03 Apr 2016 18:24:12
Not pretty but it never is these days, all in all a big 3 points, very impressed again with fosu-mensah, and lingard was brilliant, looks very good in that central role.
Smalling had a poor game, and hopefully blinds injury isn't going to keep him out for long. Also saw martial limping at the end, any ideas if that was just a knock or not?
03 Apr 2016 18:57:08
Disagree about Mike he did ok thought Blind was really good his positional sense and understanding of the game is second to none. Mensah could turn out to be a top player like pogba but more defensive thought Rashford gave his all but looked jaded not surprising for such a young lad. We still need a dominant midfielder though one who has real attacking impetus but can control the tempo Tony Kroos is my choice.
03 Apr 2016 19:40:41
Mensah is going to be a world beater. Everytime he plays he looks better and stronger looks like he's been in the team for years 😆😆.
03 Apr 2016 18:31:24
Andy,
Agree with everything here except smalling having a bad game, what exactly did he do wrong today? Thought he stepped out well, never gave lukaku a chance and won most of his headers.
03 Apr 2016 18:46:09
I thought Smalling and Blind both had good games. They created very little but from a couple of set piece that DDG tipped against the bar and reaction save on a loose ball. I think Carrick was covering Jag on that corner.
With young back he could always play left back and Darmian right back and then fosu CB with smalling.
03 Apr 2016 18:53:14
I though Lingard was ok. He ran at Everton a lot, but I think he needs to to work on his end product, especially realising the ball. However despite his age he is relatively inexperienced at this level. This season will be more of a bedding in season and a good learning curve.
03 Apr 2016 20:54:10
Both centre backs coped with lukaku well but I feel he had a poor game, looked pretty uninteresting at times. Just thought smalling was pretty poor in possession and looked unsure when he had the ball, defensively he had a decent game.
03 Apr 2016 20:59:08
Blinds job was to follow lukaku and smalling was there to mop up the flick ons to there quick wide men.
I thought both done thier jobs well.
03 Apr 2016 21:12:27
Ctr I agree with you today, that's the way I saw it, blind was doing a good job on lukaku with smalling mopping up.
03 Apr 2016 22:20:44
Can't fault anyone in the back 4 today. Smalling and blind both did a decent job as did Valencia and Timothy when they came on.
Carrick was poor and I thought Rashford looked tired late on.
Looking at the 4 players from Everton that we have been linked with
lukaku looked frustrated and disinterested at times which is concerning from an attitude point of view
Stones played OK couple of good last ditch tackles and a couple of errors thrown in. But on the day liked no better than smalling
Barkley looked exactly what he is imo a luxury player. He is quite slow and contributed very little. He is dangerous outside the box has a good strike and vision but imo not what we need at the moment. He is not dynamic enough for me
Coleman. Was poor for the goal which he might of cleared but apart from that had the best game of the 4 for me. A very willing runner and over laps consistently with decent delivery.
03 Apr 2016 23:25:48
I'd take Stones out of the 4 you mention Ken. Under a better coach, he could be excellent. The rest aren't good enough for United.
04 Apr 2016 02:14:04
Lukaku was just like that in the last World Cup. Slow, lumbering and one-dimensional. He's a decent target man, but I think he brings little else to the table in terms of team-play. Give me Kane every time.
04 Apr 2016 08:44:06
I think people have the wrong idea about lukaku, he is some times seen as a target man but his hold up play, passing and link up are quite average.
Imo where he is good is playing on the shoulder and in the box, he looks a good player then .
When he is asked to play a bit of football he can look at bit out of place.
04 Apr 2016 08:46:15
1I think people have the wrong idea about lukaku, he is some times seen as a target man but his hold up play, passing and link up are quite average.
Imo where he is good is playing on the shoulder and in the box, he looks a good player then .
When he is asked to play a bit of football he can look at bit out of place.
04 Apr 2016 08:56:36
Stevie
Lukaku was isolated all game and had very little support from the likes of Barkeley. Schneiderlin had him in his pocket and Barkeley seems to go missing whenever he is up against a top midfielder. I think Blind did a great job on Lukaku and smalling was there to cover if he got through blind.
Eric
Interesting you say Smalling is not good enough, he is a guaranteed starter for England at the Euros and I would bet Stones will be on the bench if selected. Have to disagree very good defender imo. Wenger, hodgson and the rest can't be all blind.
04 Apr 2016 09:05:14
Barkely played quite deep which was a bit strange and left lukaku very isolated .
I think martinez was trying to keep it tight, everton played long ball after long ball, lukaku was the only player in our half for a lot of the game.
04 Apr 2016 09:57:12
Jred i agree with you on Barkley and much of your assessment of lukaku.
04 Apr 2016 12:34:37
X,
Hodgson isn't Blind, you are thinking of the Dutch manager.
04 Apr 2016 12:51:01
Blind's positioning against Lukaku was almost perfect, he even managed to beat him in the air which surprised me. I thought he should have been man of the match over Martial to be honest, partially because it was such a mismatch.
I was also surprised how poor Barkley played, he just didn't seem to have a clue what to do with the ball most of the time. My Everton supporting colleague said he was class, I think they may have watched a different game.
04 Apr 2016 13:48:18
X I was referring to the other Everton players mentioned not being good enough. Smalling is ok in my book.
04 Apr 2016 14:46:07
For me, when things aren't perfect for him, he seems to lose interest. He should have been licking his lips at being up against Blind, but was never a factor. I want my striker to have more of an all-round game, who can make things happen on his own, if the service isn't great. I just think Kane is much more that type of player.