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Idrissa Gueye and warm feelings of a Keane-related stramash at Old Trafford

THE FIRST RULE OF FIGHT CLUB …

When Jordan Pickford’s time as England and Everton’s eternal No 1 comes to its end, a career in peacekeeping, or failing that, manning the doors back in Sunderland, may await. As Idrissa Gueye and Michael Keane, teammates let us recall, went for each other at Old Trafford in full hold-me-back, hold-me-back mode, in stepped Pickford’s strong hands. Too late, it turned out. By then, Tony Harrington, the referee, had reached for his red card. Harrington had seen Gueye slap Keane, and the PGMO (no L these days, all you pedants) doesn’t agree with that in the workplace.

All rather negligible, less the type of dry slap Frank Butcher used to threaten any EastEnders tormentors with than a playground, petulant clip, something and nothing. Still, the blow had landed, and so the video assistant could do little more than agree with Harrington’s call. Compared to Lee Bowyer v Kieron Dyer 2005, Graeme Le Saux v David Batty 1995 or even, in 1993, Steve McManaman taking one in the chops from Bruce Grobbelaar and landing one back, there hadn’t been too much in it. Though had Pickford, Wearside’s answer to Jane Fonda, not stepped in, it could have escalated. The red mist was at its thickest between Keane and Gueye once the decision had been taken. Thus, Gueye became the first Premier League player dismissed for clouting a teammate since Stoke’s Ricardo Fuller was red-carded for lamping Andy Griffin in 2008, a forgotten, underground classic of the genre.

How best to defuse the situation? Everton found the answer by beating Manchester United with a display of calm, measured defending. Those Newcastle, Blackburn, Liverpool and Stoke teams all lost. David Moyes was able to fully exercise the “men, at it” school of justification. “I like my players fighting each other,” he roared. “If you want that toughness and resilience to get a result, you want someone to act on it.” He had intensely enjoyed winning at the place where his name entered an infamy that no longer holds. All those who have managed United since wound up just as hollowed out and insensible. As for an apologetic Gueye, he received a round of applause for his post-match declaration of regret.

Meanwhile, following a truly incompetent display of exerting a numerical advantage over an opponent, a familiar gloom descended on Old Trafford. Here was further evidence Ruben Amorim will stick to that 3-4-3 formation – five at the back, in truth, for most of the game – in whatever circumstance his team finds itself. United, when they might be expected to batter down the door, made only polite enquiries that Everton, with Keane particularly outstanding and Pickford equal to the increasingly desperate potshots aimed at the goal, dealt with expertly. “We need to be perfect to win games,” groaned Amorim. “We were not perfect today.” After stating the bleeding obvious, he offered Everton sympathy for the red card decision. “Fighting is not a bad thing.” As long as it is done in a 3-4-3 formation.

LIVE ON BIG WEBSITE

Jon Scott Murray at 8pm GMT for Bigger Cup updates on Chelsea 3-3 Barcelona, while Rob Smyth will be taking Marseille 1-0 Newcastle and Manchester City 3-1 Bayer Leverkusen into his clockwatch at the same time.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“I was taking 38 pills per day. I maybe played more than 700 professional games, and when people ask: ‘how many games did you play where you felt 100% fit?’ I would probably say maybe five. Throughout my career, I was constantly reaching for painkillers – it was part of the job. At that level, sometimes even if you’re injured, you don’t have a choice but to play” – Patrice Evra reveals how reliant he was on medication to get through matches in his playing career and how his experience prompted him to invest in an anti-inflammatory product derived from turmeric.

FOOTBALL DAILY LETTERS

I see Spurs have signed the perfect ‘global partner’ for fans who found themselves pulling their hair out as the fourth Arsenal goal went in on Sunday: Turkish hair-transplant company Elithair. Sometimes, you just have to look in the mirror and acknowledge the bald truth of your shortcomings” – Justin Kavanagh.

Re: Patrick Connolly (yesterday’s Football Daily letters). Mate being responsible for a player not being able to perform at their best? I didn’t even know Ange Postecoglou had managed the Portland Timbers” – Derek McGee.

Will Leo Messi and Inter Miami winning a playoff game mean they will now be invited to participate in the World Cup finals next summer?” – Martyn Shapter.

Send letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s prizeless letter o’ the day winner is … Justin Kavanagh. Terms and conditions for our competitions, when we run them, can be viewed here.

RECOMMENDED LOOKING

Here’s David Squires on the north London derby that was.

RECOMMENDED WATCHING

The Football Weekly podcast is now available to watch in high-definition video. Well, on YouTube. Get viewing here!

REAL PROBLEMS?

What makes a crisis club? Compare and contrast the fortunes of Arne Slot and Xabi Alonso, two leading contenders for Jürgen Klopp’s old job not long ago. While Slot’s Liverpool sail close to the winds of “bad champions”, Real Madrid are, it says here, top of La Liga having beaten Barcelona only a few weeks ago. And yet panic is setting in. That’s what drawing with Elche and Rayo Vallecano can do, plus speculation that Viní Jr wants out unless he gets a Cristiano Ronaldo-sized pay packet. Alonso, meanwhile, is depicted as too tactical and cold, nothing like kindly uncle predecessor Don Carlo. There’s a fresh wave of knack and illness, too, with goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois ruled out with stomach virus-gah and centre-backs Éder Militão and Dean Huijsen surfing the treatment table for the Bigger Cup game with Olympiakos. Will Alonso survive? Can Madrid fight through such pain and misery? Football Daily is on tenterhooks here.

MOVING THE GOALPOSTS

Sarah Rendell speaks to an expert about the increasing research into ACL injuries in the women’s game and how the “notch” could be key to limiting future ruptures.

NEWS, BITS AND BOBS

Fifa’s Saudi love-in continues, after the creation of a partnership with a government agency and a pledge to invest $1bn to fund the development of football infrastructure across the globe. We’re saying nothing.

The key to happiness is leaving Manchester United on loan for Barcelona, according to Hansi Flick, who is loving the vibes he’s getting off a smiley Marcus Rashford.

England goalkeeper Hannah Hampton has been voted BBC Women’s Footballer of the Year for 2025. Mary Earps is the only other keeper to win the gong, back in 2023.

Eddie Howe is hoping Newcastle can banish their travel sickness when they lock horns with Marseille at a lively Stade Vélodrome. “These [difficult away] games will be the acid test for us,” he blathered. “Marseille will be really tough but we think we can rise to the challenge.”

Florian Wirtz sat out Liverpool training and is set to miss the Bigger Cup match at home with PSV that may send the Anfield Crisisometer whizzing in one direction or another.

And that loud sigh you just heard, is Thomas Frank digesting news that Ousmane Dembélé is fit enough to play for PSG against Spurs. “He’s trained well,” trilled Luis Enrique. “We’re more ready [than we were in Super Cup] to be a dominant team and to win the match.”

RECOMMENDED SUBSCRIBING

Prefer pictures to words? Well, Big Website has a brand new weekly newsletter, highlighting the very best sport photographs around. You can subscribe here. But please do still stick with your faithful Football Daily, too.

STILL WANT MORE?

Arsenal v Bayern offers a stark reminder of the shift in football’s power balance, writes Sean Ingle, who remembers this and this and this.

Marseille captain Leonardo Balerdi get his chat on with George Boxall about his difficult start in Ligue 1 and hopes of winning the Geopolitics World Cup.

Estêvão v Lamine Yamal: it’s on! Jacob Steinberg on the mouthwatering meeting of teenage prodigies when Barcelona visit Chelsea.

And here’s Sid Lowe on excellent Elche and a gut punch.

RECOMMENDED PLAYING

The Guardian has kicked off a new chapter in puzzles with the launch of its first daily football game, On the ball. It is now live in the app for both iOS and Android … so what are you waiting for? Get stuck in!

MEMORY LANE

Tuesday marks 20 years since the death at 59 of George Best, perhaps the finest footballer the United Kingdom ever produced, certainly the modern game’s first superstar. Best’s decline and fall collected many victims, alcoholism destroying his career to shroud his brilliance as a player. Here, in March 1968, the year he won European Footballer of the Year, he is pictured taking on the Manchester City defence. City, winning 3-1 at Old Trafford, would claim the First Division title that year while United lifted the European Cup. Best was just 22, but at his peak; there would be a long way down.

RECOMMENDED SHOPPING

Need a gift for that special football-obsessed person in your life? Well the Big Website Bookshop has loads of great reads available. You can even just treat yourself. Get shopping here!

PRETTY GOOD LOOKALIKE, TO BE FAIR

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