Manchester United's victory over Everton analysed by Gary Neville
Tuesday 20 October 2015 11:23, UK
Gary Neville called Manchester United's 3-0 win over Everton a "dramatic contrast" from their defeat at Arsenal.
Neville said United's midfield was "outnumbered, out-played and out-fought" as they slumped to a surprise 3-0 defeat at the Emirates two weeks ago.
Louis van Gaal's side were top of the table at the start of that weekend, but were stunned by a rampant first-half display from the Gunners.
However, Van Gaal decided to employ a more defensive-minded midfield against Everton with Morgan Schneiderlin and Bastian Schweinsteiger sitting deeper and Neville thought the switch in tactics worked brilliantly.
"The contrast from the Arsenal defeat to Saturday was absolutely dramatic," he said on Monday Night Football.
"You could argue no two games are the same but both Arsenal and Everton are good at playing out from the back.
"Schneiderlin and Schweinsteiger started to connect with each other. They never got detached. It was a very, very good tactic against Everton, who became frustrated and could never play through United. It was a case of Manchester United being patient and compact in their defending.
"As soon as the ball went into the midfield area they pressed but they never had one of their central midfield players going rogue - they all stayed tight together.
"As a tactic, it worked brilliantly in the game. Everton didn't have an answer to it. They couldn't get Ross Barkley or Steven Naismith into the pockets.
"I'm sure Louis van Gaal will be thinking, 'what if I employed these tactics against Arsenal'. It could have been different but Arsenal did play really well."
