We won. That was the most important thing.

But after a long ass time, we could see that that was a team that hadn't played in two weeks.

And then you look at United and it appeared as if we hadn't played all season!

An absolutely shocking game of football, one that both sides should reimburse fans for having to watch that shite. To wait two weeks for that is diabolical but at the end of the day, we managed to get the 3 points.

United went back above Chelsea into 4th and finally took advantage of them dropping points. With Villa also drawing, we are now just 3 points behind them in 3rd.

Result-wise, perfect.

But how we got that win...

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As someone who does prefer performance over result, I have to admit that all I want is Champions League football and the only way to get there is by winning games. If that means we are gonna see more matches like these but get the win, then I'm all for it 👍.

However, in terms of performance, there really was not much to report.

My fears came to pass in that it was a very flat game, there was a lack of energy and intentsity, we struggled to get through them and we had to rely on a counter-attack to get us the goal.

Let's start with that.

Sesko was the man everyone wanted to see start. So did I. However, I wasn't surprised that Carrick did stick with the same XI. The only change being Yoro for Martinez because the Argentine picked up a small injury.

As the game wore on, we could all see that something different was needed. The Slovenian was the player we believed could make that difference.

Carrick learned from West Ham in that he needed to make his substitutions earlier. He brought Sesko on just before the hour mark for Amad. This proved to be the correct call as just 10 minutes later, the striker scored the goal that turned out to be the winner just 10 minutes after coming on.

A classic sucker punch of a breakaway saw Cunha play a sublime ball to Mbeumo who ran onto the ball, held it up whilst awaiting Sesko, then played a simple square pass to the 22-year-old who slotted it in into the bottom corner.

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That was the most important moment in the match.

Tbh, it was the only moment in the match, IYKWIM.

Everton's lack of quality in the final third showed as they had no real answer to getting passed Lammens, who was having a great game in goal. The Belgian didn't actually do anything spectacular - in my opinion - but just did the basics so well that he was man of the match.

With the amount of corners Everton had, if that was Onana in goal...

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It is a bit of a weird game to review.

On the one hand, we did get the win which we all know was the most important part. Sesko scored again, Lammens proved his worth, we kept a clean sheet (three in six for Carrick), and we strengthened our grip on the top 4.

On the other hand, the performance wasn't one that filled you with confidence and trust moving forward.

I believe Carrick got a lot wrong in terms of his selection, tactics and giving the players extra time off. They all still appeared as if they were on holiday!

I don't think having all this extra time off is actually working for us. Like I said, there was a lack of energy and intensity and when you hear that Carrick has reduced the intensity in training, it does make you think whether that is of benefit or not.

I say, we should increase the intensity.

I guess this is a result to build upon. On Sunday, we take on Palace which will be difficult as well. How we play in that match will also give us better insight into whether this team has actually grown or not.

As for tonight, we take the win and we move.

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Ratings

Lammens - 7 MOTM

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Dalot - 6.5

Yoro - 6.5

Maguire - 6

Shaw - 6

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Casemiro - 5

Mainoo - 5.5

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Amad - 5

Bruno - 6

Cunha - 6

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Mbeumo - 6.5

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Sesko - 7

Mazraoui - 6

Heaven - 6

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Michael Carrick - 6

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Man Utd beat Everton 1-0 to go six unbeaten under Michael Carrick | Image via Manchester United official X (@ManUtd)