Marco Silva Hits Out at Anthony Martial's 'Dive' as Everton Fall to Man Utd Defeat

Everton fell to a disappointing 2-1 loss to Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday, as Gylfi Sigurdsson's goal was not enough to spark a comeback after Paul Pogba and Anthony Martial had put José Mourinho's side 2-0 up. 

The Toffees played well for large parts of the game and had plenty of opportunities to score - most notably Bernard's open-goal miss in the second half.

However, Marco Silva believed that United's penalty was the decisive moment of the game. Martial was felled by Idrissa Gueye, and Pogba scored the resulting kick from a rebound, but the awarding of the kick itself was dubious as Gueye appeared to get the ball.

Reflecting on the incident, Silva said to BBC Sport: "It was a balanced match until the moment where they scored their first goal. The game was how we expected and what we prepared for."

Asked to comment on the penalty decision, Silva did not hold back: "It wasn’t a penalty. It was a clear dive from [Martial}. 

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"Our player touched the ball and after [Martial] dived and it was a really bad feeling in this moment. It made things easier for our opponent."

Whilst Silva recognised the quality of Manchester United's second goal through Anthony Martial, he felt that it was another avoidable goal. 

He explained: "They score a fantastic goal with Martial in one counter-attack. We had to keep the ball in that moment so they don’t have the chance for that counter-attack."

These disgruntlements amounted to Silva's belief that Everton were worth more than a loss against the Red Devils: “We deserved even more than the result we achieved. It was a balanced match. 

"In some moments they created problems for us but I think that’s normal when playing at Old Trafford. It’s always really difficult against a strong side with very good quality and individual quality as well.

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He added: “Every time we had the ball we created problems for them.”

However, the Everton manager accepted that his side must improve on their end-product if they are to get results from games like this: “When you create chances like we had created against Manchester United in the first half you we have to be more assertive in our attack and finishing," he said.

Speaking specifically about Bernard's poor miss in the second half, Silva added: "[Bernard] should do better."

The 2-1 defeat to Manchester United put an end to Everton's three-game win streak in the Premier League. However, parts of the performance were very promising for the Toffees' supporters and a similar display may lead to three points in their next game against Brighton.