A year to the day since Ruben Amorim fielded his first Manchester United XI, his latest iteration folded in a capitulation to 10-man Everton, who ended United’s unbeaten sequence at five games.
Idrissa Gueye’s bizarre red card for slapping Michael Keane, his centre-back, gave United most of the match to overcome Everton, who had previously won once at Old Trafford in 32 years before Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s 20-yard strike gave a delighted David Moyes a first victory here as a visiting manager in the Premier League.
The Scot’s team are up to 11th, level on 18 points with United, who missed the chance to break into the top five by failing to win in such a dismal manner. Towards the end Joshua Zirzkee twice directed headers that forced Jordan Pickford into flying saves but these were rare moments of potency from United. Yet again Amorim’s team were disjointed and if they are to threaten a Champions League place the head coach has much more fixing to do.
If you cannot beat an opponent reduced in numbers for so long – or at least, not lose – then how can any pretensions of being contenders be taken seriously?
United’s 19 goals for and 18 conceded faced off against Everton’s 12 and 13 respectively, so the hope was that this might be a thriller if not a festival of finishing. Twelve months on from his debut, a 1-1 draw at Ipswich, Amorim’s anniversary team showed six survivors – Bruno Fernandes, Noussair Mazraoui, Amad Diallo, Diogo Dalot, Matthijs de Ligt and Casemiro – as Benjamin Sesko’s knee injury gave Zirkzee a first start of the season.
Moyes’s headline selection was Séamus Coleman, 37, whose last league start was in May. His welcome back was to be left a slouch by Diallo’s trickery along the left.
United, too, were left facing goal when Iliman Ndiaye ran in behind along the right. His cross removed Senne Lammens from the picture but the goalkeeper was relieved to see Leny Yoro head clear.
Another fluid move from Moyes’s men ended with Dewsbury-Hall finding Ndiaye, who this time shot and blazed wide. Coleman’s night was ended inside 10 minutes by a problem that took him straight down the tunnel; Jake O’Brien replaced the captain.
Then came bedlam from Everton as Gueye pressed the self-destruct button. Bryan Mbeumo burst into the area, lost the ball and, after Fernandes’s effort went wide, Gueye approached Keane, who pushed him away. One pitter-pat slap of his teammate’s cheek later and the referee, Tony Harrington, produced the red card for violent conduct, and off went the defensive midfielder, to his blushes, and the watching Stretford End’s glee. Comically, Pickford had to restrain him from having another pop at the towering Keane. Moyes later confessed to “quite liking his players fighting”.
United had 77 minutes left to take advantage of their extra man, but from a corner moments later still allowed the bright Ndiaye to break downfield before Diallo, scrambling back, intervened.
United were fragmented, Fernandes’s ball hoofed towards Patrick Dorgu as emblematic as Dewsbury-Hall’s opener. The Everton midfielder received in acres of space, shrugged off a sleepwalking Fernandes, made a mug of Yoro and fired a rocket past Lammens high into the net.
United played like they were a man down and, when Zirkzee’s smart break was followed by a scything ball in from the right, Dorgu, from a tight angle, spooned wide. It was a sign of their conviction-deficit.
Diallo’s footwork created a sight of Pickford’s goal, but the Ivorian’s attempt dribbled wide. At the break, a long-range shot from Fernandes that had Pickford airborne to save was the closest United had come to an equaliser.
Amorim replaced Mazraoui with Mason Mount for the second half, Diallo going to right wing-back and the substitute taking his role. United’s possession count was roughly twice Everton’s but the quality of the display was low. Mount’s shot, blocked by James Tarkowski, and his aimless header, plus a loose Casemiro attempt, indicated those in red were at least near Everton’s goal.
On 57 minutes Amorim took off Casemiro, who had been booked, for Kobbie Mainoo and Dorgu for Dalot, continuing to try to right his listing ship. At last, things got better. Mbeumo and Zirkzee combined for the former to shoot, then Mount bounced the ball marginally wide. On the sidelines, Amorim kept pointing to his temples in a “keep your cool” gesture.
Yet Mbeumo’s skewered attempt and Fernandes firing over – more than once – suggested the message was not heard.
