Erik Ten Hag can give two teenagers credit for taking the wheel if this signals the start of Manchester United‘s turnaround.
Alejandro Garnacho, 19, scored a wonder goal against an in-form Everton team at Goodison Park, which at times felt like a bear pit due to the home crowd’s ire towards the Premier League for their 10-point deduction. Meanwhile, Kobbie Mainoo, 18, was the most composed player on the field during his first-ever Premier League game, despite the chaos that occasionally erupted all around him.
With three away games in six days against Everton, Galatasaray, and Newcastle, this week could be crucial for United’s season. Fortunately, Garnacho and Mainoo have the team off to a great start.
Thanks to goals from Marcus Rashford’s second-season penalty kick and Anthony Martial’s first league goal since April, the team won 3-0. Erik ten Hag, who had to spend the afternoon in the stands due to a touchline suspension, was able to speak highly of his team’s biggest league victory of the year.
Ten Hag remarked, “It was a good performance.” “It went very well at first, just as we had planned. We started the game well and scored two goals in the second half by taking the initiative. Positives are being drawn from it. When the season first started, we had issues. Many things worked against us. We’re expanding. This process needs to continue to progress.”
The atmosphere had reached fever pitch by kickoff, and it was Everton’s first game since news of their 10-deduction for breaking Premier League financial rules broke. Thousands of supporters had joined a protest outside the stadium. As the Premier League signage was carried onto the field for the team lineups, spectators jeered at it and held up thousands of pink placards with the word “corrupt” underneath the league’s logo. In the build-up, Sean Dyche expressed his hope that his players’ rage would spur them on, but Garnacho’s magical moment with just three minutes remaining sapped the crowd’s energy.
The goal was so excellent that it will always be seen in replays. Diogo Dalot appeared to have overhit his cross for a brief moment, but Garnacho first reversed course before launching a bicycle kick into the upper corner. Imagine Wayne Rooney scoring against Manchester City—the kind of goal that should be beyond the realm of human possibility and thus requires a moment to process. Garnacho was halfway through his “Siuuu” celebration of Cristiano Ronaldo by the time it finally dawned on him.
Ronaldo would have agreed, having scored United’s winning goal here in the previous season.
“It was an amazing goal and this season yet many games to go but probably currently the goal of the season,” Ten Hag said. “It was the total from the back to the finish, not just the finish. The finish was outstanding, truly world-class. It was an amazing occasion.”
Even though the first goal was excellent, United continued to display their typical weakness for the remainder of the half. The stadium sat in something akin to stunned silence for some time following Garnacho’s goal, but Everton soon started to play, and for the final fifteen minutes, chances kept coming.
Two headers from Dominic Calvert-Lewin went over the bar and were saved by André Onana, while Abdoulaye Doucouré’s attempt from ten yards out went inexplicably wide. Idrissa Gueye swerved a shot high and wide, and Mainoo stopped a shot from Dwight McNeil and cleared another attempt off the line in the midst of wave after wave of Everton attack.
Amongst expensive, seasoned internationals, Mainoo, a teenage kid making his Premier League debut, was the most composed man in a red shirt. Depending on your point of view, this was either impressive or terrifying.
“He has a lot of skills and it was a very disappointing moment in preseason until he got so badly injured,” Ten Hag commented. “I’m confident he can make significant progress if he plays as many of these games as he does now. We believed that now was the right time to bring him in because players will develop quickly. He is a good boy who demonstrated his maturity.”
Thankfully, Mainoo’s composure seemed to rub off on his teammates in the second half. After a VAR check determined Ashley Young had tripped Martial in the box, Rashford scored from the spot to give United a 2-0 lead in a league game for the first time this year. Ten Hag later admitted that he had given his players some harsh criticism at halftime.
Martial, who replaced the injured Rasmus Hojlund in the starting lineup, completed a fluid team move to make it 3-0 while giving the scoreline a more comfortable appearance than it may have deserved. Ten Hag, Garnacho, and Mainoo, who may have finally moved United in the right direction, won’t give a damn, though.