Fellaini Steals van Persie’s Thunder

Marouane Fellaini scored a massive goal as Everton defeated Manchester United 1–0 at Goodison Park on Monday evening as the opening round of the 2012–13 season of the English Premier League concluded.

The Belgian thoroughly deserved his goal having been a thorn in the side of Manchester United all night until Everton boss David Moyes brought him off to a standing ovation with just a few minutes of stoppage time left on the clock.

In the days leading up to this encounter, the talk was all about the debut of £24 million ($38 million) United signing Robin van Persie. The Netherlands international was the first player to move from Arsenal to United since Viv Anderson in 1987—Sir Alex Ferguson’s first signing as manager of the Old Trafford club.

While van Persie started on the bench, United’s other big signing (from Borussia Dortmund) Shinji Kagawa, was assigned a midfield role alongside the evergreen Paul Scholes and Tom Cleverley. It was the latter’s first Premier League start since the corresponding fixture last October following an injury plagued season that had started with great promise.

While Ferguson had a multitude of attacking options, United’s defense still had that makeshift look about it, reminiscent of last season, with the likes of Antonio Valencia and Michael Carrick playing out of position at right back and center back respectively. Rio Ferdinand was not available for the match due to injury and is expected to be out for four weeks.

A huge bonus for the Red Devils, however, was the return of skipper Nemanja Vidic to the heart of defense having missed most of last season through injury. The no-nonsense Serb will be keen to prevent the sort of lapses that allowed Everton to come back from two goals down to achieve an unlikely 4–4 draw at Old Trafford near the end of the last campaign. It was those two dropped points that arguably lost United the title.

Everton featured standout American goalkeeper Tim Howard, Phil Neville, and Darron Gibson in their starting line-up, and those ex-United players would certainly give the game that little extra spice.

Everton Creates Chances

Moyes’s side has tended to start the season slowly over the years but they were certainly up for this one from the outset. They created the first real chance of the match on 14 minutes when Fellaini hit the post from a tight angle on the left side of the box.

Ten minutes later, a nice flowing Everton move resulted in De Gea conceding a corner as Nikica Jelavic tried to squeeze the ball in from another acute angle. The home side continued to ask most of the questions and De Gea produced a fine save low down to his left to deny Steven Pienaar.

Then four minutes before halftime, Leon Osman’s powerful shot on the turn brought the very best out of De Gea. In the final minute of the half the Spanish keeper again earned his wages with another good save, this time from a curling Leighton Baines free kick from just outside the area.

Everton more than held their own throughout the first half and were probably unlucky not to be in front, having restricted United to just a couple of shots on goal. A free kick from Wayne Rooney from a central position about four meters outside the area was probably going wide, but Howard took no chances and dived full length to help the ball into touch.

On 38 minutes, Rooney spun around and put a snap shot on target but Howard was in the way. Seconds later, Danny Welbeck shot wide while falling to the ground and, ironically, might have been awarded a penalty had he not got the shot away.

Toffees Stick to Their Task

As the second period got underway, Everton showed that their performance in the first 45 minutes was no fluke. At the 49 minute mark, Osman hit the crossbar with De Gea beaten.

The defining moment of the match came eight minutes later. Gibson took a corner and that man Fellaini rose above Carrick to dispatch a powerful downward header into the United net. One has to wonder why United’s best defender Vidic was not marking Fellaini who was clearly providing Everton’s main aerial threat for most of the evening.

“It was a good goal, a good cross, a good corner,” Fellaini told Sky Sports 1.

His manager Moyes said, “He [Fellaini] was excellent tonight, but we know he’s capable of that.”

The visitors were now forced to wake up and they duly laid siege to the Everton goal. United’s best chance fell to Cleverley on 67 minutes but the young midfielder’s effort was cleared off the line.

A minute later came the moment everyone had been waiting for—the arrival of Robin van Persie. The impact of the flying Dutchman was minimal, however, notwithstanding a couple of nice touches.

The two new boys did combine well in the 78th minute as van Persie put Kagawa through, but Howard came quickly off his line and did just enough to foil the Japan international.

The introduction of Anderson and Ashley Young similarly produced no joy for Ferguson. Anderson did produce one shot from distance in the final minute of normal time but his effort sailed wide of Howard’s right-hand post.

The Everton defense stuck to their task admirably for the last 20 minutes and the visitors generally lacked the inspiration to break them down. The great United teams of bygone years have always had the player that could provide that touch of genius when required, be it George Best, Eric Cantona, or Cristiano Ronaldo.

No one was able to step up to the plate tonight, but United supporters will be hoping that once van Persie settles in, he will be the man to make the difference. We will watch and wait with eager anticipation.

But on this night, Everton showed that they will not be overshadowed by big-spending Manchester United and that they belong in the upper echelon of the English Premier League.

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