Demarai Gray terrific in Everton FA Cup defeat to Manchester United – Henry Winter
The Times journalist Henry Winter was left in awe of Everton winger Demarai Gray’s performance in the club’s 3-1 FA Cup defeat to Manchester United on 6 January.
Gray was a standout in the Blues side yet again and caused problems for Erik ten Hag’s men whenever the ball landed at his silky feet.
Winter admitted that Gray was “terrific” in the FA Cup clash, and that overall a number of the Blues played well after giving their all over the 90 minutes in front of a strong group of travelling fans.
“Everton played well, gave everything, Gray terrific,” said Winter on Twitter.
“[Amadou] Onana and [Jordan] Pickford good, team looked better with a back-three/five.”
Much better.
The performance from Everton at Old Trafford was far better than what fans saw against Brighton on 3 January and there were a lot of positives to take from the fixture.
Gray again proved that he can be Everton’s go-to man to get things lit up in an attacking sense and his fine form is encouraging.
Onana again looked more than solid against a classy United midfield, he deserves to have some finer talents in and around him, something that would ultimately improve him even more.
Everton’s choice to go with a back five proved not to be as solid as the Manchester City fixture, although, this was arguably down to Ben Godfrey having a bit of a stinker.
All in all, Everton didn’t look like a team who are going to be relegated from the Premier League and nullified United for the majority of the evening.
If it wasn’t for a contentious off-side decision not going the Toffees way, the game would have been completely turned on its head, however, that’s unfortunately how football goes sometimes.