DUNCAN DUST-UP
Soaked to the skin, Ferguson relishes battle as revitalised Everton hold meek United
JACKETLESS on the touchline in the pouring rain, Duncan Ferguson looked for all the world as though he would like to be out there. Had he been, he would have enjoyed himself.
For this is a Manchester United team that still offers opportunity to those brave enough to go looking for it. Despite fine recent performances and victories against Tottenham and Manchester City, United still have a soft centre. They can be got at, home and away.
So, yes, Ferguson would have loved this one. It was a day for a smash and grab and an Everton team re-energised by Ferguson’s up-and-at-’em style of management were only 15 minutes or so from pulling one off.
United were not particularly bad here. Not at all. They deserved the draw earned in the end by a waft of young Mason Greenwood’s left foot.
It’s just that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team were not particularly good either. And it is this combination of middleof-the-road unpredictability and vulnerability that sees United sitting sixth and just as likely to slide backwards as they are to make strides forwards.
This should have been a day to put down a marker. With Spurs and City dealt with over the previous 12 days, a performance of conviction would have taken United to the shoulder of stuttering Chelsea and a couple of points clear of Chris Wilder’s upstarts at Sheffield United.
Solskjaer insists his team are getting better but if they are it is by the smallest increments. After 17 Premier League games, United have won six. That’s the same number as Crystal Palace, Newcastle and Burnley. So greater improvement must come and it must come soon.
Here United were just too slow to get going and it’s a recurring theme. Solskjaer’s players too often seem to require an adrenaline shot to find any rhythm or momentum. On this occasion, it was provided by the shock of falling behind.
Bright enough early on, United could have led. Jesse Lingard was wide as he shot on the turn after 15 seconds and then Marcus Rashford and Daniel James were unable to find the target after being played clear down the left and right respectively.
After that, they became meek and uncertain and both are now recognisable traits. Having had success by adopting a physical approach against the Chelsea central defenders last weekend, young
Dominic Calvert-Lewin tried it again here and must have been surprised at how easily Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelof succumbed.
Calvert-Lewin had already started to trouble the United central defensive partnership long before Everton scored a strange goal ten minutes before half-time.
Leighton Baines — on as a substitute for the injured Lucas Digne — delivered a corner to the far post and when David de Gea failed to gather under pressure from Calvert-Lewin and Yerry Mina, the ball hit a startled Lindelof full on the shin and bounced in.
It was a shambolic goal to concede. A VAR check showed that Calvert-Lewin had jumped with an arm across De Gea’s face and the goal could easily have been ruled out. Conversely, De Gea’s jump had been so weak — turning his face away from the ball — that it was feasible he would not have gathered it anyway. So the goal stood and that felt right.
Another United problem was that their midfield pair of Fred and Scott McTominay were not winning the central battle against Mason Holgate and Tom Davies. This in turn was allowing Everton to spread the play and attack down the sides. Had that continued, they would have won.
As it was, McTominay improved to such an extent that he went on to be the game’s best player and this was one of the reasons the direction of travel changed in the second half.
United’s strength is the pace and directness of their young forwards and the more Rashford and James saw of the ball the more dangerous they looked. Clear chances were hard to come by and Everton’s Jordan Pickford dealt with most things comfortably. But he could not deal with Greenwood’s equaliser in the 77th minute. Struck low through defenders’ legs from 18 yards, it was too close to the post. But the expected late onslaught did not come. At full time Ferguson — soaked to the skin — raised his arms to the away end. This place never scared him back in the day. Why on earth would it now?