Moise Kean substitution: Duncan Ferguson treads fine line between strong management and unnecessary gamble

Duncan Ferguson did not realise he had twice removed his suit jacket during Sunday’s draw at Old Trafford and left just a plain white shirt to protect him against the Manchester rain. “Somebody told me I took my jacket off,” he claimed. “I can’t really remember. I think it was just the adrenaline.”

You could buy that, given how he had lived, breathed and kicked every ball of Everton’s 1-1 draw with Manchester United, picking up the second commendable result of his caretaker spell in charge. But his explanation for the substitution of substitute Moise Kean was harder to swallow.

Kean was introduced in the 70th minute, only to be replaced by Oumar Niasse in the 88th. “It wasn’t because of Moise Kean’s performance,” Ferguson told Sky’s cameras. “I just needed to make a substitution to kill a bit of time. I’ve got so many strikers on the bench. I just decided to make that change. It wasn’t personal against Moise Kean.”

In his post-match press conference, Ferguson then claimed he wanted ‘fresh legs’. When challenged that Kean’s legs were fresher than those of many others on the pitch, he was a little more candid and said the summer signing from Juventus – still waiting to score his first Everton goal – had “struggled to get up to the pace of the game”.

Whatever the reasoning, Ferguson seemed reluctant to make his reasoning fully public. He is under no obligation to do so, of course, especially if he believes that the matter is best settled between the player and his manager in private. Such guardedness would be an example of good management. But was the decision itself?

Ferguson tried to claim afterwards that a substitute being substituted is actually quite an unremarkable occurrence. “I’ve been there as a player myself,” he said. “I’ve been subbed [on] and subbed off myself. He’ll be fine. He’ll come again.” But the fact of the matter is that it is not particularly common. When it does happen, it sticks in the memory and does not always have the desired effect.

Emmanuel Eboué’s Arsenal career never fully recovered from suffering the same fate as Kean against Wigan in 2009, though he was being booed by his own supporters and sacrificed out of compassion. Roberto Mancini’s sub-subbing of Mario Balotelli against Liverpool in April 2011 was one of many flashpoints during their shared time at Manchester City but nonetheless contributed to his eventual exit.

It does not always go horribly wrong, though. Jose Mourinho has form in this area. During his final days at Chelsea the second time around, he hooked Nemanja Matic after just 28 minutes as a substitute in a defeat to Southampton. Matic later admitted it felt “terrible” but their relationship remained healthy and the incident was no barrier to reuniting with Mourinho at Old Trafford.

Mourinho did the same with Juan Mata in the 2016 Community Shield, his first official game in charge of United. This came after months of speculation that Mourinho’s arrival would end Mata’s Old Trafford career, given their differences at Chelsea, but the pair worked together in relative harmony afterwards.

Clearly, sub-subbing has different effects on different players. This particular decision by Ferguson could therefore be a man-management masterstroke, the making of Kean at Everton. It may turn out to be just a footnote, long forgotten once Kean has finally kick-started his Goodison career under Marco Silva’s permanent successor.

Or it could be the moment when an interim manager practically ended a marquee signing’s chances of being a success, all to help protect a point for two minutes plus stoppage time. If that is the case and Everton only narrowly avoid relegation, maybe it was worth burning their £24.5m acquisition in exchange for survival. But then again, if not, it could be remembered as an unnecessary gamble in Ferguson’s otherwise fine start.