Man Utd 2-0 Everton: On The Spot Twice

The headline is all the game was. Garnacho was felled twice, with Bruno and Rashford converting from the spot. If I were to speak about the quality in the game, it would be more about Everton. They had much of the game, especially in the first half. The Red Devils were incessantly poor. In between the pens, Bruno pulled out a good save from Pickford. The second half just lulled towards the referee blowing the final whistle. It was a win but it was deary watching yet again for Ten Hag’s Man Utd.

Lacksadasical or Lack of anything?

9/10s of the law. This is the old adage when it comes to possession. Clearly it ‘s a law that is not followed well at Carrington or Old Trafford.

Everywhere I can, I regularly bemoan the lack of technical security that is in the team. That is as clear to see as anything. However, it is time to address the fact that putting players with a lack of technical security, ability and consistency into a set up that allows for such misalignment in formation and freedom of movement is just setting them up for failure.

Nothing shows that more with the performance of Casemiro today. Since his arrival at Old Trafford, he has decided that he wanted to show that he has a deeper repertoire of passing than he was allowed to show in Madrid. Doing that, he has opened himself up to a stunningly enormous amount of give aways. The times it can come off, like the delicate dink in behind for Bruno Fernandes, you see that he does actually have that ability but the consistency and security is way off. He enjoys playing the ball first time and he does not look comfortable when he is playing under immense pressure. At the end of the day, this not exactly what he was brought into the team for. More so his defensive acumen but he has flagging in that regard too so the spotlight is more on his passing.

Today, it was completely woeful. Especially in the first half. Even the ones that were able to connect, they were pushing the recipient further than they should have. But the team structure is utterly baffling. You are supposed to expand in your spacing when you do have the ball but the gaps between the players is staggering. What’s worse is that the spacing is that extreme that when we inevitably lose the ball, it is incredibly hard for players to get back into good defensive positions to stop the transitions. Casemiro is not the only culprit. Evans, Varane and Bruno were caught on it. These are not the best technical build up players in the league so to give them the difficulty of passes that even those who are would find insanely difficult is just more of Ten Hag cutting off his nose to spite his face. A law is a law and there needs to come a time that it is adhered to. At Man Utd, possession needs to become 9/10s of the law.

Other Thoughts

Garnacho had an extremely difficult game in the Derby last week but today, he won the two penalties that gave us the win.

A lot has been said about the youngster but this is his 25th start in a row at the tender age of 19. The peaks and troughs of football development is going to happen. When he is in a team as bereft of confidence and quality as this one is, it would be very easy for the Argentine to shrink into his shell. However, alike Mainoo, he is one of the players who is fronting up and ensuring there is at least some level of committal consistency on display. He deserved a goal but in terms of his decision making, it is definitely still in the trough part of his development. Hopefully we get to reap the benefits of the peak.