BREATHING SPACE ROLLERCOASTER FOR OLE AS RED RUMBLES AGAIN
MANCHESTER UNITED’S season in the psychiatric ward lurches on. If it wasn’t quite a case of from the ridiculous to the sublime yesterday then the performance in winning at Everton was so radically improved from that in Istanbul in midweek it could have been a different team.
It continued the theme of a split-personality season which has seen United lose at home to Crystal Palace and beat Champions League finalists Paris Saint-germain.
If the manner of the Basaksehir defeat in midweek represented the low point – a display so inept it put Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s future on the line – this was the response the United manager needed.
His players pulled out all the stops in a feisty game of six yellow cards and dug out a restorative win.
There was leadership, organisation, blanket commitment and, in the shape of Bruno Fernandes, a match winner.
For all United’s wild inconsistency, Solskjaer has clearly not lost the dressing room, or in yesterday’s case the Portakabin – teams visiting Goodison Park change in the temporary car park structure during the pandemic.
As Solskjaer entered the stadium under the watchful gaze of United’s chief executive Ed Woodward he gave no outward signs of the pressure his position was under. There was the usual skip in his step and ready smile on his face.
There was one telling clue though – his speed of chewing gum consumption.
He spat out one piece by the corner flag, inserted another and by the time he had reached Carlo Ancelotti in the Everton technical area 40 yards away to shake hands that piece had gone as well.
A penny for his thoughts as he stood motionless as The Last Post played to commemorate the fallen.
After averting the early danger of self-destruction caused by winning a corner – Everton decided not to leave anyone up front – United fell behind to a Bernard goal but their response was telling.
Reconstructed with the return of Fred and Scott Mctominay to protect their back four, they had dominated the early exchanges with some crisp passing and the equaliser from Fernandes’s header after a sequence of 20 passes in a patient build-up was deserved.
If the second, past a stranded Jordan Pickford, was really intended as a cross for Marcus Rashford then nobody on the visitors’ bench was complaining at
getting a break at a time of need. Pickford, restored after being dropped last week, made a decent stop with his feet when one-on-one with Marcus Rashford but the doubts persist.
Gareth Southgate may have given Pickford his backing as his first choice but the fumble under pressure from Mctominay as Juan Mata’s free-kick was floated beyond the far post was hardly that of an England No.1.
It was an engrossing contest and one not short on spite. There were some fierce tackles flying in and a series of conflagrations, the most serious of which came after Harry Maguire wiped out Lucas Digne with a ball-and-all challenge reminiscent of Stuart Pearce in his prime.
Seamus Coleman took particular exception and confronted Maguire although Everton’s captain wasn’t exactly on the side of the angels either with one early challenge on Fernandes that left the Portuguese squealing like a skewered pig.
All the while Solskjaer, hands buried deep in the pockets of his khaki coat to counter the Merseyside chill, kept his cool and when Fernandes put Edinson Cavani clear in injury time he knew the game was United’s.
Breathing space bought; another ride on the United rollercoaster to come after the international break.
NOD’S GIFT: Fernandes scores the equaliser