Toffees fail in cup quarter-final

Match Report: Everton 0-2 Manchester United

By Matt Townsend: On The Banks Of The Royal Blue Mersey Reporter

Everton were beaten 2-0 at Goodison Park last night and are out of the Carabao Cup after a tired and disappointing performance.

The Blues never looked in this game and even though they had a good spell in the first half and briefly threatened, it was United who always looked the more likely to win.
Carlo Ancelotti decided to ditch Tom Davies from his midfield even though he’d had a solid match against Arsenal and instead Andre Gomes got the nod to play alongside Abdoulaye Doucoure and Gylfi Sigurdsson.

This weakened the team’s midfield as Gomes and Sigurdsson simply don’t offer enough pace and energy as a pair although the Icelander was probably Everton’s best player on the night.

The manager also opted to bring Seamus Coleman in at right-back and dropped Mason Holgate altogether, a strange decision. If he didn’t want Holgate at right-back then why not put him in midfield where he has played before and a position in which he could offer more bite and defensive cover than Gomes.

United started much the better of the two teams but after a wobbly start Everton did have their chances later in the half, with Sigurdsson particularly threatening.

But the game was goalless at half time and in truth neither team had been that great. In the second half the Blues were largely second best especially after losing Richarlison with suspected concussion after a clash with Eric Bailly.

The match looked set for extra time and penalties but then Edison Cavani who’d led the United line well (although he could have been sent off for a challenge on Yerry Mina) scored with a superb left-foot drive.

As the Toffees pressed for an equaliser they were caught on the counter-attack and Anthony Martial scored the winner.

The fact that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer could bring on players of the quality of Martial and Marcus Rashford while Ancelotti had to turn to Cenk Tosun says everything you need to know about the respective strength of the two squads.

That together with a mistaken team selection and the Blues ever-present lack of self-belief that we’ve seen so often in these sorts of games, were Everton’s undoing.
So that’s it and another chance to end the Toffees quarter-of-a-century trophy drought has gone.