Manchester United 3-0 Everton – Red Devils devour Toffees
By James Dennis
Manchester United controlled the late evening kick-off at Old Trafford brushing Everton aside with an easy 3-0 win. The team from Merseyside hardly created a chance and Darren Fletcher scored what could be the goal of the season to open the scoring for United.
The Red’s started the match dominating possession, but did not create any real chances until a string of passes led to Patrice Evra receiving the ball deep on the left; the Frenchman’s cross found Antonio Valencia who then nodded the ball to the edge of the area where Fletcher’s superb volley flew into the top corner. It was Fletcher’s third goal in nine Premier League games this season; the Scott showed brilliant technique getting over the ball to guide it in.
Everton were lucky to go in at half-time only the one goal down and David Moyes soon spotted the need to bring on another forward, thus Ayegbeni Yakubu replaced Dan Gosling before the break. The fight back was brief however and Louis Saha was caught napping with the ball on the edge of his own area providing Michael Owen with a chance which he then wasted as he had side-stepped the keeper too far and miss-hit his shot.
Marouane Fellaini put the ball in the back of the net at the other end shortly after but was in an offside position when he struck. Rooney then had a chance from just outside the area which skimmed the top of the bar after a good United move down the right.
The Champions continued to press and Ryan Giggs crossed along the floor to Carrick who neatly passed the ball with his left foot into the bottom corner from just inside the area to all but seal the victory. Valencia finished the match off in style in the 76th min when his fierce shot hit the underside of Leighton Baines leg and went over the diving Howard.
Patrice Evra: “I think it is a good win, it’s a great result, it was not easy against a tough team like Everton, but I think when we scored the second goal we killed the game and that’s why we won tonight.”
David Moyes: “It’s a terrible time for us and the injuries are there but a manager’s job is to try and get a winning team with whatever you are given, at the moment I’m trying to find that winning team.”
All eyes were on Jack Rodwell in Manchester since the press surrounding his future this week, the 18-year old has put in some solid performances of late catching the eye of many a Premier League Managers including his opponent’s manager Sir Alex Ferguson. But the youngster struggled against a comfortable Michael Carrick and Fletcher as they shared the wealth of possession. He has shortly signed a five year contract with the Blue’s and he could have even got on the score sheet at the death with a fine drilled shot that troubled Edwin van de Saar. Arsene Wenger is also said to be interested and a player with such talent will also be of note to the big spenders such as Chelsea and Manchester City. Moyes will want to keep hold of the midfielder as long as possible nevertheless as he is a raw talent that could one day drive the Everton side forward.
Alhough United had all of the ball throughout the match, both centre-backs for the Toffee’s did well, winning everything in the air, and Howard also made some good saves but keeping a clean sheet at Old Trafford is an extremely hard task and they eventually leaked a long range volley from Fletcher.
Michael Owen started in the absence of colleague Dimitar Berbatov who is suffering with a knee problem picked up on international duty. The experienced striker had enough chances to get on the score sheet but couldn’t convert, a performance that would not turn the head of the national team manager Fabio Capello. If Owen can start regularly for the Red’s he will be in with a chance though as he looked sharp on the turn and got into the positions to take his chances.
Ferguson who got a reprieve for this match and will start his two week touch line ban next week will be happy with such a comfortable result whereas Everton however will be deflated, having now only won once in 18 games at Old Trafford.
The decision to play Saha on his own up front was never going to work and the gap between forward and midfield seemed to get bigger the more the match progressed. If Moyes had decided to go all out and attack the Red Devil’s in their own back yard the worst result would have as catastrophic as the final score but at least they may have created chances.
Everton season so far has been dictated by injuries; and were without key players such as captain Phil Neville, centre back Phil Jagielka and ‘assist king’ Mikel Arteta. Leon Osman and Steven Pienaar were also missing from midfield and Brazilian striker Jo was also sidelined. The defeat means the Toffees have only won once in their last nine outings and drop to 13th in the league.
United climb to second and cut Chelsea’s daytime lead to five points, they were not at their best today but never needed to be as Everton were extremely poor going forward. Fletcher and Evra stood out most for the Red’s and they will now want to push on with the rest of their campaign and catch pace setters Chelsea.
Manchester United 3-0 Everton - Fletcher 35, Carrick 67, Valencia 76
Manchester United (4-4-2): Van de Saar – Rafael (Scholes 63), Brown, Vidic, Evra - Valencia, Fletcher, Carrick (Gibson 83), Giggs – Rooney, Owen (Obertan 74)
Milan (4-5-1): Howard – Neill, Heitinga, Distin, Yobo, Baines – Gosling (Yakubu 46), Fellaini, Rodwell, Cahill (Jo 82) – Saha (Hibbert 83)
Statistics
Manchester United - Everton
13 - Corners - 4
11 (7) - Shots (on target) - 5 (6)
4 - Fouls - 6
2 - Yellow cards (Red) - 2
1 - Offside - 3
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