EPL 2016/17: Manchester United 1-1 Everton: 5 Talking Points

3. United’s off-the-ball movement, especially inside the box, still leaves a lot to be desired

The sheer number of times that any of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Ander Herrera, Ashley Young, Marcus Rashford... and especially Michael Carrick stood around waving their arms in the air at the sheer frustration of not having any runners in front of them was mind-boggling. When United had the ball down the wings, there was precious little movement inside the box – near post runs were not being made and neither were there any far post ones.

In the middle, Carrick was forced to go sideways or attempt hopeless hoicks – the movement, and passing, improved when Paul Pogba and Henrikh Mkhitaryan came on, but there is still a lot of work to be done. It has improved as the season has progressed, but United, at times, still seem to give off the impression that they need to un-learn the static passing of the LvG era.

Oh, they do, though, need to stop pumping in long balls to Maruoane Fellaini. It’s clearly not working

P.S Marcos Rojo and David de Gea both had one of their worst outings for Manchester United in a long time.

P.P.S. Looks like Jose Mourinho’s public shaming of Luke Shaw may finally pay off... for those blaming the Portuguese for his treatment of the left back, take a look at this:

When 4 different managers identify fitness as a major flaw - and implore a change - maybe it's the player's professionalism that's the issue pic.twitter.com/xtanF02lEX

— Nooruddean (@BeardedGenius) April 3, 2017