As the last chapter in clashes between these two historical giants of the English game at Goodison Park was written this afternoon, the Grand Old Lady could — and probably should — have witnessed one last Everton victory over Manchester United on her hallowed turf. 2-0 up at half-time, the Toffees will be bitterly disappointed they didn’t see it out but, having ceded the initiative to the Red Devils in the second half, they left themselves at the mercy of another pitifully weak refereeing performance from Andy Madley.
Decision after decision went the way of Ruben Amorim’s side as the match progressed but two pivotal ones ensured that they left Merseyside with a point from a quintessential game of two halves. The first, a pathetic mis-reading of a coming together between Idrissa Gueye and Alejandro Garnacho, eventually handed Bruno Fernandes the chance to score with United’s first shot on target of the contest. The second was laced with irony because, having made a decision to award Everton a penalty at the death, Madley ended up overturning it following a trip to the pitch-side monitor… although it would have helped if he’d been given the correct replay to review!
Just like the Gylfi Sigurdsson incident at a similar stage of this fixture in 2019/20, when a late winner was chalked off in hugely controversial circumstances, the bungled intervention by the Video Assistant Referee will, at best, intensify doubts over the process’ effectiveness and place in the game and, at worst, add fuel to accusations of blatant bias and corruption. Neither diminishes the sense that VAR is a blight on the game that has shifted the focus of the controversy and ire from the field to Stockley Park.
It ensured that Evertonians trooped away at the final whistle in disgust and frustration and they will know that the three points against a struggling Manchester United side were there for the taking, especially after a strong first-half showing. Everton had been energetic and dogged, purposeful and determined in the first 45 minutes, forcing their opponents into mistakes, preying on their lack of confidence and were worthy of their 2-0 lead at the halfway stage.
Beto had had an early header saved by André Onana after the press had forced a turnover but it was a rapid counter-attack sparked by an impressive Gueye tackle that ended with Jesper Lindstøm’s cross being cut out for the corner from which the Blues took the lead. Jack Harrison’s set-piece was kept alive by a bout of head tennis in United’s box but when the final header by Abdoulaye Doucouré dropped to Beto, the Portuguese swung his left peg at it and got enough purchase on it to send it past the goalkeeper.
The VAR check on three different offside decisions took an eternity but the 19th-minute goal was finally given and a quarter of an hour later, Everton doubled their lead. Lindstrøm pinged a lovely ball down the right channel for Beto to gallop onto, his square pass to Harrison was perfect but, having cut back onto his right foot, the winger’s shot saved well by Onana.
The keeper’s parry merely looped into the air, however, and while Harry Maguire dithered, Doucouré seized the moment, rising high to nod home.
Amorim’s men had looked uncertain and toothless but they had a couple of half-chances at the end of the first period, first when Manuel Ugarte’s curling effort drifted wide and then when Joshua Zirkzee despatched a harmless header into the Park End from a corner. The hosts, meanwhile, had a late opportunity in time added on when Doucouré’s sent a low, driven cross into the six-yard box searching out Beto but Noussair Mazraoui got across smartly to divert it behind.
At the halfway stage, there was only going to be one winner but 2-0 has, of course, been a most dangerous scoreline for the Blues this season. As the second half dragged on, without David Moyes’s side able to impose themselves on the game to the extent they had in the first and the game played increasingly on the visitors’ terms, there was, once again, a gnawing feeling about how this might turn out if they couldn’t force a third goal.
Predictably, that sense deepened once Fernandes had fired a free-kick through the wall and into Jordan Pickford’s net with 18 minutes left. The initial set-piece should never have been given — it was Garnacho who fell into Gueye, not the other way around — but Doucouré’s decision to encroach and then the fact that Fernandes’s first effort hit his arm, simply allowed the Portuguese international to spot the ball 10 yards closer to goal and he took full advantage.
And it was another free-kick, this time needlessly conceded by Lindstrøm’s replacement, Ashley Young, that led to the equaliser. The dead ball delivery was only cleared as far as Ugarte while Madley ignored a potential foul on Jarrad Branthwaite by Mattjis de Ligt and the Uruguayan midfielder arced a half-volley wide of Pickford and in from the edge of the area.
Moyes responded by withdrawing Doucouré and James Garner for Charly Alcaraz and Tim Iroegbunam as both sides tried to carve out a chance to grab the points in the closing stages. Young set Beto up with a chipped cross that the striker planted straight into Onana’s arms while Pickford acrobatically tipped a Fernandes drive over his bar but the final drama was saved for stoppage time.
Harrison kept the ball down the left before feeding Gueye who engineered space for a fine shot that the keeper got down to save but could only push it back into the danger area. Young went for the loose ball and fell to the deck, the referee pointed to the spot and the stage appeared to have been set for another dramatic conclusion to a game at Goodison.
What followed was another tortuously-long VAR review which ended with Madley being advised by VAR, Matt Donohue, to go to the monitor. If there is a belief that this has become a performative exercise leading to the inevitable overturning of the original decision, that was surely confirmed by the fact that the referee’s final decision was based not on replays of De Ligt’s clear pull on Young’s jersey but on Harry Maguire’s challenge and the substitute’s overly-theatrical reaction. In aggregate, there was more than enough justification to uphold the original decision; it goes without saying it would have been had the colours of the shirts been reversed.
Goodison was incensed but powerless and left, once again, with a seething sense of injustice. The Premier League have sought to provide clarity over what constitutes a “clear and obvious” error and the extent to which VAR should be re-officiating matches but it remains as a clear as mud. What is clear and obvious is that VAR is not fit for purpose for instances like this; the objectivity required at the crucial juncture of a game balancing on a knife-edge (and involving the best-supported club in the world) is not there, particularly from an official who had demonstrated his weakness throughout the second half.
In footballing terms, if the climax to the Merseyside derby ensured that the 2-2 draw with Liverpool had felt like a win for Everton, this very much felt like a defeat. The performance, while full of the required intensity in the first half, was lacking in the second as the Blues ceded ground, particularly after Lindstrøm was withdrawn, and there were moments where the lack of quality in key areas was exposed.
Perhaps that is inevitable for a team that has spent all season in the bottom half of the table but avoiding defeat was important — it extends the recent run under Moyes to six without defeat, provides more food for thought for the manager and at least keeps today’s visitors below us in the table.