Everton Thrash Man Utd with Toffee Dominance

There are only 34 motorway miles in England's northwest that separate Liverpool from Manchester, cities that between them host three big-brand football clubs.

The fourth, of course, is Everton, on the Blue side of Liverpool.

In the Premiership era, the Toffees have put stakes down in that frustrating part of the table that's not quite in the hunt for top tier and slightly better than mediocre, happy to serve as fodder for the big brands and collect their share of the league's humongous annual revenues.

 

Last Thursday, the club decided Sam Alardyce was more suited to being a drop-zone escape artist than Top Four challenger and made a change to the aggressive Marco Silva in order to set the tone for a more ambitious 2019-2020 campaign.

There's evidence in any sport that a change at the top brings a bump in short-term fortunes. This was certainly the case for Everton, as they annilhilated Manchester United, 4-0, in their first run with Silva at the helm.

 

The Toffees dominated the Red Devils from minute one and embarrassed their visitors. Richarlison, Gylfi Sigurðsson, Lucas Digne, and Theo Walcott scored. 

From the beginning, Everton wanted it more. They netted the opener within 13 minutes. Dominic Calvert-Lewin flicked Digne's long throw-in, which found its way to Richarlison. The Brazilian stroked an acrobatic close-range volley that was totally on target:

 

United tried to respond through Marcus Rashford, but his futile effort went over the bar.

Other than that, this match featured one-way traffic.

The Toffees doubled their lead in the 28th when Sigurdsson got the ball down the left wing, cut inside, and got a rise outta the Goodison Park faithful:

 

Hoping to create a positive impact, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer introduced Ashley Young and Scott McTominay after the break. However, that and a few quid would've gotten him a chip butty. 

Everton picked up their third goal in the 56th minute. David de Gea cleared a Sigurdsson corner, but the ball fell to Digne, who half-volleyed it from the edge of the box:

 

The industrious Sigurdsson -- clearly pleased Silva moved him back to his favored No 9 sport -- was again involved in the fourth goal.

The Icelander fed Walcott, who had plenty of space for a threatening run, where he ultimately beat Walcott low:

 

 

The was the biggest beatdown the Toffees have laid on United in 35 years.

It definitely didn't help the Red Devils' cause for a sport in Europe, but at least their fellow contenders each wet the bed in their last outings, as well.

United's stumbling to the finish line right now, which of course is the least of Everton's concerns.

They're more into ramping up to be a contender themselves.