José Mourinho’s cunning plan to qualify for the Champions League by winning the Europa event is going to come in handy if Manchester United continue playing like this.
They have taken only two points from two successive home games, and needed a 94th-minute penalty played by Zlatan Ibrahimovic to prevent defeat against a desperately unlucky Everton.
This was a classy and convincing response from the visitors after their abject display in the Merseyside derby, while once again questions were raised about the ponderousness of United’s attack.
At this rate they are not going to instil much fear into Europa League opponents, though a certain amount of luck remains on Mourinho’s side, otherwise it would not have been Luke Shaw’s shot that brought about the last-minute penalty.
By Paul Wilson
