IT WAS LIKE Euro 2020 all over again.
Luke Shaw with the delivery and Harry Maguire the thumping header in.
It was Shaw who provided the free kick delivery for Maguire in Rome for England’s second in a 4-0 win over Ukraine.
Against Everton in this pre-season friendly the full-back’s wand of a left foot provided the assist from a corner this time and there was Maguire again powering a header home in the 15th minute.
He is starting to look like Steve Bruce in the opposing box.
Legendary centre-back Bruce scored 51 goals in his time with United.
Most notable were those two late headers in the crucial win over Sheffield Wednesday here in the first Premier League season that helped United towards the finishing line.
There was a similarity to those with the way Maguire despatched his here.
Manager Solskjaer said last season that he wanted to get his captain more involved in set-pieces and that work on the training ground looks set to pay dividends if this is anything to go by.
It wasn’t quite like Euro 2020 for Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, however.
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He answered his doubters with some fantastic displays for England in the summer.
But there was butter back on his fingers as he gifted United the lead here in the eighth minute.
He wasn’t helped by two of his teammates.
Alex Iwobi first headed the ball back to Lucas Digne leaving him in a panic as he executed a bizarre diving header towards the advancing Pickford.
To think the chants of ‘England’s number one’ from the away support were still hanging in the air as Pickford spilled the ball and Mason Greenwood following up turned it into an empty net.
After Maguire had made it two, Bruno Fernandes added a third on 28 minutes.
Abdoulaye Doucoure foolishly pulled back Victor Lindelof just outside the area to concede a free-kick in a very dangerous area.
The cries of ‘Bruno, Bruno’ went up from a crowd of 55,000 and the Portuguese star was happy to oblige his fans.
Stepping up he delivered a sweet strike over the wall and into the top left hand side of the goal.
It wasn’t right in the corner but it had pace on it and the flying Pickford could not get near it.
At this point a number of Everton fans started to head for the exit doors.
For them former Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez has been a controversial appointment after Carlo Ancelotti walked out on the club for a second spell at Real Madrid.
He needs to hit the ground running to win over the fan base but has hit it stumbling with this embarrassing final warm-up game before the big kick off next weekend.
As is normal with these friendlies the best judgement can only be made on the first period with a raft of changes made by both managers at the break and through the second-half.
Pickford was spared any further embarrassment as one of those withdrawn at half-time.
All the changes took the sting out of United and Everton did at least hit the bar when Andros Townsend fired goalwards.
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United would round the scoring off, however, in injury time when forgotten man Diogo Dalot stooped to send a fine header home from Fred’s delivery.
Solskjaer can look back with a great deal of satisfaction on that first 45 minutes against another Premier League side.
With new signings Raphael Varane and Jadon Sancho still to take their bow there is a real excitement building towards the new season and their opening fixture here at Old Trafford against Leeds next Saturday.
Solskjaer will certainly hope that positive energy that was among the 55,000 in the stadium for this game carries over.
Last season despite finishing Premier League runners-up they surrendered 26 points at home.
He needs to build this into a fortress again and certainly believes he has the squad to do just that.
For Benitez the chants of ‘Fat Spanish Waiter’ from all be it a minority of Everton fans does not bode well.
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
