Ronald Koeman raging and Gerard Deulofeu flops as Everton friendly with Manchester United left manager in disbelief

This was the team that night.

Stekelenburg, Coleman, Baines, Funes Mori, Stones, Holgate, McCarthy, Barry, Barkley, Deulofeu, Lukaku.

And on the bench were: Robles, Oviedo, Galloway, Gibson, Cleverley, Besic, Davies, Kone, Mirallas, Lennon.

Five years is a long time in football with only three members of the squad that travelled to Old Trafford for Wayne Rooney's testimonial still playing for the club.

Ronald Koeman was only a couple of months into the job while, along the touchline, Jose Mourinho was making his first appearance in front of home supporters since taking charge.

The crowd was just under 59,000 that evening. The game was live on BT Sport but, also, streamed live on Facebook.

Fast-forward and Everton face Manchester United in a pre-season friendly later today, for the first time since that game in early, August, 2016.

Read More Related Articles Read More Related Articles

In the stands, Sunderland boss David Moyes sat next to the new England manager Sam Allardyce while, in Belgium, Roberto Martinez was in the process of being confirmed as the new national team coach.

Romelu Lukaku appeared to hear the news after coming off early in the second-half and he looked shocked. An animated conversation with Kevin Mirallas was also captured on camera after the game.

Rafa Benitez, by the way, was preparing Newcastle United for life in the Championship and was two days away from an opening game with Fulham.

Maarten Stekelenburg, the first signing of the Koeman-era, started in goal but the friendly came too soon for Idrissa Gueye, who had joined the club the day before, from Aston Villa for around £7.1m.

His first game for the Blues would arrive three days' later, in front of just over 12,000 fans at Goodison, against Espanyol.

Lukaku would injure his heel that afternoon, require stitches and miss the opening game of the season against Spurs.

Gerard Deulofeu would start the first game of the season upfront.

Everton headed to Old Trafford having played twice in less than 24 hours in the Dresden Cup.

Koeman was not amused by the scheduled but even less enamoured with several performances in the friendly with United, which finished 0-0.

The ECHO ratings that night handed Deulofeu a 3.

Defensively, as part of a back three that included John Stones, Everton looked solid and restricted the hosts to few chances on Rooney's night.

Mason Holgate was awarded an 8 for his performance in doing so well up against Zlatan Ibrahimovic but Everton would soon add Ashley Williams to their backline.

Six days after the game, Everton would lose Stones to Manchester City for £47.5m.

Still to arrive were Yannick Bolasie, Enner Valencia on loan and a little-known young forward from Sheffield United, called Dominic Calvert-Lewin.

Lukaku, before the second game of the season, confirmed that he was going to stay, despite interest from Chelsea which had angered Everton officials who felt the Stamford Bridge side had been trying to unsettle the striker.

He would score 25 goals that season but, on the evidence of that friendly with Old Trafford, goals from elsewhere were going to be hard to come by.

The Belgium forward would one of six changes made by Koeman, just past the hour mark that night at Old Trafford.

Mirallas and Joel Robles were introduced at the break but on came Arouna Kone, Bryan Oviedo, Tom Cleverley, Aaron Lennon, Darron Gibson and Mo Besic.

Besic would be replaced 11 minutes later after sustaining a knee injury which, effectively, ended his season before it began.

He made the bench for the final two league games of the season but didn't play. Indeed, Besic only played for the club seven more times following his knee injury that night.

That evening the ECHO wrote: "The Blues may have secured a draw and a welcome clean sheet against a side that will be challenging for the title next season but it's debatable if Koeman had much else to be satisfied with."

Before adding: "Koeman looked pensive and deep in thought throughout the second period of Wayne Rooney's testimonial but he had at times raged during the first, angered by aspects of his side's performance and underwhelmed or left disbelieving by others."

Defeat by Espanyol in Everton's final warm-up game left many concerned ahead of Spurs' visit to Goodison but a "70% fit" Blues hung on for a draw before winning their next four league matches.

The Blues finished seventh, qualified for Europe, Koeman was sacked by October and what followed was four years of change.

Back at Old Trafford for a pre-season friendly today, Everton hope for a period of stability.

Read More Related Articles Read More Related Articles