Manchester United’s Daley Blind rises to challenge posed by Romelu Lukaku

Roberto Martínez sprang a tactical surprise in an attempt to outwit Louis van Gaal in midfield, but the game’s crucial feature was a battle between a centre-back and a centre-forward.

Martinez named his expected starting lineup, but deployed his players in an unusual manner. His regular attacking midfielder, Ross Barkley, was fielded in a much deeper role, with Tom Cleverley starting from the left and regular winger Aaron Lennon playing just behind Romelu Lukaku. Barkley, Cleverley and Lennon were effectively fielded in each others’ positions, a curious strategy.

The logic, seemingly, was that the pacy, energetic Lennon could push forward and start Everton’s press – and in the opening moments this worked effectively. Lennon usually pressured Michael Carrick, and sometimes Morgan Schneiderlin, while Everton’s other midfielders backed up and pressured too. Therefore, United’s players misplaced passes and Everton forced turnovers, winning the ball deep inside United’s half.

The problem, however, came when Everton were trying to build passing moves. Lennon lacks the positional intelligence of Barkley, who always finds space between the lines from that attacking midfield role. Barkley struggled to influence the game from deep, often wanting too long in possession in the frantic first 20 minutes.

Everton were forced to hit long, hopeful balls towards Lukaku and, for all their pressing, Martínez’s side were most dangerous when they regained possession in deeper zones and tried to counterattack. However, they repeatedly found Lukaku moving towards play rather than sprinting into the channels.

Lukaku spent much of the first half positioning himself up against Daley Blind, who has become a regular at the heart of United’s defence but lacks the traditional physical qualities required for a battle against the striker. Nevertheless, Blind was superb until he departed through injury with 10 minutes remaining, and unquestionably came out on top against Lukaku.

Everton’s first dangerous moment came midway through the first half, when Lukaku held up play and waited for Lennon to charge past him into a goalscoring position. Blind, however, was on hand and demonstrated great anticipation to predict Lukaku’s backheel, and make a timely interception. On other occasions he darted forward to shut down Lukaku and win possession cleanly, before confidently moving forward with the ball. Blind even won an aerial battle despite an obvious disadvantage in terms of height.

Van Gaal is playing Blind at centre-back primarily for his positional sense, distribution skills and reading of the game – facets that make him perfect for a high defensive line.

Still, he showed more scrappy defensive qualities early in the second half when Lukaku received a good forward pass from Leighton Baines, again with his back to goal, 10 yards out. The Belgian tried to hold off his marker before shooting on the turn, but Blind refused to be outmuscled, stuck tight, and made a last-ditch block to deflect the ball behind for a corner. It was a superb piece of defending and, considering it came just five minutes before Anthony Martial scored the game’s winner, that block was a crucial moment.

Blind was signed by Manchester United to play either as a holding midfielder or a left-back, of course, but in a tactical battle dominated by players being used out of position he showed he must now be considered a proper centre-back.