Three reasons why Manchester United were poor against Everton

After crossing many hurdles this season, the Red Devils seem to be faltering in the past couple of weeks. Inspite of 4-0 win against Aston Villa after the shock loss to Wigan , the men in red who are seeking a 13th Premier League title ended their home game against Everton 4-4 last night.

As you may’ve predicted seeing the scoreline, it was a pretty evenly contested game with plenty of late drama. The Mersysiders initially went up 0-1 and Rooney pulled one back for United before half time. Within 15 minutes after the start of the second half, Nani and Welbeck ensured United a two goal cushion. Ten minutes later, Fellaini made it 3-2 with a beautifully struck volley from close range. Within two minutes Rooney restored United’s two goal lead, in a beautiful move that involved an assist from Welbeck.

Late goals from Jelavic and Pienaar saw Everton draw level with United. Everton had famously pulled off a similar draw last season against the same opponent thanks to two stoppage time goals from Cahill and Arteta .

The red side of Manchester which was in  a celebratory mood, after having opened up an eight point lead on top of the BPL a fortnight ago, has dropped five points in three games! What went wrong yesterday?

1. DEFENSE : What seemed pretty solid especially with Jonny Evans’ maturing as the season rolled on and Rio getting back to solid form, fell short of putting in a good shift yesterday. Also Rafael could’ve done a little better at defending considering his attacking  prowess these days. Patrice Evra didn’t do great either. The left back hasn’t exactly been doing well all season.

2. ANTONIO VALENCIA: Clearly United’s best player this season, he couldn’t penetrate the Everton defense with his flash like speed and piercing crosses. Definitely wasn’t his day yesterday.

3. SUBSTITUTIONS: I don’t understand Fergie sometimes. Surely I’ve no expertise to question his amazing work , but I don’t know why he brought in Jones in place of the best passer on field when United clearly needed him! And bringing on Hernandez for Valencia didn’t seem right either. In the dying minutes, I’m pretty sure the players would’ve liked some more of the winger’s penetration instead of an additional striker in Hernandez.