EVERTON and Manchester United supporters have both wondered why they did not sign a striker. They both showed why.
Lightning struck twice as Benjamin Sesko emerged to score at Everton for the second time this calendar year. It was not the winner.
3
3
Ainsley Maitland-Niles, on his debut, trumped Sesko with an outrageous 96th-minute equaliser to secure a deserved point for Everton.
Maitland-Niles and George, two summer signings who are not strikers, offset the absence of a new frontman to end Everton’s turbulent week on an uplifting note.
Everton’s overpromoted striker will rue his own headed finish. Thierno Barry had the outstanding chance before the pause to put them ahead and his miscued header was punished by Bryan Mbeumo.
That was Barry’s chance to state his credentials as Everton’s starting striker.
READ MORE ON MAN UTD
HAR-D START
Maguire left covered in blood after collision seconds into Man Utd vs Everton
CRACKER
Win stunning £600k 4-Bedroom Luxury Home & BMW X5 for just £1.79 with our discount
A summer signing did come up trumps for Everton as George whacked in to equalise.
United were well and truly under the cosh. Senne Lammens, so composed against Everton’s bruise brothers last season, was culpable for George’s equaliser as he failed to protect his near post.
Lammens fumbled a cross and beat away and straightforward catch. Time will tell if this was an aberration or the first cracks from a goalkeeper recently handed the No1.
Everton manager David Moyes deserves the kudos from getting so much out of this threadbare squad.
Most read in Sport
VARDY PARTY
Jamie Vardy ends Everton transfer links as free agent joins struggling Burnley
STAR PAIN
World Cup star rushed to hospital with broken leg so horrific rival cries
WORRYING SCENE
Rugby ace stretchered off with horror neck injury on live TV as game delayed
WRESTLING TRAGEDY
AEW star Andy ‘The Butcher’ Williams dead at 48 after collapsing in ring
SUN VEGAS WELCOME OFFER: GET UP TO £100 BONUS
Sunday 6 September
Everton
2 – 2
EPL
Man Utd
Arsenal
16:30
Live Teams
Chelsea
Saturday 12 September
Bournemouth
15:00
EPL
Brentford
Villa
15:00
EPL
Forest
Chelsea
15:00
EPL
Hull
Palace
15:00
EPL
Ipswich
Sunday 6 September
Everton
2 – 2
EPL
Man Utd
Saturday 5 September
Hull
0 – 0
EPL
Villa
Forest
0 – 0
EPL
Spurs
Man City
1 – 0
EPL
Coventry
Fulham
2 – 3
EPL
Palace
Brighton
1 – 1
EPL
Leeds
English Premier League
Pld
Pts
GD
W
D
L
Form
1
3
9
5
3
0
0
2
3
7
3
2
1
0
3
2
6
4
2
0
0
4
2
6
2
2
0
0
5
3
5
3
1
2
0
6
3
5
2
1
2
0
7
3
5
2
1
2
0
8
3
5
2
1
2
0
Everton recorded more attempts on target than United and merited their point.
In this toothless Everton side, Barry failed to bare his teeth with a free header from Merlin Rohl’s outswinging cross, having evaded the dawdling Harry Maguire.
The reality is Barry is the only striker Moyes has now Beto has been sold. Evertonians best not expect goal gluts at their one-year-old stadium.
Barry threw his weight around immediately to leave Harry Maguire with a bloodied nose 50 seconds after kick-off.
Jack Grealish was a reminder Everton still have some stardust, though the first chant he earned on his return to the Hill Dickinson Stadium was “City reject” from the 3,001 United supporters.
Grealish’s introduction undeniably energised Everton and contributed to George’s strike.
Everton will struggle to get by most weeks with Barry as impotent as he was with his opportunity with the game goalless.
Sesko appeared totally crestfallen to be denied another matchwinner. He can at least expect a recall to the starting XI with the Champions League starting next week.
Impact moments masked a problematic performance from United. What they lacked in a focal point for 45 meandering minutes was offset by Mbeumo.
3
Kobbie Mainoo’s chant to the Billy Ocean number Love Really Hurts Without You has taken off but it was unsung hero Mbeumo who scored again.
Mbeumo has had so many stints up front that scoring has become second nature for the natural winger.
He has started the season on the right wing, having played all of his football under Michael Carrick before that through the middle.
There were swathes of empty seats as supporters savoured their half-time refreshments when Mbeumo struck.
He weaved his way through the Everton defence and side-footed in the breakthrough within a minute of the restart.
Moyes’ Everton sides have always thrived as the underdog and the loudest roars were for tackles or attempted tackles.
Jarrad Branthwaite, once seemingly bound for United, denied Marcus Rashford and Bruno Fernandes in a late first-half flurry and celebrated wildly.
Fernandes’ carefully cushioned volley from Mbeumo’s canny header was a lick of paint away from an early goal of the month contender.
United had such little hassle from Everton that they were their own worst enemy at times, letting the game meander with some passive passages on the ball.
Rashford was a wing wizard against Rohl and left the full-back in his wake to tee up Matheus Cunha to casually lift the ball over.
Rohl was later booked for cynically upending Rashford, purposeful again. Rashford ended one stirring run with a cute backheel for Cunha, denied by a last-ditch James Tarkowski tackle.
The winger’s substitution for Patrick Dorgu on 70 minutes felt premature, although Rashford requested an energy drink shortly before his removal.
Johnson eventually made way for Grealish. Already, Evertonians can be forgiven for wondering if they got a raw deal in the swap involving Brennan Johnson and Dwight McNeil.
This month marks the eighth anniversary of Diogo Dalot and Shaw starting together. Dalot, in particular, was guilty of similar mistakes that encouraged Ipswich Town a week earlier.
Dalot was eventually yellow-carded as he struggled to keep up with Grealish, having fortuitously avoided a caution for deliberately halting George.
RECOMMENDED STORIES
United’s defenders were bailed out by their striker. Their fans took to singing Sesko’s name to the old Andy Cole chant: “He gets the ball and scores a goal, Benjamin Sesko”.
Maitland-Niles scored a better goal and had the last word.