Gary Neville thinks Manchester United's draw at Everton is about more than two dropped points. He said the late concession problem is already becoming a bigger issue under Michael Carrick after Ainsley Maitland-Niles scored in the 96th minute to rescue Everton a point in the 2-2 draw.
Neville's warning after the late equaliser
United had already turned the game around once. Benjamin Šeško headed in in the 88th minute after Luke Shaw's cross, and the visitors were leading late before conceding the final equaliser.
That is the part Neville kept coming back to. Speaking to goal.com, he said: "Teams think they've got a chance against them. I thought they were a little bit complacent and I was saying it after the first goal, they lacked that killer instinct before that period when Everton equalised and then they react again."
His bigger concern was even more direct. "I don't think it's going to go away and that's my big fear," Neville said. "I think conceding goals is going to chase them and hunt them down the road and I don't know how Michael deals with it because he's got his best back four on the pitch. I don't know why Shaw went off with five minutes to go – hopefully he's not injured."
Carrick's answer was to accept the issue rather than explain it away. He said: "Obviously, we can't ignore it. We need to concede fewer goals to give us a better chance of winning games. We'll certainly look at that and keep improving. There's obviously things we need to get better at as a team."
The football itself still had enough to suggest United are not short of attacking threat. Bryan Mbeumo was United’s top performer with a 7.9 rating, while Šeško was close behind on 7.67 and Shaw's 7.24 reflected how important the left side was before the late drop-off.
Everton's late response and the officiating noise
David Moyes framed the comeback around persistence rather than luck. "You don't plan as a manager to equalise in the last minute. But I thought the boys did amazing to keep running," he said. "We did well to ride their pressure and we got the great finish to end."
The equaliser itself brought the kind of late chaos that often leaves managers talking about concentration and game state. Everton kept pushing, and Maitland-Niles finished the move that turned defeat into a point.
There was also plenty of after-the-whistle talk about incidents in the box and in midfield. Keith Hackett reviewed four controversial moments from the match, including Harrison Armstrong's booking for a foul on Bruno Fernandes and James Tarkowski's tackle on Matheus Cunha being cleared after a penalty check.
Neville's point lands because it matched what happened on the pitch. United led late, failed to close the game, and left Everton vs Manchester United with a draw that keeps the focus on Carrick's side of the problem.
Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 3 outlets. How we work →
