--- source: thedugout.football generated: 2026-09-08T22:34:13.960Z last_updated: 2026-09-08T13:58:00+00:00 data_provider: API-Football canonical: https://thedugout.football/clubs/everton/news/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubGl2ZXJwb29sZWNoby5jby51ay9zcG9ydC9mb290YmFsbC9mb290YmFsbC1uZXdzL2V2ZXJ0b24tZm91bmQtd2VhcG9uLXR5cmlxdWUtZ2VvcmdlLTM0NTc5Nzcz --- # Everton have found a weapon in Tyrique George - and there's a way to unlock it - **Source:** - **Published:** 8 Sept - **Club:** Everton - **Original URL:** https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/everton-found-weapon-tyrique-george-34579773 When Ainsley Maitland-Niles joined Everton from Lyon on deadline day, some fans wondered whether they were getting another stop-gap solution for the club's problem position at right-back, and a player who'd probably prefer to be playing in a different role entirely. That characterisation was always a little unfair - Maitland-Niles has played just two games in his old central midfield berth over the last two seasons, and is certainly a right-back by trade at this stage of his career - but it was from the centre of the pitch on Sunday that the 29-year-old enjoyed a moment he will struggle to replicate for the rest of his Hill Dickinson Stadium career. The ball breaking to him outside the middle of the box 25 yards from goal with Everton pushing for an equaliser, Maitland-Niles unleashed an unbelievable curling effort to find the top corner of Senne Lammens' goal to make it 2-2 against Manchester United and rescue a point. It was the first goal Maitland-Niles had scored in the Premier League since a consolation goal in a 5-1 defeat to Liverpool during his days at Arsenal, but it wasn't even the first worldie scored by a Blues player in this contest. Man-of-the-moment Tyrique George had scored the first of Everton's equalisers 13 minutes earlier, smashing an instinctive shot in at Lammens' near post from an improbable angle. That was George's first goal in Royal Blue, just rewards for tormenting United all game, and David Moyes was elated with his No. 19. "I don't know who was made man of the match, but he was very close," the Blues boss told reporters after the final whistle. "He did an awful lot of good things. I thought he caused them a problem early on. (Diogo) Dalot should have been booked (before later being booked for a foul on Jack Grealish, I found it quite difficult that wasn't the case. "I thought he did well. But he is a young winger, just beginning to make his way in the Premier League, and we've had lots of them, and he'll need a bit of time to develop. There'll be weeks when it doesn't go well, there will be weeks like today. "He played very well. We like him. There are a lot of things to like about him. He is a boy who wants to learn and hopefully regular games will give him a chance to keep building himself up and getting a lot of confidence playing at Premier League levels." Though George's goal came after switching to the right wing following Grealish's introduction, most of the 20-year-old's best work came from the left - the side of the pitch where playmaker Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall tends to drift and where Everton are increasingly focusing most of their attacks. But is that left-sided dependence starting to become a problem? And can the Blues take lessons from how United used opposite number Marcus Rashford to give George even more opportunities to hurt teams? When Everton played Bournemouth on the south coast last week, it was the Cherries who changed their game for the occasion more so than the Blues. Rather than constantly looking to get the ball to star player Rayan on the right wing, Marco Rose's side instead used the overlapping speed of Adrien Truffert to try to cause problems for makeshift right-back Merlin Rohl. That game, of course, came before the last-minute signing of Maitland-Niles, and Rohl was preferred again today with Maitland-Niles on Sunday only being introduced from the bench after James Garner went off with an apparent injury after being parachuted into the right of defence. Garner spent much of the game dropping into a left-back position when Everton were building up, so switching to right-back from his preferred defensive midfield role didn't change his game too much, but it was facilitated by Michael Carrick's baffling decision to substitute the menacing Rashford. The England international is currently enjoying an improbable reversal of fortunes at United after being frozen out under Ruben Amorim, and the Red Devils constantly looked to isolate him against Rohl or find him with balls in behind. The side from the other end of the East Lancs progressed the ball through their midfield pairing of Kobbie Mainoo and Youri Tielemans, and it was the latter - playing on the left of Carrick's double pivot - who was primarily responsible for releasing Rashford at the opportune moment. With support also arriving in the form of Luke Shaw on the overlap, Tielemans passed the ball to Rashford five times in such situations and finished the game as the player in red with the most passes ending in the final third (17). This nearly paid off in the first half, with Rashford skinning Rohl on the byline and cutting a ball back for Cunha who fired over the bar. Rohl was booked in the second half for a foul on Rashford, whose direct and incisive play made him a mismatch for the German. United had started to fade before Rashford was replaced with Patrick Dorgu - taking just four shots to Everton's 10 between Bryan Mbeumo's go-ahead goal and George's equaliser, with none hitting the target until Benjamin Sesko thought he had scored the winner for a second successive game on the banks of the Mersey - but Rashford's withdrawal in the 70th minute noticeably increased Everton's confidence. Bruno Fernandes was a handful as ever, his clever movement in the build-up to the opening goal allowing Mbeumo just enough space to wriggle between Blue shirts and fire an unerring finish into Jordan Pickford's bottom-right corner. It was Fernandes who made United's second goal, too, holding up the ball against Maitland-Niles long enough for Shaw to arrive on the overlap and drive his cross onto the head of Sesko. The former England international didn't cover himself in glory - at least not for another eight minutes - but Shaw's overlap was close enough to the Portuguese that it made it difficult for George to follow him, and Maitland-Niles was unable to get his body in front of the ball in time. It was a reminder that Maitland-Niles won't immediately solve all of Everton's problems on that side and, for now at least, it will be no surprise to see more teams continue to target the Blues' right-back - whoever that may be. It feels heartless to criticise Maitland-Niles too harshly given the sheer jubilation he provided with what he produced at the other end just minutes later. Indeed, the confidence he showed in taking on the effort can only be encouraging and reflected an Everton performance with plenty of heart. George's positivity, as always, was infectious. The England Under-21 international attempted more dribbles (five) and made more successful dribbles (four) than any other player on either side, and also created the most chances of any player on the pitch (three). George's early showings this season demonstrated a combative side to him, too, no doubt influenced by the battling performances of the now-departed Iliman Ndiaye on the other side of the field. That continued here, George contesting the second-most duels (12) of any player on the field and winning the second-most, too (seven), both behind only Thierno Barry (nine duels won of 16). For all that Rashford tied Rohl in knots, the same can be said of George and Diogo Dalot. The United No. 2 committed three fouls over the course of the game and was fortunate to avoid a booking for a foul on George in the first half, which incensed Moyes especially after the Portuguese was later shown a yellow card for a foul on Grealish. George won three fouls in total and continued to develop his encouraging partnership with Dewsbury-Hall, who attempted the most crosses (five) as he drifted into the areas George vacated with his infield runs. The highlight of George's 90 minutes, though, was obviously the rasper he put past Lammens at the near post. Quality finishing made all the difference for Everton, with the quality of both strikes underlined by their tiny xG score (0.04 for George's finish and 0.03 for Maitland-Niles'). Though the Blues enjoyed a bigger share of the action in United's defensive third than vice versa (29.7% to United's 23.2%) and made more than double the number of touches in the opposition penalty area (14 to United's six), clear-cut chances were hard to come by, and Everton only accumulated 0.66 xG from open play. More than half of that (0.37 xG) fell the way of Barry, who continues to work himself into promising positions only to lack the finish required. Half of Everton's touches in United's box were made by the Frenchman - the kind of involvement you want from a central striker - but, with no other natural striker available to Moyes, patience is naturally going to be thin until Barry starts taking his chances with more regularity. It has taken late moments of magic to get Everton through in two of three games played in the league so far this season, after James Tarkowski equalised at the death against Bournemouth last week, and no side has yet scored more in the final 15 minutes of games than the Blues (3). That shows plenty of character, but it is not sustainable - certainly not when it requires strikes of the quality seen on Sunday. Moyes may have his hands tied behind his back regarding his squad options, but for Everton to improve they must start reliably creating the situations that suit the team's best players through their build-up play. The blossoming of the left side of Everton's attack has been a joy to watch at times this season, but the Blues' fixation with the left flank extends further back than the final third. Rohl (40) had 29 fewer touches against United than Vitalii Mykolenko (61) and, as mentioned earlier, Garner spent plenty of this game dropping into deeper areas on the left during build-up - which allowed the Ukrainian to play slightly higher than he did last week. On the one hand, Garner's superior ability on the ball offers Everton more passing options in these areas, but it also means one player dropping out of the midfield. This was only more apparent due to the relatively high position Harrison Armstrong took up on the right side of Moyes' double-pivot, actually doing most of his work in the right half-space with Rohl looking to overlap him and Brennan Johnson on the outside. This left the Toffees somewhat open in midfield when a move did break down, and gave Tarkowski and Jarrad Branthwaite limited options to play forward. Indeed, Pickford was the top pass receiver for both centre-backs (10 for Tarkowski and 13 for Branthwaite), play being recycled back to the goalkeeper too often. Avoiding more direct central build-up could be seen as risk-averse but, in Moyes' defence, the idea was most likely to get Everton's most dangerous players on the ball as early as possible. Mykolenko received the ball from Garner more often than any other player (nine passes), which put him in a higher position from which to find George and Dewsbury-Hall, who made a huge 70.6% of his 34 passes in the final third. This meant the Toffees' most creative player could do most of his work in advanced areas, avoiding the need to drop deep and help progress the play, but it meant fewer opportunities for line-breaking passes that could have forced United's technical midfield into uncomfortable situations on the turn. Indeed, only Tarkowski and Branthwaite made more than 10 line-breaking passes for Everton - Garner the next-closest with nine - underlining the Blues' sluggish build-up play. With Rohl providing the width and Armstrong so high up, the academy graduate's ability to remain composed in possession wasn't really used at all to help Everton move through the lines, and his work in the half-space only really made the disappointing Johnson's game redundant. Armstrong had 15 fewer touches than Garner and made 19 fewer passes, despite spending 20 minutes longer on the pitch. Though his altered position was clearly a tactical instruction, it was nevertheless disappointing to see a player who had been so involved early in the season effectively sidelined here. Not only did it make Everton more predictable, but it meant the Blues were unable to exploit one of United's biggest weaknesses - a lack of speed in midfield. Moyes' task is a difficult one - as he said after the game, few Everton managers have it easy - but it has been made far more difficult than it needed to be thanks to a shambolic transfer window that has left the Blues short of proven, settled-in options anywhere on the right flank. In this context, a lop-sided team was something of an inevitability, but it became even more apparent than ever against United how much Everton are reliant on moments of magic from their left-sided players. For George, trust is what he needs after struggling to establish himself at Chelsea. But the winger has plenty of development still ahead of him and, as Moyes said, there will be tougher weeks to come. Grealish is another option of the highest quality on that side but has never been as defined by his pace as George, especially at 30. If - touch wood - George is unavailable for any length of time this season, that overreliance could quickly become exposed. While the future of the right flank still needs time to crystallise - Johnson possesses plenty of pace and is still settling in, while more opportunities are bound to come Tyler Dibling's way - Moyes can mitigate this by leaning more into the strengths of his central midfielders. Garner is an excellent passer of the football and a solid presence in front of the defence, while in Armstrong and Hayden Hackney, Everton possess two young midfielders with plenty of technical ability and energy to match - who are at their best with the game ahead of them. By focusing build-up play through the midfield, the Blues could actually give George more space to operate and open up the kind of situations Tielemans was able to create for Rashford with the regularity to devastate teams, finding George on the run with space ahead of him. Everton, as it stands, are a transitional team, and their threat in these situations has been a real positive so far this season. The next step is to start manufacturing these transitions themselves. For that, their young midfielders will be absolutely vital. *All statistics used are from Opta unless otherwise stated.