Everton 0 Man Utd 2: Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard break United's festive draw diet
New year, new start, new resolution – maybe – to Manchester United with manager Jose Mourinho given a reminder of what he has available to him, rather than complaining about what he has not got, in this convincing victory over Everton that ended their dispiriting winless run at four matches.
Goals from Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard – two terrific strikes – showed that, perhaps, United have actually more attacking power at their disposal than Mourinho is keen to acknowledge while Paul Pogba ran the show when given the licence to maraud forward from midfield. He even looked like an £89 million player.
Mourinho later spoke about having to find “a different way” to play without his two No9s – Romelu Lukaku ruled out with a head injury, Zlatan Ibrahimovic with a knee problem – but if this was the different way then maybe he should think about trying it a bit more often?
After a turgid first-half United were unleashed – and Mourinho should be congratulated on that, recognising his opponents were spent - and Everton simply could not cope as they suffered back-to-back defeats, after the loss away at Bournemouth, the first under their new manager, Sam Allardyce. Allardyce was honest enough afterwards to admit that they cannot carry on much longer without a striker – and that was reinforced by the fact that his team did not even manage a shot on target.
The lack of firepower was summed up after Everton briefly rallied, when a goal down, and Mason Holgate crossed to deliver the kind of close-range headed chance that any striker worth his salt would have buried. Instead Oumar Niasse sent it woefully wide with goalkeeper David De Gea rooted.
This was also a bitterly disappointing encounter for Wayne Rooney, Everton’s captain, against his former side. It started promisingly enough for him, stationed in midfield, asked to build the play, given a warm reception by the away fans, but ended with the 32-year-old substituted soon after his most crucial contribution: to surrender the ball sloppily.
That happened on the edge of the United penalty area, as Rooney passed the ball square to a player in the shirt he used to wear, rather than the one he does now, and Mourinho’s side poured forward. In a flash Pogba was cutting in from the left, pulling the ball back to Martial who curled a superb, right-footed shot around goalkeeper Jordan Pickford and high into the net.
It was yet another reminder of what a prodigious talent Martial is and kind of begged the question as to why he is not given more opportunity to be a more important performer for United. Martial, too, was not cheap – although pre-Mourinho – for a fee of £58m.
United’s second goal was more homegrown with academy product Lingard extending his remarkable goalscoring form with a wonderful strike. That is now seven goals in nine games for him. Again Pogba was involved, again it came down the United left but this time Lingard collected possession and turned away from Michael Keane, leaving the defender in his wake to drive a powerful shot that again had Pickford grasping at air.
In his celebrations Lingard made a shushing action and Mourinho’s post-match comments, lashing out at the criticism he has faced, showed that there is growing, concerted theme with United. If they are driven by anger then so be it. Especially if they perform like this with Pickford having denied Lingard, moments before he scored, with a fine one-handed save down to his left.
Everton simply could not cope. Allardyce had made seven changes but they appeared one-paced, lacking in ideas. They only got stuck in once James McCarthy came on as a second-half substitute – “the shining light of our recovery as he actually went and tackled somebody,” his irritated manager later said – but could not find the response.
Even before they scored it was United who again went closest as they were transformed in the second-half – after a first period full of mistakes and mis-placed passes – with Juan Mata working the ball across the area and striking a left foot shot that drifted away from Pickford and rebounding off the far post.
The second goal ended Everton’s flickering resistance with the win for United also cutting Manchester City’s lead at the top down to 12 points. Is there a twist in this title race? Probably not. But the euphoric reaction of the United fans, amid a smattering of Everton boos aimed at their players, will have been music to their ears. Then there was Mourinho’s disharmonious reaction post-match to the criticism he has faced.
