Manchester United's Attack Shines but Defense Falters in 2-2 Draw
Manchester United left Goodison Park with another point and another headache. They led twice. They played some of their best football of the young season. They still couldn’t finish the job.
This was a performance full of intent and ideas going forward, but once more undone by familiar flaws: no killer in the box, and a back line that bends, breaks, and then breaks again.
Everything but the finish
United’s attacking play finally looked joined-up. The front line knitted moves together, dragged Everton around, and twice struck after restarts to seize control of the game. For long stretches of the first half, the visitors dictated the tempo and territory.
Yet every promising move seemed to stall at the same point: the final action.
There was craft between the lines from United’s three creative forwards, plenty of movement in the pockets and around the edge of the area, but very little conviction inside it. No one consistently attacked the six-yard box. No one bullied centre-backs. No one lived on the shoulder and demanded those runs be found.
That’s the glaring hole. Benjamin Sesko’s return to fitness offers one possible answer. Bryan Mbeumo shifting back into a central striker role is another. The absence of Amad on the right has also stripped some unpredictability from that flank. Shea Lacey may still be a step away from being trusted there, and using Matheus Cunha as a right winger does not appear to be on Michael Carrick’s list of solutions.
Even so, United twice worked themselves into winning positions. Twice they let it slip.
Three games into the season, they have conceded two goals in each of them. Six shipped to Hull City, Ipswich Town and now Everton. However much the attack improves, that number screams for tactical adjustment until more defensive balance returns with key personnel.
A back four on the brink
The biggest worry sits in front of the goalkeeper. Again.
Everton have hardly been an attacking force this season, yet they carved out enough moments to leave United hanging on. The warning signs flashed from the first half to the final kick.
Luke Shaw, heavily criticised in his opening outings, actually produced a far stronger display this time. He threw himself into blocks, overlapped Marcus Rashford with purpose and delivered several dangerous crosses, one of which Sesko buried with an 88th-minute header that should have settled the contest.
But Shaw’s afternoon still carried a sting. For Tyrique George’s 83rd-minute equaliser, he drifted too far inside, opening up the channel George wanted. The Everton man needed no second invitation, lashing a vicious effort into the near-post top corner. Arne Lammens got a hand to it, but not enough to keep it out.
That moment summed up United’s defending: one step slow, one yard off, one detail missing.
Individually, Harry Maguire, Lisandro Martinez and Diogo Dalot never looked fully secure. Collectively, they allowed Everton too many sights of goal. Maguire was fortunate when Thierno Barry headed over from close range in the 42nd minute after losing his man. Dalot’s sliced clearance in first-half stoppage time fell straight to Jarrad Branthwaite, who fired directly at Lammens when he should have punished United. Later, a mis-hit Dalot cross in midfield sparked a scramble, leaving Shaw and Martinez chasing Brennan Johnson before they managed to deflect his effort over the bar.
The pattern after the break was even more damning. Protecting a 1-0 lead for most of the second half, United retreated. They stopped pressing the ball with conviction, stopped keeping it when they did win it back, and invited Everton to keep coming.
The pressure finally told. Twice.
Carrick tried to shut things down late on, introducing Noussair Mazraoui at left back and Leny Yoro on the right. The reshuffle only added to the chaos. In the 90th minute, Mazraoui lost George again, allowing another near-post attempt that Lammens this time saved, with the flag eventually going up for offside.
United failed to heed that warning. With virtually the last attack of the game, Hayden Hackney glided past Yoro far too easily and slipped the ball to Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall. Mazraoui’s attempted clearance fell straight to Ainsley Maitland-Niles, who unleashed a stunning strike worthy of any Puskás shortlist to snatch Everton a point.
United’s full-back changes backfired, but the uncomfortable question lingers: would leaving Dalot and Shaw on have changed anything when the structure around them looks so brittle?
Matthijs de Ligt is edging closer to his first appearance since November 2025. His return should add authority, but how much can one centre-back really transform a unit that keeps conceding in the same ways? Carrick may soon have to consider whether young Ayden Heaven deserves more minutes, because right now, regardless of the names on the teamsheet, United cannot keep opponents out.
A lopsided rebuild
The broader picture is just as stark. United’s summer work clearly focused on the midfield. That area now looks more comfortable on the ball, more inventive, more capable of controlling phases of play. The forwards, when they click, can hurt teams.
Yet the squad feels unbalanced. The full-back positions remain a glaring weakness. Shaw still offers quality on the ball, but he no longer has the recovery pace to bail himself out when United push high. Dalot faces the same problem on the opposite flank, leaving the centre-backs repeatedly exposed to runners in the channels and balls played into the space behind.
Better sides will see this and go straight for the jugular. They will drag United’s full-backs forward, then race into the gaps they leave, turning every turnover into a foot race that this back line looks ill-equipped to win.
There are positives. There is a framework in midfield. There is creativity in attack. There are signs that United can dominate spells against Premier League opposition.
But unless Carrick finds a way to protect his defence – whether by personnel, shape, or sheer attitude without the ball – United risk becoming a team that scores enough to thrill, yet leaks enough to derail a season.
The Champions League awaits this week. With this back four, that is an exhilarating prospect going one way – and a frightening one going the other.
