Manchester United stunned by Everton’s resilience
Everton shocked Manchester United when they scored two goals in the injury time to seal a 3-3 draw at Goodison Park. Manchester United who came into this match without their talisman Wayne Rooney suffered two goals in the dying minutes to lose their early grip of the match.
Sir Alex Ferguson dropped Wayne Rooney for this match as English forward did not even cared to travel to his old club. It also ruined Rooney’s chance to celebrate his 700th Premier League match in his hometown. Rooney’s exclusion came after news regarding his private life was leaked to media which took the English public by storm.
Rooney’s presence was felt earlier in the match when Everton took the early lead through Steven Pienaar’s goal. Arteta piled further pressure on Red Devils as he continuously pressurized Edwin Van der Sar through his free-kicks. However, it took Old Trafford outfit 15 minutes to absorb pressure and get back into the match.
Ferguson was active early in the match as he shouted orders from technical area which clearly showed his exasperation. John O’Shea was the first one to attack Everton’s goal as his incisive drive took Tim Howard by surprise. United pushed Everton defence as they regularly attacked them through well-built moves. Visitors were finally awarded when two minutes from half-time Fletcher levelled the score through Nani’s clever cross.
It was clear that Everton was to be tested by United in second half and it took Manchester United three minutes to unleash their first attack. Nani’s corner created confusion in the Everton’s box which allowed Vidic to head United’s second goal of the match. Manchester United further established its control on the match when brilliant play from Berbatov and Scholes created third goal for visitors. Scholes picked Bulgarian wide on the right as his balanced first touch allowed him to dodge Sylvain Distin before smashing the ball into the goal.
However, more was yet to come as Cahill spearheaded Everton’s last effort to salvage something out of the match. Cahill first scored himself form Baines' cross before setting up Arteta to score the equalizing goal. Cahill and his team was more than surprised as they took a point from clutches of defeat. Talking to reporters after the match, Australian Cahill said, “To be honest it's quite unreal but I think if we look at the chances we gave away and the chances we missed it's probably a fair result in the end. It was a tough game, really difficult. It just shows the fight. We've tried and tried the last couple of games and it hasn't happened. Today it was a great result.”
This match has resemblance of Manchester United victory over their rivals’ Manchester City at Old Trafford last season when they scored victory in the last minute of the match through Michael Owen. In a similar fashion Everton Boss David Moyes was furious at the end when referee Martin Atkinson blew the whistle when his team architected a counter-attack in the last minute. Commenting on it, Cahill said, “There's always ifs and buts. It would have been nice for a bit of commonsense at the end, to see whether (Edwin) Van der Sar would have saved it or whether we would have scored, but it happens.''
Meanwhile, Sir Alex Ferguson dismissed reports that he dropped Wayne Rooney due to his recently published scandal. According to him, he rested Rooney after he recently featured in England’s win over Switzerland in Basel. He said: “Everyone has assumed Wayne will play because of how bravely he performed in Basel. But playing hundreds of miles away in Switzerland is a lot different to stepping out at Goodison Park, where there will be a lot of hatred and abuse flying around - all of it directed at Wayne.”
However, Manchester United is boosted after the return of Rio Ferdinand to fitness. Ferdinand was injured during England’s World campaign.
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