United 1 - 0 Everton

DDG

Darmian Smalling Blind(Valencia) Rojo(Fosu-Mensah)

Schneiderlin Carrick(Herrera)

Mata Lingard Martial

Rashford

A great gesture to a real legend

A very important win in our quest to get into the top four. We didn't produce anything extraordinary but I thought we had a decent game. We were better when in possession, as usual, but Everton had better chances to score. We should be testing the opposition's keeper more often but now I'm used to seeing a solitary shot on target, two or three, at most, in our games. Sometimes our players seem reluctant to test the goalie even when in a decent position. 

Everton hit the bar, had two good efforts saved by DDG and had a great cross cleared by Fosu-Mensah just before Lukaku could tap the ball home. I think we only had one shot on target and scored it. You can look at the stat in two ways. You can either say we're very shit for testing the keeper only once or you can say that we're very efficient. Let's look at the bright side, we're very efficient! 

Our goal was neatly worked out. Schneiderlin delivered a Scholes-esque cross-field pass to Mata who controlled beautifully and passed to Rashford. The 18 year old back-heeled the ball to another 18 year old - Fosu Mensah - who delivered a great ball into the box which was finished by 20 year old Martial. The present might look a tad bleak but I am really excited about Rashford, Martial and Fosu-Mensah. Martial will be a world-class player, no doubt about it and Fosu-Mensah is built for the Premier League. He's still 18 but I bet he could shoulder-charge a lot of PL players off their feet. Rashford has shown what he can do in front of goal but I don't really like to get too optimistic when it comes to homegrown strikers. I've seen too many Man Utd striker careers take off with fireworks and then fall flat after a few months. 

Our goalie and defenders had a good game. By our defenders I'm referring to Darmian, Smalling, Blind and Fosu-Mensah. Rojo was abysmal. Everton's winger ran him ragged and the Argentine was rightly subbed off at half time. Blind was the star of our side today. It's amazing how such a diminutive footballer manages to go toe-to-toe with much more powerful players. In today's game, Blind had Lukaku in his back pocket all game long. Brilliant. It's a shame he came off injured but fully deserved the crowd's standing ovation. 

Carrick and Schneiderlin had better days. Mata was efficient in possession and Lingard looked eager and rushed defenders into mistakes. Rashford won't be scoring every week but I liked what I saw today and Martial was his usual self, running with speed at people. Defenders simply hate that! Oh, and our Frenchman scored United's 1000th Premier League Old Trafford goal. 

Another win, another clean-sheet. Can't really complain. We simply had to win today for two reasons: 1. To keep the pressure on City. 2. To not fuck up Sir Bobby Charlton's big day. It was a great gesture from Manchester United to name one of the stands after the England and United legend. Thankfully, our players did not ruin the occasion. A tough test awaits…