Manchester United lose the chance to gain all three points against Everton as they were held to a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford.
Goals from Anthony Martial and Andres Townsend were the only firework to lighten the game. Manchester United was dominating in possession but quite loose while attacking as they created fewer chances as compared to their opponents.
There are the 3 points that we noticed from the match:
1.No clean-sheet again
Manchester United has now failed to register a clean sheet in the last 9 games in all competitions. Interestingly, David De Gea has also kept just one clean sheet in 2021 while playing at Old Trafford.
These stats seem to be a worry for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and his management as United are easily letting the opponents slip through their nose in literally every game.
Even after having a four-time champions league winner and a very decorated defender by their ranks, they are still are not able to dominate the back-line.
Manchester United have now failed to keep a clean sheet in each of their last seven games in all competitions.
More points dropped this afternoon. 😔 pic.twitter.com/0i9mAYbUyK
— Squawka Football (@Squawka) October 2, 2021
Speaking about the area of weakness, it is the counter-attack and United is pretty slow while coming behind. This issue has to be resolved as slowly but steadily it is turning out to be a habit to let opponents score effortlessly.
2. Season defining run of games coming up:
Dropping points against Everton was not a pleasing sight to watch but there are many more matches coming up where they should be absolutely careful of losing points.
Manchester United will play their next Premier League games against Leicester City, Liverpool, Tottenham, Manchester City, Chelsea, and Arsenal, with tricky Champions League, matches against Atalanta and Villarreal.
These are no easy games for Manchester United and these matches could decide whether United will remain in the hunt for the top-four spot or will be out of the race straight away.
Solskjaer needs to improve the defensive output if he wants his team to pass this phase with maximum points.
3. Ole’s starting XI experiments continue to cause troubles:
Solskjaer started Anthony Martial ahead of Jadon Sancho, Jesse Lingard, and Cristiano Ronaldo and was earlier criticized for his choices.
Anthony Martial proved the doubters wrong by netting his first goal since August and repaid the faith of the manager. But many other players were not good enough to play against Everton. Fred, Scott McTominay were not at all productive, Edinson Cavani lost chances to score, and the harmony of the team looked out of balance.
Solskjaer then introduced Cristiano Ronaldo, Paul Pogba, and Jadon Sancho who started showing some bright moments. But such experiments are affecting the team’s harmony.
Manchester United is not sticking to a plan and Solskjaer should be blamed for this. Such change in the starting XI will only create more doubts among the players regarding their position in the team.
And not to forget there are even players like Donny Van De Beek who are not even getting a chance to show their true potential.
