Manchester Stay United As Everton Protest Unfair FFP Punishment

It has again been a bit of a mixed season for Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag as he continues to try and turn around the fortunes of the club and get us back into a proper chase and challenge for the title spot, but there were plenty in the wider world of football who thought we might come a cropper against Everton at Goodison Park on Sunday.

Everton were undoubtedly going to be up for the game having recently suffered a ten-point deduction for a breach of Financial Fair Play rules, and many fans of the Red Devils will have followed the Premier League charges closely as we look slightly across the City and their 105 alleged breaches and gently wonder if the PL do have a real backbone and a pair of teeth. For those who use the best football betting sites, this issue is probably worth staying away from as I do not think anyone knows what the outcome odds might be here.

Their fans were up for the game ahead of kick-offs with obvious protests, both inside and outside of the stadium, but thankfully we were not complacent and three minutes in we burst their bubble as Alejandro Garnacho smashed in an absolute worldy (and potential goal of the season) to send us on our way to a 3-0 victory. Everton had greater chances on the day despite us muting the crowd early on, but we were clinical with our chances and they were pretty wasteful.

Given the mixed emotions at play across the 90 minutes, skipper Bruno Fernandes may well have found himself some new fans on one side of Merseyside, as following the full-time whistle he was polite, but also did not really hide his own disapproval at the level of their punishment, because anything FFP related obviously has absolutely nothing to do with fans, or players, themselves.

“It was important for us, we know what Everton have been through. For the (Everton) players it is not fair and it is from long ago and they are suffering from something they have nothing to do with. My team came here to win the game and to their best. I think first half we could have kept the ball a bit better but still did a great job today.”

He naturally had praise for Garnacho’s opener, stating.

“Superb – something amazing and I have no words to describe it. It is out of this world. Special from a special kid. I still expect more from him we are aware of his capabilities we know what he can do in football.”

Fernandes also had great praise for youngster Kobbie Mainoo, saying that he felt the 18-year-old was actually the Man of the Match on the day, despite his incredible lack of experience and age. Fernandes clearly thinks the lad has an absolutely massive career ahead of him as he is nowhere near the finished product yet.

With Marcus Rashford getting our second from the penalty spot, and previously having come in for some criticism, our skipper also felt his goal would do him the world of good as we head towards the festive fixture calendar.

“I think he needed a goal. I was sure he was going to score he is one of the penalty takers too I thought it was the moment for him to have and score. I am really happy he scored a boost of confidence for him. He could take on any player after that and a threat to Everton again.”

A good win on a tricky day, let us hope we keep it up.