Martial 2/10, Pogba 3/10 in ‘shambolic’ Man United display
LIVERPOOL, England — Manchester United’s miserable run continued as they were hammered 4-0 by Everton after an abject display from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side at Goodison Park.
United suffered their sixth defeat in eight games to leave their top-four hopes hanging in the balance ahead of back-to-back games against Manchester City and Chelsea.
Richarlison, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Lucas Digne and Theo Walcott scored the goals to ensure United lost a third successive Premier League away game for the first time since 1996 while suffering their worst league defeat since Oct. 2016.
Everton’s four goals also mean that United will finish the season with their worst defensive record for 40 years with four games still to play.
Those four games will decide whether they play Champions League football next season, but they face an uphill battle with City and Chelsea visiting Old Trafford this week.
None. Paul Pogba said in a pre-match interview that the game was “destiny” in terms of finishing in the top four, but you wouldn’t have known it. By the time Paul Tierney blew his half-time whistle, United were lucky it was only 2-0. Could have easily ended in double figures and, in truth, they got off lightly.
This is a crucial week for Solskjaer’s team in the race for the top four with games against Manchester City and Chelsea to come in the next seven days. It was a must-win, but United didn’t even turn up. They can still reach Solskjaer’s target of 12 points between now and the end of the season, but they will have to be perfect over the next four games. There was nothing here to suggest they can compete with Pep Guardiola’s title-chasers at Old Trafford on Wednesday. It was as bad a performance as there has been since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013 — and that’s saying something.
6 — The United manager made three changes to his team, bringing back Nemanja Matic after injury and handing starts to Romelu Lukaku and Diogo Dalot, but it didn’t really matter. Ultimately, he is only as good as his players, and they delivered a shambolic display on a day when they were under pressure to come up with a positive result. The scale of the Norwegian’s task at Old Trafford was laid bare in the Goodison Park sunshine.
GK David De Gea, 3 — After his nightmare in Barcelona, he made a good low save from Richarlison to keep the game goalless but should have done better with Gylfi Sigurdsson’s strike from distance and his punch straight to Lucas Digne for the third goal.
DF Victor Lindelof, 4 — Started at right-back but moved to centre-back after the half-time reshuffle. Pulled all over the place by an Everton side who looked like scoring every time they went forward.
DF Diogo Dalot, 3 — Asked to play at left-back in the absence of Luke Shaw but didn’t manage to get close enough to Richarlison when the Brazilian’s acrobatic volley flew past De Gea.
DF Phil Jones, 4 — Started at centre-back but was hooked at half-time with United 2-0 down. No worse than anyone else but did take a knock in the first half.
DF Chris Smalling, 3 — Usually reliable in the air, but he got out-jumped by Dominic Calvert-Lewin to flick on Digne’s long throw for Richarlison to score Everton’s first.
MF Nemanja Matic, 3 — Making his first start for nearly a month, he gave Sigurdsson far too much space to cut inside and smash Everton’s second past De Gea.
MF Fred, 4 — Clattered twice in the first half by Idrissa Gueye, who breezed past him during a quick break for Everton’s second. Replaced at half-time.
MF Paul Pogba, 3 — The Frenchman was pushed so far forward at times that he was almost playing as a No. 10 behind Lukaku but turned into a very expensive passenger.
FW Anthony Martial, 2 — Awful against Barcelona on Tuesday but outdid himself here. Woeful performance, and if anyone needs a reality check, it’s him. Embarrassingly bad.
FW Marcus Rashford, 3 — Had United’s best chance of the first half but his effort looped over. Never in the game and was lucky to last 75 minutes.
FW Romelu Lukaku, 4 — Back in the team after missing out in Barcelona. He ran around, which is more than can be said for some of his teammates.
DF Ashley Young, 3 — Left chasing shadows when Walcott made it 4-0.
MF Scott McTominay, 4 — Tried hard but it was already too late.
MF Andreas Pereira, N/R — Didn’t factor in much.