Wayne Rooney's unhappy homecoming at Everton was full of graft... but not much craft as Man United slump again
The Grim Reaper may have been looming over David Moyes on his first return to Goodison Park as Manchester United manager, but another former Evertonian had an equally tormented homecoming.
Wayne Rooney first introduced himself to the national consciousness as a 16-year-old Everton man child with that goal against Arsenal in 2002. He may have been 'once a Blue' but many Toffees fans haven't forgiven him for his contentious departure to Old Trafford.
The abuse he has received on previous returns to Everton even prompted former United manager Sir Alex Ferguson to omit him from the travelling squad - and, at the times it mattered on Sunday, it seemed he was absent again.
Playing in his preferred role as main striker, the England talisman - who has only recently returned from an injury that has kept him out since the Champions League loss to Bayern Munich - gave a typically industrious performance without threatening to silence the Goodison faithful with a goal.
As Rooney's heat map from Sportsmail's excellent Match Zone illustrates, the 28-year-old spent most of the game roaming a central position outside of the opposition area - but only entered the danger area on three occassions.
He was unfortunate not to score in the final minutes when a combination of poor shot selection and superb goalkeeping from Tim Howard thwarted him.
It was Rooney's only effort either on or off target during the entire 90minutes of the eventual 2-0 defeat that poses more questions over Moyes' future at the club.
Goals from former United target Leighton Baines and Kevin Miralles kept Roberto Martinez's side in the hunt for a fourth place finish, a crucial result given Arsenal's 3-0 against Hull earlier in the day.
However, although Everton were quite clearly the better side, the scoreline deceives to flatter in terms of statistics.
United had the lion's share of possession (61.2%), made significantly more passes (598 compared to 371) and led the crossing statistics. But, they simply lacked any cutting edge - in both attack and defence.
Everton had 17 shots compared to United's nine and more than twice as many efforts on target - despite the comparative costs of the two forward lines.
Without the ball, the Red Devils were equally as lacklustre - while Everton won 91.3% of their tackles, the visitors could only manage 63.6% on their way to a 10th defeat in 22 games played during 2014.
Grim Reaper or not, Moyes will have to continue looking over his shoulder untilat least the end of the season.
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