Amorim and ’embarrassing’ Man Utd return to the doldrums vs ten-man Everton | OneFootball

A porous midfield, weak defending, questionable goalkeeping, predictable and repetitive attacking patterns, toothless forwards and 3-4-2-1 doubts. Welcome back, Manchester United.

It wasn’t Graeme Le Saux vs David Batty and frankly pathetic in comparison to the shirt-ripping majesty of Kieron Dyer vs Lee Bowyer, which meant that rather than being treated to a joyous “they’re having a fight?!” line on commentary, everyone but referee Tony Harrington was initially confused as to exactly why Idrissa Gueye had been given his marching orders at Old Trafford.

We’re absolutely here for a footballer being sent off for slapping one of their own teammates. It’s far more gratifying than them striking a member of the opposition, not least in this instance because we were treated to David Moyes’ wonderful post-match revelation that “I actually like my players fighting”. Lovely stuff.

It’s a weird rule though. Gueye wouldn’t have been sent off for an accidental studs-up challenge over the ball on Keane, for example. Nor for denying him a goalscoring opportunity.

It felt like a crushing blow at the time for Everton, who had been very, very comfortable up to that point in the 13th minute against a Manchester United side who had offered little but have looked like a semi-serious football team for the last couple of months.

An attacking midfielder finding space behind the United double-pivot, taking advantage of some weak defending and then scoring past a limp-wristed goalkeeper who failed to get off the ground is vintage pre-October 2025 Manchester United.

Quite how Everton, a side hardly famed for their ability to pop the ball around with 11 men, albeit with an uptick in possession this season under Moyes, were able to open up that space for and find Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall without a Manchester United player getting anywhere near any of them in the build-up was again, classic rock-bottom stuff from the Red Devils.

Bruno Fernandes was weak, Leny Yoro weaker still and goalkeeper extraordinaire Senne Lammens got his timing all wrong to make what was a half-decent turn, touch and shot from Dewsbury-Hall look like the work of a world-class playmaker.

And it had been coming. Not because of any sort of barrage on Lammens’ goal from the visitors, but because United afforded them absurdly easy possession, sleeping through 15 minutes after Gueye’s dismissal. After which, significantly, David Moyes didn’t feel the need to sacrifice one of his forwards to replace one of the Premier League’s foremost midfield destroyers, such was the lack of threat from the home side.

An increase in Manchester United pressure in the second half came mainly in the form of delivering crosses towards two Everton centre-backs famously accomplished at dealing with balls in the air and two or three United players, whom Gary Neville listed one after the other with a “can’t head it” suffix.

Without Benjamin Sesko and Matheus Cunha through injury, Amorim turned to Mason Mount, Kobbie Mainoo and Diogo Dalot to change the game in United’s favour. But he steadfastly refused to even tweak his much-maligned system, to Neville’s bemusement.

“Still didn’t win the first ball, or the second – embarrassing,” Neville said as Thierno Barry set the season-record for aerial balls won (14) from a Jordan Pickford long ball as United lined up with their customary five in defence. But the majority of the co-commentator’s wrath was reserved for Luke Shaw.

He’s got one pace, summed up by Neville when he spotted him “ambling forward” from left centre-back, rather than bombing on as you might expect when marking no-one for 80 minutes of a game of football. “What he’s doing is a waste of time,” Neville added of a footballer who did once, admittedly a while ago, get to the byline and deliver crosses.

Yoro has never been that guy and that was made very clear by his staunch refusal to cross the ball from the inside right position on any of the 427 occasions he was handed the opportunity.

Pickford produced one sublime save to deny Joshua Zirkzee, who fluffed another couple of headers, and Bruno Fernandes missed a clearcut chance for United. But while it felt frantic, that energy came from United, not Everton, whose defenders dealt expertly with the balls into the box as Dewsbury-Hall, Jack Grealish and Iliman Ndiaye worked tirelessly to drag them up the pitch, win free-kicks and relieve pressure whenever possible.

A brilliant performance from Everton and a significant reality check for Amorim, whose greatest concern will be how easily his Manchester United side reverted to their 2025 norm, while very familiar frustrations over the manager’s refusal to adjust his system no matter the circumstances will rear their ugly but entirely reasonable heads in the aftermath.