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Michael Ball slams Everton for naivety in Manchester United defeat
Everton were outsmarted by Manchester United as they suffered their first defeat in eight Premier League matches on Sunday (9 October).
Alex Iwobi had fired the Toffees in front with a sublime long-range effort after just five minutes but they were quickly pegged back by Antony before the break.
Cristiano Ronaldo netted the winner in the second half for his 700th in club football as Frank Lampard’s side were unable to get back into the game and Michael Ball was not happy.
“For me, it comes down to football intelligence and Everton were simply far too naive with their decision-making over the course of the 90 minutes,” the BBC pundit said to the Liverpool Echo.
“We showed a lack of concentration for both goals, while United showed us that their football intelligence is on another level to ours.
“We may have rallied late on in a bid to rescue a point, but for me, it was too late and left a feeling of what if. What if we had shown that intensity after the first goal?
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“Of course, you are always going to lose football games, but the manner in which we did on Sunday was just massively frustrating. It was a huge opportunity missed.”
Learning
Were Everton too naive? Probably, but that has to be expected for a team that is still very young in its development in the Premier League.
There has been an awful lot of change at Goodison Park over the past 12 months especially and it was never going to fully click straight away against one of the country’s best teams.
Lampard and his coaching staff have to use this game as a teaching tool for some of the less experienced campaigners in the squad to ensure that similar mistakes are not made once again in the future.
But sometimes there are moments of quality that decide a game and while there was not much between the two sides over the 90 minutes, United produced two brilliant moments compared to Everton’s one.
The defeat should be nothing to worry about for Lampard or any Everton fan right now considering the strength of the opposition but if the same happens against a relegation favourite, then the question will be asked.