Man Utd might not have been the ‘machines’ or ‘robots’ that Erik ten Hag has asked them be, especially in front of goal, but the Red Devils eased the manager’s fears over their mentality…
Manchester United faced many questions, all of them justified, over the character last weekend after falling short in every department at Newcastle. Six days later, the Red Devils have redeemed themselves and proved they deserve Erik ten Hag’s trust.
Following a slender win over Brentford on Wednesday, United put Everton to the sword with a display that showcased many more of the positive traits that saw them ascend up the Premier League table and deep into every cup competition they’ve competed in.
Such success is making huge demands of Ten Hag’s squad and there were signs prior to the Newcastle embarrassment that United were wobbling. Anfield was excruciating and St James’ was equally concerning given such an inadequate level of application as the home straight comes into sight.
Ten Hag acknowledged that his players are human, even if he would prefer them to be less fallible. “We have to act as robots, we have to act as machines,” he said before Sean Dyche turned up on the Dutchman’s door step for the first time. And there was certainly a greater relentlessness and resilience about United. If there were concerns over an attitude problem – a familiar failing at Old Trafford for too long – they were eased by a dominant, high-energy performance.
So dominant were United, they should have been out of sight long before the half-time whistle. The expectation of Everton was of a stoic, stubborn performance but they allowed their hosts an effort almost once every two minutes during a first period in which United had more shots than any other Premier League team has managed in any half this season.
21 – Manchester United have had 21 shots so far against Everton, their most on record (since 2003-04) in the first half of a single Premier League game, and the most by any side in the opening 45 minutes of a match this season. Peppered. pic.twitter.com/NGkk8uyLPS
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) April 8, 2023
And United didn’t have to dazzle the Everton defence to get through or behind them. So often, all it took was a simple long ball under which the Toffees struggled to turn in time to deny Marcus Rashford and Antony multiple runs on goal. The first recurring theme of the first half was Everton defenders stretching and stumbling in vain towards their…
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