Manchester United took the lead twice only to be pegged back each time as they left the Hill Dickinson Stadium with only a point to show for their efforts on Sunday.
The Red Devils started the better team, but failed to take their chances early on, with Bruno Fernandes striking the crossbar while Matheus Cunha failed to keep his shot on target from inside the box.
Michael Carrick’s half-time team talk seemed to have done the trick with Bryan Mbeumo scoring soon after the restart.
But, as has often been the case, the 20-time English league champions chose to sit back and hold on to their lead instead of going for that insurance goal.
Weak mentality on show from United
Tyrique George equalised with a shot that Senne Lammens should have saved in his sleep. The visitors did well to take the lead late on through substitute Benjamin Sesko.
Even at that point, United opted to try and hold on in added time and allowed the Toffees to score a last-gasp equaliser.
Just last week, there was plenty of praise for the way United kept attacking Ipswich Town even after they had taken a two-goal lead.
On Sunday, that mentality was missing, with the team content to sit back and try and hold on instead of going for the jugular.
Carrick got his subs all wrong
Carrick’s substitutions did not help. At every moment, he chose to throw on a defender instead of an attacker, and most changes proved ineffective.
Why take off your most potent attacker in Marcus Rashford for Patrick Dorgu? Unnecessary changes in defence made no sense, with both full-backs subbed off.
Apart from the ineffectual changes from Carrick, his call to persist with Matheus Cunha was also puzzling.
Conceding twice in all three Premier League games so far shows how badly INEOS got it wrong in the summer. The defence has been creaking for a while now, but they felt it did not need a new coat of paint.
United have a lot to work on if they have any aspirations of making the Champions League next term.
Feature image George Wood via Getty Images
