For quite a while now, the Everton spirit we’ve seen many times in the distant past has been missing more often than not, but at Old Trafford it was there for all to see.
I’m talking about the David Moyes spirit, the recognition that no matter what the set backs are you don’t give up, you dig in further and harder.
I saw it many times during his previous eleven years at the club, not always evident in the results but just that sheer determination to grind out a performance and in this case the win came as well.
And all this after two setbacks for Everton, Seamus Coleman’s injury and the debacle of the Michael Keane and Idrissa Gana Gueye confrontation.
Should Gueye have been sent off?
Alan Myers suggests how long Idrissa Gana Gueye will miss for Everton
There’s nothing wrong with having players with passion and being 100% committed. Clearly, Gueye was annoyed with the way Bruno Fernandes was able to get a shot in on Pickford’s goal, but he knows you cannot raise your hands to anyone on a football pitch these days, and that includes your own players.
Gueye is also a very experienced player, he should be the one calming things down when the pressure is on, not inflaming things. That experience is twofold, it’s there to make sure players focus and to let them know if when they need to do better but there is a line and he should know that.
Of course the bigger issue now, barring any appeal, is it means the Senegal international will be missing possibly until the end of January if his team, one of the favourites, goes all the way in the competition.
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Idrissa Gana Gueye’s sending off is only the third time a player has been red carded for striking his own teammate.
Manchester United v Everton - Premier League
Photo by Richard Sellers/Sportsphoto/Allstar via Getty Images
For my money, it should have been no more than a yellow card; it was more a Jake Paul slap rather than an Oleksandr Usyk punch, and maybe the referee could’ve taken that into account. However, he will argue he was implementing the law, as simple as that.
It was also disappointing and sad to see Seamus Coleman leave the action so quickly, clearly the international performances he put in took it’s toll under the pressure of a game situation.
I’m sure Coleman will have convinced his manager he felt right and ready to make his first start of the season. Hopefully, he won’t be out too long because I do think he’ll be needed, especially if the club fail to bring in a right back during the window.
READ MORE: What Anthony Taylor told David Moyes that left him baffled about Idrissa Gana Gueye’s red card
Attention turns to Everton in the January transfer window
I’ve said several times a right back should be right up there on the ‘what we need list’ when the January window opens. I think they will bring one in for sure, along with a striker option.
But if TFG have learned anything after the victory at Old Trafford, it’s that this manager and team are giving everything, but they need help, they need bodies.
Another goal from Kiernan Dewsbury Hall was really good to see too. The midfielders have to contribute with goals if the team is to make the progression everyone at the club wants to see. He, Jack Grealish and Iliman Ndiaye must play their part in the goals tally come May.
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