Alan Shearer shares his Everton worry after what happened in loss v Man United
Alan Shearer is worried for Everton after they crumbled in the 4-0 loss against Manchester United on Sunday.
The Blues held firm until the 36th-minute at Old Trafford on 1 December before Marcus Rashford broke the deadlock and opened the floodgates as he and Joshua Zirkzee found the back of the net in each half.
Everton faced a tough task leaving Manchester with the three points, but Shearer is not so concerned with the defeat itself but more how the side continued to ship in goals amid the mounting pressure from the hosts.
Shearer said, as shared on The Rest is Football [2 December, 30m 56s,: “For 20 minutes, I thought they played some really good football up until the final third, but they’re never going to score that many goals, Everton, are they?
“[They] never have done for a while now, and that isn’t going to change – their season’s not going to be judged by Man United away, their season is gonna be judged by playing Wolves and Southampton and Leicester and Ipswich at Goodison. Those are the games they’ll have to win.
“But Everton are where they are, and it’s gonna be tough for them. It was worrying once that first goal went in, the way that they conceded the other goals.”
Where do Everton go after the loss v Manchester United?
The centre-back partnership of Jarrad Branthwaite and James Tarkowski only conceded 51 goals in the Premier League last term, while only Liverpool, Manchester City and Arsenal conceded fewer.
However, the pair looked like a League 2 partnership at Old Trafford.
Tarkowski made mistake after mistake for the Blues and paid the price, and Branthwaite was not much better, deflecting Rashford’s first effort out of the way of Jordan Pickford and into the net and lackadaisically losing possession in his defensive third for Zirkzee to double the advantage.
December could get ugly for the Toffees as they prepare to face a schedule consisting solely of current Premier League top-six sides, barring Wolves, with Dyche’s men only two points clear of the relegation zone and six points clear of 20th-placed Southampton.
Dyche is likely to remain at the helm on Merseyside until The Friedkin Group completes the takeover [The Esk] – there is a lot of damage the boss can do in the meantime.
Unsurprisingly, the mentality is completely shot at Goodison Park after picking up a measly 11 points from 13 outings in a relatively easy fixture run on paper.
It is difficult to determine where Everton can go after the defeat at Old Trafford; the defensive resilience has been shattered, and the one-dimensional attacking threat remains the same.
The Blues have threatened relegation in each of the past three seasons, and now the Merseyside outfit is preparing to do the dance again.
But there are only so many times one can play with fire before being burnt, and the flame now risks burning everything to the ground.
In other Everton news, David Moyes reacts to unbelievable Blues footage v Manchester United on MOTD.
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