An away draw against Everton is not in itself a bad result. Far from it. The disappointment isnt about the result, its about how that result came about.
However, the result for me highlighted lots of issues that really, a team of Uniteds calibre shouldn't be faced with.
Firstly, our elder players were completely fecked by the end, and that left us woefully exposed at a crucial point of the game. We are far too reliant on the senior pros, and should, as was the case today, we come up against a young fit side with lots of energy, once those players get tired, we fall to bits.
Secondly, we've lost our killer instinct. In the past 3-1 wouldnt be enough, and we'd press further and further forward to a) keep them penned in, and b) aim for a fourth to really kill the game off.
Thirdly, our younger players are vastly inexperienced, and need to get their arses into gear. We cannot afford to carry people. If they are not good enough now, then they should either shape up or ship out. Experience comes with playing the game. Poor play is poor play and all too often poor decisions were made which allowed them to get into us and that ultimately cost us the three points we realistically should have had. That being said, when senior pros have the ball, and they are fighting for an equaliser. Giving them the ball is just plain dumb. You can accept it from an inexperienced player, but not from the club captain and someone with his experience.
Fourthly, we don't have the "bullying" mentality anymore. All too often we allowed Everton to get into us, niggle us, harass us, and that stopped our flowing game. Where we once would be the one giving the digs, the late tackles, to let them know we are there, they were doing it to us. They bullied our midfield for much of the game with little or nothing coming back the other way. We need to be harder and more physical. Football at the end of the day is a physical game. Yes fast flowing football looks great, but sometimes you need to forget that and resort to plan B which is kick your way to a win. All too often we could and should have given them a fecking good kick to let them know whos boss. We didnt boss that game anywhere like we should have done.
Finally, we gave them FAR too much respect. A good team.. yes.. A great team.. No
We could and should have put them to the sword with no mercy, but they were allowed to much ball posession, and most importantly, we seemed to be apprehensive about really playing our best game. We showed them too much respect.
A team like that doesnt often get 3 chances in a game. Lets face it. They arent exactly prolific scorers at the best of times. We backed off and didnt do what we should have done, which is rip their midfield a new arsehole, put their back 4 under so much pressure their midfield had to track back and support them, leaving our midfield the run of the pitch.
An average result, with a poor performance to boot.
I've seen United play better than that and lose, so to be 3-1 up and cruising, its very disappointing that we let them off the hook so easily. Its not they played well. we played awfully in the last 20 minutes or so.