YOU could not hear the whistle of referee Jonathan Moss to start the minute’s applause for Howard Kendall. It had already begun, the outpouring of emotion to the greatest manager Everton have ever had filling Goodison Park, and the volume was such that even the song in his honour was barely audible.
As tributes go, it was heartfelt and genuine, a sincere acknowledgement to a championship winner with the club, both as player and manager.
And then the game started and there was to be no further tribute to Kendall, no chance to offer a display for him, to talk of inspiration to add to the commiseration of a football club.
Instead, as this game played on, it was another Evertonian, one whose influence still feels as though it was more than just two seasons in the club’s first team, who became a central figure.
Wayne Rooney, a son of Croxteth, scored at Goodison Park on the day Howard Kendall died, and in doing so became the second highest goalscorer in the history of the Premier League.
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In that was a reminder of Everton’s move down England’s footballing meritocracy since the halcyon times of Kendall, during the 1980s, when he produced a side with a fine blend of tenacity and panache.
There have been times this season when it has looked as though Roberto Martinez’s side have recovered from the draining experience of a campaign shadowed by the Europa League, when Phil Jagielka, Ross Barkley and Romelu Lukaku have looked like the spine of a side with a bright future.
But it was not yesterday.
From very early, this game was all about Manchester United, the gulf between the sides and whether they really are the potential champions of England. It had not even reached its quarter point when they had scored their second goal, through the excellent Ander Herrera, whose subtlety was the foil for Rooney’s physicality.
If there was a desire to make a statement, after the insipid capitulation at the Emirates stadium in their previous game, it was fairly emphatic. For the fifth time in their past eight games, Louis van Gaal’s side ended up scoring three times. Bar a spell at the beginning of the second half, when Everton rallied, they were in control. Phil Jones had to change a shirt after smashing his face. Chris Smalling stood next to him in a fight they won against the power of Lukaku. Morgan Schneiderlin’s authoritative afternoon reached its high in the 18th minute, when he drilled a low shot into the bottom corner of Tim Howard’s goal, after Everton had failed to clear their lines.
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Bastian Schweinsteiger was similarly impressive, and once the second arrived after a sweeping move, when Marcos Rojo skipped past Seamus Coleman, and fired in a fine, deep cross from the left that Herrera headed past Howard, there were few suggestions of an Everton revival.
David de Gea saved cleverly to his left to deny Lukaku with his left foot and then was alert when a Barkley free-kick sneaked through a group of players.
And then came an uncharacteristic slip from Phil Jagielka, who, when given time to pick a pass, found only Schneiderlin. The move was quick, the French midfielder found Herrera, who teed up Rooney, who advanced and shot past Howard to score his first goal away from Old Trafford in the league for almost a year.
“I’m very happy for him but for me its not important if he’s scoring or not,” said Van Gaal. “He has to be an attacking point and doing his job and when he scores I’m very happy. We have to score like a team. Because of the attention on Wayne I am happy he scored, I believe his last goal here was in 2007. That is crazy but now I think he shall score more.”
The greater praise from Van Gaal came for the collective. “It was a very good performance and yes, it is more than a response,” he added. “It is an understatement but I cannot find another word. It was very difficult to prepare for this match because we lost the last one to Arsenal in a horrible way.
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“I had a lot of meetings, individual and team meetings. I think I had 10 to 15 meetings between Wednesday and this match. I said to my players after the game I was very proud of them because it’s one of our best matches. We need that also because Everton is a very good team. In the second half we could have scored more.
“We have to be more consistent so next week when we win against Manchester City then we can say OK, now we think about title aspirations.
“It is only one match. Also Arsenal is only one match. We don’t have to exaggerate.
“But of course we are always having the target of champions. That is of course important in our ambition but it also has to be real. It’s too early to talk about that.
“Ander Herrera played very well and he had a contribution in the goals. I can drop him, that is dependable on the gameplan. When Herrera is playing like that it is difficult to not select him, but I can do it.”
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There was little in the way of explanation for what Everton failed to do. Manchester United were impressive, but Everton were not themselves, although Roberto Martinez insisted their performance was not caused by the emotion of Kendall’s death. “No, I wouldn’t want to say this,” he said. “It was shocking news. When we were leaving pre-match it was really sad news.
Star man: Ander Herrera (Manchester United)
Everton: Howard 6, Coleman 5, Stones 6, Jagielka 5, Galloway 6, McCarthy 6, Barry 5, Lennon 5 (Deulofeu 73min, 3), Barkley 7, Naismith 5 (Kone 46min, 5), Lukaku 6
Manchester United: De Gea 7, Darmian 6, Jones 7, Smalling 8, Rojo 7, Schneiderlin 7, Schweinsteiger 8 (Carrick 74min, 5), Mata 7 (Lingard 46min, 6), Herrera 8 (Fellaini 81min, 3), Martial 7, Rooney 8
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