An overview of how the national media reacted to Everton's draw with Manchester United
David Moyes (Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images)
David Moyes (Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images)
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The spirit of defiance that David Moyes is an expert in harnessing was the narrative that swept through reports of Everton’s draw with Manchester United.
Benjamin Sesko’s late header looked set to deliver a gut punch that would have been a fitting end to a week in which Moyes and Blues supporters have been left fighting turbulence created by others. Tyrique George had earlier cancelled out Bryan Mbuemo’s opener with a superb strike of his own before Sesko scored at Hill Dickinson, just as he had on his last visit.
But Ainsley Maitland-Niles’ stunning stoppage time goal instead gave the manager and fans something to celebrate as they once again picked themselves up to frustrate the odds with an act of resilience.
In the Times, Paul Joyce painted Everton’s team as being the image of the man in the dugout. He wrote: “Football teams are often said to mirror their managers which, in Everton’s case, is considerably to their benefit. Better that, for example, than being like their owners.
"David Moyes has forged a career on being resilient, overcoming obstacles and finding a way to cross the line — and how his players embodied all of those qualities to thwart a flawed Manchester United side.
“Hill Dickinson Stadium might have been engulfed by rancour and recrimination after the deadline-day shambles under the weak stewardship of the Friedkin Group that has left Moyes with a depleted squad. By the final whistle, however, the arena rocked to the most raucous of beats.., the comeback owed as much to the mentality that Moyes engenders from his sides; a desire to keep going when, given the circumstances, lesser teams might have thrown in the towel and felt sorry for themselves.”
In the Guardian, Andy Hunter ran with a similar theme as he wrote: “Defiance serves David Moyes’s Everton well, especially when laced with a sense of indignation. At the end of a troubled week in the transfer market, and at the very end of a game when all seemed lost against Manchester United, they showed weaker in number need not translate to weaker in spirit.”
On Everton’s hero, he added: “It would be putting it mildly to say that Maitland-Niles’s deadline‑day arrival for £4.3m from Lyon met with an underwhelmed response, given the lengths Everton went to to source a permanent successor to Séamus Coleman at right‑back. But what a way to introduce yourself, win over the doubters and lift the mood around your new club.”
For Ian Ladyman, in the Mail, Maitland-Niles’ stunner was a fairytale moment for player and club after a turbulent week. He wrote: “Amid all the disappointment and rancour of Everton's transfer window, Ainsley Maitland-Niles slipped in the back door almost unnoticed. As the club tried and catastrophically failed to sign a centre forward, the recruitment of a defensively-minded utility player was never likely to turn the dial very much.
“Indeed in his own programme notes for this game, Everton manager David Moyes said only of the 29-year-old that 'we are looking forward to getting to know him'. Suffice to say, that job is now done.
“Here by the Mersey, in a stadium slowly preparing itself for another shot of stomach turning disappointment, Maitland-Niles - once of Arsenal but recently of Lyon - eased on to a loose ball in the final seconds of the 95th minute and thumped in a goal from 25 yards to rescue a point for his team. What a goal. What an ending. What a story.”
In the Telegraph, Dom King pointed out that Man Utd’s decision not to help Everton in the final minutes of deadline day - when they enquired whether Joshua Zirkzee would be allowed to ease their striker crisis - was repaid by their charity in this second half.
He said: “United should, really, have won this game comfortably. Everton were there to be exploited and when Bryan Mbuemo put them ahead early in the second half, they should have powered away into the distance. Everton’s effort was good but they were in danger of losing hope.
“Yet, incredibly, United gave Everton two helping hands. They had not been in a position to assist last Tuesday evening, when phone calls from Merseyside to Old Trafford to take Joshua Zirkzee on loan were met with rejection. But the second half display more than made up for that.”
In the ECHO, the reaction of the players and manager to the circus leading up to the game was the main focus: “Everton may be short of players but they are not short of spirit, on the pitch or in the stands.
“A calamitous end to the transfer window looked set to dictate the narrative of this game when Manchester United turned to a bench worth hundreds of millions of pounds to snatch what appeared to be a late winner.
“But Ainsley Maitland-Niles’ last-gasp screamer instead left his side taking in applause from all four sides of Hill Dickinson as thousands of supporters stayed beyond the final whistle to sing in unison. This was an act of defiance from the players, manager and fans.
“There was a sickening sense of deja vu when Benjamin Sesko headed in Luke Shaw’s cross to give the visitors the lead with two minutes to go. The £70m signing had emerged from the bench last season to score the winner in this fixture and few scenarios could have been more representative of the handicap Everton are playing with this season than an expensive reserve forward making the difference just five days after the Blues were left flailing in the window after the sale of Beto and collapse of the move for his replacement, Falorin Balogun.
“With so much of the focus since Tuesday night having been on the players who did not arrive, it was perhaps fitting that one of those who did, Maitland-Niles, produced a moment of quality that caused an eruption of joy on the banks of the River Mersey.
“The 29-year-old was bought from Lyon to solve the longstanding problem at right-back but his first act was to instead address another lingering issue - the search for goals. Hope of salvation had all but disappeared when the ball rolled to him in the 96th minute, 30 yards from goal. He whipped his effort into the top corner.
“The strike sparked wild celebrations and set the tone for a post-match reaction that suggested the supporters were all-in on backing the players and David Moyes after both were left short by the final business of the summer.
“Last week it was the fans who stepped in to prevent the sale of Harrison Armstrong, who was excellent in this tie. On Sunday, the clear message was the players could count on the stands even as the fanbase questioned the intent, ambition and commitment of those running a club and who appear to be seeking outside investment, if not a full sale, after fewer than two years since an arrival it was hoped would herald a new dawn of stability.”