Reactions: Everton 1 Manchester United 0

To begin the season with a loss is never a good thing to happen and probably not a common sight in the camp of Manchester United but it still happened anyway. Before I carry on, I would like to say I am a Manu fan and have been one for more than a decade already therefore my reactions are more tuned to Manchester United rather than Everton in a sense that I would write less about Everton.

Match Overview  

In all honesty, Manchester United played a horrible game to say the least. The Red Devils never seem to hit top gear throughout the game but only manage to provide glimpses of what we might expect from them further in the season. From the get go, Everton seemed more eager with the match and soon took control of the game in the first half. De Gea had an outstanding game all round though he let in a single goal but the fact is if he was not between the post, the final score might have read Everton 5 Manchester United 0. United started the game slowly and seriously made little progress from the slow start they had and at half-time the score was 0-0. United went into the second half again with the same momentum and never really hit their stride. Everton showed signs of slowing down in the second half but whenever they were on the attack they looked really dangerous and threaten to score. Once again in the second half De Gea provided a series of stop before finally succumbing to a Marouane Fellaini header goal. And after that goal, Everton just parked the bus and defended for the rest of the game. Van Persie came onto the game around the 68th minute mark but unfortunately was not able to salvage the situation. Van Persie almost came close with an assist to Kagawa but unfortunately Kagawa did not convert. So the game ended at Everton 1 Manchester United 0.


Negatives (Manchester United)


1) 4-2-3-1 formation

United looked lost in the 4-2-3-1 formation. Its quite obvious to the observer's eye that some of the players did not exactly know what to do. Tom Cleverly looked completely lost in the first half, running around aimlessly and not contributing at all. Danny Welbeck looked so out of position that he might have thought it was a dream that he was in playing as left wing. The reason why this formation did not work for them is because with the current players (non injured) they simply are not able to play this formation. With Valencia, Carrick and Welbeck playing out of position it is no wonder why the entire team looked lost in the first half.
When all the entire squad is fit, the 4-2-3-1 formation would make sense but as of now I am pretty certain Alex Ferguson will not use this formation again until they have more players back from injury.

2) Paul Scholes and Tom Cleverly central midfield pairing

This was probably the biggest mistake Ferguson made in the entire game. First of all I would like to say that it is not that Tom Cleverly played too badly or Scholes played too badly but rather it is the pairing of these two players that will not work. First of all Tom Cleverly is not a midfield enforcer and coupled together with Scholes given his age and who is also not a midfield enforcer just made the entire central midfield as weak as piece of paper waiting to be squash! That is why when Anderson came on later on in the game, the central midfield finally took shape!

Secondly I do not understand what is Cleverly's role in the game. Tom Cleverly is a central attacking midfielder, and boy does that sound familar! It sounded familar because Kagawa is playing in that role! In the 4-2-3-1 formation the 2 midfielders just above the defenders have to be one of enforcer and the second midfielder a passer or facilitator and this is where Scholes's skills fill in. So if one of the midfielder has to be an enforcer type what in the world is Cleverly doing in the game? That was why Cleverly seemed so insignificant in the game because basically you have Kagawa playing the role of a central attacking midfielder in the "hole" role and therefore resulted in an overlap of abilities which was of detriment to the midfield and team yesterday.

3) Welbeck left wing position

Someone should just tell Fergie never to play Welbeck as left winger ever again. Nuff said.

4) Evra

This is probably the first time I have seen Evra looking so old and slow throughout the game. There were many occasions in the game whereby he was out run, out muscled and out tackled by Everton's right back and wing players. There even was an occasion in the second half whereby Evra was so outgunned and left in the dust by the Evertonian right wing that Vidic just cannot believe eyes and gave a "I cannot believe what is happening" laugh.  I guess it is time to find a replacement for Evra already unfortunately...

5) Stagnant attack

Last season Manchester United had a problem in trying break down defence because quite simply they did not really had a striker to make progress with the ball. As a result they were often stuck just in front of the opponent team's defense. Fast forward a few months, this problem is still persisting. And it is even more inexcusable now since Van Persie is a striker whom Manchester United had been lacking last season to pass the ball to is finally here now, the fix is here! Alex Ferguson also noticed this and made this comment when asked about his opinion about the situation and I quote "We played around him too much, we didn't show enough penetration, . With Robin in your team you know you want to use his ability against centre-backs in situations he is very good at - but we didn't use him enough". Notice the words "played around him too much", "didn't show enough penetration" and "we didn't use him enough". That was basically what United did when RVP came on, it's even more frustrating now because last season they didn't had the personnel whom they can look to but now the personnel is here but they are not making use of him at all.

6) Nani

Nani had a poor game, he looked lost and indecisive with the ball at times. To put it in simple terms he left his boots in Manchester. His corners were poor yesterday and it was so frustrating that it came to a point whereby I posted this on my facebook wall "someone should stop nani from taking corners".

7) Valencia at right back position

I still cannot understand why Manchester United have not learnt their lesson from last season? That lesson is never to play Valencia at right back! Valencia at right back looked horrible. Valencia in this morning game looked as if someone just shackled one of his leg and he is only playing on one leg! To be quite frank he cannot be a right back. His positioning as a right back was horrible, and many times he was exposed repeatedly. He is basically playing a right winger role in a right back position and that is the problem as both roles are different!


Positives (Manchester United)

1) Shinji Kagawa

Kagawa was probably the only person in the starting XI that felt like playing soccer yesterday. The skills which Manu bought him for were on display and boy did he not disappoint. Speed, defense splitting passes, movement off the ball and vision where all displayed by Kagawa this morning. Those exquisite passes he made yesterday were something to drool at.

2) Robin Van Persie

Van Persie only played 22 minutes in this morning game but I thought he was the best United player this morning together with Kagawa. He look sharp and quick. This can only mean good news for Manchester United. His movement off the ball was pretty good as well but unfortunately he was not given the ball to do something about it.

3) David De Gea

I think the goal keeping race for Manchester United is officially over. And to be frank it should have ended last season. De Gea has proved to be a gifted natural shot stopper. Time and again he has shown us why he deserved the transfer tag that was put on him. He was the only reason why Everton did not score more than 1 goal yesterday and could have ended the game 5-0 in Everton's favor. Yes he still might have some weakness in his game but given his age and there are still lots of room to improve. Sorry Lindeggard! The first choice goal keeping job goes to De Gea.  

4) United's frontline

This morning game, showed glimpses of magnificent attacking football played by United's frontline especially between Kagawa and Rooney. Robin Van Persie seem to be fitting well and I certainly expect Kagawa to link up with RVP as well as when he links up with Rooney. I guess as the season progress when these three players here gel together and got used to each other we will be to witness the most feared triangular attack in the EPL.


Conclusion

This morning game felt like Manchester United was treating it as an exhibition game. Alot of experimenting going on and there seem to be the lack of urgency and spark in their game. Fergie does not seem to be making a huge fuss about the loss, I myself isn't making a huge fuss out of it as well since its only the FIRST game of the season. But with that said, it's never a good thing to start the season with a defeat for obvious reasons. Everton played well throughout the game, and hopefully they can maintain this form throughout the season and hopefully this morning's performance was not a one off kind of thing.