Everton 1 - 1 United
DDG
Valencia Jones Rojo Darmian
Carrick Herrera
Mhiki(Fellaini) Pogba Martial(Rashford)
Ibra
Yet another draw in a game I
thought we played quite well. Just like vs. Arsenal and Stoke we conceded the
equaliser late on, too late for us to produce a reaction and get the three
points. Goodison Park is a difficult ground to play at and a pretty ordinary Everton side made it very difficult for us to penetrate their defence. I feel gutted to have played well and still didn’t get the three
points.
We were all over them during the
first half as we looked like we could create something special in the final
third but didn’t quite manage to do that. Our final pass was often misplaced. However,
we deservedly got ourselves in the lead with a fine lob by Ibra helped by
Everton’s goalie who rushed out of his goal like a headless chicken. The ball
hit the bar and the upright before going over the line. I was already rueing
our luck until the ref used goal line technology to give us the goal.
Speaking about luck, we were a
bit lucky today because Rojo should have been sent off during the first half
after a two-footed challenge. Michael Oliver likes to fuck things up and,
thankfully, he fucked things up our way this time. Ibra might also be in
trouble after hitting Coleman’s head, an incident that the ref missed.
The second half was different
because Everton actually tested our goalie. De Gea produced one fine save
midway through the second half to keep us in the lead. Our defenders were kept
busy and I thought our central defenders did particularly well today. Jones was
excellent and Rojo wasn’t that bad either. I was very disappointed with Pogba though. He held the ball at his feet for far too long at times and ended slowing our attacks and also losing possession in key areas. He needs to learn to pass the ball and move, I expect much more from him.
I have no idea why we keep
trying to defend a one goal lead rather than going for the kill. Whenever
Mourinho put on a defensive midfielder to protect our lead, we ended conceding
a goal. That’s what happened today. Mou put on Fellaini and the Belgian, almost
immediately after coming on, conceded a penalty (his second of the season). Yes, Fellaini made a mistake
but I’d blame Mourinho more because the introduction of Maroune was not needed.
We were better than Everton, we were going to win the game and there was no
need to defend such a slender lead. It has backfired in the past for Mourinho,
it backfired again today. Fellaini's cameo invited Everton to attack us and attack they did. When will Mourinho learn? I don’t know. I think Mourinho’s
decisions have cost us at least 6 points this season. We have a team that could
beat anyone, yet we’re in 6th place and it’s becoming very likely we
might actually miss out on a top 4 place again.
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