Here’s Andy Hunter’s report from Goodison.
Sean Dyche spoke to the BBC:
“They started the game with a worldie which put us on the back-foot We played well in the first half and had good chances so I was pleased at half-time. Then they get a penalty early on and the VAR is being made so complex. I feel for the fans and the referee stares at the screen and we know the outcome. The way the modern game is they say it is a penalty. But we see it all the time and it is what the game has become now.
“It has been a tough 10 days to take the news, but we brush ourselves down. Most people think how unjust it is including our fans, myself and the football club. We have to perform and win games. The game didn’t really settle it is a worldie and fair play to the lad [Alejandro Garnacho] but I will doubt there will be one like that next week. I thought we was very strong first half and thought we should have gone in level at half-time.”
United fans will have loved what they saw from Kobie Mainoo. Bruno Fernandes spoke to the BBC “Great game - for me man of the match, a great performance and secure on the ball and never puts a foot wrong. He is always ready to help, for his age he has too much quality. He sees the play before and did so many good things today he was secure on the ball.”
Erik Ten Hag rather enjoyed his afternoon in the Goodison gantry. He spoke to Sky Sports: “Probably goal of the season. Also the build-up, not just the finish, was very good. The finish is fantastic.
“After the start of the game we were too easy-going. I criticised the team at half-time. They thought they were already there. You can’t do that. You have to do 100 minutes on the pitch. Second half we did very well. Our three offensive players scored. That’s what we need. It will help us as a team.”
Bruno Fernandes spoke to Sky Sports: “We needed to play at moments a bit more like the first 20 minutes in the first half.
“I give [Garnachoo] a good nod for the goal, I have big expectations for him. He has a great future ahead and we expect a lot from. I am always going to be behind him asking for more but yes an amazing goal.
“A goal like this has to silent the crowd, Everton fans will not be happy about it but they enjoy to see it and players like him can do this. I am very happy to have him on my side.”
“Because Marcus needed a bit of confidence, he needed his goal - he is an excellent penalty taker. I was sure he could score that penalty and Marcus did it perfectly.
Alejandro Garnacho on his goal: “I can believe to be honest, I said ‘oh my god’. One of the best goals I have scored.”
The Premier League table: healthy reading for United, depressing for Everton.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal | 13 | 17 | 30 |
| 2 | Man City | 13 | 20 | 29 |
| 3 | Liverpool | 13 | 17 | 28 |
| 4 | Aston Villa | 13 | 13 | 28 |
| 5 | Tottenham Hotspur | 13 | 8 | 26 |
| 6 | Man Utd | 13 | 0 | 24 |
| 7 | Newcastle | 13 | 17 | 23 |
| 8 | Brighton | 13 | 5 | 22 |
| 9 | West Ham | 13 | 0 | 20 |
| 10 | Chelsea | 13 | 2 | 16 |
| 11 | Brentford | 13 | 1 | 16 |
| 12 | Wolverhampton | 12 | -4 | 15 |
| 13 | Crystal Palace | 13 | -5 | 15 |
| 14 | Nottm Forest | 13 | -5 | 13 |
| 15 | Fulham | 12 | -10 | 12 |
| 16 | AFC Bournemouth | 13 | -14 | 12 |
| 17 | Luton | 13 | -11 | 9 |
| 18 | Sheff Utd | 13 | -23 | 5 |
| 19 | Everton | 13 | -6 | 4 |
| 20 | Burnley | 13 | -22 | 4 |
Everton 0-3 Manchester United
The story of the boos. Everton couldn’t lift themselves to kick against the perceived injustices and must now look to next week at the City Ground as their relegation fight continues. United go to Galatasaray in good cheer. They hardly dazzled but Alejandro Garnacho’s opening goal certainly did.
90+3 min: Death throes stuff now from Everton. Goodison tiers emptying. Long old season ahead. This was a game most expected them to lift themselves for.
Harrison meanwhile can’t direct the ball goalward when it is bouncing around the United box.
90+1 min: Chermiti – dressing-room nickname Walter – smashes the ball wide and Onana was nowhere near it. Now some half-hearted boos as Gueye is booked.
90 min: Everton sub, Doucoure on, Dobbin on.
Stephen Carr gets in touch: “Afternoon John. Amidst all the hullabaloo, Everton seem to have overlooked the need to actually play well. United are two goals up without really having to do anything. It’s as if Everton thought they’d win on pure emotion alone.”
Six minutes are added on.
89 min: United might get a fourth but Tarkowski, almost the last man, stops Bruno and Rashford linking up.
87 min: Adam Roberts gets in touch: “First, Rashford - under no pressure - simply passes it to an Everton player who was a good 10 yards away from any United player; and Pickford blasts the ball into touch, 10 yards behind the (presumably) intended target, then seemed to blame someone else.
“Incidentally, a United player (Garnacho?) did Ashly Young a huge favour after the penalty decision by stopping him going to shout at the referee which surely would have led to his richly deserved second yellow.’
Still, there was the Garnacho goal, right?
86 min: Patterson finds space on the overlap but overruns it, with Onana running out to claim the ball. That’s happened too often in promising positions for Everton.
84 min: Martial is off, and on comes Hannibal. Erik Ten Hag’s plan has come together.
82 min: Calvert-Lewin departs, at least his fitness is holding up, and on comes Chermitti. The home groans continue as United begin to play the ball around in a fashion they could not manage during a highly uncomfortable first half.
81 min: Goodison is beginning to empty a little but many may be staying to air their grievances.
78 min: The sound now is of United fans taunting the Evertonians, and regrettably, it’s the poverty chanting they indulge in. No need. It’s 2023. Grow up. Fight the common enemy. And so on.
77 min: Off goes Shaw for United. He’s played well. Wan-Bissaka on, and Dalot swaps flanks.
76 min: This time, the boos are half-hearted. It’s the United fans we hear now.
Goal! Everton 0-3 Manchester United (Martial, 75)
United pass the ball round neatly and then Fernandes sends Martial away, with Pickford charging out. The Frenchman is cool, and slots home.
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74 min: Mainoo will be missed by United, and Garnacho will be too.
72 min: Two United subs: off go Mainoo and Garnacho, on come Ambrabat and Pellstri.
Two Everton subs: Young and McNeil off, Danjuma and Patterson on.
71 min: Close for United. Lindelof sends Rashford away, and the cross back across almost finds Garnacho, whose volley hits the sidenetting. Where was Martial?
70 min: Dalot makes a fine block – with his rear end – as Doucoure shapes to shoot. There’s some aggro in the box between Onana and Branthwaite, who is pushing and shoving away. United, though, clear their lines.
69 min: Everton corner, and Onana punches the ball up and claims. He was a bit lucky, to say the least.
69 min: David Wall gets in touch: “Is even the referee showing a bit of solidarity here with Everton in protest at their points penalty? Both Doucoure and Young would normally have received second yellow cards for persistent fouling and the trip for the penalty respectively. Unfortunately for Everton it looks as though the guys at Stockley Park aren’t in on the conspiracy to level things up for them. Howard Webb needs to improve communication within the different areas at the PGMOL.”
68 min: Stephen Winstanley gets in touch: “If United are so bad (and they are a shadow of what they should be given poor form and as bad an injury list as any other team out there) and if the result today stands what does it say about the league when they will be just 6 points off the top of the table.”
It’s a fair point. Nobody has been too outstanding this season and it’s been really good for that reason.
66 min: Onana is grateful when Maguire’s pressure on Calvert-Lewin means the striker can only deflect the ball into his path.
64 min: Mainoo plays a fine ball out wide, and then Dalot is in space, he lays up Garnacho whose technique fails him this time. Everton are opening up.
62 min: Howls of outrage and boos as Rashford sets off on a run on the counter. More boos as United win a corner. You get the picture. Boos as Fernandes plays a ball crossfield. And another corner is won.
61 min: Mykolenko swings and scrapes a shot wide of goal.
59 min: Samuel Campbell gets in touch: “This is quite the performance by Dyche, the Everton players and the Everton fans. Pretending that every correct decision against them is somehow part of some giant conspiracy of corruption against them. It is quite ridiculous!”
Thing is, Sam, everyone behaves like this in football. And in life, too.
58 min: Gueye finds space, turns and shoots. It’s flying in but what a save from Onana! The keeper then punches the corner clear. Boos as Tarkowski and Maguire tussle in the box and nothing is given.
57 min: Booooooooooooooo!!!!
Goal! Everton 0-2 Manchester United (Rashford, 56 pen)
Fernandes gives the ball to Rashford, who steps up and dithers and shimmies and blasts it beyond Pickford. A pearler…..booooooooooooooo!
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Penalty to Manchester United!
52 min: Martial booked for simulation!….Fernandes’s pass goes through and that’s ruled a dive when it looks like a clear penalty. Young pleaded innocence and none too convincingly. Referee Brooks is called across to look. Though why he didn’t give it in the first place is anyone’s guess. Martial’s booking is cancelled. The penalty is given. Will Young be booked? Seems not.
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50 min: United look a little less rushed, Everton less harried. But then Calvert-Lewin brings the ball down and then Maguire robs Mykolenko to howls.
49 min: Still a neat undertow of boos. There will be some fans whose faces get stuck like that in the winter cold, their lips chapped from being shaped like that for 90 minutes.
47 min: McTominay thwacks the ball wide, advantage being played after both Garnacho and Fernandes are fouled.
46 min: The second half is here, and we begin with boos, and some more good work from the Sky sound mixer. Mainoo starts off an attack with a canter through midfield. Promising signs. Stockport’s next great star, to follow Phil Foden and Adam Le Fondre?
Phil Gillibrand: “I don’t want to get pedantic, but I’m going to anyway. A bicycle kick (with the right foot) involves getting the other foot (left) high first, then using the momentum from the sisoor (or cycling) motion to bring the right foot up onto the ball. Klinsmann’s goal, while an exceptional overhead kick, wasn’t a bicycle kick. Rooney’s was. Was Garnacho’s? I haven’t seen it.”
Overhead kicks, your selections.
Kári Tulinius gets in touch: “This is one of the most extraordinary bicycle kick goal I have seen. It’s up there with Gareth Bale’s in the champions league final, Zlatan’s against England, and Jürgen Klinsmann’s for VfB Stuttgart, a familiar sight in Bundesliga best ever compilations.”
Half-time reading:
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Half-time: Everton 0-1 Manchester United
Everton have been full of spirit and the better team, galvanised by injustice and the realisation United can be got at. And yet, Garnacho’s goal separates the teams. It was an absolute beauty. The teams leave the field to boos, just as they entered.
45+2 min: Young and Garnacho clash once more, the Everton man already on a booking. Back in defence, Rashford comes back to clear up. More boos, Fernandes sweeps away McNeil and escapes being penalised.
45 min: Two minutes are added on. The boos are still audible but not quite as loud.
43 min: Dalot’s cross finds Anthont Martial, previously a passenger, offside. At the other end, Doucoure is soon enough guilty of the same technical offence.
41 min: More Everton pressure. Ashley Young’s cross is a belter and Calvert-Lewin heads over. And then Gueye gets the chance to shoot after the ball is slipped inside from Calvert-Lewin. They might hit the target soon.
39 min: Simon McMahon gets in touch: “Hi John. Mitchell van der Gaag spent a couple of seasons as a player with Motherwell in the mid 90s. If nothing else, it means he should at least be already familiar with the feeling of mid table mediocrity, while the big boys fight it out at the top.”
38 min: Mainoo takes the ball forward, exchanges passes with Rashford but gets a cross cut out. He’s played very well, living up to his billing. The same cannot be said of Rashford, who next loses the ball by seeming to trip over it
36 min: Just as Garnacho launches a United attack at last, he overdoes it and the ball is soon enough back with Onana. There is relief when Shaw is fouled by Doucoure. Everton on the rampage. Doucoure’s not too many fouls off another booking.
34 min: Mainoo blocks a McNeil shot. United have been all over the show, a mirror of their many dismal displays this season.
33 min: A golden chance for Doucoure but he…misses. Oh Everton.
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32 min: This is all Everton now. They must score soon. United have to make two saves, with Mainoo the hero for the second. Calvert-Lewin’s shot is saved by Onana then Mainoo slides to stop Harrison scoring the rebound.
31 min: Good defending from Mainoo but it’s an Everton corner he concedes. And Garner takes, and it’s a free header for Calvert-Lewin, but straight down Onana’s throat.
29 min: Booooo. Referee Brooks books Doucoure for dissent after the Everton player complains that Garnacho has kicked the ball away. Garnacho escapes censure.
27 min: Mitchell van der Gaag is Ten Hag’s man on the sideline. They share the same hairdresser and beard trimmer, by the looks of things. This game is bitty now, and the home fans are continuing to boo, well, everything.
25 min: Gueye and Young collide after McTominay kicks through the back of Young, and Everton have a free-kick in a dangerous position. It fails to beat the first man and Mykolenko scuffs wide. Still, United are being pushed back.
23 min: Everton looking a little more comfortable if short of a final ball at the moment. Mainoo is robbed as he tries to go on a weaving run out of defence.
22 min: Yellow card for Ashley Young, legging up his successor as United left-winger, Garnacho. Young did not live up to his name there.
21 min: Jeremy Boyce gets in touch: “ You lucky man to get this MBM at the end of a fascinating weekend of Premier League action, and the 60th anniversary of Dr Who. I am old enough to remember the first episode, what a mind-blower, and still The Beatles and Stones to come ! But have we time-travelled back to the 80s here, looking at the top 4 ? In the 11 seasons that had an 8 in them, the only winners were The Reds, The Arse, and Villa, currently occupying 3 out of 4 of the top spots ? Which was scarier, the Daleks, playing at Anfield, or Ron Atkinson in full bling, belly and heart attack trying to live up to the Busby legacy ?”
19 min: Garnacho tracks back well to cover Garnacho, as Garner looks to send away Harrison. Then, McNeil zips the ball across goal and nobody goes to it. The age of the header and cross is behind us.
17 min: United have dealt with this fine so far and are passing the ball around nicely, and looking for gaps when Everton push on. Onana is the first to wobble, and hacks the ball out of play from a wonky McTominay pass.
15 min: The fireworks continue, as do the Everton, Everton chants. The team haven’t really responded to the, er, firecracker atmosphere. Not yet anyway.
13 min: Almost another spectacular United goal. Fernandes takes and Shaw volleys over. Did it take a deflection? No, says the referee.
12 min: Now some fireworks are going off…
10 min: Let-off for United when they allow Harrison to play Calvert-Lewin down the left, and he cuts in and back out, but can’t beat Onana.
Now, here comes the chants and the boos in the 10th minute – for 10 points. The Sky sound mixer is working overtime, like Larry Levan and Terminator X at their best, to cover up the rude words directed at the Premier League. The effect is a wash of sound that also reminds of Pink Floyd’s Fearless.
9 min: Some dogs of war stuff gets the crowd going. The crowd approve, some heavy tackles.
7 min: Everton get a free-kick on the halfway line and Jordan Pickford takes it. Some Dyche-ball classicism for you there. Mainoo gets involved for the first time, tackling Harrison and lucky not to concede a corner.
5 min: Did the Everton fans applaud? That’s even stopped the booing…but only for a short while. They barrack Andre Onana when he dithers over the ball.
4 min: Michael Olise’s goal of the season as Luton has dropped to second place. You will rarely see a better executed overhead kick. Garnacho himself barely seems to believe it.
Goal! Everton 0-1 Manchester United (Garnarcho, 3)
What a goal! What a goal! It was Wayne Rooney reincarnate. Dalot gets the ball from Rashford and Garnacho goes for the overhead. And pulls it off What a goal!
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2 min: Boos for Rashford as takes the ball. Even more boos as Branthwaite and McTominay clash and the United player goes down.
1 min: We are away at Goodison. Erik Ten Hag, in the type flat cap you used to see in The Sullivans, is banished to the stands, and must be deafened by all the boos.
Z-Cars rings out and there are boos as the teams take to the field. The banners are out and the boos get even louder as the Premier League anthem rings out. This is booing of a high grade, you can taste the bile from through the screen. Then the Everton fans cheer their team, and boo United’s.
Sean Dyche also spoke to Sky.
“It’s a tough challenge, but we’re willing to take it on. The fans have driven us on since I’ve been here. I’ve mentioned it many times, they’ve questioned us and rightly so at times, but they’re always here in numbers, they travel in numbers and they’re right with us.
“The players have paid that back this season with some very good performances, some good points on the board until the deduction, but there’s a good connection and that’s very important.”
Erik Ten Hag spoke to Sky Sports, beginning on Kobie Mainoo.
”We have all seen him in pre-season, but then he dropped out with a bad injury. He worked hard to get back, he’s back and match fit, has played some games and he’s prepared and ready. You miss every player, but Luke Shaw is massive. We’re very happy he’s back because he will definitely contribute to our success.”
The table, following Aston Villa’s win at Tottenham leaves both Everton and United five points from where they want to be.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal | 13 | 17 | 30 |
| 2 | Man City | 13 | 20 | 29 |
| 3 | Liverpool | 13 | 17 | 28 |
| 4 | Aston Villa | 13 | 13 | 28 |
| 5 | Tottenham Hotspur | 13 | 8 | 26 |
| 6 | Newcastle | 13 | 17 | 23 |
| 7 | Brighton | 13 | 5 | 22 |
| 8 | Man Utd | 12 | -3 | 21 |
| 9 | West Ham | 13 | 0 | 20 |
| 10 | Chelsea | 13 | 2 | 16 |
| 11 | Brentford | 13 | 1 | 16 |
| 12 | Wolverhampton | 12 | -4 | 15 |
| 13 | Crystal Palace | 13 | -5 | 15 |
| 14 | Nottm Forest | 13 | -5 | 13 |
| 15 | Fulham | 12 | -10 | 12 |
| 16 | AFC Bournemouth | 13 | -14 | 12 |
| 17 | Luton | 13 | -11 | 9 |
| 18 | Sheff Utd | 13 | -23 | 5 |
| 19 | Everton | 12 | -3 | 4 |
| 20 | Burnley | 13 | -22 | 4 |
Evertonian and Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham has had his say.
“The fact that the Premier League sought to introduce a new sanctions policy in the middle of this process amounts, in my view, to an abuse of process,” writes Burnham, who has also requested any evidence that the Premier League discussed Everton’s case in relation to the proposed introduction of an independent regulator. “From my experience of regulation, introducing new rules in the late stages of a process would be regarded as regulatory malpractice.”
Duncan Edwards gets in touch: “You do realise that your nice “Martial testimonial” wind-up ensures he’s going to notch today? The most frustrating United player I can recall. Skillful, bone idle, great finisher, injury prone. In the unlikely event he gets a testimonial, has the brass neck to accept and is fit to appear, I’ll be crying off attending due to a knock. It’s what he wouid have wanted.”
The big news for Manchester United fans is Kobie Mainoo getting a long-awaited firsty Premier League start; he starred on the club’s pre-season star and then broke down with injury. Luke Shaw is back at left-back, and Anthony Martial, just 18 months short of his United testimonial – Shaw’s is next year – starts in place of the injured Rasmus Hojlund..
Amadou Onana is Sean Dyche’s sole absentee from Everton’s win at Crystal Palace. Idrissa Gana Gueye comes in. Seamus Coleman in the squad for the first time this season since his knee injury.
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The teams
Everton: Pickford, Young, Tarkowski, Branthwaite, Mykolenko, Garner, Doucoure, Gueye, Harrison, Calvert-Lewin, McNeil. Subs: Virginia, Patterson, Keane, Godfrey, Coleman, Hunt, Danjuma, Dobbin, Chermiti.
Manchester United: Onana, Dalot, Maguire, Lindelof, Shaw, McTominay, Mainoo, Garnacho, Fernandes, Rashford, Martial. Subs: Bayindir, Wan-Bissaka, Varane, Reguilon, Van de Beek, Amrabat, Hugill, Mejbri, Pellestri.
Will Unwin on a big week for Manchester United, on the field.
Injuries have caused huge problems. The return of Luke Shaw to the squad for Everton is welcome news but Casemiro, Christian Eriksen, Jonny Evans, Lisandro Martínez and Tyrell Malacia will be missing and Rasmus Højlund is a doubt. If the Dane does start it would give him the chance to score his first Premier League goal. He has scored five in four in the Champions League but struggled domestically. “It [the relationship between players] is growing but you can see we are creating chances,” Ten Hag says. “It’s a matter of time and he will net in the Premier League as well. If you score in the Champions League you will also score in the Premier League.”
Everton director of football Kevin Thelwell spoke this week.
We are shocked by what we believe is a wholly disproportionate and unjust ruling by the Premier League’s commission. We cannot say anything further on the commission’s findings until the conclusion of the appeal process – and the players and manager cannot be drawn on any specifics relating to the commission’s ruling in the media duties they will be fulfilling in the days and weeks ahead.
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Jonathan Wilson on the Everton punishment.
There’s a sense that, if you have to be docked 10 points, this might not be the worst season for it to happen. Sheffield United and Luton are clubs of obviously limited resources, while Burnley have been unexpectedly poor. Once it became apparent that Vincent Kompany’s side were not going to produce at the higher level the form that enabled them to dominate the Championship, the three promoted sides felt like a probable bottom three. For those lower mid-table sides glancing anxiously over their shoulders, Bournemouth’s slow start under Andoni Iraola has offered an additional buffer.
Preamble
Somewhere through the blue smoke and bile a game might break out. Yes, Evertonians are, and many would say rightfully, kicking against the pricks at the Premier League – and their independent commission – for the deduction of 10 points. What had been a season of just about par – 14 points from 12 matches – has become a relegation battle. Luton and Bournemouth winning on Saturday was bad news for Sean Dyche’s team. Can the emotion carry them? It may help to face Manchester United, who have been nobody’s idea of a machine for many years now. The problem might be that United have started winning games, and even if nobody is quite sure how, they are one of the form teams in the Premier League. The atmosphere is bound to be bouncing, and expect a few boos and calls of corruption on the way. Though mind, that tends to happen at most games these days. But this could be special.
Kick-off is 4.30pm UK time. Join me.
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