LIVERPOOL, England -- For 72 minutes, Manchester United were totally outclassed by Everton at Goodison Park and well on their way to a 13th Premier League defeat of the season. With no shots on goal and 2-0 down as the minutes ticked over, they were dead and buried. Until they weren't.
Football always has the capacity to surprise and Bruno Fernandes' superb free kick sparked the unlikeliest of comebacks from Ruben Amorim's side as Manuel Ugarte struck an equalizer with only their second shot on goal. Both teams then threatened to find a winner -- and United had VAR to thank for overturning a late penalty given for a shirt pull on Ashley Young -- before the spoils were shared in a breathless 2-2 draw.
Ahead of the match, Amorim conceded that Everton boss David Moyes -- who spent 10 months in charge at Old Trafford following Sir Alex Ferguson's departure in 2013 -- had done a "better job" of reversing his team's fortunes after joining the club midseason.
Before Saturday, United had won just four of their 14 league games under Amorim, who replaced Erik ten Hag at the helm back in November. Moyes, meanwhile, has excelled in his second spell at Goodison (having previously managed the club for more than a decade between 2002 and '13), winning four of his first six games in charge following Sean Dyche's dismissal last month. And, for well over an hour on Saturday, Moyes looked set to bolster that impressive record further with another victory against United.
From the outset on Merseyside, it was clear to see which was the in-form team, with blue shirts quickly swarming the United players as they tried to play out from the back. Everton were rewarded for their dynamic start when Beto drilled the ball past goalkeeper André Onana inside 19 minutes after United spurned a number of opportunities to clear their lines from a corner.
It was a fifth goal in four games for the once-maligned Beto, who had managed just four goals in 44 appearances before Moyes' arrival. His transformation from also-ran to one of the Premier League's most prolific finishers is just one example of how Everton, to a man, have stood up to be counted in times of adversity.
United, by contrast, have wilted under the pressure of the past few months. They looked set to continue that trend when Everton doubled their advantage through Abdoulaye Doucouré, who outjumped Harry Maguire to nod the ball home after Onana had made a decent save from Jack Harrison.
The home fans took great pleasure in taunting their visitors with chants of "going down"; United went in at the interval without a shot on target in a rudderless first-half display that yielded an expected goals (xG) value of 0.04.
It was more of the same after the break, and Everton came close to making it 3-0 when Doucoure's fine half-volley was tipped to safety by Onana. Surely there was no way back from one of the club's worst performances of the season.
"I'm sitting here and I don't know if I have seen a United team this bad," former United defender Rio Ferdinand said while commentating on TNT Sports. "It has been embarrassing in all different facets of the game. Yes, we can talk about quality, you talk about talent, but one thing which is unforgiveable is a lack of desire."
Fernandes' desire, though, helped drag United back into the game late on. The club captain -- as has so often been the case since he arrived from Sporting CP back in 2020 -- set an example for his teammates in the middle of the park and, after bending an excellent strike past the rooted Jordan Pickford, he began to pull the strings in an increasingly edgy contest as United drove forward.
When defensive midfielder Manuel Ugarte equalised with a stunning drive from the edge of the area 10 minutes from time, it was hard to argue that it hadn't been coming. United even looked like they could go on and win it, with substitute Alejandro Garnacho causing plenty of problems for the tiring Everton defence.
But the football gods decreed that it was the hosts who nearly had the final say, as referee Andrew Madley awarded a stoppage-time penalty for a perceived foul by Harry Maguire on Young as Onana pushed the ball out. After a VAR intervention, however, Madley was sent to the pitchside monitor and reversed his decision, with Moyes describing the call to deny his team a spot-kick as "surprising."
"We had our chances in the second half, but the problem is that we started the game too late," Fernandes told TNT Sports after the game. "We need to start games better, we know that. We had to stick to the plan, that's what [Amorim] was very upset with us about. In the second half we stuck to our ideas and played with much more freedom and movement."
With United still languishing in 15th place -- just 13 points clear of the relegation zone, a point against Everton hardly constitutes a transformational result for the 20-time league champions.
But the fighting spirit displayed by Amorim's men in the final third of the game on Merseyside must now be the benchmark for their performances in the remainder of the season.