Manchester United welcomed back Wayne Rooney to Old Trafford as his Everton team and Ronald Koeman hoped to react to their 3-0 loss to Atalanta in the Europa League.
However, all their work to keep the score at 1-0 for 80 minutes went down the drain after they conceded three times. Antonio Valencia, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Romelu Lukaku and Antony Martial got on the scoresheet.
Contributing writer, Nathan Quao, of Citi Sports, in Accra, Ghana has picked three main talking points from the match.
The Strong Finish Appeared Again
The main feature of Man United’s first three victories of the season was that they killed teams off late in the game. While their opponents were waning, the Red Devils were rather growing stronger and their taste for the kill got stronger.
Against Everton, the instincts returned. The Toffees were making it a good contest and their decision to thrown on more forwards told everyone that they fancied their chances.
But 3 strikes in 10 minutes meant that Man United turned the match from a nail-biter to a ‘beatdown’ and it is important to mention Lukaku’s great show in the time of ‘harvest’.
He set up one goal and scored as well and what he provided on the field showed just what Everton had given to Man United.
Goals. Goals. Goals.
At least now, we see that Man United have a different feel about them and they are hell-bent on scoring as much as they can to knock teams out and to give them something to hold on to should the debate of the title destination ever come up.
They have been there before. They need not to repeat their folly.
David De Gea, Super Effective
The best people in their job are the ones who do their work really well when they are called on. No frills, no fancy stuff. They execute and the world moves on.
David De Gea’s performance against Everton highlighted a lot of that as he got his 100th clean sheet as the guardian of the Man United goal.
He did not have to make loads of saves but he was there to keep out of the net when Everton threatened to make a statement.
He saved from Rooney and Gylfi Sigurdsson to serve as one of the pillars of United’s eventual demolition job.
A lot more of these tests will appear later in the season but it is great to know that the Spanish goalie is in the post to make things happen.
God bless the day he signed from Atletico Madrid and God bless the fax machine that stopped him from going to Real Madrid.
Rashford must grow
Marcus Rashford has the talent. He has the drive. He has the ambition and determination and he is brave. But he needs to learn.
The path to greatness is a long one and only those willing to observe and apply principles go the distance. Unfortunately, it seems Rashford is not giving himself the time and chance to excel more than he has already done.
Too many times he failed to raise his head to see his free and unmarked team mates. His urge to score should not be quenched at all but he must realise that he can still make an impact by setting up for the goals.
There was a sequence in the first half where he did well to find the loose ball in the Everton penalty area but he destroyed his own good work by not finding other players.
In addition to not being aware of his surroundings, he also hesitated at critical moments and they could have been detrimental had Everton found a good way of getting back.
He needs his opportunities and he should get more chances to play and grow.
But there is an aspect of his growth which is self-taught. He must understand this and address the challenge.
He will speed up his own journey to the big time.
PS: Thank you, Chelsea, for giving us Nemanja Matic. He is a super player. He showed it once again against Everton.