Manchester United 2 Everton 1: Blues defeated at Old Trafford

Everton were beaten 2-1 by Manchester United at Old Trafford this afternoon after a disappointing display from the Blues.

Travelling to Old Trafford today, Everton were coming into the match on the back of three consecutive Premier League wins and there was optimism that they might be able to take advantage of United’s poor recent form.

And there was a further potential boost with the pre-match team news that Romelu Lukaku had been dropped from the United starting eleven.

But as so often Everton flattered to deceive again in a big game and once more were unable to take anything from a match at Old Trafford.

The most disappointing aspect of this performance was the apparent lack of self-belief shown by Everton particularly in a timid first-half display.

Given United’s fragile confidence and recent form, the Blues should have been right up for giving them a big test and pressuring them at every opportunity, especially in the opening moments of the match.

But other than Gylfi Sigurdsson, who was easily Everton’s best player in that first 45 minutes, no one else seemed to have the self-confidence to really take the game to United.

There were brief early flurries from Theo Walcott and a chance from a corner that Andre Gomes headed straight at David de Gea, however there was no little real sustained pressure from the Toffees.

Richarlison was too isolated playing up front and when Everton did have the ball and looked to break too many passes were inaccurate and wasteful.

If the experiment of playing the young Brazil international in a central position is going to work he needs more support from his other forwards. He cut a lonely and at times very frustrated figure up front.

United had plenty of the ball without often being challenged enough and were able to build attacks particularly down the left hand side where they were targeting Seamus Coleman. He was often isolated and exposed against the pace and running of Paul Pogba and Anthony Martial.

Coleman has been a fine servant of Everton for many seasons now. But recently he has more and more often struggled and perhaps all the recent injuries he has sustained have taken something away from his game.

It certainly seemed that United had identified that as an area of the otherwise solid Toffees defence they could attack.

And it was another of those moves down the left that led to United’s first goal as Martial ran in behind the Irishman and Idrissa Gueye, (who had one of his poorest games in recent weeks), helpfully stuck out a leg for the Frenchman to fall over in the penalty area.

There was evidence of contact with the ball but there was no need to make the challenge and these days if you lunge into a challenge like that against modern forwards there is almost always only one outcome. And so it was as referee Jonathan Moss pointed to the spot.

So Everton had a penalty awarded against them in dubious circumstances for the second Sunday in a row.

I thought Gueye was off at this point as he’d already picked up a yellow card and there might have been a case that he was technically the last defender in this situation. But Moss kept his cards in his pocket.

Then came the near-farcical penalty kick itself. Pogba is certainly a talented if inconsistent player. But his tendency to showboating and self-indulgence is an irritating and unnecessary part of his game.

He slowly and in a totally exaggerated way went to take the kick, which when it eventually came at him Pickford saved before Pogba fortuitously was able to put the rebound in.

There was the possibility he could have been booked for time-wasting and I can’t help think that if an Everton player had done something similar that’s exactly what would have happened.

So to the second half. Everton needed to start well but instead just a few minutes in found themselves two goals down.

Martial cut in from the left unchallenged and fired in an admittedly superb shot into Pickford’s left-hand corner. The keeper could not be blamed as the ball was put in basically the only place he couldn’t reach.

Now it was going to be a real uphill struggle and despite the consolation of a Gylfi Sigurdsson penalty and a chance for Bernard, there was not much that was really positive for the Blues to take away from this match.

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Although Pogba and Martial were a thorn in their side, the real disappointment was the missing self-confidence, composure and precision from Everton today.

If the Toffees can’t get something from a game like this against struggling opponents who are under real pressure, when are they ever going to take points from the top sides?

The next three away games are at Chelsea, the first derby at Anfield and then a trip to the Etihad to play Manchester City just before Christmas.

This game underlined there is still a long way to go in the Blues development and on the basis of this afternoon’s performance all three of those upcoming away games are certain defeats.