2 hours ago
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90+2 min United keep it in the corner and environs for a bit, then when Branthwaite wins it back and looks to break, Mazraoui brings him down and takes the inevitable yellow card.
90+1 min We’ll have five additional minutes; United begin them by winning a corner, which they take short, wasting a minute or so.
90 min “Re Bruno,” begins John Cox, “whether or not you’re a good player depends on only one thing, and that’s whether your team plays better with you in it. That tends to mean not standing around going full teapot when less gifted teammates misplace passes.”
Or does it mean being the best attacking midfielder, according to pretty much every metric, in the top-five leagues, even when playing deep? It’s a bit like it was with Roy Keane: people watching think his teammates must hate him, when the reality is the reverse.
88 min United are sitting back, inviting pressure. Students of the Post-Fergie Wilderness YearsTM know this rarely ends well for them and, as I type, they concede another corner … again cleared, but the ball keeps coming back.
87 min I’ve just chuckled to myself imagining Garnacho conceiving of, wanting to hit and executing the pass Cunha did for the goal.
86 min Like now, but Casemiro glides a pass straight at Branthwaite, allowing Everton to spring, but when Ndiaye crosses, Lammens is there.
85 min Yet another corner comes in and yet again, Lammens punches away firmly enough. It’s all Everton now, but United have possibilities on the break.
84 min Before it’s taken, Tarkowski shoves Yoro into the net, both are booked, then the ball is sent into the melee, bodies wrestling everywhere, and somehow it goes behind.
83 min More Everton pressure, then Keane picks up the ball 30 yards out, skipping into a donkey kick not dissimilar to the one he scored in the last seconds against Spurs the season before last … and Lammens dives to palm around the post.
81 min “I love Carrick, I think he’s done a great job,” said Joshua Keeling before the goal. “But Amorim would have been hammered for this performance.”
A difference, though, is that Carrick sent on Sesko to try and find a goal, rather than an ouside centre-back for an outside centre-back. As it goes, United were starting to attack properly towards the end of Amorim’s time – though i think he earned the sack, had he not lost Fernandes, Sesko, Amad and Mbeumo at the same time, he’d probably have stayed in the job.
80 min It’s sent into the mixer, but United do enough and the ball goes behind for a goalkick.
78 min Everton win another corner and though Lammens has dealt with them really well so far, it only takes one error or decent delivery and he’s in trouble. And Garner sends in a good ball, but it hits George and bounces away from goal. No matter: Everton win another one, then send on Beto for Iroegbunam, and there’s all sorts of ruckus going on inside the box.
77 min Pickford is booked for mouthing about summat or other; United send on Mazraoui for Mbeumo, who’s limping; I think that means he goes to right-back, with Dalot on the … wing?
76 min The highest praise I can give the goal is that as soon as Cunha executed the pass, you knew it was coming. When Sesko gets into stride, he takes some stopping, a basketballer’s physique with figure-skating feet.
74 min Are we sure it’s Harrison Armstrong, not Armstrong Harrison?
73 min Everton send on George for Armstrong.
GOAL! Everton 0-1 Manchester United (Sesko 72)
The Solskjaer throwback continues! Maguire heads the corner away and, deep inside his own half, left-hand side, Cunha threads a disgracefully brilliant pass crossfield to Mbeumo … who 25 yards from goal, slips into the path of Sesko, and the finish, punches into the bottom-right, is as confident as it is competent.
71 min Everton are pressing, have a man over in Garner, and when the ball is slipped into his path, Cunha slides in to make a crucial block; corner.
71 min Talking of whom, competence is exactly what United required in their goal. A simply dreadful keeper would’ve been a massive improvement, but he’s stopped pretty much everything he ought to have stopped, and made some much better saves too.
69 min Everton win a corner and Armstrong shoves Fernandes, vexed about who knows what; they move on, then Garner swings in towards the back post. Tarkowski can’t get at it properly, his header going up in the air, but when it comes down, he finds a decent cross, gathered competently by Lammens.
68 min “Cards on the table,” begoins Matt Dony. “Being a Liverpool fan, it’s not surprising I’m perfectly happy to stick the boot into United. And some players are just unlikeable to pretty much everyone apart from fans of the club they play for. (We had Suarez. We know of which we speak.) And yet, I find myself feeling genuinely bad for Fernandes. An extravagantly gifted footballer, who’s has spent his prime years surrounded by an absolute shambles. There have been some real nadirs for United over the last few years. But imagine how much worse it could have been without Bruno. I’d have a cob on, too.”
I agree. It blew my mind to see internets mavens (really: mevinim) dissing him as some kind of luxury wastrel. In a good team he’d be revered as one of th ebest players ever to play in England.
66 min Now United counterr, Sesko finding Cunha who drives forward, waiting to supply a killer return and instead slipping. It’s that kind of game.
66 min Again, Lammens comes for a corner, punching to the edge, where again, Gueye has a shot blocked.
64 min Everton maintain pressure, Casemiro showing his arse and selling himself like he’s Virgil van Dijk, Dewsbury-Hall moving by him and shooting low, the effort deflected behind for a corner.
63 min But Everton counter, Ndiaye dipping inside Mainoo and finding Gueye, who drills into the nearest shins as though doing so on purpose.
61 min Cunha’s had enough, taking possession during another funereal sequence and driving infield, firing and following a pass that’s just the wrong side of Mbeumo. United, though, are back dominating possession and doing little with it.
61 min United create a rondo situation, but a poor pass from Mainoo means they’re soo back in their own area, starting again.
59 min “Regarding Carrick’s attire,” begins Paiul from Murcia, “at least it’s not every hoody or track suit top United can’t shift out of the Megastore like another manager we could mention.”
Come on, whatever else we say about Amorim, that man can rock some leisurewear.
58 min Sesko is ready to come on, presuably for Amad … and yup, that’s what happens.
57 min Under pressure from Mbeumo as Pickford smothers the ball, Tarkowski steps into Mbeumo, introducing shoulder to face. It looks a sair yin, but he’ll be fine.
56 min Dalot stands on the ball and Armstrong finds Dewsbury-Hall, whose cross goes somewhere towards Bridgewater Hall.
54 min Mainoo, though, is getting himself on the ball more often, which tends to mean United are playing better and, as I type, Casemiro lofts a lovely pass over the top and down the line for Dalot. Again, though, his timing is is excellent but finesse poor, side-footing a bouncing ball directly into Keane when he had options inside the box.
53 min It’s end to end now, like two rugby teams playing basketball.
