Man United 0 Everton 1
United under Amorim are destined to fail. What this match made abundantly clear is that United are tasked to break a low-block down even against 10-men they are simply incapable of doing so. For me, as soon as Gueye got sent off Amorim had to change something, the first ten minutes were completely dominated by Everton and United got handed an absolute gift 13 minutes in with Idrissa Gueye slapping his own teammate Michael Keane after a miscommunication led to a shot by Bruno Fernandes that went just wide. After this you would think that Amorim might take a centre-back off or push Luke Shaw further forward but no, he kept it the same for 90 minutes only changing the players in the position. Moyes must have thought he was dreaming with how easy it was to defend against United’s pitiful cross after cross.
Everton can build something exciting this year, so far in the Premier League this year Everton have been largely inconsistent, they’ve been quite strong at home only losing to Spurs but away from home their form has been poor only beating Wolves away who sit bottom of the league but to grab their second away win with 10-men at Old Trafford is something the Everton players and fans can take and build real momentum into December. With players like Grealish and Ndiaye who would start for a large majority of teams in the league Everton can have an exciting season for the first time in a long time.
Amorim’s system is not designed to win whilst dominating possession. Recently we’ve seen Amorim switch to a long-ball approach whilst building out from the back which has been successful against the likes of Liverpool and Chelsea but as soon as he goes back to playing out from the back the system shows its flaws yet again. A system where no player is playing in their best position and players are playing out of position is one not fit for purpose and we’ve seen time and time again over the last 12 months that it’s simply not working with this group of players. Under Amorim United have been best when they don’t have the ball and can counter attack using the pace of Mbuemo and Amad on the right-hand side but when they’re gone next month, what’s going to be the solution?
Everton have to get keep that midfield together. Whilst it was only 13 minutes I thought Everton were magnificent and by far the better team in the opening stages of the game, of course the red card made things harder for them but a player that really impressed me was James Garner. As a United fan I’ve always been a fan of James Garner, whether it was in the youth teams, at Nottingham Forest or Everton I think James Garner is really good midfielder and with 10 men and up against Bruno Fernandes and Casemiro he was by far the best midfielder on the pitch, with his contract expiring in the summer I’m sure there will be plenty of teams looking to sign him on a free if he doesn't resign with Everton.
The United players have to take accountability for the performance as well. As much as I’ve gone in on Ruben Amorim in this piece it’s also important for the players to take accountability for what simply was an unacceptable performance, the player I do feel sorry for is Joshua Zirkzee, he’s played next to no football this season alongside Kobbie Mainoo and is thrown into a game against a resolute Everton defence with Keane and Tarkowski, United needed the players like Mbuemo, Amad, Fernandes and Casemiro to take the mantle and up the pace of the game but they simply didn’t. The last time a team in the bottom half got a red card in the first 15 minutes at Old Trafford was Southampton in 2021, the game finished 9-0. You might think you can’t compare both games but there wasn’t even fans in the stadium to help United that day, the falloff is stark and it doesn’t get any easier with Crystal Palace away on Sunday.