A crazy game, with some truly awful defending from both sides. Everton started without a recognized striker, United with only Berbatov up top, who, as we shall see, was not really playing in the role his number (9) might have suggested.
It should be noted that United only fielded three players younger than 28 (Evans (22), Fletcher (26) and Nani (23)). Ferguson, who has lost a lot of quality over the past couple of seasons, is clearly relying on experience to get him through this season with some silverware to boot. That old heads don't always stay calm under pressure and prevail was all too clear at the end of this game.
A first surprise, perhaps, is the continued inclusion of Gary Neville. Rafael had a couple of brilliant performances towards the end of last season, but since his foolish red card against Bayern München in last year's Champions League, Ferguson has preferred Neville. Neville is used to getting a lot of stick, often unfairly: speed has never been his forte, but his positioning and tackling are still good. He played this game in a similar role to Giovanni van Bronckhorst in Holland's successful World Cup run: stick close to your man, don't allow him time and space to turn. Van Bronckhorst shackled his direct opponent more often than not in this way, and Neville did exactly the same with Pienaar in this game:
Neville (yellow) sticks close and denies Pienaar space. Since Evra doesn't do the same, this requires enormous awareness and discipline from the right winger (Nani) and the right centre back (Vidic).
Pienaar has dropped back into his own half, and even there, Neville has followed him
Pienaar, despite his goal, didn't have a great game, so fair play to Ferguson and Neville, who dealt with the very real threat of the South African well.
Man United's best man was Darren Fletcher, whose importance to this very workmanlike United side cannot be overstated. He is very similar to Frank Lampard in that he times his infiltration into the opponent's defence exceptionally well, but he gives so much solidity and steel to the United midfield that his absence is almost always keenly felt in defence as much as attack. David Moyes recognized this threat, and put Johnny Heitinga in front of his defence to deal with it. He was supposed to shadow Fletcher, but the fact that the Scot scored a goal from one of his infiltrations and that he caused confusion whenever he stormed forward indicates that the Dutchman didn't stick to his task very well:
Heitinga (pink) sticking close to Fletcher
Berbatov posed another problem to the Everton defence: he played the false nine role perfectly. He dropped back into midfield almost from the start, and neither Jagielka nor Distin marked him. This gave the Bulgarian all kinds of space to profit from, either by playing as a sort of playmaker or by running at the centre backs:
Berbatov (red) dropping back. Fletcher is bottom right, the furthest man forward for United. This almost reciprocal relation (Berbatov dropping back into midfield, Fletcher moving forward into attack) between the two was very effective.
Berbatov with way too much space to run at Distin (left) and Jagielka (right). Notice the gap between the two Everton centre backs, with Distin pulled towards the United infiltrating midfielder, and Jagielka struggling to close the space.
These tactical tricks gave United the chance to cruise past the Merseyside outfit. The fact that they didn't must be of some concern to Ferguson. This freak result may be just that, but considering the fact that United gave away a goal to Fulham in the last minute in their last game as well, Ferguson will be putting the United team through their paces on the training field in the coming weeks.
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