Martial nicks glory, but it's hardly the stuff of legends
AROUND 45 minutes after the final whistle, Sir Bobby Charlton stood in the centre circle of a deserted stadium that has for so long been his second home. Few have graced Old Trafford’s lush green spaces quite like he did.
Above him, towering towards the Manchester sky, was a stand that carries his name. Old Trafford now has Sir Bobby and Sir Alex Ferguson staring back at each other across the playing surface.
It is some imagery, that, and some reminder of how far United have to go to find a consistent level of football of which either man would approve.
As he lingered for family photographs yesterday, Sir Bobby fell into conversation with another familiar Old Trafford face, head groundsman Tony Sinclair. Whatever the topic of their exchange, it will not have featured admiration for the football.
For those seeking clumsy and inappropriate symmetry, there was some here. United’s winning goal, shortly before the hour, was scored by a young French striker Anthony Martial and created by two products of the youth academy, Marcus Rashford and Tim Fosu-Mensah.
Sir Bobby will have appreciated the quality of the goal but he will not be blind to the reasons that Rashford and Fosu-Mensah are in the side. Their hurried promotion does not herald the arrival of a Class of 2016. No, these players have been thrown breathlessly into Louis van Gaal’s first team because those who have been brought in to take this great club forwards have failed on the grounds of form, fitness or both.
There is no method here as United cling desperately to the coat-tails of the top four in the Barclays Premier League. There is no clear path ahead. Under Van Gaal, United stumble blindly from one important game to another. Some, like this one, they manage to win. Others they don’t.
A regular theme is the soporific nature of United’s football. Here they won with one of only two shots on target. In the first half, attacking a silent Stretford End, they did not have even one as they failed to score a goal in the opening period for the 16th time in 25 home games this season.
Perhaps that is why the Old Trafford crowd was quiet for so long. At full time, the United supporters finally raised a cheer worthy of the name. Whether that was because their team had won or because they were free to go home was hard to fathom.
United and Everton began the day with something to play for, though you wouldn’t have known.
Roberto Martinez’s team need form and momentum ahead of an FA Cup semi-final, while victory across town at Manchester City two weeks earlier was supposed to have returned Van Gaal’s team to the race for the fourth Champions League place.
Yet United were once more playing as though they were marking time. Had Everton been sharper, they could have taken advantage. They were the better team in the first half and with a little more cuteness in the final third, Everton certainly would have led.
Despite their possession, however, Everton did not really trouble David de Gea in the United goal. Too many promising forward movements collapsed on the back of imperfect final balls.
With England’s John Stones back at the centre of the Everton defence, the visitors looked reasonably secure against United’s impotent attack. Martial drove one shot across goal, while Stones tackled him with impeccable timing after a back- heel from Rashford had threatened to open Everton up.
That was about it during the first half, though, and it wasn’t until United finally broke with something approaching precision just before the hour that the game came to life.
Everton had once again dominated possession without creating anything in the minutes that followed half-time. A super ball from Leighton Baines found Romelu Lukaku with his back to goal seven
yards out in the 48th minute and the Belgian looked as though he may score on the turn only for his shot to strike the standing leg of the excellent Daley Blind.
Blind had been United’s best player and, soon after his intervention, they took the lead.
Michael Carrick’s long pass was controlled beautifully by the toe of Juan Mata and when his ball inside was back-heeled by Rashford into the path of substitute Fosu-Mensah, the young defender crossed low to the far post where Martial was waiting to pounce ahead of the hesitant Seamus Coleman.
With Everton unexpectedly behind,behind their sense or irrit irritation surfaced immediately as Phil Jagielka advanced for a corner to thump a header against the bar. Lukaku was an inch away from converting a low cross from the right, and Jagielka brought a save from De Gea from a corner.
In truth, United closed the game out with more comfort than they might have expected and the league table tells us their season is not dead yet. You can’t fool real United folk, though. This remains Sir Bobby’s club but at times it must look startlingly different.