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| Monday, December 12, 2005 |
| Man U draws with Everton 1-1. |
Premiership Scores - Sunday, December 11, 2005
Man Utd 1 Final
Everton 1
Man Utd
1
Final - Old Trafford Attendance: 67,831
Man Utd 1 - 1 Everton
Ryan Giggs (15)
James McFadden (7)
Everton
1
Preview Match Gamecast Report
Updated: Dec. 11, 2005, 6:18 PM UK
Man Utd 1-1 Everton
PA
The pressure on beleaguered Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson continues to mount after his side were booed off following a 1-1 home draw with Everton which virtually ended their Barclays Premiership title hopes.
MikeEgerton/Empics
The Neville brothers meet at Old Trafford.
Bundled out of Europe by Benfica in midweek, United's inability to find a winner after Ryan Giggs had levelled James McFadden's early strike leaves them a massive 12 points adrift of runaway leaders Chelsea.
The result exposed the hollow words of Ferguson, who claimed his side would respond to their Champions League exit in the right way and those of the Scot's trusted assistant Carlos Queiroz, who insisted on Friday United would still enjoy a `great' season.
From this position, it is difficult to see how that can happen without major investment during the January transfer window, with a central midfield player and a defender who can prize some #30million performances out of Rio Ferdinand so essential Ferguson's job could hinge on it.
Many comparisons have been made in recent days between Ferguson's great United sides and the present-day squad, not just in terms of talent but temperament too.
Red Devils' comebacks down the years are the stuff of legend, the high point undoubtedly coming in the biggest game of all at the Nou Camp in 1999.
It is the memories of those kind of stirring evenings which made the shot-less second half fall from grace in Lisbon look so poor.
Yet if Ferguson's current side was as lacking in character as many pundits have suggested, when McFadden fizzed his seventh minute shot past Edwin van der Sar, United would surely have crumpled.
Instead, they responded with some of the best football seen at Old Trafford this season.
The two often repeated sayings about luck are that you make your own and it evens itself out over the course of a season. Both may well be true, but the points at which good fortune rears its head can be crucial - and for most of the opening period, United did not have any.
Once Giggs had exploited some shameful flat-footedness in the heart of Everton's defence by drawing the hosts level when he romped beyond the Toffees' rearguard to stab home Paul Scholes' long ball, the hosts took total control.
Time after time, Ferguson's side were one touch or one bounce of the ball away from getting a clear sight of goal but on virtually every occasion, the ball ended up with a blue shirt.
When United did carve out an opening, and Wayne Rooney, desperate to excel against his old club, was usually the architect, they found Richard Wright in top form.
At one stage of his career, Wright was viewed as an England `keeper of the future. These days, his rare first-team appearances come only when Nigel Martyn is absent, as the veteran currently is with a groin injury.
But, eager to make a point, Wright saved well from Gary Neville, Rooney and Giggs, in the absence of suspended striker Ruud van Nistelrooy, United's most effective attacking player.
Not that United were the only side to press forward. Everton could easily have been in front before they actually were when Van der Sar drove a clearance straight at Leon Osman.
The rebound dropped perfectly for James Beattie but, with only Mikael Silvestre to beat, he volleyed straight at the Frenchman.
While United had clearly been the better side when the opening period drew to a close, the second half was far more even.
Wright did make a good save to deny Giggs and an even better one to turn away a Rooney shot that had bounced goalwards off Phil Neville, but Everton were their equals and could lay claim to the best chance of the lot when Simon Davies broke forward after robbing Scholes.
Davies calmly took sole defender Kieran Richardson out of the game with a neat pass to McFadden, who strode into the box but saw his fierce shot turned away superbly by Van der Sar.
By that stage, Cristiano Ronaldo, who lost his place following his miserable return to Portugal, had been introduced but, yet again, the winger made no impact.
In fairness, Ronaldo was not on his own. It is not so much character United lack these days, it is belief and another miserable result nearly became calamitous when Silvestre forced Van der Sar to scurry back and collect a cushioned header which so nearly ended up in his own net. |
posted by Lawrence Yash Lee @ Monday, December 12, 2005   |
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