Here’s Jamie Jackson’s report from Old Trafford.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin speaks.
It was frustrating when we got them back level on going two goals down and then we just hung in there. They had the ball for large periods but you have to smell the goal and be ready to drop it in. I was waiting for a little nick and for the ball to drop. I just had to beat the keeper. We had a little change of system a few minutes into the second half and get a few bodies forward. We at at our best when we play high tempo and get after people. It’s frustrating when we went two goals down, we are capable of much more. The spirit we showed, that’s what we are about and we need to show more of.
Basic info versus restrained euphoria.
Goal. Calvert-Lewin equalises.
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) February 6, 2021
🔴 #MUFC
#️⃣ #MUNEVE
🏆 #PL
FT. Taking a point, right at the death! 👏
— Everton (@Everton) February 6, 2021
🔴 3-3 🔵 #MUNEVE pic.twitter.com/Pn9Ze6eeXN
Full-time: Manchester United 3-3 Everton
United played so well in attack and so badly in defence in that half. David de Gea has to take some blame while Robin Olsen’s blushes are spared too. What a game, shades of the 4-4 in 2012 that cost United the league and delayed Fergie’s retirement.
And that’s it! What a twist. United’s defending fell apart at the end. De Gea not convincing either.
Goal! Manchester United 3-3 Everton (Calvert-Lewin, 90+5)
Tuanzebe is booked for a hack on King, and Everton have a chance to boom in a free-kick. Up goes Olsen. Maguire misses the header and the ball drops to Calvert-Lewin. Wow!
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90+3 min: Rashford goes all the way back and heads clear from Digne’s cross. A Godfrey foul on Cavani eats up more time.
90+2 min: Rashford and Godfrey clash, and United take an age over a throw in as Greenwood leaves the field and Axel Tuanzebe comes on for some defensive ballast.
90+1 min: Four minutes added on. De Gea claims a long throw that is flicked on. Then he fails to send Rashford away with his own long throw.
90 min: Into the last minute, and Everton work the ball forward. United retreating further back.
88 min: United try to take the sting out by passing the ball around. It’s almost fatal, as Maguire loses the ball, and claims a foul. Calvert-Lewin digs the ball out and plays it to Richarlison, who misses. VAR would surely have given a foul even if Maguire did fall a little too easily.
86 min: Digne hits the side of the post though De Gea would suggest he always had it covered. Not sure everyone would share his confidence on that.
85 min: Digne gives away a foul by baulking Fred just when Everton had something of a head of steam.
83 min: Everton a tad shapeless after all those changes. United yet to make a change bar Fred stepping in for Pogba. Ole must be happy with the way things are going.
82 min: Mary Waltz is back, and contrite: “I confess John, I gave up on my team. But Everton fans are not completely unjustified for this tendency. We are far better this year. Last year this would be a 3 or 4 nil score at this moment. And just a bit of mercy for Olsen, his foot did slip a bit on that third goal.”
81 min: Off goes Doucoure, who scored one and set up the other, and on comes Josh King, deadline day done deal that he is.
80 min: Rashford cuts in from the left, and is then knocked over by Keane. Free-kick, and that means Bruno time, from the edge of the box. Holgate lies under the wall. Fernandes scoops the ball over the bar.
78 min: Rashford goes close, with his left, cutting back on himself with the goal gaping. United are great going forward, but still a bit ropey at the back.
77 min: United pile on a pair of attacks. First Rashford weaves through then Greenwood and Cavani combine to create a shooting chance that Fernandes smashes just over. Olsen was scrambling again. He really should have left his deep-sea diving boots at home; he was a little rooted for that Bruno goal too.
75 min: Everton change, off goes Davies, limping, and on comes Iwobi. An Everton free-kick briefly causes problems until an infringement is spotted.
73 min: Everton win a free-kick when Shaw clatters Holgate. Shaw is booked, his fifth of the season. Cavani goes back to defend the free-kick from Sigurdsson.
71 min: That goal came against expectation. Everton had looked solid. Olsen’s mistake was something a tad Pickfordian. He has been blaming the turf, looking at his boot in the style of Massimo Taibi after his Le Tiss rick in 1999. This has not been a game for vintage goalkeeping.
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Goal! Manchester United 3-2 Everton (McTominay, 70)
United win a free-kick on the left. Shaw takes it quickly, and whips it. McTominay heads it and Olsen makes a hash of it. United are back ahead.
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69 min: Off goes James, on comes Sigurdsson.
68 min: Everton back in numbers to stop Shaw and Wan Bissaka getting behind them. Greenwood brings down James after Davies robbed the ball.
66 min: Fernandes is penalised when his overhead kick smacks against the chops of Ben Godfrey, whose sister Dolly will not be pleased by that.
65 min: Fred lashes a cross away from everyone when Shaw’s great work had set up a chance to bisect Everton’s defence.
63 min: Rashford is sent away by some some nice work by Cavani. Olsen does well to to stand up, and force a narrow angle. He saves with his legs.
62 min: Cavani is still taking it to Everton by chasing them hard. And he appears to be asking his fellow forwards to follow suit.
60 min: A United corner is headed away, and a slow buildup ensues. There are not many holes in the Ev defence. Ole looks a little concerned in the stands, grabbing his knee for comfort as he looks on.
58 min: Mark Hughes, who played for both clubs, is in the stands and looks to be enjoying himself.
56 min: Keane heads away a cross from Greenwood as Everton sit back. United will have to find a way through heavy traffic to go back ahead.
55 min: It’s United’s turn to be a mess. They attempt to build an attack but Greenwood and Wan-Bissaka are over-deliberate.
53 min: Oh Ole, oh no. Don Carlo’s half-time switches seem to have made the difference. Doucoure has marauded forward, while James has been given chance to get forward too.
Goal! Manchester United 2-2 Everton (Rodriguez, 52)
Perhaps those Everton fans are not feeling so doomed. Though then again, they are Everton fans...their team has a foothold and is playing against opposition that is in now way secure at the back. Doucoure again to the fore, he steps it back to James and he controls and wallops the ball into the net.
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50 min: David de Gea gurns in anger at that mistake, and it was mistake.
Goal! Manchester United 2-1 Everton (Doucoure, 49)
Maguire is beaten for pace by Calvert-Lewin, who shoots from a narrow angle and then De Gea can only pat it to Doucoure. That’s better from Everton, and very bad from United.
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48 min: United begin coolly with Everton doing a tad more chasing. Then suddenly Cavani and Luke Shaw link up. If anything, Shaw hits the ball too well, and it’s saved well by Olsen who palms away.
46 min: Back away we go, with Don Carlo having made no changes to his Everton team. The same goes for Ole too, though Pogba has already departed the scene.
Iasr Lahr is angry: “What an infuriating match. Everton hogging the ball only to keep playing it back a la Liverpool circa ‘95 and leave themselves badly exposed on the flanks. Seriously Carlo?!”
Mary Waltz is resigned to Everton’s fate: “For the last few years I would expect this type of result.I had settled into my”we’ll we are a mid table team.” The fast start raised my hope.DCL and James looked unstoppable. Sigh. I won’t surrender hope but it will be anchored in reality.”
There’s 45 minutes to go, gang. It’s not over yet, as Grace once sang.
Bruno Fernandes’ goal bore a definite similarity to this.
Half-time: Manchester United 2-0 Everton
United have been clinical, two superb goals at moments when Everton had looked to be a sincere threat. That’s been the difference, that little bit of quality, as Neil Warnock would have it.
45+2 min: The half ends with Calvert-Lewin missing a golden chance.
Goal! Manchester United 2-0 Everton (Fernandes, 45)
United work it out right to Wan-Bissaka via a Fernandes dummy. He gets it back quickly, sees a chance and catches Olsen unawares with a dipping, swerving shot. What a goal!
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44 min: Richarlison pushes Maguire into an error but Everton cannot capitalise this time. Slightly better from them.
43 min: It appears Don Carlo has asked his players to push further up. That opens up space. Rashford sets up Fred to shoot. Fred misses, to nobody’s particular surprise.
42 min: Everton suddenly get a glimmer of a chance. Lindelof is closed down by Richarlson and when the ball breaks clear the Brazilian tries a snap shot that almost catches De Gea unawares.
40 min: Pogba has a chat to Donny van de Beek on the sideline as he limps off. Don Carlo loses his cool as James Rodriguez decides to turn and not play the ball through to Richarlison. Everton look uncomfortable.
38 min: Pogba has pulled up. The thigh muscle has gone, and it’s an instant call to the sideline. Pogba goes down halfway down his walk off the pitch, as if to allow Fred time to come on. Pogba looks in some pain as he goes down the tunnel.
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37 min: Cavani is bundled over and so Fernandes has a free-kick chance. Plenty of players are queueing up but he chooses to shoot. That shouldn’t come as any surprise.
35 min: Everton are the diamond team, but only in terms of formation. They are being hemmed in by Shaw and Wan-Bissaka, overlapping like Cafu and Roberto Carlos.
34 min: Wan-Bissaka thrashes in a low cross and Cavani swings and misses, proof positive to the doubters that he is in, in fact, rubbish.
33 min: Robin Olsen has seen an awful lot of the ball as he seems to be Everton’s out-ball at the moment. United now doing all the pushing, and the EV doing a lot of chasing.
31 min: Shaw, Cavani and Rashford share some neat flicks. Then Cavani chases back to win the ball. A combination of silk and steel at the moment.
29 min: If Bruno Fernandes has been quiet, then so has James Rodriguez. It’s a game played in a rather English style, though with a touch more tactical sophistication than that. Shaw and Wan Bissaka are seeing a lot of the ball.
27 min: Everton retreating into their shell. Perhaps they had done a little before that goal. They certainly sat off Rashford.
25 min: Cavani has been very quiet but he needs just one chance. That was centre forward play in the finest of traditions. He’s been a fine signing for United.
Goal! Manchester United 1-0 Everton (Cavani, 24)
United work the space, Rashford chips one in and Cavani holds off two or three defenders to head in.
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22 min: Everton make a penalty claim, but nothing doing. If anything, Maguire takes the ball with his armpit. That sets Greenwood away. For a brief second there is a sliver of a chance but his shot is dragged wide. Perhaps this game is now opening up.
20 min: Pogba gets to the corner from Greenwood but Doucoure gets across to deflect it away.
19 min: The stats show that Cavani and Fernandes have touched the ball just twice...but Greenwood suddenly finds space and Holgate has to head behind.
18 min: United are slow at the moment. The question is whether Everton can keep up their energy. The changes Don Carlo has made to his team introduced that energy.
16 min: Yes, Everton are swarming all over United. Cavani runs into heavy traffic. United will not win 9-0 tonight.
14 min: Everton the better team at the moment. Calvert-Lewin gets a glimpse of goal but just fails to bring the ball under his control.
12 min: Davies robs Cavani and Digne is on the run, and wins more territory. The Frenchman is an excellent player on his day.
11 min: William Hargreaves gets in touch: “There’s a question playing on my mind over who has the best jowls in the Premier League - would it be Carlo Ancelotti, or Big Sam? Both fine examples. (I’m not talking about the crown jowls, Baggies fans.)“
Everton meanwhile are looking good with Digne to the fore. They have a corner. That’s wasted when the call flies out of play before coming back in.
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9 min: Calvert-Lewin springs the United offside trap then pings the ball across. It’s just beyond Digne.
8 min: Bruno Fernandes, quiet so far, is legged up Tom Davies, who seems to have been given something of a destroyer detail. That was roughhouse stuff.
7 min: Mark Haywood posts a personal memory: “As a five year old, I remember my mother telling me about the Munich disaster as we walked from the bus stop to my school. Her only other news bulletin that I remember was the death of the Pope a few months later. Despite being a devout Catholic and having no interest in football, I think my mother was more upset by the former.”
6 min: Rashford motors along, but briefly. He launches a pass all the way from right to left, then Lindelof sets on a solo run that’s brought to an end right on the edge of the Everton box.
4 min: Everton attempt to settle into some possession football. Richarlison and Calvert-Lewin appear to be playing as split strikers, running down the channels in an attempt to draw out the likes of Harry Maguire.
2 min: Both teams set up as a diamond? It looks that way to this untrained eye. United mount their first attack, and Cavani’s shot wins a corner after Mason Holgate deliberates.
1 min: And away we go.
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That ceremony and minute’s silence felt even more eerie and sombre when there was practically nobody in the stadium.
A short ceremony is taking place to commemorate those who died at Munich 63 years ago today, with the Everton captain Lucas Digne laying wreath as a mark of his club’s respect. Harry Maguire performs those duties for the United team.
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Carlo Ancelotti speaks.
Something different, more control of the ball. We have to defend well. When we have the ball we had to use our quality to create difficulties on Manchester United’s defenders. Fresh legs, we want today more intensity, we are going to play one of the best teams in the Premier League. We will use all our energy, all our possibilities.
Rick Harris has been worshipping at the church of the poisoned mind. “Surely the real question tonight is what clanger Jon Moss will need his mate in the VAR booth to cover for. Last time it was the offside goal for City against Villa that never should have stood, so blooper fans are on the edge of their seats tonight.”
Julian Menz has the Swedish angle on Robin Olsen. “Good or bad news? Living in Sweden, I saw quite a few performances for Malmö, and he’s done well enough for the national team. Good news for United’s players maybe, since I can’t recall him doing what has gone down in colloquial history as “A Pickford”.”
Ole Gunnar Solskjær speaks.
You’ve just got to draw on a good memory. We’ve struggled to score goals before at Old Trafford but we just have to remember the habits, don’t try to force things, relax a bit. Football’s a strange game. For us it’s about drawing on the good experiences and keep improving. The football we see now the same as when you have 75,000 people in the stands, you have a psychological edge. They’ve been really good away from home but we have been good at Goodison and hope we can put out a good performance.
Game drawing to a dull conclusion? There’s always Mike Dean.
Zack Lawrence has his doubts about Everton: “Everton have struggled with inconsistent results this season. They need to be picking up more points against the top teams. And they need to stop losing to teams they should be beating. No where near top 4 quality in my opinion.”
Sounds like Ole is bullish ahead of this one.
Solskjaer asked by MUTV how you can follow a 9-0: “Just by trying to do the right things, play as a Man United player, play with no fear, play with courage, like we saw the kids do last night [U-23s beat Blackburn 6-4].". #mufc
— Tyrone Marshall (@TyMarshall_MEN) February 6, 2021
United make just one change from the 9-0 win over Southampton. Paul Pogba starts instead of Fred. For Everton, Yerry Mina, Gylfi Sigurdsson and Alex Iwobi are replaced by Michael Keane, Tom Davies and James Rodriguez.Jordan Pickford remains on the sidelines with injury. Robin Olsen, the Norwegian Swede, plays in goals for Everton, as Jordan Pickford is still out. Is that good or bad news?
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This day, 6 February, is an important day of remembrance in Manchester United’s history.
Always remembered. Never forgotten.#FlowersOfManchester pic.twitter.com/gXSRk6Whxd
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) February 6, 2021
Here are the teams
Manchester United: De Gea, Wan Bissaka, Lindelof, Maguire, Shaw, McTominay, Pogba, Greenwood, Bruno Fernandes, Rashford, Cavani.
Subs: Martial, Fred, James, Henderson, Alex Telles, Matic, Williams, van de Beek, Tuanzebe.
Everton: Olsen, Holgate, Keane, Godfrey, Digne, Doucoure, Davies, Andre Gomes, Rodriguez, Calvert-Lewin, Richarlison.
Subs: Delph, Sigurdsson, King, Mina, Iwobi, Nkounkou, Bernard, Coleman, Virginia.
Referee: Jonathan Moss (County Durham)
Let’s start on a serious note.
Preamble
The last time Manchester United won 9-0 in the Premier League, 26 years ago next month, they could only win their next match 1-0, and at Wimbledon thanks to Steve Bruce’s late goal. Wimbledon were also down to ten men thanks to the red card issued to Alan Kimble, perhaps the only Premier League player who shares his surname with a Lee Scratch Perry song later covered by The Fall in a Peel Session. To follow on yet more clumsily in using another title from that 1993 session, there are plenty of Words of Expectation around United, even if it does look like City’s title to lose. (It was too difficult to squeeze in Gut of the Quantifier or Spoilt Victorian Child but do let us know if it’s possible.) Everton present tough opposition, even if they have won just twice at Old Trafford since football was invented in 1992, and the first of those was in August 1992, the second coming during David Moyes’ internship. The Ev’s win at Leeds, including a goal from Dominic Calvert-Lewin, was the first in the league since 12 January and Don Carlo’s team have rather dropped from the top-four picture. So, both really could do with something from the game. The question is whether United suffer a comedown from their midweek turkey shoot.
Kick-off is 8pm UK time. Join me.
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