Manchester United’s defeat to Everton was only the third time in Premier League history Evertonian’s got one over us at Goodsion Park. The first defeat at Goodison in the Premier League was in February 1995, when a Daniel Amokachi gave the Toffees a 1-0 victory. They had to wait another ten years to taste victory against United, another header from an Everton legend – Duncan Ferguson – gave the home side a 1-0 victory, which helped in their push for a fourth place finish. On both occasions we lost the league to Blackburn Rovers and Chelsea respectively. In 1995 we were without our talisman Eric Cantona, whilst in 2005 we arguably had a team in transition – but what was our excuse yesterday?

United were well and truely beaten by a much improved Everton side who played with urgency and closed down United high up the pitch – which forced United’s defenders to clear their lines quickly. Jonny Evans is a great prospect for the club but has had a torrid last two games – most noticeably in Milan gifting possession to the opposition on a number of occasions. He has played in 23 games so far this season (one more than Anderson), compared to 34 last season, so I don’t think he is need of a rest – especially considering he missed a chunk of the season over Christmas. I generally believe he is just in a bad run of form and the best way to get through that is to keep playing games and show the class that we all know he has. Although, I believe that Ferguson will play both Ferdinand and Vidic on Tuesday against West Ham.

The defeat in 1995 was a big blow because we were neck and neck with Blackburn Rovers at the time and the defeat was a major set back. We only lost one more time that season (2-0 away at Liverpool), which was our sixth defeat of the season – the same amount that we have lost so far in this campaign. Having said that, our defeats this season have come at Burnley (who have only lost twice at home), at Liverpool (who were coming into the came after a number of defeats), at Chelsea (where we put in a great performance and only lost through a controversial John Terry header), at home to Villa (who played very well but we should have got a draw out of the game), at Fulham (playing a three man defense due to an injury crisis) and away at Everton (and were rightfully beaten). Of course every season is very different from the last and I think we’re all in agreement this league campaign has been a very mixed bag, with a number of surprise results that have made it a very open campaign for the title, European places and relegation battle.

I am of course not suggesting that due to the fact that we lost in 95 and 05 to Everton we will lose the league this campaign because of this coincidence – I still think we have a decent chance with our run in being more favourable than Chelsea’s – plus they still have to come to Old Trafford. Many United fans are still questioning Sir Alex Ferguson’s decision not to purchase anyone with the Ronaldo money that is ‘suppose to be’ available. However, I think that Fergie put faith in a number of players at the start of the season who have either been below par or injured for a considerable amount of time. Some fans expectations are too high and the fact that no team has ever won four League Championships on the bounce is a statement to what a monumental task it actually is. I still believe United have a great chance to achieve this feat, regardless of the latest set back. We’ve had ‘surprise’ defeats in the past when on the road to glory – losing 3-1 to Southampton in 1996, 1-0 to Oldham in 1993 and 2-1 to Portsmouth in 2007. All of course are met with disappointment and a reassessment of the bigger picture, but in all of those three seasons – we went onto lift the Championship. So, although extremely below par yesterday – the title race is far from over. Chelsea are in the driving seat at the moment and we’ll see how they do in their run in (away to Liverpool, away to Blackburn – who have only lost two at home – away to Spurs and away to United being key).

On a more fond statistical note – spare a thought for West Ham United – who will on the receiving end of a United backlash, if history is anything to go by. The game after the 1-0 defeat in 2005 saw quite possibly one of the greatest goals at Old Trafford in the 2-1 victory over Newcastle United. Wayne Rooney’s superb volley towards the Stretford End had me speechless, it was a genius strike. Even better was in 1995 when after the Amokachi header, Ipswich Town traveled to Manchester for a record 9-0 hammering. So i’m hoping for a high scoring victory with a wonder Rooney goal, reckon we’ll get it?

Tweet This Post

• Match Statistics
• Forum Discussion
• Follow Us on Twitter

Everton’s future prospects placed a huge stumbling block in the road of Manchester United’s future prospects as substitutes Dan Gosling and Jack Rodwell scored goals to give the Toffees a fully deserved win and leave the reigning Champions’ title aspirations in tatters.

Both managers were restricted from playing their full hand as Everton were missing stars – significantly, Cahill and Fellaini – through injury and the Red Devils had Ferdinand and Nani suspended, Giggs injured, and Anderson, Rafael Scholes and Vidic not in the side through selection. It was David Moyes’ troops who were fully comfortable without their missing complement as they exerted almost complete control through the 90 minutes to take the three points.

United did take a lead through Dimitar Berbatov just after the quarter hour mark, when Antonio Valencia’s crossed was not dealt with by home defenders, and Bulgaria’s record goalscorer thrashed the ball in via the crossbar. It was only a matter of minutes before Everton restored parity through the very capable nimble feet of Bilyaletdinov. The Russian had time to compose himself before unleashing a fabulous, bending shot from around 22 yards that completely outfoxed Edwin van der Sar.

To that point it could be argued that Everton’s goal was somewhat against the run of play; United had enjoyed the majority of possession and nearly restored their lead after Wayne Rooney rounded Howard in the home goal but took a heavy touch, allowing ex-Red Phil Neville to push the ball wide for the corner. That chance, around a quarter of the way through the match, was really United’s last clear cut opening.

The second half was cut and thrust; with Fletcher’s 18 yard effort and Berbatov’s woeful header the only opportunities worth scribing that could have added to the visitors score before the home side struck again. Everton’s endeavour to win was far greater in the second period and their goal when it arrived was no surprise, both through result and source. Landon Donovan did well to expose space left by confusion between Gary Neville and Valencia, Pienaar raced into it, and played a ball across the box which Dan Gosling shinned in. It was just reward for Everton’s performance though you somehow get the feeling it won’t get quite the media screams of “luck” as Scholes’ almost identical goal in midweek got.

Wayne Rooney had been decidedly out of sorts, just like his team-mates, but almost restored parity undeservedly just before stoppage time with a free kick that was an Everton deflection away from the top corner. The home side did manage to secure that a footballing injustice wouldn’t occur when the surely now, soon to be dethroned Champions, rumoured target Jack Rodwell ran at Jonny Evans with the ball. The Northern Irishman rounded off a miserable week for himself by refusing to tackle and Rodwell smartly finished to make the scoreline 3-1, one that didn’t flatter the Toffees at all.

For all the kudos that the Milan result earned Ferguson – from this website, at least – it was obvious that two massive results were vital in the last two away league games for United. With Villa in stuttering form and Everton missing much of their threat in midfield (first choice, anyway), the Champions may look back on the last 10 days as a lost chance in the hunt to win a record 19th league title.

Ratings : van der Sar 5, Neville 4, Brown 5, Evans 5, Evra 6, Valencia 6, *Fletcher 6, Carrick 5, Park 5 (Obertan 4), Berbatov 6 (Scholes 5), Rooney 6.

Tweet This Post

Like this blog? Follow Yolkie on Twitter.

After the battering by Fulham in December made it 5 league defeats in the season, Manchester United have responded by dragging themselves back into contention with 6 wins out of 7 in the league to set up a massive eleven days in the clubs season – three away games against in-form, top class opposition will undoubtedly prompt Sir Alex to use the 4-3-3 formation. In doing so, we’ll find out more about the future of Anderson. Should Fergie swallow his pride if it is in the clubs best interests short term?

Anderson was dropped and fined after apparently going AWOL back to Brazil and there were reports of a deadline day move to France that didn’t materialise. Like Nani, the Brazilian has divided fans opinions, but with huge games against Villa, Milan and Everton coming up, the fact that recently the most effective performances have come with a 4-3-3 will not be lost on the manager, and it is with this in mind that he really does have a decision to make.

Gibson’s cameo at the weekend seemed to indicate this, because after Scholes, Carrick and Fletcher, without Anderson we are short of both numbers and variety. Giggs is an option; and a completely valid one; however he has been more effective as part of that front three. And as much as Gibson has improved, he still doesn’t quite offer much in the way of the variety that will be needed against the experienced and energetic midfield we will be coming up against.

It’s understandable that Fergie wants to teach Anderson a lesson; being named for the postponed reserves derby last week just a couple of weeks after giving a decent performance in the real thing was proof of that. And let’s be clear, Anderson does only have himself to blame, it’s a good thing that he is frustrated by not playing, but if the reports are true that he absconded then he has to be disciplined. The question here is whether the fine and the gesture of a reserves game is enough to shake some sense into him.

Beyond the bosses principles there is a recent example for the youngster to note; Nani’s outburst cost him some time from the team (though Fergie cited injury, that seems to be a smokescreen) and he has responded in the right way – his on-pitch performances can only really be put down to increased concentration and awareness and these are mental factors – strangely, it’s not really performance where Anderson has faltered this season with a notable improvement on last years form. There is of course plenty of scope for improvement but has the relatively short time since the incident been long enough to give him a reality check? Is it sufficient punishment?

Regardless of whether or not he has a future at our club – and I for one hope he does and that he goes on to fulfil his massive potential here – he has to look at himself and understand that behaving in such a way is unlikely to curry favour with any of the big European teams.

Of course, some United fans don’t think his form this season has been that great and could argue that he doesn’t deserve his spot in the team – whatever your opinion on that matter, though, it is unlikely Paul Scholes will complete 90 minutes or start in all of the 3 games coming up. The Carrick/Fletcher/Scholes combination looked impressive against Arsenal but I’m still not convinced that a midfield three wouldn’t be better with Anderson – and let’s face it, with the likes of Milner, Petrov, Fellaini, Arteta, Pirlo, Gattuso, Flamini, there is going to be a huge test on our energy levels – does Scholes or Carrick for that matter have enough to be able to firstly contain the opposition and also dictate the game throughout all 3 games?

I’m not ruling that out; our recent form has got me thinking anything is possible, but I just can’t see it. Giggs and Gibson give us more bodies but aside from Fletcher (and Anderson) we don’t have another bombastic, driving, mobile midfielder. Hargreaves may be back in training but the simple fact that Fergie, in dropping him from the CL squad, doesn’t feel he’s ready in the short term. What’s after that? Possebon is back from his loan, Pogba has impressed in his performances at the various levels behind the first team, but neither of those are in serious contention.

At Liverpool earlier in the season we played a two man midfield and it cost us dear – Scholes and Carrick were not the most mobile, the absence of Fletcher and Anderson was huge. Against Chelsea Fergie changed to a 4-3-3 and Anderson put in one of the best performances of the season on Essien, with Fletcher similarly brilliant. The formation was used to good effect against an in-form Birmingham and then looked good against City in the away game despite the defeat – good enough to tempt Fergie to use it in the return leg and Arsenal the next game, with results that I’m sure you don’t need to be reminded of. With this in mind you would reasonably assume Fergie will stick with a winning formula but you would also reasonably assume that the components of that formula will have to be mixed up.

So, what’s the solution? Relent somewhat from his trademark disciplinary stance and recall Anderson? Stick to his guns and have faith in what’s available even though it may cost us? Will he not even play 4-3-3?

Personally, I’m hoping for a “Nani effect”, but my head says it will be between the five players I earlier identified. I’ll keep the faith, I’m just not sure faith will be enough – these three games won’t win us the title if we win them all, but they may just knock us out of the trophy hunt if we don’t.

Tweet This Post

As straightforward as it could get – Manchester United bounced back from their defeat at Stamford Bridge with a routine win and comfortable performance against Everton.

The territorial advantage as well as all of the possession was, unsurprisingly, dictated by the Champions though the visitors did restrict them to just that and not much in the way of goalscoring opportunities – a commendable achievement for a side that have even more injury concerns than United.

Their makeshift formation that saw two centre halves as their central midfield pairing and 2 central midfield players as their wingers was never comfortable but still, difficult to penetrate, and it always seemed as if it would take the wonderful or the bizarre to break down. In Darren Fletcher the wonderful arrived, as he connected on the half volley to blast in a rising half volley off the top of the post.

United were spearheaded by a strike force that were boyhood Evertonians and Michael Owen had chances either side of the break to double the advantage that went begging. The Toffees then had their best spell of the match as Fellaini saw a goal ruled out for offside and Cahill saw a chance quickly smothered by veteran keeper van der Sar.

Their brief revival only served to remind United there was a game to kill off and they promptly did just that when Wayne Rooney miscued a shot that ended at Ryan Giggs’ feet – the Welshman used all his experience to perfect a weighted pass in a crowded penalty area to the feet of Michael Carrick who connected beautifully from 18 yards.

Game over, and the icing of the cake was provided when Antonio Valencia’s latest fine performance was rewarded with a deflected goal – the cherry on the proverbial cake in Sir Alex’s affordable ringing of the changes as Wayne Rooney, Rafael and Michael Carrick were all given rests.

Everton prodigy Jack Rodwell, no doubt inspired by the last fortnight’s tabloid persistence that his future may lie at Old Trafford, tried to salvage something with a couple of late efforts but his efforts were in vain as van der Sar collected another clean sheet.

It was a real team performance with no-one you could clearly say was the outstanding individual, and coming into a time where United usually find their feet in a season, it was probably this that was most pleasing for the home boss.

Ratings : van der Sar 7, Rafael 8 (Scholes 7), Brown 7, Vidic 8, *Evra 8, Valencia 8, Carrick 8 (Gibson), Fletcher 8, Giggs 7, Rooney 7 (Obertan 7), Owen 6

Tweet This Post

When it comes to a “Big Four” in England historically speaking Everton are the club that join United, Arsenal and their city rivals Liverpool, with 9 league titles, 5 FA Cups and a European Cup Winners Cup to boot.

The Toffees visit Old Trafford this weekend in the second part of a clash between the city’s teams as Liverpool host City earlier in the day – and unlike the frostier relationship that exists with their neighbours, there always seems to be a healthy respect between the Merseyside blues and the Manchester reds, even if that cordial relationship suffered somewhat during the transfer of Wayne Rooney.

Still, Everton too have been the beneficiary of transfers between the clubs down the years, with their current club captain Phil Neville still the most domestically decorated player outside of Old Trafford, while it’s hard to believe that when signing Andrei Kanchelskis 14 years ago Everton were tipped to overtake the United side who were famously told their kids would win nothing.

Stretford-End.com takes a look back on 5 classic Premier League bouts between the two North West teams.

19th August, 1992

Manchester United 0-3 Everton

The Red Devils first home Premier League game was mercilessly ruined as Everton destroyed them with goals from Peter Beardsley, Robert Warzycha and Mo Johnston. Despite such a positive early season result Everton had a stuttering season and finished in 13th – United meanwhile recovered from an unlikely start to win their first league title for 26 years.

January 22nd, 1994

Manchester United 1-0 Everton

The first game for United after the death of Sir Matt Busby saw a performance that was a great nod to the philosophy of the former manager, as the Champions peppered their visitors with a relentless barrage of shots only to find Neville Southall, as usual, in stunning form. It was fitting that it was the first of “Fergie’s fledgings”, Ryan Giggs, who secured the win with a fine header.

December 4th, 1999

Manchester United 5-1 Everton

Only in this Manchester United team could one of their front four score 4 goals and then not start the next two matches. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer put the Toffees to the sword with this one man show while Denis Irwin got in on the act with a penalty.

September 8th, 2001

Manchester United 4-1 Everton

As false dawns go this was pretty impressive – a resounding win that was orchestrated by the wizardry of Seba Veron with a fine goal from the Argentinian being the highlight of a game that included strikes from Andy Cole, Quinton Fortune and a late strike from David Beckham. United went on to lose 6 of their next 11 league games to blunt any realistic hopes of being the first team to win the league four times in a row. Mind you, with Fortune and Luke Chadwick as United’s “wizards” on the wing, it was no surprise.

October 7th, 2002

Manchester United 3-0 Everton

From false dawns to false reflections – a staggeringly harsh scoreline on a resolute Everton team who, with a wet behind the ears Wayne Rooney, came close to inflicting a reverse against United. With just 4 minutes Paul Scholes took centre stage and struck a cruel blow by scoring the winner at the Stretford End. Worse was to follow for the visitors as Ruud van Nistelrooy converted a penalty and their woes were compounded further still when Scholes struck spectacularly in off the bar in stoppage time.

Still, there was plenty to admire about David Moyes’ as then new approach to his job – clearly an opinion shared by the boardroom at Goodison as in the seven years since Moyes has established himself as one of the league’s top managers and completely transformed the club from one that was facing financial ruin to one that regularly finishes in the top 6 and, on last season’s showings, ready to challenge for silverware.

Tweet This Post

• United lineup
• 08/09 season statistics so far
• Follow Stretford-End on Twitter

Sir Slex Ferguson made 8 changes from the side that beat Porto and paid the ultimate price as his dire Manchester United team lost on penalties to Everton, therefore being eliminated from the FA Cup and the chance to become “quintuple” winners.

Using his examination of the previous days semi final and the impact the occasion and pitch had on the players of fellow Champions League semi finalists Arsenal and Chelsea, Ferguson took a huge risk by throwing in youngsters Rafael, Fabio, Gibson, Welbeck and Macheda while starting with Ben Foster in goal.

It would perhaps be too harsh to be so insulting to the youngsters who made a good fist of the performance and in fairness were the stand out performers in pushing a seasoned, professional, experienced and very talented Everton side all the way to penalties, and even having arguably the better of the play in normal and extra time.

The game itself presented few chances – among the best were ex-Red Devil Saha’s chance after a Foster mistake which the keeper just managed to recover, Welbeck’s deflected effort that grazed a post, Cahill testing Foster from distance, and Gibson doing the same to Howard.

But the major talking point came when Phil Jagielka clearly took out Danny Welbeck as the youngster seemed to create an opening to shoot, and referee Mike Riley, who David Moyes had accused of being a Manchester United fan in midweek, waved the claims away. Fergie was furious and his anger will no doubt have been two-fold considering the incredible number of clear set piece opportunities that have been denied his side over the last 18 months due to manipulation of the officials.

Such a result would have been harsh on Everton on the balance of play as only Anderson and, as ever, the two United central defenders Ferdinand and Vidic left the field with any credit for the favourites.

The biggest disappointment of the day was the introduction of record signing Dimitar Berbatov who contributed so little after his substitution that Fergie must have wished he had left wonderkid Macheda on – this feeling probably was exacerbated when Berbatov hit a woeful penalty in the shoot out straight at Howard.

A kick in such a situation would not normally be considered a great crime but Everton had missed their first spotkick and the Bulgarian had a great opportunity to establish some momentum for United, however his effort mirrored his awful attitude and body language. It was no surprise that the Toffees were bouyed by the miss and went on to convert all of their remaining kicks (Ferdinand missing the second kick) and in doing so progressed to the FA Cup final for the first time since they beat United there 14 years ago.

For United the quintuple dream is over but they must find some resolve as the next 6 days – two home games against Portsmouth and Tottenham – could prove crucial in their defence of the Premier League.

Source: (Yolkie)

Tweet This Post

• United lineup
• 08/09 season statistics so far

A five point gap at the top and a new record as officially the meanest consecutive defence in English League history were the reward for Manchester United as Cristiano Ronaldo‘s first half penalty secured a big win for the Champions.

Ronaldo was lively in the first half, stabbing against a post from 20 yards, while Tevez saw his close range strike tipped over by former United keeper Tim Howard. But it was the impressive Michael Carrick who really caught the eye with this latest imposing performance in the centre of the midfield.

And Carrick was the architect for the games only goal, being tripped by Mikel Arteta for a penalty right on half time. Arteta and Everton could have few complaints about the decision, and referee Halsey even waited for Carrick to completely lose his balance before awarding the spot kick. Ronaldo made no mistake from 12 yards and saw a potential opportunity to score another penalty refused by Halsey early the second half, as Carrick again appeared to be impeded.

Everton had been handed the boost of Tim Cahill and Marouane Fellaini both being cleared to play but in truth despite plenty of endeavour by the visitors, the clean sheat record that was awaiting Edwin van der Sar was more of a formality than he may have expected.

With this game reportedly being the start of an ease to United’s injury concerns Sir Alex Ferguson can look back at a hugely successful January, and look forward to this afternoon’s fixture where his club will be the winners no matter what happens.

Source:(Yolkie)

Tweet This Post

Don’t forget you can check out Darren Fletcher’s goal in the forum and also the lineup against Everton today on Stretford-end.com.

Everton 1-1 Manchester United

Manchester United threw away a golden opportunity of 3 points at Goodison Park as a spirited Everton second half saw them snatch a point.

In a dominating first half, the visitors took the lead through Darren Fletcher, whose marvellous composure afforded him the time to finish a stunning Ryan Giggs pass. It was Fletcher and Giggs who were at the heart of a thrilling first half display as United looked to put the game beyond their hosts before half time. Returning ex-Evertonian Wayne Rooney was in search of his 100th career goal and was denied it by a fine tackle by Jagielka.

Despite plenty of dominance in all the right areas , and despite a simply phenomenal performance from Reds legend Ryan Giggs in the centre, United didn’t create a great number of clear cut chances, and their inability to score the second proved costly. Everton started the second half very fiery after probably receiving a verbal lashing from David Moyes. Their plan was to unsettle United and it worked, though a couple of the home side were lucky to stay on the pitch after some dangerous tackles – notably, ex-Red Devil and current Toffees captain Phil Neville, who made a reckless tackle on Cristiano Ronaldo. Alan Wiley’s lenience was to Toffee’s benefit as with their full complement they chased down every United player, never allowing them any time.

Eventually their persistence paid off as the previously uncrackable central defence started to creak, the complacency Rio Ferdinand was renowned for 5 years ago began to creep back in, and Everton scored as record signing Felliani headed in a move started by a throw by, you guessed it, Phil Neville.

Soon after United had Van der Sar to thank after another Rio lapse saw Yakubu free, and see his shot tipped onto the post.

More tasty tackles flew around, Rooney’s harsh booking led to more boos which prompted him to kiss his badge and wave to the crowd – cementing his allegiance to the United cause in such a manner that Ronaldo should have been taking notes from – but the action was probably the reason he was brought off by Sir Alex Ferguson, wary of referee Wiley’s trigger booking system for United players after a first half where Everton supporters frustration of being outclassed manifested itself in bizarre abuse of the referee.

In fairness, the champions never looked liked scoring – aside from two glaring Ronaldo misses (one following a sumptuous Anderson through ball), as notable for their relative easiness as the lack of concern shown by the Portuguese superstar upon missing them. His dying seconds free kick (from 35 yards) was typical of his lackluster display, as United were made to pay for a combination of their complacency and profligacy.

Ratings : Van der Sar 7, Brown 6, Ferdinand 5, Vidic 7, Evra 6, Ronaldo 6, Fletcher 8 (Tevez 6), *Giggs 9, Park 6 (Anderson 7), Rooney 6 (Nani 5), Berbatov 7.

Source:(Yolkie)

Tweet This Post