Familiar problems for Man Utd as Everton expose Amorim's issues

Football writer Daniel Edwards analyses Everton's 1-0 win over Manchester United on Monday.

Exactly a year to the day since Ruben Amorim’s first game in charge of the club, Manchester United fans are left with more questions than answers with regards to the long-term viability of their manager’s approach.

Amorim’s side could have gone as high as fourth in the table with a win at home to Everton, and considering their improved form of late - especially from an attacking perspective - many believed they would do so.

Instead, for the very first time, they lost a Premier League game at Old Trafford against a team who had received a red card.

What made this result all the more staggering was the fact that Everton’s red card came in just the 13th minute, when, in a bizarre turn of events, Idrissa Gueye was sent off for striking the face of his own team-mate, Michael Keane.

If that sounds like a rare occurrence, it’s because it truly is; Ricardo Fuller was the last player to be sent off in the Premier League following a physical altercation with a team-mate, all the way back in 2008 for Stoke City.

Having one player fewer on the pitch than your opponent can of course never be considered advantageous, but Gueye’s red card gave Everton no choice but to set up in a manner that has been troublesome for United recently, and this result only serves to highlight a concerning trend for Amorim.

In his 39 games in charge of the club in the Premier League, United have averaged 0.79 points per game when they have had more possession than their opponents, compared to 1.73 points per game when they have had less possession.

United finished this game with a 69.6 per cent possession, while they had 76.5 per cent of the ball in the second half alone.

Man Utd's record under Amorim, less than 50% possession v more than 50% possession

Why is this? Well, there is no all-encompassing answer, but Amorim hinted at a possible explanation when elaborating on his team’s playing style in a press conference prior to United’s 2-2 draw against Nottingham Forest on 1 November.

"We organise attacks to pressure the opponent and create space to score," he said. "If space exists, it's a numbers game. For example, if it's a three-on-three situation up front, and I have [Benjamin] Sesko, [Matheus] Cunha and [Bryan] Mbeumo, I'll finish the attack with two passes."

"I hope to score with two passes. But sometimes you have to patiently build. What I try to teach the players is how to play in different situations. That's my job. I don't want to teach players to build attacks by touching the ball too many times."

Clearly there is more emphasis on a fast-paced attacking approach, which makes sense considering his team is full of powerful, progressive players who like to attack the space.

Amorim's substitutions fail to make an impact

Questions can certainly be asked of his choice of substitutions in tonight’s defeat.

Mason Mount for Noussair Mazraoui at half-time made complete sense, with Amad being switched to right wing-back as a result, but Diogo Dalot’s replacement of Patrick Dorgu and Kobbie Mainoo’s of Casemiro just before the hour mark were not obvious choices.

Dorgu is left-footed, while Dalot regularly cuts in from the left to use his preferred right foot, and this at times slows down United’s attacks as a result.

As for Casemiro, he is a player who has chipped in with many important goals for the club and excels aerially in packed boxes. His physicality in the penalty area was missed late on.

"I'm feeling really frustrated, like any other person that supports Manchester United", Amorim told Sky Sports after the defeat.

"We should be frustrated with the way we started the game and the way we didn't understand how we should play against 10 men. They deserved to win. We had a lot of chances in the second half through crosses and second balls, but the quality and decision making wasn't there. Everton were the better team.

"After the sending off, I was expecting us to have long periods of possession and to push the opponent. We didn't control the transitions, even with 10 men. We were giving them big spaces to win second balls, so the understanding of every situation in the game was not there.

"The quality around the box is another big thing, but more importantly it was the intensity we showed. We cannot win games in this way."

United did, in fairness, do more than enough to score in this game, and a heroic save from Jordan Pickford to deny Joshua Zirkzee has potentially subverted the narrative.

Nonetheless, their 1.66 Expected Goals (xG) from 25 shots represents a value of 0.066 xG per shot, or in simpler terms, an average expected conversion rate of 6.6 per cent. It is not a figure Amorim will be happy with.

Moyes gets his Old Trafford win

Everton manager David Moyes knows exactly how hard it is to take charge of Man Utd in the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era – he was the first to attempt to do so – and he will surely have some words of support for his adversary on the touchline tonight. 

With this victory, Moyes finally ended an unwarranted record. In his 18th match as a visiting manager to Old Trafford in the Premier League, he won for the first time. 

Everton were genuinely the ascendant team when both sides had an equal number of players on the pitch, and they continued to threaten in the first half even when they lost Gueye. 

"I'm incredibly proud of the players and the supporters here today because I know it has been a regular occurrence where we've not got a result here”, Moyes told Sky Sports. 

"We have come close loads of times and not quite been able to get over the line, but tonight we incredibly got over it with 10 men. I think it was probably the hardest way to get a good result here."

A strong defensive performance from Everton's attacking players

Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s match-winning goal in the 29th minute did not come against the run of play, and their attacking play up to that point was deserving of a goal. 

That strike ended up being Everton’s final shot of the game, and while they rode their luck at times, they appeared uniquely well-suited to tackling the game with a numerical disadvantage. 

Watch: Dewsbury-Hall's stunner

Dewsbury-Hall, Jack Grealish and Iliman Ndiaye are three players who do not give up possession lightly, and each knows how to control momentum and slow the game down. Between them, the trio won seven fouls, regularly retaining the ball despite being surrounded by opposition players. 

Special mention goes to Thierno Barry, too. The Frenchman, who stands at six feet and five inches, won 14 of his 23 aerial duels on the night.

It’s the most aerial wins by any player in a single Premier League game this season, and he was consistently outnumbered against Man Utd’s three central defenders. 

"At full-time, I felt for all the supporters who had made the journey because we obviously had to just sit in and defend for large parts of the game”, Moyes added. 

"I thought we started the game brilliantly well, looked quite comfortable, but the sending off meant the game changed. The resilience and toughness behind the scenes at Everton is really good and the players showed that tonight. 

"It was never going to be an easy game for us with 11 players, but to do it with 10 players was an incredible job by the players. It was all about good goalkeeping and defensive resilience. It is very hard to fault my players for how they played." 

Everton will aim to make it three league wins on the bounce when they return to Hill Dickinson Stadium on Saturday to host Newcastle United. 

Man Utd, meanwhile, face a tough trip to Selhurst Park to face fifth-place Crystal Palace.