Everton’s Crisis Deepens and other Talking Points from Manchester United 4-0 Everton

Manchester United left it late as they cruised to an emphatic 4-0 victory over the Toffees. Goals from Valencia, Mkhitaryan, Lukaku and Martial were enough to heap further misery on Ronald Koeman’s side.

Manchester United began the match with a bang, and displayed in the first few minutes, what Mourinho called, “probably our best performance this season”. They drilled shots onto the visitors’ goal, who had no choice but to just admire the beautiful and exciting football being played by the hosts. As a result, the home side took the lead in only the 4th minute, as right-back Antonio Valencia drilled in a sumptuous half-volley from 20 yards out which gave Pickford no chance. Everton were totally being dominated, and came back into the match after about half an hour, when Rooney missed a decent opportunity to score. United had to thank De Gea for keeping the lead intact on more than one occasion, and in spite of combative football being played by both sides, only one goal was scored before the break.

The beginning of the second half was a more tight affair, as both sides created and scuffed a number of chances each. Just when Everton looked likely to score the leveller came Mkhitaryan’s goal. Fellaini intercepted Jagielka’s forward pass, gave the ball to Lukaku whose pass was met by Mkhitaryan with an exquisite finish. United then score two more rapid goals, first through Lukaku’s header, and the second through Martial’s penalty late in the match.
With this win, United are jointly level on top of the pile with their city rivals, while Everton fall into the relegation zone as the sack looms over Koeman’s head.

Here are the major Talking Points from the match-

Everton’s Crisis Deepens
Everton have had their worst start in years, and have lost three of their first five games, conceding a total of 10 goals in the previous three league games. Not just that, this was their fourth defeat in a row in all competitions, which includes the 3-0 defeat at the hands of Atalanta in the Europa League. As a result of their poor league form, they’re left languishing in the relegation zone. However, they can still turn it around, as favourable games against Sunderland and Bournemouth are up next.
Mourinho’s men love to show up late
Manchester United have regularly scored late goals this season. They scored 3 of their goals today after the 80th minute, which was a Deja Vu moment as 9 of their 16 league goals this season have come after the 80th minute mark. The only game they didn’t score in late was in the only game they didn’t win- the 2-2 draw at Stoke. It’s good to see the return of United’s knack of scoring late in goals, usually for fun.
Rooney and Lukaku’s contrasting outings
The two strikers, who’ve traded clubs this summer, clearly had completely contrasting games.
Wayne Rooney, who got a lot of support from his former club’s fans, didn’t exactly have the game he wanted. He’s had an upturn in form since joining the Toffees on a free transfer this summer, and has already scored two goals this season. However, he was culpable of missing a great chance and was then denied by De Gea on his second effort, thus failing to score on his return to Old Trafford. However, such was the enigma of his mere presence that United scored three goals immediately after Rooney was subbed off.
Romelu Lukaku, who went the other way this summer, didn’t have a great game overall. He didn’t see too much of the ball and lost a lot of possession. However, he salvaged that with a late assist for Mkhitaryan and then getting one against his former club himself.

Dave Saves, Yet Again
David De Gea hasn’t had to do too much this season, but did make a couple of brilliant saves today yet again. His save from Davies was top class but was called for offside anyway. He later made a couple of saves from Rooney and Sigurdsson’s shots, while also denying Sandro Ramirez with a fantastic diving save late on. The flawless performance not only kept his team in the contest, but also helped him clinch his 100th clean sheet for the Red Devils in 286 games, which is an even impressive record when you consider that the goalkeeper was far from reliable in his first few seasons at the club. Becoming one of the best keepers in the world from a shaky stopper shows how far he’s come.
Koeman closer to the Sack
It’s kind of obvious that Ronald Koeman, who’s had a disappointing start to the season, is closer to the sack. The ambitious owners spent £140m this summer, and were hopeful of an improvement on last season’s 7th place finish. They’ve recruited many good players like Pickford, Sigurdsson, Keane and Rooney, but somehow it just hasn’t clicked for this team. Even though they’ve had a poor start, having just four points from the first five games and languishing in the relegation zone, they’ll be out to turn it in the next couple of weeks, as the former Southampton manager will be desperate to string some good wins together.