Premier League analysis: Man Utd draw no comfort from point gained on Merseyside

After three Premier League games of the 2026/27 campaign, Manchester United are 11th in the table - won one, drawn one, lost one.

It’s not the start Michael Carrick would have been hoping for - and he’s not alone, Sports News Blitz’s Man Utd expert Robert Bore is tearing his hair out (well, he would if he had any).

Here is his take on Sunday’s dramatic 2-2 draw with Everton on Merseyside.

Right then. 

After a humbling opener at relegation-fodder Hull and a savage beating of relegation-fodder Ipswich in the opening two games, it was time to kick-on. 

Forget Man City, Chelsea and Arsenal throwing around the Monopoly money to fine tune their already burgeoning squads.

We didn't need another left-back anyway. We have Diogo Dalot who could play anywhere if he so wished. Which is exactly where I'd like him to go - anywhere.

So an early-afternoon trip to Everton's shiny new(ish) Hill Dickinson Stadium was a chance to chalk up the season's first away victory. 

Good feeling

Michael Carrick went with the same side that looked so impressive a week ago, well in the second half at least, and I had a good feeling. 

After Everton’s transfer window shenanigans it felt like a ripe time to pluck that fruit, right? 

Maybe the die was cast early on when Harry Maguire’s afternoon started with a bang, on the nose, after going up for a challenge with Thierno Barry that left him prostrate on the deck. 

Maguire being Maguire, he picked himself up and was able to continue. All good. Let's go. 

Marcus Rashford and Luke Shaw seem to have picked up where they left off (before Rashford went a bit awol) as they linked up down the left, the latter getting to the byline with a cross to the far stick that was headed back across by Bryan Mbuemo. 

This looked interesting. 

Bruno Fernandes looked to be in the perfect spot as he adjusted his hips brilliantly to swivel the ball towards Jordan Pickford’s goal but his hooked shot came back off the crossbar. 

Gravity’s a bitch sometimes.  

In lairy mood

Everton immediately went up the other end and Barry went down in the box without being touched after Senne Lammens dallied a little at a looping ball into his six-yard box. 

No penalty, no card. 

The home faithful were in a particularly lairy mood on Sunday afternoon, raging when Diogo Dalot was spared a probable yellow card and spitting feathers moments later when Harrison Armstrong dragged Fernandes down by his neck and was booked himself. 

Having been stood in the home end for last season’s fixture, I could taste the spittle and venom in the Merseyside air. 

Youri Tielemans had a tame effort gobbled up easily by Pickford and Dalot saw one blocked from range.

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Rashford in the mood

United should have gone ahead though after 22 minutes, Mbuemo releasing Rashford on the left, who danced past his marker on the byline before cutting back but Matheus Cunha side-footed over the bar when he should have hit the target. 

Again, Rashford looked sharp.

But the hosts wrestled their way back onto the game a little and the chances tapered off. 

With 33 minutes gone it was a little bit flat. 

The game needed a goal, as Rashford played one in behind for Cunha and Brennan Johnson could only wipe the Brazilian out for another yellow card and a free-kick on the edge of the box and the left byline but it was wasted.

David Moyes’ side could have gone ahead themselves after Johnson swung over a deep cross to the far post and Barry made a good connection but had a triangle head and the ball didn’t go where he wanted, although it was the hosts’ clearest sight of goal so far. 

No walk in the park

As half-time approached and the board added back those three Maguire minutes from earlier, Jarrad Branthwaite also fired tamely at Lammens. 

But Everton had fought their way back into the game. This wasn’t going to be a walk in the park.

No changes at the break but United needed to up the tempo. And they did. With barely a minute on the clock. 

Mbuemo did the damage, cutting in from the right flank, driving past two or three challenges before curling the ball into Pickford’s far corner with a finish so sweet it was dipped in chocolate sauce and sprinkled with icing sugar. 

The visitors had the breakthrough. 

Everton weren’t done mind, Johnson’s strike deflecting off Lisandro Martinez and over the bar and Barry had another sniff thwarted by a last-ditch Shaw sliding tackle. 

This still had an ominous smell to it, like that mild whiff of dog poop drifting up the stairs. 

Constant problem for Toffees

United thought they had a penalty shout after Rashford slalomed into the box like a young Franz Klammer (he’s an old skier if you hadn’t figured it out) and then somehow was able to back heel the ball into Cunha - but James Tarkowski’s telescopic leg got to the ball before the Brazilian could make it 2-0. 

Rashford was a constant problem for the Toffees. 

Shaw forgot he was a full-back and had a bit of a nosebleed when Bruno’s corner found him on the edge of the box and fluffed his lines wide before Jack Grealish was introduced on his return to the club. 

Rashford and Cunha made way with 20 minutes remaining for Patrick Dorgu and Benjamin Sesko, scorer of last season’s winner in the same fixture. 

But it all looked ominous, United’s threat had diminished and they were punished. 

Sub Hayden Hackney fed George on the right edge of the box and he, frankly, ‘thunderbastarded’ it past Lammens at his near post. 

Full hammer

It was a goal as good as Mbuemo’s, and even if most red eyes were now looking at the Belgian like he’d shit on the carpet and not the dog, the ball just sat up perfectly for the Everton man to get full hammer out of his strike. 

In truth, Lammens never even saw it. United would have to go again. 

They did. 

Bruno waited for Shaw’s overlap down the left and he came like a train, helped a little by the fact his tracker (George) stopped running, steering a delicious ball onto Sesko’s head seven yards out and Big Ben did the rest, nodding past a forlorn Pickford. Ding Dong! 

The Reds now had a couple of minutes plus stoppages to hold out. Five more as it happened and Noussair Mazraoui replaced the energetic Shaw to see the points home. 

Except he and they didn’t as the visitors shot themselves in the foot again, with added time seemingly over. 

Much like Everton’s first, United failed to clear properly and the ball popped out to debutante Ainsley Maitland-Niles, thrown on after James Garner was injured, who was stood on his own 25 yards out and just fired the ball back goalward with little a bit of curl to level the game and steal an unlikely point. 

It was a sickener. 

I still feel sick. And not ‘sick’ like the young ‘uns say these days where it actually means really good.

So with a ‘winnable’ opening three games gone, United have already dropped five points, conceded two goals per game and look far from convincing at the back. 

It’s going to be another one of those seasons isn’t it!