Everton 4-0 Manchester United: 5 factors that contributed to United's downfall

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has been under the scanner recently due to United's woeful run of form. The Red Devils had lost three of their five games in all competitions ever since the Norwegian was announced as the permanent manager. Their recent form has not been too good - United have lost five of their last seven games in all competitions.

In the Premier League, recent defeats at the hands of Arsenal and Wolves had crippled United's chances of finishing in the top 4. And Everton were no pushovers either; even though their away form has been poor, they had been fantastic at home.

The Toffees had defeated Chelsea and Arsenal recently, while also managing a draw against bitter rivals Liverpool. But Solskjaer needed a win at all cost on Sunday and named his team accordingly.

He started with De Gea in goal, with Lindelof, Smalling, Jones, and Dalot making up the back four. The midfield saw Matic return to partner Fred and Pogba, while up front, Lukaku partnered Rashford and Martial in the attack.

But the away side was under sieze right from kick off. Everton scored two in each half and ended up 4-0 winners. For Solskjaer, it was an outing to forget, as his team had one of their worst performances of the season. Here are 5 reasons why Manchester United lost the game

#5 Team Selection

Everton FC v Manchester United - Premier League

Solskjaer had a selection headache before the start of the game. His team was coming off a midfield battering at the hands of Barcelona that had left them exhausted. He also had Manchester City in midweek to worry about.

With Luke Shaw suspended and Young’s despicable performance of late, Solskjaer opted to start with Dalot as the left back and Lindelof as the right back. It was a move that crippled United. Lindelof was United’s best centre-back and moving him to a different position hurt the integrity of the team and the player.

Dalot too did not perform well either. The young Portuguese was a shadow of himself and looked nervous on the left side. He was directly responsible for the first goal and never redeemed himself in the game.

#4 Lack of pressing

This has been United’s weakness of late. Solskjaer team has suddenly shown a reluctance to put pressure on the opponent. Against Everton too, it was a glaring aspect of their game which caught the eye.

United afforded the home side too much time on the ball and too much room on the field and Everton made very good use of it. There was no urgency in United’s play, and the away side’s laid back approach cost them the game.

Every time the home side had the ball, they were invited to run at United. Everton piled up the pressure on the away side in the early stages and threatened on the set pieces. It was from a long throw that they opened the scoring. Dalot failed to close down Richarlison, who scored with his left foot.

For the second goal, Matic failed to close down Sigurdsson as Everton piled up the bodies on the counter. The Icelandic midfielder had all the time in the world to cut inside, adjust his footing and shoot at goal to score Everton’s second. Martial committed a similar error for the third goal.

#3 No Wing Play

With Lindelof as the right back and Dalot as the left back, United lacked service from their full backs. Lindelof looked exactly like a centre-back playing at right back – he was slow, he rarely ventured forward and looked uncomfortable all night.

Solskjaer did try to change things by replacing the injured Jones with Young, which saw the Swede move back to a centerback position, but it had little effect. Young continued his dismal form and had no effect on the game once more.

Dalot was equally culpable on the left side. The Portuguese was guilty of giving the ball away under no pressure and he had an outing to forget. Dalot was as disappointing going forward as he was in his defensive work.

Martial and Rashford, who played as the wide forwards, could not use the side themselves. Lukaku had no service from the wings and United registered just one shot on target. The Red Devils had the opportunity to capitalize on the space left behind by Everton’s marauding fullbacks, but it never happened and that cost United the game.

#2 Poor Defending

This performance might finally convince the United board to invest heavily on the United defense in the summer. United were extremely poor against Everton in the final third, but they lost the game due to their horrible defending.

It was very easy for the home team to find the gaps between the opposition defense, as Jones and Smalling failed to assert their influence in their own box and allowed the home team to dominate them.

The United back four had no support from their midfield either. Matic had a horrible return to the first team and allowed everyone to run past him. Fred tried his best to drop down and help his defense but he was poor too. There was a space between the United midfield and defense that was never closed down by the away side. Everton ran into this area and made full use of the time and space to punish United.

Manchester United failed to defend as a unit and looked vulnerable every time Everton came forward. Their woeful defending ultimately cost them the game.

#1 Individual Performances

Solskjaer was culpable for a few selection errors, but he did put up a decent team to at least give Everton a fight. Unfortunately, too many players failed to perform on the night and it resulted in a collective failure for the away side.

While the defense let it 4 goals, the midfield was extremely poor. Matic looked an entirely different player and allowed the Everton attackers to bully him. Fred tried too hard, but could not influence any result. Both of them got failed to impress as the United midfield could not influence the game. But it was the forward players who were in shocking form.

Pogba looked lost in the middle, but to be fair to him, the Frenchman did play a few gorgeous forward balls to his attacking players. None of the forward men showed composure in the final third and their touch and turn were also extremely poor. Martial registered the only shot on target, in the 85th minute.

United’s star players refused to turn up on the night and it might cost them Champions League football next season.

Edited by Sujith M