Manchester United 2-2 Everton: Bryan Mbeumo impresses on debut as Mason Mount nets beauty
Ruben Amorim's side lifted the second edition of the Premier League Summer Series at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia despite being held by a stubborn Toffees side.
The result leaves United unbeaten in the three games they have played Stateside, following on from 2-1 and 4-1 victories over West Ham and Bournemouth respectively.
This, however, was the game that all United fans had wanted to see, as both big-money recruits - Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha - lined up together for the very first time.
Both impressed significantly. What Amorim will like even more is that they performed even without the focal figure of a natural centre-forward. In this instance, Cunha was the centre-forward.
The Red Devils had a verve about their attacking play in the opening exchanges, as the fresh faces linked well with club captain Bruno Fernandes - operating further forward as one of the No10s in Amorim's 3-4-2-1 - and Amad Diallo, who was flying down the right flank from wing-back.
Cunha and Mbuemo showed neat touches to piece together intricate passages of play, and that will encourage Amorim greatly with the Premier League season two weeks out.
United went ahead here thanks to Fernandes' penalty, which stemmed from one of those quick give-and-gos between the front three.
Diallo was set off down the right by Fernandes, and the Ivorian cleverly waited for the contact from the desperate James Tarkowski, who felled him.
United's club captain made no mistake, stroking into the bottom corner, but that was not before his side had been dealt an almighty scare, as Jake O'Brien rattled the post from just six yards out.
The Irish defender had the goal at his mercy after James Garner, formerly of United, had tested Altay Bayindir with a dipping free-kick from range, and the deputy 'keeper parried into a dangerous area, leaving O'Brien with what should have been a simple rebound tap-in. United survived, and punished their opponents for it moments later.
However, Everton were back on level terms when they put together an excellent move of their own, that showed some of the chinks in United's armour.
Manuel Ugarte was converged upon quickly by Vitalii Mykolenko as the Uruguayan dallied on the edge of his own box, and the ball fell for Idrissa Gueye, who got his head up and picked out Iliman Ndiaye ghosting in at the far post with a beautifully crafted cross that the attacking midfielder guided home to equalise.
Level at the break, Amorim decided to manage Mbeumo's minutes, and withdrew the Cameroonian for Patrick Dorgu, shifting Diallo into the attacking midfield duo and moving Diogo Dalot onto the right.
That, however, stunted United's fizz that they had previously had, and the Red Devils looked a tad more mechanical and robotic in their attacking play thereafter.
That said, it was one of Mbeumo's competitors for once of those two No10 spots - Mason Mount - who reinstated United's lead with a sublime curler into the far corner after some nice interchange with Fernandes.
But United were pegged back once more, but this time, in bizarre circumstances.
Fernandes kicked out at Ndiaye on the halfway line and the pair were involved in a scuffle as play wore on. Substitute right-back Tyler Onyango drove down the flank and sought out a team-mate in the middle with a cut-back, and the recovering Ayden Heaven and Diallo both got touches which helped the ball ricochet awkwardly into the back of the net.
Despite the frustrations over the result, Amorim can take plenty of heart from his side's performance, particularly in the first period. Mbeumo and Cunha looked like real threats, and the best part for the Portuguese is that they already look comfortable bearing the heavy weight of the United shirt.
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New York Times
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Dan Ndoye: Nottingham Forest forward with gifts for fans, who ‘took stairs' to top of game
If you see Dan Ndoye driving around Nottingham, he might have a gift for you. When the Swiss winger was at Bologna, he would often keep a few club shirts, with his name and number on the back, in the glove box of his car as a potential keepsake for any fans he encountered. He would, naturally, have a pen handy for autographs, too. Advertisement A confident young man, then. But one thing that came up with every person The Athletic spoke to about Nottingham Forest's record signing is his friendly personality, so the stashing of ready-to-go merch reflects his effusive nature, rather than any sort of presumptive arrogance. The deal taking Ndoye to Forest was complicated by competition from Napoli and Juventus, and Bologna driving a tough bargain for their star winger, who eventually cost £35million ($47.5m). Eventually crawling over the line in the last week of July, the move had been in the ether for a year. Ndoye was offered to Forest in 2024 for around £25million, but they were not in a financial position to make the move. He had only been with Bologna for one season, scoring a single goal, but after some breakout performances at Euro 2024 with Switzerland and a Serie A campaign in which he found the net nine times, including the winner in the Coppa Italia final, he is a much more rounded player. From his perspective, too, last summer might not have been the right time to make the move. He has always been cautious about planning his career, looking for the next level but recognising it is better to take relatively small steps and play regularly to develop and improve, rather than go for bigger leaps and get lost in the shuffle. That partly informed the 24-year-old's decision to choose Forest: he could have gone to the reigning Serie A champions in Napoli, or Italian giants Juventus, where he would have played in the Champions League, but he has always wanted to play in the Premier League. Ndoye views Forest as the perfect size: big enough to be competitive, but not so established that his development could be stunted. He could have been in England much earlier than this. Arsenal, Manchester City and Southampton were among the clubs who looked at Ndoye when he was in the youth system of his first club, Lausanne-Sport, who competed in Switzerland's second-tier Challenge League. Interestingly, Forest's current chief football officer, Ross Wilson, was Southampton's director of football operations at the time. Advertisement Ndoye's game improved significantly at Bologna under Thiago Motta and, last season, Vincenzo Italiano, who made him a much more clinical finisher. 'Last year (with Thiago Motta) I rarely went looking for goal,' he told Gazzetta Dello Sport in May. 'Motta asked me to stay out wide more. Italiano granted me more freedom, the chance to score and to attack the box more.' Earlier in his career, one of the most influential figures was Sebastien Bichard, who coached him as a youngster at Lausanne. 'I remember very well this young, frail 12-year-old boy,' Bichard tells The Athletic, when asked about his memories of the first time he saw Ndoye play. 'He was already a very good dribbler and a fast one. What was already magnificent about him was his passion for the game, for the ball, for football. I immediately noticed his ability to play with his body, to outwit the opponent with the ball at his feet. There was something rare about him.' Bichard was particularly influential during a strange period in 2020 — for all of us, but Ndoye in particular. He had agreed a move from Lausanne to Nice (two clubs owned by Jim Ratcliffe's INEOS), but remained in Switzerland on loan for the remainder of the 2019-20 season, the plan being to move that summer. Then Covid-19 hit, and there was no football in the Swiss second tier for four months: not ideal for anyone, but particularly not for a player who had a new club to impress. Ndoye had to stay sharp somehow, and that's where Bichard came in. 'We met very early in the morning to do individualised training sessions on a very difficult village pitch, hidden from view, to prepare for his future move to Nice.' That move to Nice didn't go to plan. There was a gap of just three weeks between the fragmented season in Switzerland and the start of the new one in France. He began with some promise, but only started three games in Ligue 1. He was only 21 but already in danger of stagnating. 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New York Times
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Fantasy Premier League: The players to avoid selecting for Gameweek One
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Washington Post
3 hours ago
- Washington Post
Falcons rookie Walker returns from minor injury and hopes to play in preseason opener against Lions
FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — After missing much of the first week of training camp with a minor hamstring injury, Atlanta Falcons first-round pick Jalon Walker returned to practice on Monday. Walker said he hopes to play in Friday night's first preseason game against the Detroit Lions. 'I feel good,' Walker said. 'I'm feeling so happy to be back out here. Happy for the week. It's a big week of this first preseason game and excited to get things going.' The Falcons selected Walker from Georgia with the No. 15 overall pick in the draft. Walker won the 2024 Butkus Award as the nation's best linebacker and has the potential to play a hybrid role in the NFL as a linebacker and edge rusher. For now, the Falcons want Walker to focus on edge rusher but plan to utilize his versatility. Coach Raheem Morris said Monday the opportunities at linebacker will come 'pretty quickly, you know, as soon as he gets more comfortable out there moving around.' Morris said Walker (6-2, 245) is 'already starting to pick some of those things up, cross training on some of those things already. He's very smart, very sharp, very detailed guy. So nothing you worry about from that standpoint. But I just want to give him a chance to be comfortable doing something first, see that happen, come to life.' Morris said the Falcons were careful to protect Walker from aggravating the injury last week even though the rookie was impatient to join his teammates. The caution continued on Monday as Walker's exposure to practice was limited. After drafting Walker, the Falcons traded with the Los Angeles Rams to add Tennessee edge rusher James Pearce Jr. at No. 26. Morris said starting quarterback Michael Penix Jr. and backup Kirk Cousins will not play in the preseason opener against Detroit. Easton Stick and Emory Jones will share the snaps. Penix said he might be considered for preseason games if not for his starts in the final three games of his 2024 rookie season. 'He feels confident in what I can do on game day,' said Penix of Morris. 'So he didn't feel like I needed to play this week. I'm going to be ready Week 1.' Morris said other decisions will be made following the team's scrimmage on Wednesday. Morris lined up as a defensive back against wide receiver Drake London during practice. The coach didn't fare well, as he was pushed back and landed on his backside . Penix, who threw the pass to London on the play, paused when asked about Morris as a player. 'He's a coach now,' Penix said with a smile. 'He's got to leave the DB stuff back from when he was playing.' Pearce continued to build on his reputation for aggressive play by landing in another practice scuffle, this time with offensive lineman Tyrone Wheatley Jr. The rookie had encounters with right tackle Kaleb McGary and right guard Matthew Bergeron last week. 'It's just the competitor in him,' said Walker of Pearce. 'You get after it. And like I said, we've got that one speed and once we click it on, it's on.' Asked about Pearce's early impact in practice, Penix said 'I notice his love for the game. He works extremely hard each and every day. ... Whatever happens after the play, we definitely want to clean that stuff up. But at the same time he's a competitor and he wants to compete at a high level. That's what he does each and every day and that's what we appreciate and that's what we're going to love come game day.' McGary agreed to a two-year, $30 million extension, according to his agent, Collin Roberts. The deal was first reported by ESPN. McGary, a first-round pick in 2019, has started 92 of 93 games in six seasons. ___ AP NFL:
