5 Things We Learned From Everton vs Man Utd

Everton secured a 2-2 draw against Manchester United on Sunday afternoon as Ainsley Maitland-Niles fired home a long-range stunner to equalise in the final seconds of the game. 

It was far from a perfect performance from the Toffees, but they didn't give up until the final seconds to secure all three points. 

But what did we learn from the game? You can always learn something from games, whether that be wins, draws, or losses. 

There were poor moments, but also some magic sprinkled in there, and the never-say-die attitude, which has dragged us through difficult times, was on display once again. 

Here are five things we learned from the United clash. 

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We learned that Hayden Hackney can be an incredibly influential player at Everton. He was heavily involved in both goals, and his introduction sparked Everton into life, alongside Jack Grealish.

Hackney was very positive with every action, looking to drive forward with the ball and try and provide a link between defence and attack. 

What I will add as a caveat is that he was perfectly suited to the specific game state. Hackney was introduced when Everton were a goal behind. 

This meant there was more freedom for him to play in the final third and try to find a goal. There was little defensive responsibility needed from him as we were pushing to find the equaliser. 

That means there are still doubts over whether he should be starting every week. Certain games, absolutely, and in games where we need a goal, he's perfect. It's easy to demand a player to start after they make an impact off the bench, but maybe the game state was just perfectly setup for him to have a positive impact?

That's certainly an argument to have, in my opinion. That doesn't mean he's not good enough to start, but maybe this game just suited him. 

That being said, with Hull and Ipswich coming up, he could certainly make an impact from the start in those games and take the game to the opposition. 

I think people might have jumped the gun with Merlin Rohl at right-back. That's not a dig at anyone as I include myself in that selection of people.

He seriously impressed me in pre-season, but in the opening three games, he's looked really suspect defensively, which is perfectly understandable. 

I think in certain games he could do a job there, but I don't think you want to be relying on him regularly. Hopefully Ainsley Maitland-Niles can come in and make that position his own. 

Love Rohl, and his versatility will be useful for us, but maybe the right-back experiment should be over?

He's just so good, isn't he? Box defending, progressing the ball, left-foot balance, body on the line, aerial duels, recovery pace. He's got everything. 

Keeping him fit will be the difference between a decent season and a very good one. I don't want him anywhere near that starting XI against Wolves. Yes, we want a good cup run, but we should have enough without him, and we need to keep him wrapped in cotton wool. 

So what did we learn? Well I think we've learned how crucial he is. That might not be something new to most people, but he's reminding us every single week at least.

I think we've learned, not only yesterday, but over the last few weeks, that Brennan Johnson is perhaps someone you don't want to rely on as a starter. 

I think his skill set suits certain games, particularly off the bench against tired legs, and that can be very usefull. 

I'd rather take the risk on Tyler Dibling than play Johnson from the start. I like Johnson, but if you're not hitting teams in transition regularly and if there isn't space in behind the defence, he struggles. 

If we look at the three substitutions, our depth is actually really strong, to a point. We had a strong bench yesterday, it's just beyond that where we're going to struggle.

Having Hackney coming on instead of Tim Iroegbunam, Grealish instead of just making the Beto/Barry swap. 

I think we're in a strong position squad wise, in terms of the starting XI and nine subs, expect from the full-back and striker positions, obviously. 

We should actually have decent options, until someone gets injured and then it starts to look pretty grim.