As Everton floundered through a second successive winless start to a Premier League campaign under Sean Dyche and sank to the bottom of the table by mid-September, the issue of ball possession became something of a bone of contention. The manager himself alluded to unrealistic expectations in a press conference and Dyche’s more staunch defenders on social media argued along similar lines, as though there are any Evertonians who feel the current team should be playing like they are managed by Pep Guardiola!
The wider debate of just how little a top-flight team can have of the ball and still expect to get a result is one for another day but this afternoon’s latest Everton debacle at Old Trafford threw up a couple of discussion points, not least the two teams' approach to kick-off.
There was 1:28 on the clock before the ball crossed the halfway line after Manchester United kicked off the first half. The intervening period was a lot of keep-ball by Ruben Amorim’s team but it eventually led to an attack and not long afterwards, Jarrad Branthwaite was called upon to sweep a Diogo Dalot cross away from his own six-yard box.
By contrast, Dyche, who had opted for Beto up front at the expense of Dominic Calvert-Lewin, instructed his charges — as he always does — to knock the ball back for Jordan Pickford to then pump it long. The Portuguese striker lost the aerial duel, Bruno Fernandes beat Idrissa Gueye to the second ball, Joshua Zirkzee knocked it around Branthwaite, who had been sucked five yards into the United half, and sent Amad Diallo away to set Marcus Rashford up to make it 3-0.
Less than a minute into the second half, any hope Everton had of mounting an unlikely comeback was smashed by a willingness to give the ball up from the off so cheaply and a naïve defensive posture that played right into their opponents' abilities on the counter-attack.
But it was an unlikely comeback. This is the most unbalanced fixture of the Premier League era; no team has won more points off another since 1992 than United have off Everton and this isn’t the Everton of David Moyes that trailed 4-2 here in April 2012 and came back to draw 4-4 or that of Carlo Ancelotti who trailed 2-0 in February 2021 and eventually salvaged a 3-3 draw in stoppage time. Dyche’s Everton don’t typically do comebacks, particularly on the grounds of the top teams; they’re more apt to collapse and keep conceding as they did today.
Not that these Red Devils are a top team, of course, which is what made this contest so infuriating. They’re blessed with talent in their ranks — Fernandes, Rashford, Diallo, Kobbie Mainoo and occasionally Alejandro Garnacho are all potential match-winners on their day — but there were periods in the first half when they looked nervous, ragged and directionless, with palpable restlessness emanating from the stands.
That coincided with Everton’s only decent period of the game and at one stage the Toffees were enjoying 75% of the possession — who says they can’t knock it around when they want to? There were mistakes to be forced from this uncertain United side still adapting to a new formation and tactics under Amorim as Dwight McNeil did in only the fifth minute but he just charged, head down, into no-man’s land rather than making the opening pay.
Iliman Ndiaye might have done better with a counter of Everton’s own but couldn’t find Beto with his cut-back, Jesper Lindstrøm had a shot on target comfortably saved by Andre Onana while Beto slashed wildly wide with a miscued left-foot shot.
The former Udinese striker is often ungainly and prone to such awful moments but there are times when it all seems to come together and he almost looks like a competent striker. His, and Everton’s, best chance of the first half opened up in the 21st minute when McNeil slid a lovely pass between the centre-backs to put Beto in but his touch around the advancing keeper took him too wide to be able to screw his eventual shot on target and he found the side-netting instead.
Once the hosts scored in the 34th minute, however, the complexion of the match changed and, realistically, there was only going to be one winner. And maddeningly, it came first from Ashley Young spurning possession with a poor cross at one end and more naïve defending at a set-piece at the other after James Tarkowski had knocked the ball behind to temporarily snuff out United’s counter-attack.
Inexplicably, Rashford was left in oceans of space on the edge of the box and when the corner picked him out and he drove a measured shot searching out the far corner of Pickford’s net, Branthwaite stuck out a leg to stop it but could only divert it into his own goal.
Any plan to get to half-time only a goal down to regroup was scuppered just seven minutes later. Branthwaite, in wholly uncharacteristic fashion, allowed himself to be closed down quickly by Diallo and within seconds, Fernandes had squared it for Zirkzee to rap home from around 12 yards out.
At 3-0 just a few more seconds on the other side of the interval, there was no way back and a sizeable number of Evertonians began to file out of the away end to drown their frustrations in a pint.
Lindstrøm had a pair of opportunities to spark the visitors into life but drove successive direct free-kicks into the defensive wall and midway through the second period, an error by Everton’s other centre-half helped United complete the rout.
In an almost carbon copy of the earlier goal, Tarkowski dallied long enough on the ball to have it nipped off his toe by Diallo who sprinted away once more in a two-on-one attack against Young before teeing up Zirkzee for another relatively simple conversion in front of goal.
For those who have long argued that Nathan Patterson deserves an opportunity to prove he is capable of starting games at right-back — or, at the very least, in a more attacking right-sided role — the Scot had a worthwhile cameo off the bench after being introduced with 17 minutes to go.
Showing a pleasing willingness to take his man on, he whipped in a useful cross in the 81st minute that just eluded his fellow sub, Calvert-Lewin, but three minutes later, he found the striker with another good delivery but Onana positioned himself well to be able to make a reaction save and keep DCL’s diving header out from close range.
So there would be no consolation for Dyche’s men and it feels as though while one new managerial appointment had its honeymoon extended, the other is surely in its death throes. The visit of Wolves on Wednesday has now taken on the urgency of another of those “must-win” fixtures for which there have been too many for Blues fans in recent years.
Because beyond that lie four games against the current incumbents of the top four, starting with a dauntingly formidable-looking Liverpool in the last ever Merseyside derby at Goodison Park. Where the club lies after Christmas with three more games against Arsenal, Chelsea and Champions, Manchester City, could have a huge bearing on whether Everton’s incoming new owners will be forced into an early and very big decision over who will lead this team over the second half of the campaign.