A year to the day since Ruben Amorim fielded his first Manchester United XI, his latest iteration folded in capitulation to 10-man Everton, who ended United’s unbeaten run at five games.
Idrissa Gueye’s bizarre walking orders for slapping Michael Keane, his centre-back, gave United most of the match to overcome Everton, who had previously won once at Old Trafford in 32 years before Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s 20-yard strike gave David Moyes a first victory here as a visiting manager in the Premier League.
The Scot’s team are up to 11th, level on 18 points with United, who missed the chance to break into the top five by failing to win in such lacklustre fashion. Towards the end Joshua Zirzkee twice directed headers that forced Jordan Pickford into flying saves but these were rare moments of potency from United. Yet again Amorim’s team were disjointed and if they are to threaten a Champions League place the head coach has much more fixing to do.
United’s 19 goals for and 18 conceded faced off against Everton’s 12 and 13 respectively, so the hope was that this might be a thriller if not a festival of finishing. Twelve months on from his debut, a 1-1 draw at Ipswich, Amorim’s anniversary team showed six survivors – Bruno Fernandes, Noussair Mazraoui, Amad Diallo, Diogo Dalot, Matthijs de Ligt and Casemiro – as Benjamin Sesko’s knee injury gave Zirkzee a first start of the season.
