Manchester United have been blasted for their “atrocious” defending for Ellis Simms' chance during their Premier League game against Everton by journalist Laurie Whitwell.
Victory at Old Trafford…
The Red Devils were the hosts at Old Trafford this afternoon where Erik Ten Hag and his side secured a 2-0 victory thanks to goals from Scott McTominay and Anthony Martial either side of the break.
Prior to the Scottish international’s moment of magic for the opener though, Toffees forward Simms had a glorious chance to put the visitors in front after breaking free and getting one-on-one with David De Gea only to put his effort wide of the post.
Taking to Twitter, Whitwell couldn’t believe how easy it was for Simms to get away from Manchester United’s defence and provide himself with an opportunity. He wrote:
“Atrocious defending from United for that Everton chance. Tarkowski ambled forward unchallenged, then Simms + Coleman had all the space/time they wanted to exchange passes. Terrible finish by Simms. He could have picked his spot.”
Should United be worried about their defence?
Manchester United will obviously have been concerned in that specific moment that they could have been about to go behind but given the overall performance on the day, luckily for Ten Hag it’s not something that he should worry about.
During the first-half, the Red Devils had 21 shots on target which is the most by any side in the opening 45 minutes of any game this season which just goes to show how many chances they were creating in the final third, albeit not putting every one away, as per OptaJoe.
The Dutch boss will no doubt be concerned by the injury to Marcus Rashford, who was forced off the pitch on 71 minutes, which put a slight dampener on the positive spirits.
However, there was so much to be optimistic about, and in terms of the race for the top four, United have put themselves in a very strong position heading into the run-in.