Everton boss Phelan highlights positives in draw against Manchester United

Everton boss Phelan highlights positives in draw against Manchester United Everton head coach Scott Phelan was pleased with the competitive nature of his side in their goalless draw with Manchester United at Goodison Park on Saturday afternoon. The Toffees were unable to produce that extra bit of quality in the final third to claim all three points on home soil. Speaking to the media after the game, Phelan gave his thoughts on his side’s performance. “I think it was more tactical in the first half,” Phelan said. “I thought we were competitive, we showed some good bits with the ball. We just probably lacked a little bit of product and belief in our game to actually finish the good passages of play that we had. “Second half, not so much, but it did highlight the togetherness of the team, the defensive organisation which we speak about a lot because that’ll be the foundations of anything positive that we try and do. I think that was apparent in the second half. Despite Courtney’s [Brosnan] goal not being overly worked, there was definitely a little bit more territory in Manchester United’s play and a bit more purpose to that. The fact that we’ve come out unscathed is a testament to the work that the players showed.” Honoka Hayashi and Holly McNamara were absent from the Everton squad for this fixture and Phelan provided an update on both players. He said “Hono sustained a calf injury in the last cup game that she was involved in which kept her out of last weekend and Holly, unfortunately, suffered a hamstring injury in training at the end of this week. That was a blow for them as individuals because they’re really impactful in our squad and team. Also, the timing of the injuries in terms of the amount of games that we’ve got, they would have been really useful and helpful.” Phelan made just one substitution during the game and he explained his reasoning behind this. He said “It was more that decision-making of the game felt okay, it felt comfortable, the structure was okay. It didn’t need drastic changes because the players were competitive and contributing in their own way. We just thought maybe Noémie [Mouchon] could add a little bit of threat in transition as the game was going on. The other substitute decisions were just tactical, definitely not a lack of quality. “They looked comfortable and the temptation can always be to make changes, but we don’t want to make changes for the sake of it. In the previous games, we’ve made some changes, quite a lot and last week, the context of the game was different in terms of substitutions and a feeling of what’s appropriate for that moment.” Everton’s next Barclays Women’s Super League fixture is against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.