Manchester United Embarrassed By A Problem That Just Won’t Go

In the aftermath of Everton’s victory over Manchester United, there was only one incident people wanted to discuss.

Barely 10 minutes had elapsed when Michael Keane and Idrissa Gueye had a disagreement that turned physical.

Keane started shoving Gueye, who responded by slapping his team-mate in the face.

Rules state that regardless of the victim, any player deemed guilty of violent conduct should be issued a red card.

So, for the first time in nearly two decades, a Premier League side was reduced to 10 men for an internal team fight.

Remarkably, the sending off proved not to be the start of a collapse but an impressive away victory for Everton. The Toffees subsequently took the lead and held on to the end of the game.

So rather than chastising his players, manager David Moyes actually praised the passion on display after the game.

“I like my players fighting each other, if someone didn’t do the right action,” he said.

“If you want that toughness and resilience to get a result, you want someone to act on it.

“If nothing happened [no red card], I don’t think anyone in the stadium would have been surprised. I thought the referee could have taken a bit longer to think about it.

“I was told that [by] the rules of the game that if you slap your own player, you could be in trouble.”

The ruggedness of Everton’s display was in stark contrast to the meek way in which United succumbed to the defeat.

It was a lifeless postgame media debrief for Manchester United. Coach Ruben Amorim also praised the energy behind the fight.

“Fighting is not a bad thing, fighting doesn’t mean that they don’t like each other, fighting is that you lose the ball, I will fight you because we will suffer a goal, that was my feeling when I watch,” he said when asked if he was embarrassed to lose to a team that had a self-inflicted disadvantage.

“I don’t agree with that sending off, so I’m going to say that.

“It was we can fight with the team-mate, I know it’s violent conduct, the referee explains.

“I don’t agree with that. I hope my players when they lose the ball, they fight each other. Now, they cannot get sent off. But that is a good feeling, not a bad feeling.

“Again, my players show in many games that we can do it. Today, we didn’t, I need to help them, we are going to help them, we are going be better in the future, and, today, we are really frustrated.”

The game represented something of a milestone for Amorim, who has now clocked up a year in charge of the Red Devils.

In recent weeks, United had turned a corner, achieving significantly better results since the dismal 3-1 defeat to Brentford at the end of September.

But the sluggish display against 10-man Everton was a reminder that this United side is far from the finished article.

Asked whether he didn’t have the players to deliver the intensity he demanded week in and week out, Amorim suggested it was still a work in progress.

“We need to find a way, so it’s not that we can,” he explained.

“We need to be ready for these kind of games, 20 minutes in the game, red card for the opponent, we need to win this game no matter what, no matter the situation.

“So it’s a lot of frustration, but, again, we need to… I have that feeling we have a lot to do, and we have a lot to do, and we are going to do it.”

The inability to grasp opportunities to punish teams when there is an opening is not new; there have been repeated occasions when the side seems to lack the mental strength to win the game.

Asked specifically about this lack of cutting edge, Amorim fell back on his most trusted explanation: time and practice are needed.

“I feel afraid of returning of this feeling of last season, that is my biggest concern,” he added.

“So we need to work together, we are going to work together, I’m not going.

“The players are trying but we need to be better. We have training tomorrow and we are going to prepare the next one.”

The problem, as journalist Ryan O’Hanlon pointed out in a column for ESPN, is that the situation with Amorim remains essentially unchanged from when he walked through the door 12 months ago.

He remains a man stubbornly wedded to a singular tactical strategy, and United is a work in progress, trying to achieve that vision.

O’Hanlon wrote: “There hasn’t been enough improvement — especially when you try to disentangle changes in personnel from genuine manager-driven gains — to say it’s worth reshaping the squad in Amorim’s vision.

“That’s especially true when doing so means that you’d have to reshape the squad again if he doesn’t work out.”

A stability of sorts has been achieved, but it is far from the vision that most United fans desire.

Hanlon added, “Amorim does deserve some credit. He has guided United to a place that I really can’t remember them reaching.

“They’re not a complete disaster, where everything is on fire and everyone’s job is at risk, every weekend. And they’re also not convincing anyone that Manchester United actually are back, ready to challenge for the major trophies that they always used to win.

“Manchester United are neither good, nor bad now. What Amorim has made them is … average.”

You can see why a little fight, even between teammates, might sound appealing in such circumstances.