Idrissa Gueye & Michael Keane Flashpoint: Everton unlikely Old Trafford redemption on a wild night against Man Utd

Everton’s Idrissa Gueye speaks out after swipe at Michael Keane as Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall lifts lid on Moyes’ reaction during Man Utd win

Sometimes a match delivers a scoreline, sometimes a moment delivers the story. Everton’s extraordinary 1-0 win over Manchester United at Old Trafford will be remembered for both — but mostly for the surreal, almost self-sabotaging clash between team-mates Idrissa Gueye and Michael Keane that left the visitors down to ten men after just 13 minutes.

And yet, somehow, it became a night that showcased Everton’s stubbornness, spirit and, rather bizarrely, their manager David Moyes’ appetite for internal bust-ups if they fuel a result. Add in the decisive touch from Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, and this turned into one of the club’s most unlikely victories in recent memory.

What happened with Gueye and Keane will be replayed and debated for days, not least because it ended with a red card that split opinion across pundits, players and supporters. But as the dust settled, it was Gueye’s apology — both private and public — that set the tone for the aftermath.

Gueye’s apology after the red card that stunned Old Trafford

Gueye

Just as Everton were settling into the rhythm of the match, disaster struck. A misplaced pass from Idrissa Gueye near his own penalty area invited pressure and allowed Manchester United a sight of goal. It was the kind of moment that frays nerves even on a calm day. Keane, frustrated by the error, confronted his midfield partner, and within seconds tempers flared.

Words escalated to shoves, and Gueye — in what looked more like an instinctive swipe than a calculated act — grazed Keane’s face with his hand. It wasn’t vicious, but it was enough. The referee reached instantly for red. Jordan Pickford tried to break things up, but at that point the damage was done.

Everton were down to ten men, facing nearly an entire match at Old Trafford against a United side desperate for a result. But the moment the final whistle blew on their astonishing win, Gueye was already owning his mistake.

He apologised to the squad in the dressing room, according to Dewsbury-Hall, before releasing a statement later that night via Instagram.

“I want to apologise first to my team-mate Michael Keane,” Gueye wrote. “I take full responsibility for my reaction. I also apologise to my team-mates, the staff, the fans and the club. What happened does not reflect who I am or the values I stand for. Emotions can run high, but nothing justifies such behaviour. I’ll make sure it never happens again.”

It was raw, honest, and timely. But the sentiment inside the squad suggested the issue had already been handled.

Dewsbury-Hall: “He said his piece. We move on.”

For Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, the man who scored the only goal of the match, the immediate aftermath was about regrouping, not recriminations. Speaking to Sky Sports, he painted a picture of a squad that refused to fracture despite the flashpoint.

“Idrissa has apologised to us at full-time, said his piece and that’s all he can do,” he said. “We move on from it. The reaction from us was unbelievable. Top tier. We could have crumbled but if anything, it made us grow.”

It certainly looked that way. Everton were compact, committed and disciplined in a way that has often escaped them in recent seasons. Dewsbury-Hall’s first-half strike gave them a foothold, but the second half was about grit, concentration and, above all, sticking to the plan.

And that, he admitted, was Moyes’ message at the break.

“He just said: ‘That’s done now. We’ll deal with that another time.’ It was about keeping to the plan we had. He made sure we did the right things, continued what we were doing. We couldn’t change the red card — so we just had to manage it.”

It was pragmatic, controlled and surprisingly calm. But Moyes himself had an even more eyebrow-raising take.

David Moyes: “I like my players fighting each other”

If Everton hadn’t won, Moyes’ comments would have been dissected for all the wrong reasons. Instead, they were met with grins, raised eyebrows and a sense that the Scot meant every word.

“There’s another side to it,” he said. “I like my players fighting each other if someone didn’t do the right action. If you want that toughness and resilience to get a result, you want someone to act on it.”

It was classic Moyes — steel, bluntness and a bit of old-school dressing room logic. He did admit, though, that he was disappointed by the red card itself.

“I thought the referee could have taken a bit longer to think about it. If nothing happened, I don’t think anyone in the stadium would have been surprised. But I got told the rules say if you slap your own player, you could be in trouble.”

Everton’s win may have softened his stance, but even so, his belief in internal accountability shone through. Fight each other if you must, he joked — just don’t lose.

Gary Neville disagrees: “Was that really a red?”

Not everyone saw it Moyes’ way. On commentary, Gary Neville questioned whether the incident merited such a severe punishment.

“How much venom was in that slap?” he asked. “Was it a little slap or a proper whack? There’s no doubt a hand comes out to the face but it didn’t look too much. They weren’t fighting, it wasn’t a scrap. It could have been dealt with by a yellow.”

And he may have a point. The Premier League has historically been strict on contact to the face, but context matters, and this was team-mates snapping at each other — not a fight, not violent conduct in the traditional sense.

Gueye’s suspension: three games out, no further action likely

Despite the debate, the punishment is straightforward. A straight red card means Idrissa Gueye will miss three Premier League matches — against Newcastle, Bournemouth and Nottingham Forest.

The FA has the power to increase suspensions in severe cases, but this was nowhere near the scale of the infamous Bowyer vs Dyer brawl. No one expects the ban to be extended.

Gueye will be back for Everton’s trip to Stamford Bridge on December 13.

A night that summed up Everton’s spirit — chaos and all

The incident will live long in the memory, not because it was malicious, but because it was so unexpected. Everton haven’t won at Old Trafford since 2013; doing it with ten men after a self-inflicted red card made it feel even more improbable.

But maybe that’s what made the victory so powerful. A team that has sometimes wilted under pressure instead grew stronger. A moment of madness became a rallying point. A dressing room handled its own business. And a manager who’s never been shy about demanding toughness from his players got exactly the kind of resilience he wants.

Everton will lose Gueye for three matches, but they may have gained something far more valuable: belief, unity, and a reminder that even on the strangest of nights, they can dig deep and deliver when it matters most.