Match date: 4 December 2013

We all heard the statistic around the time when David Moyes was to be announced as the new manager of Manchester United; that he’d failed to win a game away from home against Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool, and Arsenal during his tenure at Everton.

Everton’s new manager, Roberto Martinez, won a few games with Wigan against the big four and he’s come to Everton and has managed to guided the blue side of Merseyside to just one loss so far this season, away at Manchester City.

And so Manchester United, led by Moyes, hosted Everton at Old Trafford. Both sides set out in a 4-2-3-1 and it was Everton’s midfield that controlled the match.

Midfield v Midfield

Moyes selected a central midfield trio of Fellaini, Giggs, and Kagawa, while Martinez opted for Barry, McCarthy, and Barkley and it was Everton’s trio that were able to influence the match to a greater extent.

Thus far, Fellaini and Kagawa have both really failed to make an impression at Manchester United. Kagawa has been used very sparingly over the last two years despite being one of the best playmakers in Germany during his time with Borussia Dortmund and despite following Moyes to United, Fellaini has had to adapt to spending a significant amount of time on the bench.

For Everton though, all of Barry, McCarthy, and Barkley have had very good seasons so far and showed their abilities against Manchester United. The Everton trio were quick in working the ball around around Giggs and Fellaini, with Kagawa staying a bit higher up the pitch than Barkley would when Everton were defending. Being the holding midfielders in their respective teams, Barry and Fellaini are meant to win tackles and they both did relatively well in doing so, but with both teams playing in a 4-2-3-1, the other holding midfielders in Giggs and McCarthy, though with more of the responsibility of dictating the tempo of their team’s play, should be helping to win tackles, especially higher up the pitch, but while McCarthy contributed to the defensive responsibilities of Everton’s midfield, Giggs looked slow to track players and slow to tackle.

A lot of the work rate from Everton’s midfield came in pressing Manchester United when the ball was played into midfield. Lukaku was solely responsible for putting pressure on Vidic and Smalling when the centre backs were on the ball, but once it was played into midfield, Everton would press and they did so very well throughout the match, especially when the ball was played into Fellaini, Manchester United’s deepest midfielder. Barkley was usually the one to press and forced Fellaini back to Smalling or wide to a square Evra or Rafael. Below you can see very early on in the match, Barkley pressing Fellaini which forced the Belgian to pass back to De Gea.

Both sides were able to sustain some decent possession in one another’s half, but again it was Everton’s midfield that both moved the ball quicker and pressured the ball more effectively. Below you can see McCarthy in possession of the ball, with Kagawa standing off, which allowed McCarthy to pick out Oviedo on the left, which led to Mirallas’ shot that forced De Gea’s save. The next picture shows Barkley and McCarthy pressing Fellaini as he receives the ball, leading to an Everton counter attack.

When in possession of the ball, Everton’s midfield were also the more productive. They played quicker around the Manchester United defense and supported Lukaku, Pienaar, and Mirallas well. Everton’s midfield created 5 scoring opportunities from open play as opposed to just 2 from Manchester United’s.

Everton’s Transitions

Everton should have created and scored many more chances than they did considering how well they counter attacked throughout the match. Credit is due to how well they pressed United’s midfielders to win back the ball, but with his midfield selection, Moyes’ set out for his side to be countered easily as Giggs lacks the pace he once had and Fellaini does not have the positional sense to break up attacks like Michael Carrick. With these two factors, the amount of space that the likes of Barkley, Mirallas, and McCarthy had to run into, as Lukaku pushed United’s centre backs towards their goal, was incredible. Below you can see McCarthy breaking forward with the ball earlier on in the match in a 4v3 in Everton’s favour, which led to a shot by Lukaku.

What is troubling for Manchester United supporters and Moyes is the lack of Manchester United midfielders in frame. Seconds prior to this, Fellaini had lost the ball, but Kagawa recovered only to drag himself and Barkley to the ground. Fellaini should have been recovering, as should have Kagawa as Barkley got up quickly enough to support the Everton attack. This trend continued throughout the match. On Everton breaks, United’s midfield would be sluggish getting back and Lukaku would occupy the attention of both Smalling and Vidic, allowing space to open up for Everton’s midfielders to run into.

It was surprising that Everton’s goal did not come from a positive transition. Gerard Deulofeu came very close to giving Everton the lead on such a transition, but hit the ball right at De Gea.

Manchester United’s Crossing

Over the last six Premier League seasons, Manchester United have scored the most goals from crosses in three and were second and third in two others. The last four years, they’ve been in the top three in total crosses. There is a really good clip on YouTube with Gary Neville talking about how Manchester United are a ‘crossing club’ and how Moyes won’t be able to change that culture. Neville is right in his analysis here as well, United have the players in the wide areas where crossing the ball makes sense. In this particular match though, they struggled in connecting their crosses.

Valencia and Welbeck were the two wide midfielders for United. Valencia is United’s most ‘old-school’ winger, in that someone that will get down the line and cross the ball in. Welbeck, however, didn’t give Untied the same width on the other side. He’s a natural right footed player and was always looking to come inside, especially as Rooney dropped off into midfield on occasion. Evra was United’s main source of width on the left, but was unsuccessful in any of his crosses. Of the United side, Valencia and Rafael attempted the most crosses for United from open play, but connected just two of their fourteen attempts.

A lot of credit has be given to Everton’s back four for blocking crosses and especially to Jagielka and Distin for the amount of clearances they made in Everton’s penalty area. However, it seems that Moyes didn’t have an alternate plan, highlighted by his changes.

Moyes’ Changes

Moyes made the first tow changes of the match, bringing on Nani and Januzaj for Kagawa and Rafael, which pushed Valencia to right back, Welbeck up top, and Rooney in the hole. Positive changes in that a defender was taken off and replaced by a make shift back and that Moyes recognized the need for his number 10 to drop into midfield more often than Kagawa had been to try to win back the midfield from Everton. The problem was that Moyes two new players were both wingers, indicating that he was intent on United continuing to play crosses in rather than work around the box. With that said Nani and Januzaj were lively. Both looked to take players on and Januzaj won United free kicks in good areas, but neither had a lasting influence on the match.

Despite losing the match in midfield, Moyes kept both Fellaini and Giggs, who were both caught in transitional far too often, on the field for 90 minutes rather than look to someone like Cleverly to add some energy and dynamism. Perhaps the most telling change in the match was Moyes putting Valencia at right back as he reacted very late to Lukaku’s cross/shot that led to Oviedo’s winning goal, as did Smalling. It’s unfortunate though, as it was a very positive minded change by the Untied boss.

Conclusion

Everton finally won against one of Premier League big four teams away from home and how sweet it must feel for Evertonians that it was against David Moyes at Old Trafford. Looking at their former manager in another team’s dugout must have certainly been different, but they must also feel relieved that on this day, when he looked void of ideas to really win the match for Manchester United.

Roberto Martinez and Everton continue their good start to the season and the former Wigan manager will be pleased with his sides performance.

There were a few quotes that the commentator mentioned near the start of the match. One was from David Moyes during his time at Everton about how when he came to Old Trafford he just wanted to make sure he got out alive. The other was from Martinez who said that in these sorts of matches, you just have to be brave.