For all the holes in the modern Manchester United, Jose Mourinho does have some genuine quality at his disposal. Here at Goodison Park, United managed to lift some of their Christmas and New Year gloom thanks to two brilliant goals from Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard.
This was not an entirely convincing United performance. They were very poor in the first half, lacking energy and any kind of confidence.
But improvement did come and the two second half goals gave them a victory they very much deserved against an Everton team that was very disappointing indeed.
Anthony Martial let fly with a right-footed effort from outside the Everton penalty area in the second half
Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford did his best to get across but couldn’t stop Martial’s effort from beating him
Martial celebrates after scoring his seventh Premier League goal of the season on New Year’s Day at Goodison Park
Paul Pogba, who supplied the assist for Martial’s goal, celebrates United’s opener with full back Luke Shaw
Lingard celebrates scoring United’s second goal against Everton as Jose Mourinho’s side sealed all three points
MATCH FACTS, LEAGUE TABLE AND MATCH ZONE
Everton: Pickford, Holgate, Keane, Williams, Martina, Davies, Schneiderlin, Vlasic, Rooney (McCarthy, 62), Bolasie (Lennon, 62), Niasse
Subs not used: Jagielka, Sigurdsson, Calvert-Lewin, Robles, Kenny
Booked: Rooney, Holgate
Man Utd: de Gea, Lindelof, Jones, Rojo, Shaw, Ander Herrera, Matic, Mata (Tuanzebe, 90+2), Pogba, Lingard (Blind, 87), Martial (Rashford, 77)
Subs not used: Smalling, Romero, Mkhitaryan, Darmian
Goals: Martial 57, Lingard 81
Referee: Andre Marriner (West Midlands)
- Premier League
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Pogba’s pass found Martial who fired past Pickford – see more of our Match Zone analysis by clicking here
Both goals came from distance and both were memorable. Martial’s arrived in the 57th minute, delivered in to the top left corner of Jordan Pickford’s goal by his right instep. Then, after United had weathered a brief rally from Sam Allardyce’s Everton, Lingard struck from even further out, a superb shot struck across Pickford and in to the very same corner of the goal found earlier by Martial.
Pickford is a good young goalkeeper and had a good game here once again. But there was nothing he could have done to prevent either of these two shots flying past him.
Mourinho will be relieved. After consecutive draws against Leicester, Burnley and Southampton, this victory elevates United back in to second above Chelsea who face a tough game at Arsenal on Wednesday.
As for Everton, this is two defeats on the spin. Allardyce’s team looked worn out here.
There has been much talk this Christmas and New Year about the toll the fixture schedule takes on Premier League players. Here in a flat first half there appeared to be some evidence of it.
Pogba gave his United shirt to one of the Everton stewards at the end of the game following the 2-0 victory
United midfielder Pogba speaks to referee Andre Marriner before he awarded Everton’s Mason Holgate with a yellow card
Everton captain Wayne Rooney attempts a right-footed effort from distance but Ander Herrera was in a good position to block
United defender Marcos Rojo makes a fantastic last-ditch tackle to stop striker Oumar Niasse from advancing forward
United manager Jose Mourinho throws his arms up in the air after enduring a frustrating first-half display from his side
United defender Rojo drives forward out of his own half after the winning the ball back from Niasse at Goodison Park
Referee Andre Marriner awards a yellow card to Rooney after he caught United forward Anthony Martial with a late challenge
United were certainly very poor, lacking in conviction and sheer presence. Mourinho’s team were very passive indeed for the most part. Everton, meanwhile, were not a lot better although they did enjoy slightly more of he ball.
Both teams were much changed, United largely out of necessity. With strikers Romelu Lukaku and Zlatan Ibrahomovic both injured, we had expected to see Marcus Rashford given a rare outing in his favoured centre forward position. As it was, Martial was given that task while Victor LIndelof was Mourinho’s solution to his right-back problem.
For Everton, their captain Wayne Rooney played deep and central in a side that was without creative players like Gylfi Sigurdsson and Aaron Lennon but did feature Yannick Bolasie, fit again after a serious knee injury.
Early on Eerton were the better side. Rooney was regularly involved, passing the ball wisely and seeking to get forward when he could, while the talented Nikola Vlasic was also troubling United with his intelligent running and use of the ball.
What was missing, both then and throughout the first half, were real chances. Everton did work their way in to some decent positions but struggled to find the pass or individual piece of skill to required to test David de Gea in the United goal.
Rojo and fellow defender Phil Jones back off as Everton’s Tom Davies fires a left-footed effort towards goal
Everton youngster Tom Davies just about manages to win the ball from United’s Paul Pogba before conceding possession
Davies jumps over the top of Pogba as he attempts to win a header only for the Everton midfielder to lose out
Everton’s Rooney was making his first appearance against Manchester United at Goodison Park since leaving the Red Devils
Rooney earned an early corner with a deflected shot from 20 yards and from his kick young Mason Holgate rose to head over. Midfielder Tom Davies also tried from distance but his shot also took a deflection and looped over the bar.
In the first 20 minutes or so, there was not much evidence of United as an attacking force. There was not enough energy or intensity about their play to really trouble Everton and as a result they struggled to turn Everton round.
Paul Pogba did reach the by-line and pulled the ball back only for Ander Herrera to let the ball pass between his legs when he seemed in a good place to score. That was a rare moment of incisive play from Mourinho’s team and quite inexplicably the Spaniard had wasted it.
Later on in the first half there was some improvement from United as Luke Shaw released Martial to the byline for a cross that was palmed away by Jordan Pickford. Luckily for the Everton goalkeeper the ball landed at the feet of a player in blue.
Pogba then shot wide from 25 yards while Herrera’s effort from a similar distance struck an Everton foot and disappeared for a corner that came to nothing.
At the other end, Everton’s most dangerous moment of the half came in the 24th minute when Oumar Niasse burst past Phil Jones but stopped by a tackle fromMarcos Rojo just when it appeared he may be about to test De Gea for the first time.
Rooney tracks back to help his team out defensively as it looked as though Jesse Lingard had broken free
Rooney marks his former United team-mate Pogba during the first half of the game on New Year’s Day
United left back Luke Shaw tries to block Nikola Vlasic as the Everton player attempts to get further forward up the pitch
Not long back from injury, Everton’s Yannick Bolasie was using his pace to great effect against the United defenders
Eventually, in the second half, improvement did come and when it did it was from United. If both teams has looked leggy before the break then Everton certainly did after it.
Martial’s goal arrived in the 57th minute, a lovely shot in to the top corner with his instep from 20 yards. Pickford had no chance.
It had been coming, too. United had started the second half with much more positivity and pushed Everton back almost from the restart. Before the goal a shot from Juan Mata had struck the outside of the post while Lingard had played Pogba in for a low cross that missed everybody.
Once they lead, meanwhile, United only got better. A Pogba shot was touched over by Pickford while a cross from Martial was just too high for the midfielder as he tried to head it in to a gaping net at the far post.
With the hour mark gone, United were by now totally in the ascendency. Everton seemed to have absolutely nothing by way of reply and Allardyce endeavoured to shake his team up by replacing Rooney with James McCarthy and the tiring Bolasie with Aaron Lennon.
Everton boss Sam Allardyce watches on during the opening stages of Monday’s match with Duncan Ferguson sat next to him
Everton assistant manager Sammy Lee gets a hug from Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho before kick-off
Almost immediately there was some improvement and Everton enjoyed a very good fifteen minute spell during which they easily could have equalised.
Oumar Niasse should have done better than head wide of the near post when a cross from Holgate found him unmarked and then Davies saw a shot blocked after another Everton attack found United all over the place in their own penalty area.
For a while United struggled to clear their lines as Everton, encouraged by the home crowd, found some energy. Had they had a little more fortune with the run of the ball, other chances would have followed.
As it was, United managed to reassert themselves and only the fingertips of Pickford prevented Lingard sealing the game with a low shot from outside the box after Pogba had found him in space.
Lingard didn’t wait long for his latest goal, however, beating Pickford from distance with ten minutes left.
Both teams stood in the centre circle before the game to remember Evertonians who passed away over the last year