In November’s reverse fixture, Alejandro Garnacho flew into the Goodison Park air to beat Jordan Pickford with a searing scissor kick that kickstarted a 3-0 victory. On Saturday afternoon, the winger made patsies of the defenders James Tarkowski and Ben Godfrey to claim the penalties that gave Manchester United a precious three points.
The spot-kicks were scored by Bruno Fernandes and Marcus Rashford, which “they decided between themselves on the pitch”, Erik ten Hag explained.
Of his star-man Garnacho, the manager said: “His contribution today was huge, his runs, his dribbles. It’s attractive as well for the audience, obviously we want to show something [our quality].”
Everton suffered because the slew of chances they created could not be converted, as their count of a paltry 29 goals in the competition illustrates. Ten Hag, puzzlingly, is unconcerned that his side allows serial opportunities.
“We have been doing it already for a long time in many more games,” said the manager. “You see the chances they had – low quality.”
To this eye the openings Everton carved out were decent. Example: on 75 minutes United allowed an acreage for Sean Dyche’s team to operate in and Lewis Dobbin flashed the ball across goal to Dominic Calvert-Lewin but the striker air-kicked when finding the net appeared easier.
Ten minutes had been all United needed to score. Garnacho was fed by Rashford along the left, took a step into the area, feinted and Tarkowski took the bait and a leg. Fernandes rolled the spot-kick to Pickford’s left: the goalkeeper went the correct way but could not stop it.
Everton responded by roving upfield where United, of course, were criminally open. The ball dropped to Dwight McNeil yet his left-footed shot missed to the right of André Onana.
The opening derived from Ten Hag’s men going awol, and though pre-match he mentioned “the cost of fine margins” to explain Sunday’s 3-1 reverse at Manchester City, defeats at Tottenham and Arsenal, and a draw with Liverpool, this is a red herring. Elite sport is defined by these and the challenge is to come out on the plus side.
From this, cut to more lax United defending. McNeil was again the beneficiary: as United backed off he ran in and Diogo Dalot was caught square on before Casemiro finally intervened.
The best players shape contests their way and that was what Garnacho did. Simon Hooper had turned down a second penalty shout when Vitaliy Mykolenko handled on the ground but the referee had zero hesitation when the next appeal came. This time Garnacho drifted across Everton’s area and fooled Godfrey into standing on his toes. Now came the decision that Rashford should take the kick and his conversion, to Pickford’s right, was perfect, kissing the inside of the side-netting. Dyche said: “They are both penalties, but soft from us.”
Soon Garnacho had a third appeal as the ball once again hit a Mykolenko hand from the winger’s cross but he was, again, deemed not guilty.
Be calmer was Ten Hag’s message to his players. Yet what he saw was further amateur defending that allowed the ball to ricochet near Onana and ended with Abdoulaye Doucouré’s attempt repelled by the keeper at the near post.
United were profligate, too. Despite lighting up the contest, Garnacho missed two chances when moving in to Pickford’s left. And when Fernandes did find the target with an effort the keeper tipped out, the ensuing corner created more mess: the ball dropped in a mini-melee that featured Victor Lindelöf and Jonny Evans, and when Pickford fumbled then grabbed the ball, Evans fell on him.
In added time, after a Fernandes corner, United administered the type of controlled possession they lacked for too long. But victory was theirs before a packed Old Trafford.
Beforehand Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, said that public money will be required whether United’s stadium is revamped or a new one is built on the current site. Alongside Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the new minority owner, the mayor is on a new taskforce that has a remit to explore which model should be adopted and how this can best regenerate the surrounding area.
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Burnham was asked if public money is needed. “Even to refurbish Old Trafford [it] will have to be a public-private partnership,” he said.
Burnham was pressed on why Ratcliffe, who is one of Britain’s richest people, and the majority owners, the Glazers, who are billionaires, require public finance.
He offered an example. “This ground has a train station that is not being used at the moment because it’s not designed in the right way. That itself says if you were to refurbish the stand as part of that approach, you would have to do something to move that station and that would require public money.”
