Jonny Evans relishing second chance after star role in Burnley win

The Man Utd stalwart earned the praise of his teammates after the Saturday night victory.

Sun, 24 Sep, 2023 - 22:30

Richard Tanner

Premier League

Burnley 0 Manchester United 1

Bruno Fernandes may have been the match-winner with his superb volley but there was no contest when it came to Manchester United's man of the match.

At the end of last season when he was released by Leicester following their relegation, the notion of 35-year-old Jonny Evans returning to Old Trafford and being their stand-out defender in a gritty 1-0 away win would have been laughed out of town.

It had been eight and a half years since Louis Van Gaal had broken the Belfast-born defender's heart by showing him the exit door at United and selling him to West Brom before his move across the Midlands to Leicester.

But after asking United if he could train with them in pre-season, the former Northern Ireland international impressed enough to be offered a one-year contract by Eric Ten Hag and after a brief substitute appearance at Arsenal in August, United's injury crisis prompted Ten Hag to throw him from the start at Turf Moor - his 200th appearance for the club he initially joined as a youngster in 2005.

Evans described it as "surreal" after using all his experience to help United ease their early season crisis. Not only was his defensive work calm and composed, he supplied a superb lofted pass for Fernandes' stunning winner on the stroke of half-time as well as having a 'goal' disallowed himself when he headed home a corner only for Rasmus Hojland to be judged offside.

“That was great," he said. "I was really looking forward to it all day. I got the shout yesterday in training that I was going to be starting, so I couldn't wait for the game, really.

“I was more nervous in my first pre-season game, to be honest, playing up in Edinburgh [against Lyon]. I didn't feel any nerves tonight. I actually felt a lot of excitement going into the game. I couldn't wait for it and I felt good, I felt ready.

“On one side it feels really surreal being back at the club and then on the other side it just feels completely normal. It's quite difficult to sort of get my head around sometimes, but I’m loving it.”

Ten Hag signed Evans as cover for first-choice centre backs Raphael Varance and Lisandro Martinez in anticipation that Harry Maguire would move to West Ham before the transfer deadline. Whether he can keep his place remains to be seen but Evans is up for the challenge.

“They wanted me to come back in and provide cover - not many people get to do that," added Evans. "It's going be a big challenge but, you know, hopefully it's one that I can sort of take on. I feel like it’s one that was perfect for me at this stage of my career.

"It's very difficult for a club when you're 35 years old to sort of take a chance on you. I had a lot of injury problems last year as well, so for the club to do that and sort of see the value in me I'm very grateful to be given the opportunity.”

In his first spell at the club Evans experienced plenty of ups and downs but is convinced that despite their under-whelming start to the current campaign Ten Hag will build on last season when United finished third and reached both domestic cup finals - lifting the Carabao Cup.

“I'm a fan of the club so I was able to watch them a lot last year, " he said. "I was at both Wembley finals to support them.

"You’ve got to be able to deal with setbacks, this club always wants to be challenging at the top, so it's all part and parcel of it. But I think the manager’s got a good thing going here."

Broadcasters TNT made Fernandes man of the match but Evans said: "Bruno passed me on the man-of-the-match award. I think it’s the third of my career!”

Ten Hag was full of praise for Evans.

"We have a lot of injuries at the moment so we are very happy to have a player like Jonny in the squad. He comes in and he is calm, composed, has character, a good skill set.

"We have seen that in training. In the summer, when I heard he was in to train with the Under-23s, I said to Darren Fletcher (United's sporting director) ‘Fletch, go bring him with the first team. Maybe he can help us’. I saw in pre-season with the schedule and the numbers in the squad and we decided to sign him because he can really contribute to the squad. Today you saw that."

United are certainly not out of the woods yet. Burnley dominated possession and had chances to punish United - Amadou Onana making amends for his blunder in Munich with a fine save from Leki Amdouni, who also hit the post.

But the victory and clean sheet will quieten the doom and gloom talk around Old Trafford for now and do wonders for the squad's collective confidence as they head into back-to-back matches against Crystal Palace, first in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday and then in the Premier League on Saturday.

A fourth successive home defeat left Burnley bottom of the table but boss Vincent Kompany took positives from their upbeat performance. "If we keep playing like that the results will come," he said.

Burnley (4-2-3-1): Trafford 7; Roberts 7, Al Dakhil 7, Beyer 6, Taylor 7; Cullen 7, Brownhill 7 (Benson 85); Gudmundsson 5 (Tresor 20, 6), Ramsey 6 (Berge 73, 5), Koleosho 7 (Larsen 73, 5); Amdouni 7 (Rodriguez 73, 5).

Man Utd (4-2-3-1): Onana 7; Dalot 7, Lindelof 7, Evans 9 (Amrabat 88), Reguilon 6 (Varane 79, 5); Casemiro 7, McTominay 7; Hannibal 6, Fernandes 8, Rashford 6; Hojlund 6.

Referee: Tony Harrington 7.