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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.
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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?
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.
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.
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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)
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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)
Ok, so we’re going to place all the match reports in the blog now so that you can have your say on the latest game in our comments section. Don’t worry you can still vote for your MOTM against Everton on our match report included within the Stretford-end.com template.
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)
