Manchester United vs Everton post match
United drew first blood when Valencia scored an absolute screamer after connecting to Nemanja Matic's cross. It was a volley taken first time on the edge of the box that was blasted on to the far post. After the goal, United took their foot off the gas for a while and Lukaku missed a great chance after half an hour.
If not for David De Gea, we would have conceded multiple times during the game. He saved close range shots from Rooney and Sigurdsson to stake his claim as the world's best goalkeeper. The second half just proved to be more frustrating for us as Mata hit the post from a free kick, Mkhitaryan and Rashford over-dribbled and Lukaku just looked nonchalant for 90 mins. The game turned when Fellaini capitalised on a defensive error and played it to Lukaku who assisted Mkhitaryan's goal. After this, Everton collapsed while Lukaku scored the third and Martial came off the bench to score from the penalty spot.
Yes, the scoreline was 4-0 but let it in no way suggest that it was an easy win for us. The warning bells were strongly prevalent until we got the second goal. However, this is what sets us aside from other teams. Without our best player, we still managed to score 4 and go back on top of the table. All the players put in a shift but in particular, I feel Nemanja Matic deserves praise. Before the match when Ian Wright was asked about Pogba's injury, he said that he'd rather have Pogba injured than Matic. Today I see why he said that and he is, without a doubt, my man of the match.
Manchester United were sharp on the attack and athough the same degree of creativity wasn't there, it was enough to dismantle Everton. However, the defence remained sturdy because of Matic's presence. He was in the thick of things and was involved in winning the ball back every time it entered our half. Along with Fellaini, our midfield was as smooth as it could get. This boils down to squad depth and Mourinho is to thank! He has made the midfield pivot a very important part of our game and the talent we have in that area is immense.
I just wanted to state a concern about Lukaku. There is just this aspect of his game that is rather frustrating. He doesn't take much of an effort to win the ball a little deeper and make a dash towards the goal. Instead, he is heavily reliant on his playmakers, Mata, Mkhitaryan and Pogba to create chances for him. He has been compared to what Van Persie was for us. So far in the season, that has been far from the truth. Van Persie scored the important goals for us, the ones without which we wouldn't have won the game. So far, Lukaku has only contributed in the 4 goal wins. I was counting on him in the Stoke game but he went and missed a sitter. Don't get me wrong, I still back the guy to achieve greatness at United but he needs to up his game and score the important goals. Quality matters first, not quantity.
So that leaves us joint first with City on the table and we still haven't faltered after the international break! We have a tough run of games in October, facing Liverpool(away), Benfica(away), Huddersfield(away), Spurs(home) and Benfica(home). September is the best time to gain some momentum in the Premier League as well as the Champions League. The next game is against Burton on Wednesday night. This is a brilliant time to give the fringe players a chance. Maybe throw in the likes of Shaw, Tuanzebe, Romero, Lindelof and McTominay in there and let them fight for their place in the starting 11.
So that's it for this time! Let me know what you think and here's hoping for another United win in the next game! Onto Burton...
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