How United need to improve against Everton

If you read my blog after the Chelsea game you would have undoubtedly noticed the immense pride I felt for my team oozing from my words; complemented with hyper levels of self-belief. However, in the aftermath of this chest-beating, over-confident, ‘we was robbed’ response that was adopted by most United fans, the reality was: we lost; and after defeat left us 5 points behind the leaders, the true reality now is that we cannot afford any more slip-ups.






Everton at home is probably a perfect match to follow on from a game like Chelsea. Not only can we continue the solid footballing display we put out against the league’s ‘best team’, however we can also learn from the little we did wrong on the day to improve and aptly succeed against a team of less quality.




Perhaps the main negative of our performance 10 days ago was the lack of genuine scoring chances we created, even though we appeared to win the ball capably and have decent amounts of room in midfield.




However, once again, we are forced to highlight a huge flaw in our tactics and deficiency in our best striker’s game: Rooney does NOT work as a lone-striker! How many more poor performances is it going to take for Ferguson to realise this?

Hopefully Berbatov will be back on Saturday, providing not only added force and more options up-front, however the opportunity for Wayne to play a deeper role when needed. He unquestionably still did this against Chelsea (because that’s what Rooney loves to do: play deep), however that left a gaping, inconvenient and completely useless hole in our attack; and even when he was in an attacking position – mainly in the first half – he was fairly irrelevant; acting as a poor, isolated option.

As well as we played against Chelsea, the main strengths of our performance were largely in the defensive areas of the field; not only at the back however also in midfield where Chelsea’s creative, attacking play was masterfully broken down and unable to function due to the resilient Fletcher and Anderson. When possession was ours however, we were unable to make the most of it and our forward movement was equally halted due to the surrounded Rooney. To earn the ball and find space as well as our midfielders did only to be unable to do a great deal with it is a shame and something that hopefully we can learn from.

Ferguson’s team selection, and his consequent selection process for the Everton game, also needs to be briefly addressed. Yes Berbatov was out injured for our last league outing, but Owen was available. Why only play one striker against a team like Chelsea? And why stack the midfield so heavily with ball-winners (in the centre) and creative minds (on the wings) when most of the time there was no-one to feed the ball to?

This fairly negative tactic of throwing only one man up against Terry and Carvalho perhaps shows either Ferguson didn’t want to, or just knew we weren’t, going to score; however after such a powerful display in the centre, I hope he realises that as long as we have the bodies up there – especially those as able as Rooney, Berbatov and, if need be, Owen – we CAN still create and threaten any defence.

Everton will of course provide a threat as they always do, and Saha with 7 goals this season, is in irritatingly good form – plus, I seem to remember him always playing rather well at Old Trafford AGAINST United.

The West Ham game would have no doubt provided them with the boost they need to get their season fully back on track. So with confidence on a high – and United always looking vulnerable at the back; regardless of the fine defensive display we pulled off against the league’s no.1 – they could easily punish us for not taking our chances as well as if we’re lazy with possession.




If we drop points on Saturday and play in the typically average, unflattering style of 2009/10, then I think it’s fair to judge it as a further indication of our lacking ability and faltering intent of retaining the title. At 5 points behind, we are not out of it; but a poor, sloppy performance against a team we should beat – and assuming Chelsea will definitely beat Wolves at home – will make the title further out of reach, leaving people to suggest that we do not deserve this title and the performance against Chelsea was a ‘wasteful’ one rather than an ‘unlucky’ one.




If we DO beat Everton, playing solid creative football and looking focussed in every area of the field, then we know the performance against Chelsea was deserved of its praise, and that the outcome of our display as well as the misfortune suffered – in the short-term, anyway – is a positive one that could seemingly transform our season. A season that has seen us start with incoherent, unenthusiastic performances ignited by a Ronaldo hangover; that will hopefully (and finally) transpire into dominant, solid displays of intent and passion that will highlight the team’s ability and threat and no longer our flaws and inbalance.