Manchester United’s hopes of a top four finish this term is fast fading away as they threw away a winning position in the dying minutes at Goodison Park to walk away with just a point.
The match was marred by some poor decisions from the referee early on. Gareth Barry did not receive any booking for arriving late on Zlatan Ibrahimovic and then Marcos Rojo received only a yellow card after his two-footed foul on Idriss Gueye. Both the teams were struggling to get going in the first half an hour as neither of them could build any clear-cut chance.
After the slow start, Zlatan Ibrahimovic finally opened the scoring when he lobbed the ball over the goalkeeper from outside the box. However, the goal could have been avoided had the Everton goalkeeper not made a poor judgement of charging outside of his box. Ander Herrera came agonisingly close to double his team’s lead but his shot hit the post. With only five minutes left in the game, Jose Mourinho, who was making a comeback to the dugout after serving a one-game ban, introduced Marouane Fellaini and the decision completely changed the course of the match. The Belgian international, who was making his 100th United appearance, fouled Idrissa Gueye and Leighton Baines confidently converted from the spot.
Jose Mourinho’s men have now only won two of their past 11 league matches. They are now nine points adrift of Manchester City in fourth place and 13 points shy of leaders, Chelsea.
Here is how Twitter reacted to the match:
https://twitter.com/UNILADFooty/status/805470261357268996
Jose Mourinho is in the league of Moyes and Van Gaal #EVEMUN he's lost it ?
— Jonathan Saxby (@saxbyjonathan) December 4, 2016
https://twitter.com/siemu362/status/805469297153871876
https://twitter.com/Sabrina27590/status/805469275255427074
What on earth is the thinking behind bringing Fellaini on there? Mourinho can piss off. He has lost it. #MUFC #EVEMUN
— Tony Murphy (@AnthonyMurf11) December 4, 2016
Wasn't sure if it was Everton or Manchester United booing Fellaini when he came on.
Now we know.
— Football F*ck Ups (@FootbaIIFckUps) December 4, 2016
https://twitter.com/Kudd3lmuddel/status/805469298496065537
Zlatan best keep his nasty Swedish heels away from our boy Seamus. That fella is going to lead us to World Cup glory. #EVEMUN
— Paddy Power (@paddypower) December 4, 2016
Zlatan Ibrahimovic: No player has scored more goals from outside the box in the Premier League this season than Ibrahimovic (3) #EVEMUN
— WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) December 4, 2016
Henrikh Mkhitaryan is easily the most creative and enjoyable player to watch at Manchester United. Should cement his place in the team now.
— Liam Canning (@LiamPaulCanning) December 4, 2016
United used to be the team that scored later goals. Now they're just the team that concedes them #manutd #everton #EVEMUN #EPL
— Martin Hodgson (@Hodgson86) December 4, 2016
Mourinho loves to whine about Van Gaal's philosophy. What about his shitty bus-parking bullshit philosophy? #EVEMUN
— Shaantanu Singh (@OleBallEnjoyer) December 4, 2016
That Rojo challenge was the definition of a reckless, two-footed challenge. They could use it to teach at referee school.
— Andrew Das (@AndrewDasNYT) December 4, 2016
How on earth did Rojo escape red?
— Nana Yaw AMPONSAH (@YSpecz) December 4, 2016