Season › 2011-12 › News

Everton 0 - 1 Manchester United

No way through determined United defence

Along with Cahill, and Neville, Sylvain Distin was a surprise absentee, as injuries strated to bite for the first time this season.

Team: Howard, Hibbert, Baines, Jagielka, Heitinga, Bilyaletdinov, Coleman, Fellaini, Rodwell, Osman, Saha.
Subs: Mucha, Stracqualursi, McFadden, Gueye, Barkley, Vellios, Mustafi

Everton struggled to compete with the wounded Champions in the first half, but limited the damage to just one goal, scored a little too easily by Hernandez. They almost came back before the break when a Baines free-kick smashed off the United crossbar. Luois Saha did well to work a couple of shooting opportunities but could only fire straight at De Gea under pressure.

David Moyes removed the completly ineffective Diniyar Bilyaletdinov at half-time, bringing on Ross Barkley.

Rodwell got in a much better shot that forced a good save from De Gea as Everton had a good spell of possession and pressure but few final balls creating any chances, and leaving the defence exposed to the counter.

Coleman got booked for catching Evra, which was a pity as his enrgy had been helping drive Everton forward with the ball. Fellaini looked for a penalty when Rooney clambered all over him. Saha looked to tee up Coleman in a central position but his left-foot shot was horribly sliced for a throw-in.

United were defending too comfortably, the lack of guile in Everton's attacking play letting them down, while Ferguson was able to role in his expensive subs, the frustration showing in a ridiculous lofted effort at goal from midfield by Jagielka in lieu of a more sensible out-ball.

Moyes decided to go for it with just 15 mins left, Vellios on for Osman.
There was a mad scramble off a corner, Saha hemmed in by four United defenders but he managed to squeeze the ball to Rodwell who shot wide. Everton built well again but Coleman fired too softly straight at De Gea, as the secret weapon, Magaye Gueye, was sneaked on after a month's absence from the action.

with two minutes left, any tempo was lost when linesman Andy Halliday went down after hurting his back, requiring treatment before the Fourth Official, Phil Dowd picked up the flag for 6 added minutes, starting with a corner by Gueye that was poor.

A big shout for a penalty was never going to be viewed favourably by Halsey, it was more a case of Gueye running into Evra, and going down far too easily. Fellaini went in the book for a really stupid clip on Jones that allowed United to timewaste in the corner.

One final free-kick came to nothing but Vellios did get a desparate shot in before the final whistle bringing to an end another now depressingly familiar defeat to a big moneybags side, and in front of a somewhat smaller crowd than normal for this fixture — only 35,494.

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