Everton 0-3 Manchester United: Louis van Gaal’s tactics pay off

In a direct contrast to the debacle at Arsenal a fortnight ago, Louis van Gaal got his tactics spot-on against Everton as Manchester United cruised to a 3-0 win at Goodison Park. It was the perfect away-game performance in many ways: score early goals, sit deep and play on the counter-attack.

At the Emirates, United were too gun-ho in their pressing and left far too much space in midfield, which was duly taken advantage of by a rampant Arsenal side. Everton, by contrast, played poorly, but much of that had to do with United’s tactical approach.

The first decision Van Gaal got right was selecting four proper defenders in defence. Before the Everton win, United had lined up with between one and three midfielders at the back in each of the previous 13 games.

For the most part, such a makeshift defence worked, but the manner of the loss at Arsenal meant that restoring Phil Jones to the side and playing Marcos Rojo at left-back made sense. With four out-and-out defenders on the pitch, United gave themselves the best chance of stopping Romelu Lukaku and Ross Barkley before the game had even kicked off.

When the game did start, it was clear that Van Gaal had opted to stick with the 4-2-3-1 he has implemented this season rather than switch to a 4-3-3.

This time, however, Anthony Martial lined up on the left-hand side, with Wayne Rooney moved back up front. It was unclear whether Van Gaal made that tactical switch in order to shoehorn Rooney into the side or whether it was a necessary change after Memphis Depay was dropped.

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Either way, the one knock-on effect it had was that Martial stopped Seamus Coleman from marauding forward. There was no suggestion from Van Gaal before or after the game as to whether or not deploying the Frenchman on the left was a deliberate measure to combat the Irishman’s surging runs, but it was nonetheless effective.

At any rate, Martial had put in a fine display for France on the left wing against Denmark during the international break and gave Coleman a torrid time in the second half, breezing past him with ease on a number of occasions.

The selection of his compatriot, Morgan Schneiderlin, was perhaps the biggest change from the loss at Arsenal. The summer signing has underwhelmed so far this season, but he should have played at the Emirates two weeks ago and was rightly picked in the starting XI at Goodison Park.

Particularly away from home, the Frenchman’s combative and energetic style is a much-needed safety net for the possession-based football Van Gaal wants to play. His interception that led to the third goal of the game rounded off an impressive performance, one in which he scored his first goal for the club.

In addition to his team selection, Van Gaal’s in-game management was also excellent against Everton, which has not always been the case during the last year.

Juan Mata didn’t have a poor game, but he was slow to prevent a few crosses from Everton’s left-hand side, prompting Van Gaal to send on Jesse Lingard to offer more protection defensively. It was a move that made sense given the 2-0 lead at half-time.

Michael Carrick and Marouane Fellaini were then brought on to help United see the game out ahead of two tough games against CSKA Moscow, where changes are expected, and Manchester City.

What was most impressive about United’s performance – and Van Gaal’s tactics – against Everton was the team shape.

Martial and Rojo linked up effectively on the left, while Matteo Darmian recovered from his disastrous performance against Arsenal to whip in a number of good crosses from the right. That natural width on both sides opened up space for Bastian Schweinsteiger and Herrera in the middle, and the duo controlled the game in a classy manner.

It was defensively, however, that United really impressed. Whenever Everton had possession, United dropped just in front of their penalty area and got all 11 players behind the ball.

The distance between the defence and Rooney in attack was kept to a minimum, which left almost no space in central areas for Everton to exploit. The quiet performance of Barkley was evidence of how effective that tactical tweak proved to be.

In fact, aside from Lukaku’s low shot that was well saved by David De Gea at the beginning of the second half, United prevented Everton from staging a comeback. It would now be a surprise if Van Gaal didn’t stick with a centre-back partnership of Chris Smalling and Jones.