Utd

Everton’s last visit to Old Trafford triggered Ruben Amorim’s infamous ‘the storm is coming statement’ even though his Manchester United side won 4-0.

Twelve months on, their visit brought more words of caution from Amorim about his side’s evolution that proved equally perceptive.

From a United perspective, the jaw-dropping clash between Idrissa Gueye and Michael Keane can be forgotten beyond the knowledge it left them facing 10 men for 77 minutes.

What followed backed up Amorim’s pre-game view his side is “far from perfection”.

For 77 minutes the United head coach watched his players toil.

He watched young defenders Patrick Dorgu and Leny Yoro needlessly give the ball away under no pressure as the home side were building attacking momentum.

He watched Amad Diallo take the wrong option as he tried to cause a nuisance, first as a number 10 replacement for Matheus Cunha – who was badly missed due to the injury that initially forced him to forgo switching on Altrincham’s Christmas lights on Saturday evening.

He watched as the normally reliable Bryan Mbeumo and Bruno Fernandes failed to execute correctly as chances went begging.

He watched as Joshua Zirkzee, given his first start of the season, and Kobbie Mainoo, given an extended run as a second-half replacement for Casemiro, failed to press their claims for more game time as is being demanded to maintain their respective World Cup hopes.

He also watched as goalkeeper Senne Lammens made a questionable attempt to save Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s first-half effort that ultimately proved decisive.

Zirkzee did force Jordan Pickford into a full length save with a header near the end.

But there was nothing more.

As Amorim said on Friday, what had been a five-match unbeaten run could quickly turn into a three-game one without a win with a trip to Crystal Palace to follow on Sunday.

“I know which point we are in,” he said. “I have that feeling during this run. I always talk about that.

“We are not there, not even near the point we should be to fight for the best positions in the league.

“We have a lot to do and we need to be perfect to win games. We were not perfect today.”

It is worth recapping United’s last three games.

At both Nottingham Forest and Tottenham, they led. If they had maintained the advantage, United would have been second in the ‘as it stands’ table. On both occasions, they failed the test and actually needed late equalisers to salvage anything after falling behind.

This time round, completing the Premier League match round, United knew a win would take them fifth. If they had matched last season’s result, it would have lifted them to fourth.

Vinicius Junior will not sign a new deal at Real Madrid, Manchester United and Liverpool will keep an eye on his situation, while Liverpool have held concrete talks over a move for Antoine Semenyo.

Brazil forward Vinicius Junior, 25, has told Real Madrid he does not intend to renew his contract which expires in the summer of 2027, because of a strained relationship with manager Xabi Alonso. (Athletic – subscription required), external

Liverpool, Manchester United and several other Premier League clubs are keeping a keen eye on Vinicius’ situation. (Mirror), external

Liverpool have already held concrete talks over a move for Bournemouth and Ghana forward Antoine Semenyo, 25, and are aware of his £65m release clause. (Florian Plettenberg), external

Manchester United and Chelsea have both scouted RB Leipzig and Germany midfielder Assan Ouedraogo, 19. (Sky Sports Germany – in German), external

Marseille want to hold talks with Brighton about signing Denmark midfielder Matt O’Riley, 25, permanently in January. (Sky Sports), external

European giants AC Milan are plotting a spectacular move for Crystal Palace and France striker Jean-Philippe Mateta, 28. (Teamtalk), external

Premier League clubs are expected to queue up to sign Atletico Madrid and England midfielder Conor Gallagher in January, provided the Spanish club agree to sell or loan out the 25-year-old former Chelsea player. (Sky Sports), external

Paris St-Germain have joined Real Madrid in the race for Bayern Munich and France defender Dayot Upamecano, 27, who looks set to become a free agent at the end of the season. (Sky Sports Germany – in German), external

Wolves and Brazil midfielder Joao Gomes, 24, has had his head turned by Manchester United’s interest in him and would be keen on a January move. (Teamtalk), external

Portugal midfielder Bernardo Silva, 31, is likely to leave Manchester City when his contract expires at the end of the season. (Fabrizio Romano), external

Chelsea and Arsenal will fight to sign Marseille’s French striker Robinio Vaz, 18, who is valued between 20 and 30m euros (£17.6m to £25.5m). (Caught Offside), external

Atletico Madrid are considering a move for Marseille forward Mason Greenwood, 24, with the Englishman valued at about £70m. (Fichajes – in Spanish), external

Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s superb first-half goal seals 1-0 win for the visitors, who had 10 players for most of the game.

Everton enjoyed their first Premier League win at Manchester United for 12 years despite playing virtually the entire game with 10 men after midfielder Idrissa Gueye was sent off for slapping his own teammate Michael Keane.

Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s superb first-half goal on Monday sealed a 1-0 win for the visitors, who shrugged off the 13th-minute incident that had a furious Gueye dismissed after he and Keane squared up.

United came into the match at Old Trafford on the back of a five-game unbeaten run and could have moved up to fifth with a win.

They dominated possession, especially in the second half, but Everton defended superbly to repel the hosts who looked blunt in attack.

Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford made several fine saves to preserve his side’s lead, the pick of them to claw away a Joshua Zirkzee header with 10 minutes remaining.

A second away win of the season lifted Everton above city rivals and champions Liverpool into 11th place, level on 18 points with United, who are above them on goal difference.

Everton suffered a big blow in just the 10th minute when they lost captain Seamus Coleman to injury.

But worse was to follow three minutes later with the scarcely believable bust-up between Gueye and Keane

The Premier League Match Centre posted on X: “The referee’s call of red card to Gueye for violent conduct was checked and confirmed by VAR – with the action deemed to be a clear strike to the face of Keane.”

Gueye is the first Premier League player to be sent off for fighting with a teammate since 2008.

The home crowd anticipated waves of attack but United failed to take advantage of their numerical advantage, proving toothless against David Moyes’ battling team.

Instead it was 10-man Everton who found the net, taking the lead courtesy of a wonderful strike by Dewsbury-Hall in the 29th minute.

Dewsbury-Hall received the ball and surged towards goal, beating Bruno Fernandes and Leny Yoro before bending the ball into the top corner.

United huffed and puffed for the rest of the half, with Pickford clawing away a Fernandes shot from distance as the half-time approached.

Ruben Amorim, marking the first anniversary of his maiden game in charge of United, brought on Mason Mount for Noussair Mazraoui at half-time but his team created little, despite dominating possession.

Amorim threw on Kobbie Mainoo and Diogo Dalot for Casemiro and Yoro in the 58th minute but still United looked blunt.

Pickford kept out a powerful Zirkzee header with just over 10 minutes of normal time to go and Everton hung on for a famous win.

Speaking after the game, Dewsbury-Hall said it was a “rollercoaster” of a game.

“I’m so genuinely happy for the lads and how hard they worked. A fantastic performance of gritting away, getting a goal and keeping that spirit,” he said. “So glad we got the three points.”

He said Gueye apologised to the team at full-time for the incident with Keane.

“We move on from it. The reaction from us was unbelievable. Top tier,” Dewsbury-Hall said.

“We could have crumbled, but if anything, it made us grow.”

United defender Matthijs de Ligt said the result and performance was a “step back” for his side after a decent run.

“I think the game says enough; against 10 men for 70 minutes and not creating that many chances,” the Dutch defender told Sky Sports. “Today was not a good night for us.

“We lacked the patience to play through the lines, and we crossed a lot of balls. We need to do a lot more.

“In all aspects today, it felt like a step back. Not just the result but the intensity and the focus.”

Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim has not ruled out Kobbie Mainoo and Joshua Zirkzee leaving in January to further their World Cup ambitions – but says the interests of his club will come first.

Neither player has started a Premier League game this season. Zirkzee has figured for just 82 minutes in the top flight, while Mainoo has played for 93 minutes since coming on at half-time against Burnley on 30 August.

Both players are known to be unhappy about the situation and – having lost their international spots with England and the Netherlands respectively – are keen to secure January moves to get regular game time before next summer’s World Cup.

Amorim sympathises with the pair, but says he will only sanction moves if they are right for United.

“I was a football player,” he said. “I understand everything, and I want to help my players in every situation.

“I understand the frustration of some players, seeing the World Cup is there. I know what it means.

“But the first thing is that the club comes first. If I can help the club and the players, I will be happy. If not I have to think about the team.”

Both Mainoo and Zirkzee could profit from the injury to striker Benjamin Sesko and the departures of Bryan Mbeumo and Amad Diallo to the Africa Cup of Nations next month.

That is without the strange case of Matheus Cunha, who pulled out of a planned appearance to switch on the Altrincham Christmas lights on Saturday with an injury a club source described as “minor”.

United are on a five -game unbeaten run heading into Monday’s game against Everton at Old Trafford.

But United’s two most recent games were draws at Nottingham Forest and Tottenham that required late equalisers after Amorim’s side had squandered first-half leads.

For that reason, the former Sporting boss is reluctant to say the “storm” he predicted in his early days at the club has passed.

“I don’t like to say the storm is over,” he said. “It’s my job, especially in our club, to always have that feeling [that a storm is coming].

“It gives me the sense of urgency in every training [session] and, in the Premier League, everything can change so fast because all the teams can win any game.”

Behind the scenes the changes have been seismic.

The motivation was twofold.

As they assessed the inner workings of the club, senior figures around the ownership concluded it was “over-dimensioned”, according to one observer close to the process.

In other words, there were too many people and too many jobs.

They found a structure which they felt required United to be playing in the Champions League every season and competing to win the Premier League. Failure put a strain on finances.

Having reached such a view and with losses so high, slashing staff numbers was a harsh but inevitable reality.

An initial cull of 250 staff within months of Ratcliffe’s arrival was carried out to get the numbers down.

It is accepted internally that the pain created was extensive, the shock huge.

It was the second round of 200 redundancies this year that allowed the hierarchy to pursue a different staffing model, so finance could be used in what was felt to be a more efficient way.

Nowhere is the impact of that more evident than in United’s data operation.

In an interview with the popular United We Stand fanzine in December 2024, Ratcliffe described the club’s approach to data analysis as being in the “last century”.

It was felt that Formula 1 was the sport at the cutting edge of data and AI use. The performance of every single component is monitored in fine detail, and success and failure can be measured in hundredths of a second.

As a result, Michael Sansoni’s arrival from the Mercedes F1 team as director of data in April was one of the least surprising moves.

Sansoni has completely revamped United’s data capabilities, which are now being used extensively across performance, recruitment and training.

Precise details of the work Sansoni has implemented are a closely guarded secret, but one source said the work of United’s data and analytics team has accelerated to such a degree it is now “among the top four teams”.

Following the second set of job cuts there was a strategic focus to bring in what have been described as “versatile people who are multi-faceted and multi-skilled to help in multiple areas”.

It is the senior appointments that really catch the eye, though.

A quick list of new arrivals among senior staff at the Old Trafford club unearths 19 names.

Not all the exits were forced and, as at any big organisation, a change in ownership can lead to movement further down – but the scale of change has been significant.

Two notable figures remain: Collette Roche and Martin Mosley.

Chief operating officer Roche is leading United’s representation around their proposed 100,000-capacity new stadium and the wider Old Trafford regeneration.

Mosley joined United in 2007 and took over as general counsel in the summer of 2024 following the departure of Patrick Stewart, who is now chief executive at Rangers.

Roche and Mosley’s presence is regarded as a crucial link to the pre-Ratcliffe era while those running the club get a full understanding of the scale of United, which can come as a shock, even for those – like chief executive Omar Berrada (Barcelona/Manchester City), chief business officer Marc Armstrong (Paris St Germain), performance director Sam Erith (Manchester City/Tottenham/FA) and director of recruitment Christopher Vivell (Chelsea/Red Bull) – with experience of working at big clubs.

Trusted Ineos figure Roger Bell has become United’s chief finance officer and Kirstin Furber has arrived from Channel 4 as people director.

But it goes much further. A head of sports medicine and, for the first team, a new doctor, a new physio and a new performance chef. Experts in nutrition and soft tissue treatment. Academy director. Media director. All part of the nuts and bolts at a leading Premier League club in 2025.

So many significant figures from the previous era, who negotiated key deals, treated players and presented the public face of the club, have gone.

No-one can be sure if the future will be better.

As with every other club, external judgement of the success or failure of off-field change can be swift and it is almost always connected to results of the first team, which by their nature can hinge on arbitrary moments.

There is an acceptance internally at United of an unquantifiable lag time between inception of new processes and their outcome.

Sometimes, though, it becomes obvious a certain move has failed.

Dan Ashworth clearly falls into that category. Highly respected in the game, Ashworth’s willingness to leave Newcastle to take up the job of sporting director is still felt at Old Trafford to be a positive and reflected well on the changes being made and future direction anticipated.

However, after United paid Newcastle £3m in compensation, within five months he was gone.

Sources deny that a split occurred around the choice of Ten Hag’s replacement.

But there was a difference of opinion, the respective views of how Ashworth’s job should work did not fit and a parting of the ways – with another compensation payment, in the region of £4m – was viewed as the inevitable outcome.

While Middleton-Patel stole the show by the end of the night, it was Earps who was the focus before kick-off.

The mural of Earps, painted outside Old Trafford following her heroics with England at Euro 2022, bore a ‘Welcome to Manchester’ message which felt riddled with irony as she stepped out in the pouring northern rain in the opponent’s colours.

She was a heroine to many during her time at United and played a key role in the club’s first FA Cup victory, and their rise up the Women’s Super League table.

This time she was a football enemy, arriving in a cloud of controversy, and received boos when her name was read out by the stadium announcer.

More boos followed when she touched the ball, mixed in with some cheers from loyal followers, until she eventually received the adulation of the Old Trafford crowd when she walked along the stands applauding them at full-time, and was warmly received in return.

“A lot of the public has great interest in seeing Mary play. I’m very happy to have a player like her in our team,” said PSG boss Paulo Cesar afterwards.

“The fans here were clearly behind her. At the beginning, perhaps not, but by the end of the game her quality shone through.

“She put in a great performance today and she gives confidence to the team. I’m very happy with her.”

Skinner said in his pre-match media conference he expected the United fans to make life difficult for Earps as an opponent, but hoped she would receive the respect she earned during her five-year spell at the club before leaving in 2024.

When she left the pitch to cheers from the home fans and hugs from former team-mates, the controversy of the past two weeks surrounding her book felt a distant memory.

“It was nice. I said to her at the end to look after herself. Mary is a really intelligent woman and she has been the world’s best so she understands it,” said Skinner.

“It was a lovely atmosphere and she got a cheer when she walked down at the end of the game, and hopefully that helps her in the situation and how she feels.

“After the game it was always going to be friendly with Mary, because she was a big part of what we have done – and we should never forget that.”

Match of the Day’s Alan Shearer breaks down the performance of Manchester United striker Benjamin Sesko who failed to capitalise on two very good opportunities in their 2-2 draw with Tottenham in the Premier League.

MATCH REPORT: Tottenham Hotspur 2-2 Manchester United

Available to UK users only.

Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim accepts £73.7m striker Benjamin Sesko has struggled at times in his first few weeks at the club but urged him not to take criticism from club legends personally.

Sesko has scored two goals in his first 11 appearances for United.

He last found the net against Sunderland at Old Trafford on 4 October and his performance at Nottingham Forest last weekend prompted former skipper Gary Neville to declare the Slovenia international was “miles off it” compared to fellow new arrivals Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo.

Amorim does accept there is substance to Neville’s comments. However, he also feels they lack the context of Sesko moving to a new league at the age of 22, having only spent two seasons in the Bundesliga with RB Leipzig.

“I’m relaxed,” he said. “[But] he’s not relaxed.

“I understand how things are in football and he’s going to struggle. That is normal. He has no experience here.

“The first impact [is] when everyone says that you are so good, you are the next big thing and you hear that about Sesko.

“Then you come to one club that is the hardest club. If you don’t perform every week, you are going to hear a lot of things from club legends, from pundits, from the media – and sometimes they are right.

“Of course, nobody likes to hear but he struggled a little bit, and that is a fact. So, let’s embrace that.

“It is hard to hear but it’s not personal. It’s an opinion that is going to change in three weeks. Everything that is true today, in three weeks, could be a lie.”

Sesko is understood to be spending huge amounts of time at United’s Carrington training ground as he gets an understanding of the performance levels he is delivering compared to those he is required to meet.

He often arrives more than 90 minutes earlier than the normal meeting time of 09:45 and does not leave until 16:00, long after most of his team-mates.

United sources remain confident they made the right decision to sign Sesko, while at the same time sending Rasmus Hojlund on loan to Napoli, even though the Dane has scored four times in nine appearances for the Italian champions.

“Ben is a young kid, a control freak,” said Amorim.

“He wants to control everything – and he’s not going to control everything.

“He has more potential than I was thinking [but] we need to understand how he likes to play and also to put in our ideas.

“I’m quite relaxed with that. He is going to be our striker for the long term but he’s going to have these struggles and these bumps during the ride. That is a normal thing in football.”

Ronaldo, who left United to join Real Madrid in 2009, rejoined the Old Trafford club from Juventus in August 2021.

However, he had his contract terminated in November 2022 after he criticised the club and said he had “no respect” for then manager Erik ten Hag in a previous interview with Morgan.

In his latest interview with the broadcaster, the 40-year-old said: “I’m sad, because the club is one of the most important clubs in the world and a club that I still have in my heart.

“They don’t have a structure. I hope that changes in the present and future, because the potential of the club is amazing.

“They are not on a good path. And it’s not only about the coach and players, in my opinion… He [manager Ruben Amorim] is doing his best. What are you going to do? Miracles are impossible.”

Amorim, who took charge of United in November 2024, led the club to last season’s Europa League final but they missed out on the trophy – and qualification for this season’s Champions League – as they lost to Tottenham.

They finished 15th in Premier League, their worst performance since the 1973-74 campaign in which they were relegated from the top flight.

They spent more than £200m in the summer but started this season slowly – including being knocked out of the Carabao Cup by League Two side Grimsby Town.

Amorim appeared to be under pressure, but United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe said the Portuguese needed three years to prove he is a “great” coach.

In an interview in March, Ratcliffe said the club had “not performed at the level that has been expected” since the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson as manager at the end of the 2012-2013 season, adding that some United players were “not good enough” and some were “overpaid”.

Recently, United have shown an improvement in form, winning three of their past four league games – including a victory at Liverpool – and are eighth in the table.