Echo chambers

Manchester Utd 3 - 1 Everton

Following Tuesday evening’s disaster against Brighton & Hove Albion, the thought of visiting Old Trafford filled me, and I dare so most of the other 9,400 Evertonians that travelled, with dread.

Though as always happens, as the clock ticked towards the finish of my working day, I found myself pretty excited for the trip to Old Trafford.

Gaz picked me up first, before grabbing Dan and Alfie, and despite rush hour, the trip up the M56 was pretty plain sailing. We parked up near The Quadrant pub and grabbed a few beers in there, also meeting up with a few good friends of mine, both Manchester United fans. Both a lot more optimistic than we were no doubt.

Unsurprisingly, Frank Lampard reverted back to the system that worked against Manchester City. Ben Godfrey was reinstated into the back three, Seamus Coleman replaced the injured Nathan Patterson, Amadou Onana returned from suspension in place of Tom Davies and Neal Maupay was given an opportunity up front in place of the fatigued Dominic Calvert-Lewin.

In the build-up to kick-off, the Evertonians were raucous, with Spirit of the Blues getting plenty of renditions. We attacked towards the far end in the first half with our fans in good voice, though we were soon silenced as early as 4 minutes in when Antony slid in at the far post. The goal seemed to come out of nothing. Looking back at it in the highlights, I have to wonder quite what Vitalii Mykolenko was doing, as he inexplicably drifted so far away from Antony.

Manchester United got a bit of a grip of the game at this point as Everton struggled to get out, though we withstood the pressure, and levelled via a very fortuitous goal from Conor Coady. In fairness, Demarai Gray had very nearly scored prior to that with a rasping drive from distance as Everton began to exert some pressure, and it paid off I suppose.

Neal Maupay did well to create nuisance value and force something towards goal. What David De Gea was doing, I don’t know, and fortunately Conor Coady was there to bundle home from close range into pretty much an empty net. Everton very fortunate… but we’ll take it.

As we edged towards half-time, the clock seemed to get slower and slower. I remember looking at it with 40 minutes gone, and it felt as though about 10 minutes had passed when I looked up again to see there were only 42 minutes gone. When we finally got to the break, Dan pounced upon an unusually quiet queue for drinks and we grabbed a beer each.

This meant missing a minute or so at the beginning of the second half, and it felt like no sooner had we got to our seats that we saw Alex Iwobi darting forward in possession and HE was well tackled by Tyrell Malacia. Sadly for Alex, his fall was such that he was rolling around in agony to the point where had to be stretchered off in tears. We feared the worst though were relieved to later hear that it is ligament damage and not a break. 

Poor Frank though must be wondering when he’ll catch a break. Losing Nathan Patterson and now Alex Iwobi to ligament injuries within a few days of each other is quite the kicker… and more bad luck was to follow quicksmart…

Only 1 minute after Alex was finally substituted (why did it take so long to get Abdoulaye Doucoure ready and onto the pitch?), Conor Coady managed to divert a Marcus Rashford centre into his own net. It was as ridiculous as it was unlucky, and Everton found themselves behind.

It was a splendid effort from the lads in their attempts to salvage our FA Cup campaign and, but for a tight offside call, we might have done it. We certainly thought we had. In our heads, we understood that there was no VAR for this game so felt completely justified in celebrating as wildly as we did, and were therefore gutted when Dominic’s goal was ruled out for offside.

Credit to the lads from there forth as they kept on going. This naturally created a few opportunities for Manchester United as we pushed for the leveller, but we had more chances of our own too, with probably Demarai Gray coming the closest to scoring.

It was a valiant effort, though Manchester United had the final say when Alejandro Garnacho went down easily as he tried to get around Ben Godfrey. I don’t think that was a penalty, or certainly not one that needed to be given. It was the end of the game anyway and was hardly clear-cut. The referee easily could have let Jordan gather the ball and call full-time, but no, he had to be pedantic, which was no surprise to me given his performance throughout. 

When referees go to Old Trafford, against Everton at least, as I can’t base it on much else, it always feels they can’t help themselves but stick up for their beloved Red Devils, and everything goes in their favour. Even the yellow card consistency for us and them is way out. It’s a bit of a disgrace as they don’t need this help. We trudged off once the penalty was scored. Disappointed, but philosophical, and proud of our team.

Off the pitch, there was some fellas both in front and behind me who seemed hell-bent on not enjoying the game. Everything and anything that happened was met by a stream of obscenities, with even Alex Iwobi getting a load of grief for having the audacity to get injured.

This created something of an echo chamber around us with both parties seemingly egging each other on more and more with their complaints. It was like a pool of hate. And I learnt a life hack that it's really not worth your while suggesting to these guys that they give it a rest and try getting behind the team. This only makes it worse.

So, it goes without saying what a big week it is for Frank. He goes into next Saturday’s home match against Southampton under huge pressure and must know that anything but a win will likely get him sacked. With the sit-in protests planned, defeat could get very, very ugly next Saturday at Goodison Park. I’d like to think we can count on the players to repeat their efforts from last night, but following the Brighton & Hove Albion match, how can we possibly be sure?

For my money, right now I don’t really see the point in sacking Frank. I’ve had enough of managerial changes, and I don’t want to be back in this same position next season, when we’re wondering if we should or shouldn’t sack our next manager.

I’d much sooner he was backed with a couple of new players this week to give us our best chance in some big upcoming games. Obviously there is a breaking point somewhere, but the performance last night should earn him the right for more time in my view. 

Player ratings:

Jordan Pickford: He was helpless with all three goals but dealt with all else pretty well. 7

Vitalii Mykolenko: He’s come in for a bit of flak lately though I don’t think it's wholly undeserved. He doesn’t seem to be improving in an attacking sense, but the caveat to that has been so far that he’s a solid defender. Though this has come under question these last three games with some sort of culpability for goals in all of the last three matches. I worry about his credentials as a wing-back should this be the system we are going with, and it maddens me even more that we have an out-of-the-box Premier League experience Portuguese left wing-back sitting on the bench every week with seemingly no prospect of play. Madness. 5

Ben Godfrey: He did okay if not spectacular. He lost possession a few times trying to bring the ball out from the back. 6

James Tarkowski: Decent, kept us solid. 6

Conor Coady: Scored a goal and an own-goal. Was otherwise okay. 6

Seamus Coleman: He had his work cut out up against Marcus Rashford but stuck to his task well and carried the fight to Manchester United. While you don’t want to wish injury upon anyone of course, having Seamus in the team ahead of Nathan may not be the worst thing as we’re better for having Seamus’s character and leadership in there, and Nathan has been somewhat out of sorts since his return from injury. 7

Amadou Onana: Seemed to play as a No 6 and was brilliant throughout. He covered a lot of ground, made a lot of tackles, and was instrumental throughout. A great effort, probably his best yet for Everton. My Man of the Match. 8

Alex Iwobi: Wasn’t exactly having his best game before injury struck but was involved. His injury is a big blow. It represents a good opportunity for Abdoulaye Doucouré to come in, but I’d like to think that, in Alex’s absence, the club realise the requirement to bring a bit of creativity into that midfield. 6

Idrissa Gueye: Also did okay and kept on going. 6

Demarai Gray: As has been the way recently, Demarai kept on going and is potentially the first name on the teamsheet right now. He’s working ever so hard and making things happen, and was very unfortunate not to register an assist to add to his impressive recent form. Well done, Demarai. 7

Neal Maupay: I think he’s done pretty well in all of the last three games. He had a shocker against Wolverhampton Wanderers, though then did a handy job of causing a nuisance and winning some free kicks versus Manchester City late in the game. And then against his former club, I thought he did okay in his cameo and at least showed plenty of snarl and fought for his team, be that verbally or physically. And it was the same last night. He had a big hand in our lucky goal, kept on going and generally kept possession pretty well, while taking no guff from the referee or the opposition. Maybe we’ve found a player there after all. 6

Abdoulaye Doucoure (for Iwobi): It was nice to see Abdoulaye performing at a level again that we know he is capable of. With Alex now out for a while, it’s an opportunity for Abdoulaye to come in and perform. If he can do what we know he can, he might be a vital cog in this team yet. 7

Dominic Calvert-Lewin (for Maupay): He was up for this and looked back at his best in his time on the field. He can make a huge difference if fit, everything crossed he gets there. Unlucky not to grab us an equalizer. 7

Dwight McNeil (for Mykolenko): Brought on to play as wingback and bring us up the pitch more. He got involved and did okay. 6

Anthony Gordon (for Seamus Coleman): Same as previous. 6

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