Everton FC correspondent Joe Thomas reflects on the significance and importance of the Blues' big victory at Old Trafford over Manchester United
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Jack Grealish of Everton celebrate during the Premier League win over Manchester United. Photo by Richard Sellers/Sportsphoto/Allstar via Getty Images
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Jack Grealish of Everton celebrate during the Premier League win over Manchester United. Photo by Richard Sellers/Sportsphoto/Allstar via Getty Images
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This season of transition at Everton needed a symbolic victory to showcase that progress is being made. Now the club, supporters and David Moyes have it.
The win at Manchester United was remarkable in so many ways. Before kick-off the trends of decades of pain at that end of the East Lancs left expectations muted as a few thousand Blues made the trip to Old Trafford.
Even as the once mighty Red Devils had crumbled over the past decade, they had continued to dismiss with relative comfort. Recent years have showcased a resilience and determination within the Blues dressing room, a psychological strength that has ultimately saved the club from relegation across too many battles for survival.
But no matter how strong-willed or organised or belligerent the team in front of Jordan Pickford has been, they have repeatedly endured nightmares at the Theatre of Dreams - including the 4-0 drubbing under Sean Dyche almost 12 months ago, Ruben Amorim’s first home league game in charge.
Like at Anfield, Stamford Bridge, the Etihad and the Emirates, Old Trafford has been the scene of too few happy days for too long. Until now.
There were signs this season could be different. I have maintained in these pages since the Wolves win at the end of August that I believed something would change this year.
I wrote that Everton fans should “buckle up” after that enthralling win because this would be a campaign of new thrills after seasons of turgid struggle.
This was never a claim the season would be perfect, that bad runs would be avoided or chastening defeats consigned to the past. This is a season of immense change at the club and patience was, and still will be, required. The win on Monday night does not change that.
It is clear, however, this squad has a layer of quality that sets it apart from its predecessors. My sense has been that, while it might not click all the time, there would be the odd occasion when Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Iliman Ndiaye and Jack Grealish would click together in an irresistible fashion. They gave me hope they were capable of producing a match-defining display that ended a terrible run on a ‘big’ away day.
In the second half at Liverpool they showed they were capable of challenging the title holders in a game that was ruined by a miserable start. Then at Manchester City they got the beginning right but missed the early chances that could have led to an impressive result.
But it came on Monday. As it transpired, the win at Man United was built on guts and passion and came against a backdrop of early chaos as club captain Seamus Coleman suffered an early injury before Idrissa Gueye and Michael Keane combusted, the former being sent off.
It was nevertheless made possible by that additional guile and intelligence offered by the likes of Grealish and Dewsbury-Hall. Together, their ability to hold onto possession, to evade challenges when they wanted and buy much-needed fouls when required was the foundation for this famous victory.
Everton can take heart from this in so many ways - for true, sustainable progress to be made it has to be built on solid foundations. This display showed that the addition of quality in the summer did not come at the expense of the beating heart that just about carried this club to survival.
The win at Old Trafford will not necessarily be a turning point for this season. The Blues have a good squad that is growing in strength but it remains one that is newly put together, has limitations in key areas and is still relatively light after years of underspending.
The loss of Gueye did not prove critical on Monday night. But it exposes the lack of depth in Everton’s midfield ahead of three tough league games and a month earlier than Gueye and Ndiaye’s departure for the Africa Cup of Nations was due to weaken the group left on Merseyside.
This is a competitive Premier League in which the margins between many are fine. Results and short spells of form will take on an exaggerated importance, as was clear heading into the Fulham game.
The Blues had not won in weeks but their performances, while producing legitimate frustrations in the players and, at times, Moyes, contained real positives. The pressure that mounted before that game was, to me at least, an over-reaction.
It was a reminder that nothing comes easy, too. That will continue to be a trend this season and there will be times when Everton will find that out the hard way.
That is why a result like Monday is so important. Real signs of tangible progress - statement, season-defining moments - do matter. They scream to the club, the fanbase and the world that this Everton is a different beast and that momentum is building at the club.
A lot can change very quickly but the fact we now have an unforgettable, historic night to cling onto when things get tough is important.
And Moyes, too, has that landmark win he has craved so long - another sign of improvement.
Wins like this mean little if they are not built on but special nights like this should make the inevitable growing pains of progress that bit more bearable.