[Sweet Square]

A draw isn't awful considering the howler at the start and VAR saving us at the end.

 

[TwoSheds]

What happened to James btw, was he injured?

 

[12OunceEpilogue]

Mostly agree.

Bruno looktired to me second half, kept overrunning the ball and was a tad less composed. What a player though. Will be great for us.

Bit harsh on De Gea, I think. For each mistake he pays back with saves that many keepers wouldn’t make.

I’m also peeved that we can’t get a few more results just when we’re right on the cusp of 4th - always seem to drop points then. On the plus side, we’re back in the mix for top four after being 8th / 9th not so long ago.

Fair enough take on De Gea. To be clear I'm not calling on him to be ran out of town but I can't call throwing a huge contract at a keeper from a position of weakness, which then stymies our ability to make a change to our keeping options should we decide things need freshening up, anything other than poor business from United. Maybe the higher ups would have taken a caning in the short term if they'd have paved the way for De Gea's exit but I think we'd have been in a better position now with Henderson.

 

[ReddBalls]

How anyone can have watched that and conclude that Lindelöf was amongst the worst on the pitch baffles me. It is the midfield, not the defense, that's not doing their job when you invite pressure like in the last 20 minutes. I thought both Maguire and Lindelöf were brilliant.

 

[NICanRed]

Disappointing!
Don’t fully understand the current interpretation of the off-side rule. If Siggy doesn’t move his feet the ball hits him and goes out for a corner. Does this make him “active”?
Ref was a disgrace.

 

[Berbasbullet]

How anyone can have watched that and conclude that Lindelöf was amongst the worst on the pitch baffles me. It is the midfield, not the defense, that's not doing their job when you invite pressure like in the last 20 minutes. I thought both Maguire and Lindelöf were brilliant.

This, they kept losing the ball and the defence needed to bail them out. Pogba today would have been a huge difference.

 

[AndyMUFC]

Always a tough place to go so while it's annoying not to make up points on Chelsea again I'll take it. Great first half after the awful De Gea error and we were poor in the second but Lindelof and especially Maguire were rocks in there. Top four is anyone's guess.

 

[Patrick220571]

Missed opportunity number 37, or so it seems. It doesn't look like any team wants to finish 4th.

 

[gerdm07]

That 30 minute spell in the 1st half might have been our best sustained period of play this season. The movement, the passing, the creativity was all there. I was so confident going into the 2nd half. Yes, Everton stepped up the intensity and that was a factor, but a bigger factor for me was we just tried to make too many difficult passes when there were better options. Even Bruno was guilty at least 5 or 6 times. Very strange match.

We got lucky with the VAR ruling. I keep think of the times when players walking back and getting out of the way of the ball from an offside position and making no attempt to play for a teammate to run onto the ball. This is no different for me. However, making the decision in a minute would be hard for a VAR official.

I really want Igahlo to start as striker and Martial on the left. I'm just tired of Martial's poor decision making. He clearly should have shot with his left instead of trying to pass across the goal. When Bruno played him with that long through ball Martial did not really see the chance until after it was played. If he had started to make the run early he would have gotten to the ball first. I keep saying this.....he is just not a smart player.

 

[gerdm07]

Oh yeah, I meant to say great match from Baines.

 

[croadyman]

Martial and Greenwood were basically operating from either flank. If we had a proper CF we would have won that game.
And I think it’s a good point earned. We would have lost the game if this was somewhere in Nov-Dec. Our fixture ease up a bit after Spurs game, so it’s really upto us to grab that 4th place.

Yeah the important thing is to keep within 3-4 pts of Chelsea going into April, I know that isn't the kneejerk reaction to have after a draw but we lose that game earlier in the season no doubt about it.

 

[OnlyTwoDaSilvas]

Dont forget Fred's card. Individual mistake cost us. The kind of game where you need to steal a 1 0 win.

True, that was the worst call of them all. I don't even know what would happen if they scored from that free kick. Would VAR then rule it out?

It didn't even look like handball in real time from the high-up TV camera angle. What on earth did the referee think he even saw?

 

[Superunknown]

Oh yeah, I meant to say great match from Baines.

I thought there were quite a few Everton performances that were quality today.

Baines and Gomes were two of the standout performances from their side. Credit where they've earned it.

 

[freddie the red]

United much the better team in the first half and without DDG's brain fade we would have been comfortably ahead at half time.
Second half was poor but you expect a reaction from the home team. The defence dealt well enough with all the set pieces and maybe Ighalo should have buried the chance at the end for a 2-1 win but DDG redeemed himself before that contentious offside "goal".
Tbh, that could have gone either way as it's only the VAR ref's opinion on whether it should have stood or not and we've all got opinions.
All in all, not too disappointed with coming away from Goodison unbeaten but they'll probably lay down against the rent boys next week and shitty will bring their "A" game to OT.
Bruno, although he faded a bit in the second half, is proving to be an excellent buy and of the quality that's required of a Manchester United player.

 

[gerdm07]

Just like so many games over the last year or 3, we proved that we don't have mobile attackers when there is only Martial on the pitch. Today was just too tough for Greenwood as Martial just seemed to wander around the pitch again.

I thought Lingard had a good cameo against Brugge and I think I would have preferred him over Martial in the 2nd half or maybe even James. At least they move and make their markers move which would create space to attack.

I would say we are in desperate need of a Striker above all else.

However, that being said, today was guaranteed to be a tough game and it did prove so. To come away without a defeat is some solace. We should have finished them when dominating them in the 1st half but, hey ho, teams around us aren't charging away so onward to the next game and see if we can still make up ground.

I thought Greenwood played a good match. He rarely lost the ball and made some positive plays.

Lingard, seriously?

 

[Infra-red]

Reasonable first half, absolutely shocking second half.

The players were out on their feet - that stuff about Ole just needing a preseason to sort out the fitness levels has proven to be complete drivel.

Fernandes was decent, but nobody else looked great. Lindelof was like a frightened kitten - he is not and never will be a United player.

 

[Ventura]

I'm not even mad.

 

[anant]

People really need to stop saying that VAR saved us at the end. It was offside - plain and simple. The linesman was stupid to not raise the flag then and there and causing all this confusion

 

[Suedesi]

Could have been better, could have been worse.

 

[darko]

This, they kept losing the ball and the defence needed to bail them out. Pogba today would have been a huge difference.

He would have reverted to flapping his arms in the second half.

 

[Vidyoyo]

Not surprised because this is where we are now. A 6th/7th place team who are a bit inconsistent.

It was a really boring game though I thought.

 

[eire-red]

Everton made the game scrappy and played to their strengths, credit to them. Not much football, not very pleasing on the eye, but effective and difficult to deal with.

Thought the line-up was perhaps a little too cautious. McTominay was lost on the right in the diamond, and was probably not needed. Maybe if we had played either Ighalo up top or Greenwood flanked by Mata and Martial we could have scored a couple during our period of dominance in the first half.

Or even better would have been to have had two holding (two of McTominay/Fred/Matic), and Bruno and Pobga playing wide AM roles behind Greenwood and Martial. Anyone know when Pobga is due fit actually, or will we ever see him in a United shirt again?

 

[dev1l]

People really need to stop saying that VAR saved us at the end. It was offside - plain and simple. The linesman was stupid to not raise the flag then and there and causing all this confusion

Not to mention the dodgy refereeing decisions that went against us most of the time.

 

[ash_86]

Was a tough match in an hostile stadium where we have been poor even when chasing titles. I thought it was a good point for us. What I didn't like is how long Ole took to make his subs. The game was slipping away right from 55th min and subs came at 70th. That window is huge and could have cost us.

 

[cyril C]

Dunno how they can be tired, half of them didn’t play in midweek and the ones that did were subbed after we strolled it against ten men.

DDG, Mata, James, Ighalo started on Thurs, which is much less than half. Bruno was taken off early so he was OK today, still got a bit of gas towards the last 10min. Fred is completely exhausted, Matic was well rested but he never get involved in counter-attack.

 

[Amerifan]

Everton made the game scrappy and played to their strengths, credit to them. Not much football, not very pleasing on the eye, but effective and difficult to deal with.

Thought the line-up was perhaps a little too cautious. McTominay was lost on the right in the diamond, and was probably not needed. Maybe if we had played either Ighalo up top or Greenwood flanked by Mata and Martial we could have scored a couple during our period of dominance in the first half.

Or even better would have been to have had two holding (two of McTominay/Fred/Matic), and Bruno and Pobga playing wide AM roles behind Greenwood and Martial. Anyone know when Pobga is due fit actually, or will we ever see him in a United shirt again?

Apparently Pogba is training on his own somewhere. Likely not going to factor into the squad the rest of this season.

 

[Cantonaaa!]

Not capitalizing when Chelsea are losing points this season is frustrating to say the least. Much more frustrating than a draw away to Everton.

 

[Aarron Swift]

Of course not having taken advantage of Chelsea result yesterday & closing the gap is a shame however going into this weekend we knew we had a tough away game that would be difficult to win. We’d have assumed that Chelsea would have won this weekend and put huge pressure on us today and in that situation

We Win - Gap remains 3pts
Draw - 5pt gap
Lose - 6pt gap

Personally I thought we’d come out of this weekend 5/6pts behind Chelsea. We can look at this weekend as a missed opportunity or that we’ve ticked off a tough away game off without losing ground on Chelsea.

Chelsea failed to take advantage of a gameweek where they had a favourable game whilst rivals had tough games

 

[Amerifan]

Was a tough match in an hostile stadium where we have been poor even when chasing titles. I thought it was a good point for us. What I didn't like is how long Ole took to make his subs. The game was slipping away right from 55th min and subs came at 70th. That window is huge and could have cost us.

My guess is 3/4 defenders on yellows had something to do with it.

 

[zenith]

A draw away to a very decent Everton side is not a bad result at all.

I'd have taken this result before the game and will gladly take the point now.

 

[SirAnderson]

Thought after some time I'd calm down but it's still somewhat frustrating.

I didn't see anything in that Everton team honestly, it's us who just accepted the constant barraging toward the end.
Some say it was Ancelotti tweaking his formation in the 2nd half, probably, but if us armchair managers can see the obvious, one wonders what Ole and his team are seeing?

Greenwood stayed on way too long, definitely the poorest game his had for us, imo. (more on that when I speak about the midfield though)

Credit to our defensive, the kept everything out, and honestly didn't see anything threatening that they didn't deal with, excepted the last attempt and the goal post shot.

Midfielders could have done better controlling the game. Could say the poor display from Martial and Greenwood is down to how little our midfielders got the ball to them. Aside from Bruno, who tried almost every chance he got. Granted, Matic role was more defensive though.


Another slumping feeling, when we had a shot at really put pressure on Chelsea, and even Leicester for that matter.

Also in light of the tough fixtures ahead, we may find ourselves down the table in 2 weeks time.

Hopefully the other top 4 rivals will continue to be as inconsistent as we are.

On the positive side...at least it's an improvement from the 0-4 thrashing.

 

[SirAnderson]

My guess is 3/4 defenders on yellows had something to do with it.

I think they did excellent to have kept all that Everton threw at us, while being on yellows for most of the match.

 

[Gambit]

Ancelotti nullified us in the second half with scrappy tactics. Tough game.

 

[Amerifan]

Thought after some time I'd calm down but it's still somewhat frustrating.

I didn't see anything in that Everton team honestly, it's us who just accepted the constant barraging toward the end.
Some say it was Ancelotti tweaking his formation in the 2nd half, probably, but if us armchair managers can see the obvious, one wonders what Ole and his team are seeing?

Greenwood stayed on way too long, definitely the poorest game his had for us, imo. (more on that when I speak about the midfield though)

Credit to our defensive, the kept everything out, and honestly didn't see anything threatening that they didn't deal with, excepted the last attempt and the goal post shot.

Midfielders could have done better controlling the game. Could say the poor display from Martial and Greenwood is down to how little our midfielders got the ball to them. Aside from Bruno, who tried almost every chance he got. Granted, Matic role was more defensive though.


Another slumping feeling, when we had a shot at really put pressure on Chelsea, and even Leicester for that matter.

Also in light of the tough fixtures ahead, we may find ourselves down the table in 2 weeks time.

Hopefully the other top 4 rivals will continue to be as inconsistent as we are.

On the positive side...at least it's an improvement from the 0-4 thrashing.

We ran out of energy the second half. A squad this thin is going to get tired. That’s why CL football next year will be Pyrrhic victory.

 

[Berbasbullet]

He would have reverted to flapping his arms in the second half.

His hold up play and ability not to completely panic on the ball, and pick a pass would have been very helpful however.

 

[Denis79]

Ofcourse he didnt obstruct his view, but DDG knew that if the ball hit Sigurdsson it would be offside. And then he moved his legs. At least thats how I interpreted it.

Aside from that I’m impressed that we didnt concede from the 13-14 corners and free kicks Everton got. They are a strong set-piece team. At least some progression.

Good point about moving his legs.

 

[Marzo]

Everton at home is a tough place to go to, I will take this result with a smile, we are only 3 points off Chelsea, give the negativity a rest.
We march on.....

 

[Tony247]

Didn‘t he make a double substitution on 70 mins with the game at 1-1? Do you want half time subs? I’d understand this point you’ve made if he held on till 85 mins, but 70 mins is a good chunk of the game.

Greenwood should have subbed at 55-60 min mark at lastest. Second sub could have been at 70. He made one sub too late.

 

[ajay1002]

Disappointing!
Don’t fully understand the current interpretation of the off-side rule. If Siggy doesn’t move his feet the ball hits him and goes out for a corner. Does this make him “active”?
Ref was a disgrace.

It's not an offence to be in an offside position. The offence comes if you are in an offside position and become involved in active play when the ball is played by a teammate. You can become involved in active play by not only receiving the ball, but also by interfering with an opponent. You can interfere with an opponent in a number of ways, but the important one today is obstructing the opponent's line of vision.

Basically, as soon as Calvert-Lewin played the ball, Gylfi was committing an offside offence because he was in an offside position and involved in active play by obstructing DeGea's line of vision.

 

[P-Nut]

I was worried before the game, got pretty confident seeing the line up, but away at Goodison I'll take a point.

Performance first half was great barring DDG deciding to gift them a head start.

Second half we seemed to run out of ideas. We needed to change things earlier and get ourselves more width on the pitch to have a go at the full backs, but we had no options on the bench.