The Miracle in Manchester

Everton’s record at Old Trafford in the Premier League era has been so miserable that if you’d told your average Blue that they would end a 12-year wait for victory at this end of the East Lancs Road in the manner in which they did this evening, they’d have told you to pull the other one.

And yet, in its own perverse and improbable way it was very “Everton”. Shorn of their club captain due to injury before 10 minutes had elapsed and then down a man to a red card barely three minutes later — for slapping his own team-mate, no less — it looked for all the world as though the Toffees had found a new way to push the self-destruct button, as they have in so many away games on these big stages down the years.

The last visit to these parts last December was as ugly as it gets. Sean Dyche’s Everton gifted United two shocking goals and went down 4–0, handing Ruben Amorim his first victory as Manchester United boss. It meant that the Blues made the short trip east this time weighed down by more than three decades of chronic under-performance on the grounds of the most successful clubs of the Premier League era; a pitiful record superseded only by that of their manager who came into the evening having won just one of 78 away games against the so-called “Big Six”.

This time, things appeared to fall apart early and suddenly, portending another heavy defeat at United's hands. (The Toffees, of course, had only won on this ground twice since 1992, ironically enough when Moyes was in the opposition dugout.) Everton were forced to battle through 80-plus minutes short-handed against a talented team that were on a five-match unbeaten streak, had won each of their last four home fixtures and, it appeared, were finally starting to purr under their Portuguese coach. 

That the Blues not only kept a clean sheet — England’s No 1 stood tall with a magnificent personal display — but came away with all three points means that this match will go down in the annals as one of the most memorable and satisfying in Everton’s modern history.

Given the circumstances and against all those odds, this was a quite staggering performance by a team that, initially, was sufficiently unfazed by Idrissa Gueye’s stunning early dismissal to take the game to their opponents and then grab the lead with a wonderful strike from Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (at the very least outfield man of the match) before digging in resolutely to see out the victory.

Most of the column inches in the national media will, no doubt, be devoted to United’s latest slip-up under Amorim — kudos to The Times for giving Everton their due; thumbs down to The Telegraph for taking the predictable path — but even without the injured Matheus Cunha, theirs is a team stuffed with talented players like Amad Diallo, Bruno Fernandes and the usually irrepressible Bryan Mbeumo.

But this was as much a story of Jordan Pickford’s brilliance and Everton’s resilience from front to back as it was about the failure by United and the likes of Fernandes, Mbeumo and Joshua Zirkzee to make the breakthrough. Thierno Barry exuded a composure often absent from his early appearances in Blue, holding the ball up impressively and maintaining aerial superiority against Matthijs de Ligt and Leny Yoro; Iliman Ndiaye was industry and guile personified, his efforts matched by Dewsbury-Hall and James Garner’s tireless tenacity in front of a back four that stood firm after it had been bolstered by Jake O’Brien’s introduction for Coleman.

What will be lost in the endless analysis of where United fell short is that Everton were excellent in the first half, whether with 11 or 10 men on the field, and admirably resolute in the second. They had started the game on the front foot and though his effort was disappointingly wayward, Ndiaye had fired an early warning shot in the ninth minute having cut in from the left in trademark fashion.

Their momentary loss of control came 13 minutes in when James Tarkowski stepped across Mbeumo to dispossess the forward and Gueye flicked the loose ball inside towards Keane who hadn’t anticipated the pass and backed off instead. That left Fernandes to hammer a shot that narrowly missed the far post while Gueye began remonstrating vigorously with his centre-half for switching off.

The exchange of words became more agitated until Keane twice shoved his team-mate in the chest which elicited a raised hand to the side of the face from Gueye and, without hesitation or much deliberation, a red card from referee Tony Harrington for "violent conduct".

The Senegal international had to be forcibly restrained by his goalkeeper while Keane mockingly waved him off towards the tunnel. Moyes, meanwhile, began passing on instructions to his remaining charges on how to deal with what was an early and potentially disastrous set-back.

The astounding sending off didn’t seem to spark the home side into life, though; instead, it seemed to galvanise the visitors who could have wilted but almost made inroads in the 17th minute when Ndiaye broke away but just couldn’t find Barry as Amad Diallo tracked back to divert his throughball to safety.

12 minutes after that, however, a lovely seven-pass move that began with Jack Grealish collecting a knockdown inside United’s half ended with Dewsbury-Hall curling home beautifully from the edge of the box to put Everton a goal up. The former Chelsea man was aided slightly by Leny Yoro’s tame attempt to dispossess him as he jinked along the 18-yard line but he set himself smartly on his right foot and Senne Lammens could only get his fingers to the shot as the ball flew into the top corner.

Predictably, it was Amorim’s men who carried the threat between then and half-time but they found the Blues in obdurate mood. Pickford pushed away Amad's low drive, Patrick Dorgu met a cross from the right at the back post but smashed his effort wide before Amad tricked his way in again but, thankfully, dragged his shot past the post and the keeper acrobatically parried a stinging Fernandes drive over on the stroke of half-time.

If there was a concern about the second period it was that Everton were increasingly forced onto the back foot as United continued their vain quest for an equaliser, but there was no faulting the Blues’ incredible rearguard action.

At the heart of it was Pickford who made a good one-handed stop to push away Mbeumo’s shot and substitute Mason Mount whipped the rebound inches past the far upright. Then, after Mount had popped up near the byline and laid it back for Fernandes, only for the Portuguese international to prod it over the crossbar from close range, Pickford pulled off his best save of the night, leaping to his right at full stretch to finger-tip Zirkzee’s leaping header past his right-hand post.

Still the Red Devils came, urged on by an impatient crowd, and Fernandes drilled another rising pile-driver that just cleared the bar before Kobbie Mainoo clipped a cross in for Zirkzee but once again he was foiled by Pickford who batted the header over his bar.

Everton, whose only openings at the other end after half-time had come for Grealish, who passed up the chance to have a crack at goal, and a deflected Keane effort following a free-kick, could have killed the contest on the breakaway at the end but made a mess of two opportunities. The second just needed subs Beto and Carlos Alcaraz to connect as Lammens, up for a United corner, was sprinting back towards his empty net but both blue shirts seemed to run away from the ball as it was cleared upfield.

Instead, it was United who had the last chance of the game when the ball fell invitingly to De Ligt in front of goal but his eventual shot was weak and easily claimed by the keeper. Then, as four minutes of stoppage time was brought to a close by the referee, unbridled celebration in the packed away end who had sung their way boisteriously for most of the evening!

Ordinarily, this wouldn’t be as celebrated a result as it undoubtedly has been. United are a decent side and a club who have spent ungodly sums of money building a team that should be performing better than it is under Amorim. But given their trials and tribulations under the former Sporting head coach, they are far from the top-flight Goliath they were of yesteryear.

And yet, there is the weight of all that history that was thrown off this evening. In the Premier League era, no team had beaten Manchester United at Old Trafford having had a man sent off before tonight. And, again, Everton’s record in these fixtures, particularly at the homes of the old “Sky 4” has been a painfully nagging thorn in the sides of supporters for years.

The longer time has gone, the more Blues fans have bristled at their team’s routine failure in these games and nothing brought that into sharper focus than watching Sean Dyche’s Nottingham Forest take apart reigning champions Liverpool on Saturday to record a second away win on the Reds' turf in succession.

So for Everton and for Moyes, this was a seismic moment; easily the biggest result of his second stint as the Blues’ manager and among the most impressive wins of either of his tenures at the club. Hopefully, it can act as a catalyst for more in a season where the competitiveness of the top flight could yet open up opportunity for any club that can put together a run of positive results and sustain their form for the entire campaign.

For the next few days, though, Evertonians can bask in a famous win and the sight of their team sitting above neighbours Liverpool at this stage of a season for the first time in 10 years.