargreaves in central midfield. Scholesy is still getting silly bookings and Giggsy didn’t look any good in the support striker role.
It was good to see Rio Ferdinand take the captain’s armband when Giggs was taken off though - future Manchester United captain anyone?
Brown did reasonably well - he was up against quality players and he came out battered but standing. Some of the criticism leveled against him is shocking - he had a better game than Ronaldo, who was well shackled by Baines and extremely poor from the free kicks (can’t you practice making the ball go OVER the wall - come on!).
Tevez is looking really good - both him and Nani are working hard and improving as the season goes on. For Tevez to score we need another striker next to him (or we need someone other than Scholes playing in midfield so Tevez doesn’t have to drop so deep), although away from home against Lisbon we’re pretty sure of starting with a 4-5-1 formation, again.
Everton Watch
I was very impressed with the way Arteta, Baines and Yakubu stuck to their task as well as with the work rate of Jagielka and Andy Johnson. Phil Neville did a good job on Tevez as well and overall Everton were very solid and quite good going forward.
Credit to David Moyes for building this squad and for my money, Everton are the surest bets for a 5th place finish in the Premier League (Tottenham don’t stand a chance).
Ref Watch
Alan Wiley made a few mistakes (as I noted in the comments thread of the match preview) and I understand that it’s hard to get all decisions right. However, there were 2 clear incidents in which post-match video replays by the ref could have helped in giving the right decisions.
For starters, there was the dive by Baines right outside the Manchester United penalty area, which should have been a yellow card (give him a yellow card after the game, why not?). Then there was a two-footed sliding tackle by Yakubu on Edwin van der Sar where Yak caught the keeper long after the ball had gone. A yellow card offense considering that this was no where near a ‘defensive’ tackle.
I’m sure there were other incidents in which things were not so clear - we can’t fix everything in one fell swoop, but maybe we can do it step by step?
The Future for Manchester United and Everton
Manchester United will be 4th, at worst, after the day’s over, and things are looking up for the Red Devils. I still don’t think we’ll win the title, but you never know, it’s still early days and things are wide open.
Everton - fantastic game and they’ll do well this season. 5th place beckons.
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still lacking a good n injury-free target man like anelka…pique n gibson will now have more chances after recent injuries to fletch n sheasy…..let tevez take d freekicks…ronaldo sucks at them! hahahaa~!
right about the free kicks!!!
give ronaldo a break. he’s just returned
few more games and he ll be back!
Well I’ll take the 3 points, obviously, but it was another lacking display from us.
Carrick was very poor, the introduction of Hargreaves into the team left Carrick with two options:-
Rise to the challenge and finally show us how good he is on a weekly basis, he’s had plenty of opportunities since Hargreaves arrived.
Or, let it get to him and make Hargreaves’ inclusion in the team when fit an easy decision for SAF. Sadly it seems it is this option that Carrick has chosen. Perhaps it’s me, but whenever he get’s the ball he seems to look around for Scholes to pass to immediately, is he out of his league? I still believe he is a talented player, I just wish he would prove me right.
The defence was pretty solid all round, we didn’t look like conceding, but unless we want to become Liverpool (of old) that isn’t enough.
Going forward Tevez looked his best so far. He was pretty lively all round, it was just a shame the like’s of Nani and Ronaldo seemed to waste the useful play he was creating. Saha must play when fit, but then we all know that, well most us.
Evra still shows glimpses of talent on the wing but seems to have little idea of how to play the offside rule.
The free-kick situation must be addressed. Ronaldo is not good enough, Tevez should be given a go at our Run of the mill free kicks, I would also like to see us mix it up a bit, you don’t have to power the ball at the goal to score from a free-kick.
Our position in the table doesn’t look to bad, but I think we all know we’re going to have move up several gears if we want to compete this season.
quite a fair report …tevez was the standout for united…but for the first time in years i thought Everton outplayed ( or matched maybe) united for class and not just industry and heart.
You seemed to have missed Saha’s nasty raised foot ( sorry but hes never a united player)and the team seem to be hitting that petulant “were united, we should win without trying ” attitude, the same as the red sh**e over the park did, and its a nasty spiral that leads to mediocraty…the red sh**e still believe they are the automatic champs….FIX.
Everton are mearly a very good team..1 or 2 positions to strengthen, 1 or 2 players to be benched. If that team continues to improve the way it has, then it need fear no so called big team…its wide open chaps….may the best side win!
carrick poor?….i thought if it werent for him we would be without possession and that was why we stayed in the game…scholes was shocking to say the least but did save us with that goal line clearence.. ..i knew fergie wouldnt start Saha not just bcos he isn’t fit but also bcos of the lack of adequate cover in the striker position…i thought aside from that cornerkick with vidic’s gaol, nani was piss poor..tevez did well as usual and sad to c sylvestre injured but glad he isnt playing again anytime soon..
I disagree actually.i thought tevez was pretty poor.so far he has been a bad buy.he hasnt shown much class at all.hope he will improve though.good to see pique in the team.although the free kick he have away with his first touch was pretty scary.some players are really playing well below their best.scholes,giggs,carrick.the list goes on.bring on chelsea!
SIGN ANELKA! OR IBRA?
EXCHANGE TEVEZ WITH IBRA OR ADRIANO OR PAZZINI?
I dont know what game you were watching but to say that Tevez was pretty poor and has not shown much class - do you know what you talking about mate? Tevez passing in the first half and shielding the ball in the 2nd half was not classy? Jees you are hard to please.
mu shud have signed sneijder or babel or of course torres! with them, we would have goal fest every match! Hohohhoho….santa goals!
what say u guys?
whats up with anderson? injured again? or exhausted tossing with hookers? hahaha!
Kienu, stay off the Ribena mate.
I AGREE WITH JUST1N TEVEZ PLAYED VERY GOOD GAME HE SHOWN A REAL TEAM PLAYER..HE’LL SURELY IMPROVE MAN U..IT IS JUST MATTER OF TIME..HE IS STAR!!
Sorry nick, what’s the Ribena?
How the hell can you exchange tevez?! He’s on loan for fuck sake!
Kienu- you’re a ‘Pool supporter right? judging by the fact that when Tevez was our only fit striker and it was his first match for us we managed to score against Pompey and the amazing strike force of Crouch/Voronin/Torres/Babel/Gerrard/Benayoun couldn’t muster a goal against them and we lucky to escape with 1 point I wouldn’t be here bragging. But then again Torres has scored in his first 5 games 3 times and 2 of those were against the might of Derby County. I also wouldn’t be very happy with my manager right now after leaving the 3 best players on the team out of the starting lineup when they were all fit. But don’t worry i’m sure they’ll all be nice and rested to play Birmingham next week.
Wat is tevez doing in the team?how many shots did he take?as a striker he should be shooting the dam ball.not passing and shielding.any1 can to that.if we wanted a player like this smith should have stayed to ’shield the ball’.anderson i know is still lacking fitness hence being left out of the first team squad.dam arent nanis corners really good?2 corners 2 goals.and level with chelsea.so much for us being out of the title race
First of all, those who say Tevez had a poor game obviously either watched a different game or has a poor insight of the game of football. Second, those who criticise Carrick again doesn’t know his true value for United. So what if he looks around for someone to pass to? So what if he passes it square to Scholes? He is the best retainer of possession in the team and the best passer of the ball. Did you miss his defence-splitting pass to Evra in the first 10 minutes??? Good grief.
Glad to see Tevez starting to develop some chemistry with the midfielders. He’s still not the predatory type up top that United sorely lacks right now. There was some promising midfield play this morning, but not many chances were created. Everton fielded an untested keeper, and truth be told, by the final whistle, he was still essentially untested.
Actually i thought this was a rubbish game. You can see that the playing quality from last season has seriously gone down. Yes i can admit ronaldo just got back but i’ve seen him kick those bloody freekicks into the wall about 20 times, what happened to that brilliant one against Euro XI huh?
I was pretty disappointed with that win and I actually do think we were lucky to walk away with 3, you could see it on all the players faces that they were incredibly frustrated. Especially Tevez, see that vicious shot he did over the crossbar from the corner of the box? I just hope that we can scrape our act together against Chelsea.
I think the chelsea game has come at a perfect time.time for united to raise their game back to were it fucking belongs.because we are the best team.
Shoehardy, I did see that pass by Carrick to Evra, it was a goodun, but as I say his fleeting moments are not enough, he needs to be more consistent. You say he is a great retainer of the ball, well, he can be, but did you see him loose the ball in dangerous positions on several occasions? Causing rash tackles and the giving away of free-kicks or putting team mates under pressure? His seeming unwillingness to move with the ball at his feet isn’t negated by the odd defence splitting pass. He has a tendancey to suck Scholes backwards towards him, a 5/10 yard run would put him in even better positions for a pass or free up his team mates. Something that Hargreaves does very well.
As I say, he has ability, I think he has a lot to offer the team, I just wish he’d realise that potential.
Ahmed, the title race was blown open yesterday with liverpool and chelsea stumbling. if we can keep up with them we will win the title (scared about chelsea nxt week though).
Btw I have not seen the match but what did u manke of ronaldo’s ‘dive’. was it really a dive?
Andrei, Unfortunately is was (another) a case of Ronaldo unfair reputation going before him. There was contact, only minimal, but it certainly wasn’t a dive or a booking. Not a great deal different from the free-kick awarded to Baines at the other end earlier in the match.
Interesting refereeing decision by Alan Wiley, who overall was pretty good. People calling for Scholes to get sent off for his challenge on Arteta fail to realise the refs do have some common sense, it was 30 seconds after he picked up a yellow for being annoyed about being called for a handball when it clearly wasn’t a hand ball. when someone as experienced as Scholes (and giggs came over to - not something you often see) get upset, the ref realises he may have been wrong, and therefore isn’t going to send someone off. You wouldn’t know it from the commentry though, all they could talk about was him being lucky to be on the pitch!
Ronaldo 100% did not dive, and I have no idea what Alan Wiley is thinking giving a yellow. Can anyone on Earth other than f*cking useless FA come up with a reason for not being able to rescind yellow cards after watching a video? I mean what the hell is that? Basicalyl the ref can watch after the game and say, ooops, I screwed up, sorry, but can’t take back the card. Makes no sense to me.
Personally don’t think it was as horrible a perfromance as peple are making out. Everton are a quality side, with a very strong defensive midfield, who, as expecteda thome, didn’t allow United many chances. Tevez/Giggs/Scholes created a gem of a chance, but that was pure magic, and nothing else looked like working. What I don’t get in matches like is why Ronaldo doesn’t step up with his cut in from the left wing and have a strike routine. He can almost always get past his one man to clear enough room, I mean even if he misses a few its more helpful than just playing it back to Carrick to start passing around he box again…
As an Everton Fan - I was really dissapointed with the result.
If the Everton goal had stood - we may have walked off with the 3 points. Instead Wiley blew for a nothing challenge 5 seconds earlier.
Also Scholes should have been sent off.
After recieving his yellow card - Wiley spoke to him 3 more times - once I would understand but 3 more chances - total joke. I’m not saying that scholes deserved to be sent off but he should have recieved another yellow card for one of his three indiscretions - the ref is not supposed to hold back a yellow card because a player is already booked.
Scholes cleared a shot off the line also - which adds salt to the wounds when you consider he should have been off the pitch by then.
On another occasion - Yakubu was 5 yards past the Utd defence and the ref again awarded a free to Utd for a non incident 5 seconds earlier.
The positives for Utd are taking the 3 points in a game which they could have easily lost or drawn and the opportunity to give Scholes a Rollicking for his petulance even after being warned 3 times.
The positives for Everton are being able to compete with Top teams like Utd, the emergence of Wessels as a decent alternative to Howard, Baines Dominating Ronaldo and the Strong Praise given from Utd fans and Alex Ferguson.
The Negatives for Utd are that the result may mask the fact that Utd are not playing like Champions and the lack of goals from them this year.
The Negatives for Everton are failing to mark Vidic properly (Yobo and Hibbert), the positional sense of Hibbert and failing to take at least a point when we clearly deserved to.
i think that in ysterdays gam ronaldo was put more in th middle den on the flanks..is this because of nani?..we saw glimpses of nani outdoing ronaldo in what he does best. Is this the end of ronaldo and the building up of yet another Porutgese star?
in my opinon ronaldo will end up like beckham. he’ll be sold when he’s 25/26 i cant see him pledging his loyalty to th gaffer. And in ytd game he was not defending, and his attacking was limited..
was it just because he was tired?
or maybe he has lost it?
for me, i think give him a break and he ll be back on wednesday at sporting lisbon doing his thing all over again
ronaldo, lost it? Carrick not good enough?
what is wrong with you people!!!
Fair enough both players did not play that well yday, but give them a break. I would say they were two of the main reasons utd ran away with the title last year. Carrick prove to be the perfect partner for scholes and ronaldo was just amazing.
there playing a different formation, wiuth many new signings coming in. just need time to gel, good thing is chelsea and liverpool ar begining to drop points. Now just need arsenal to drop some points.
unlike ahmed i still have faith of retaining the title
The only one rather thinks that now we’ve seen our beloved ManU play well and not get anything, we’ve also seen them grind out victories without being spectacular.Now we just have to combine the two and we’ll be set.Forget this thing of needing a target man or whatever, i rather think the team is well balanced and will achieve a lot this season!Look at how we’ve closed up five point gap on Chelski without even breaking a sweat.Now imagine what we’ll achieve when we hit our straps?
No offence to LiverFOOL and the Goof Troop!
i thought man utd played in good in every position except one. Thats the forward position.
1. Giggs is not quick enough to react to the ball when running into space but instead he keeps losing it. i have no idea why giggs is even playing up front. although he might not have the speed of nani on the flanks, he’s playing a lot smarter so thats why he should be put out wide. his experience will always put him ahead of nani.
2. what is going on with carlos tevez. last season he was averaging 5 shots a game. in the last 3 games he has a total of only 6 shots. to be man utd’s center forward you have to be able to take your chances. rooney and saha both take 5-6 shots a game. tevez shouldn’t be afraid to take his chances. while i do admire his work rate, man utd are in need of a goal scorer.
3. once rooney and saha regain the fitness in the next couple of days, i expect them to start against chelsea this weekend. chelsea have big centre backs such as terry, alex, ben hiam, and carvahlo. given the chance, i know that terry is going to knock tevez on his butt. saha’s speed and aggresivness will cause all types of problems to chelsea back line and will give rooney plenty of space to operate. you saw that last season with saha’s fantastic goal against chelsea. in the first half of last season, these two formed one of the best partnerships in all of europe. they both have that understanding of each working together for the last couple of years.
[…] a 0-0 draw with Everton will be disastrous. From the way United performed, I think many would agree United is not good enough to win this […]
I don’t have faith in United retaining the title this season… I KNOW we will retain it.
I can’t believe why people can start doubting so quickly.
I think it was always going to be a sloppy performance from United (they never truly perform well after international breaks). but, at least we got the points. With this game coming in midweek, we can expect another scrappy game this weekend as well. I know that should we get maximum points then, our season will finally take off.
Does anyone know if Torres was injured for Pool, or was his exclusion another indication that Rafa considers CL more important than PL?
Sir alex ferguson i want u to give c ronaldo a break pls also i have some list of player for u to buy if you want to buy, Osaze odemwinge, bromiguo frm fc porto.Sir i want you too to have a break and at least buy arsene wenger to man u and coach him on how man U players play also sir i know you’ve been in this club and u like, even love this club man u. i want u to be always there during trainings to see how they are improving especially with the new players dont give them a break except when it is time to sleep in the afternoon and at night and also make sure they are skillfull.
Thanks
yours respected and respectful fan.