Manchester United's late surge seals victory against out of sorts Everton as Wayne Rooney return falls flat

Wayne Rooney had the opportunity to make the most memorable of returns to Old Trafford. With a cleaner strike and less pressure around Manchester United’s all-time leading scorer, David de Gea may not have denied him and Everton would have been level with the best part of 45 minutes to play. An equaliser would also have been a deserved punishment for Rooney’s former club, who rested on their laurels after Antonio Valencia’s wonderful early strike gave them the lead.

Yet it was not to be. After their poor start, Rooney and his team-mates grew into the game and threatened a ponderous, complacent United. For 80 minutes, this was the least impressive display from Jose Mourinho’s of the season so far, but as they have done several times already this season, they stepped up through the gears late on, with Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Romelu Lukaku and an Anthony Martial penalty masking a middling performance. Everton, for their part, are winless on the road in 11 matches for the first time in 13 years.

The pre-match attention was all on Rooney, playing against his former club for the first time and doing so a day before his appearance at Stockport magistrates’ court on a drink driving charge. United’s all-time leading scorer received a warm reception when his name was read out before kick-off, much warmer than the one offered to Lukaku by the away support, but those cheers soon made way for mischievous chants of ‘you Scouse bastard’. Altogether, there was little sentiment or ceremony on United’s part to commemorate Rooney’s return and his old team-mates started in an appropriately business-like manner.

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Four minutes in, after a brief but intense downpour opened over Old Trafford, Matic switched play across the face of the penalty area to Valencia, who took the bouncing ball first time and fired a thunderous drive into Pickford’s top-right hand corner. The goalkeeper’s positioning was questionable, but it would have needed to be perfect to prevent what was a stunning strike.

A goal down, Everton were comfortably second-best in the opening stages but United showed little urgency to find a second. Lukaku should have doubled their lead when Juan Mata intercepted a sloppy pass by Michael Keane, but the Belgian striker stumbled on his run up to the goalmouth and then shot wide when it seemed easier to score. For the first time of the afternoon, the travelling support had something to cheer.

Gradually, Koeman’s players composed themselves and came back into the contest, with Rooney seeing his first effort on goal curl wide of the post. Tom Davies forced David de Gea into a stop with an outstretched boot, but the young midfielder was flagged marginally offside after Gylfi Sigurdsson had tapped in the rebound. It was more promising from the visitors but their play still lacked a cutting edge. At least Lukaku, who scored five times the amount of any other Everton player in the Premier League last term, was fluffing his lines at the other end.

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Rooney’s best chance to make a scoring return came minutes into the second half. After Davies intelligently slipped the returnee in, he rushed into the crowded area, bundled his way through a couple of red shirts and found ample space for a close-range, left-footed effort. De Gea stood his ground and denied his old team-mate, leaving Rooney to rue a golden opportunity.

De Gea was called into action once again shortly after when Sigurdsson capitalised on some loose defensive play by Jones and elected to shoot at goal rather than lay-off a well-positioned Rooney. His effort was saved but Old Trafford was shaken, seemingly aware that United were losing their grip on the game. Mata struck the post with a free-kick shortly after, but it was a chance that came firmly against the run of play.

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As the minutes ticked by, the prospects of Rooney earning an Old Trafford ovation dwindled. The contest was too close for any sentimental substitutions. Everton needed him and his invention to conjure up an equaliser, but quite how Koeman sees his attack operating remains unclear. For all his effort, Rooney looked isolated much of the time or too deep to affect things as a focal point. Sandro Ramirez and Dominic Calvert-Lewin were introduced as a front-two with Rooney in behind, but efforts on United’s goal were still not forthcoming.

Rooney was eventually brought off in 82nd minute and, coincidence or not, Everton fell apart. After Ashley Williams knocked a pass directly into Marouane Fellaini’s shins, Lukaku squared for Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who had looked a little off-the-pace, to find a confidence-boosting goal. It was followed shortly after by one for Lukaku, who celebrated by cupping his ear in front of the Everton support. Their misery was compounded when, two minutes into added-on time, Morgan Schneiderlin, another player once of these parts, handballed in the penalty area. Martial converted to send United top of the table while Rooney pondered defeat, four goals conceded and four games lost on the bounce: an very unhappy return.

Manchester United (4-2-3-1): De Gea; Valencia, Bailly, Jones, Young; Matic, Fellaini; Mkhitaryan (Martial 88), Mata (Herrera 77), Rashford (Lingard 60); Lukaku.

Substitutes not used: Romero, Smalling, Carrick, Darmian.

Everton (5-4-1): Pickford; Martina, Keane, Williams, Jagielka, Baines; Martina, Gueye (Calvert-Lewin 76), Schneiderlin, Davies (Sandro 66), Baines; Sigurdsson, Rooney (Mirallas 82).

Substitutes not used: Stekelenburg, Klaassen, Besic, Holgate.

Referee: Andre Marriner