Man United 4-0 Everton: Ruben Amorim wins for the first time in the Premier League as Marcus Rashford and Joshua Zirkzee bag Old Trafford braces

Come to the Premier League, they said to Ruben Amorim. Come to the Premier League, the toughest competition in European football. Come to the Premier League, where there is never an easy match.

And so he came. Coming from Portugal, where his Sporting Lisbon team won every week, he was bracing himself for something completely different. And then he came across Everton at Old Trafford and perhaps started to wonder what on earth all the talk was about.

All football teams make mistakes. All players fail sometimes. But rarely like this. Rarely as reckless as this. This is the kind of episode that gets managers into trouble and at times Everton’s Sean Dyche must have stood by and wondered why he was bothering.

Amorim’s United, when given the chance, were ruthless, clinical and hungry. The two goals from Marcus Rashford and Joshua Zirkzee could perhaps be more important than just winning this match. Both players were short on confidence and perhaps a little love. Zirkzee, the young Dutch forward, scored his first goals since August and also provided the pass of the match for Rashford to score the third of the game in the opening minute of the second half.

However, that was the only goal that Everton did not throw away due to individual carelessness.

The visiting team was impressive for half an hour. They were in first place and played well and with confidence. Perhaps they sensed opportunity here and there was a hint of fear in the air at Old Trafford.

Marcus Rashford scored twice for United and made three in two of the competition under Amorim

Joshua Zirkzee (center) scored his first goals since the opening weekend of the season

And then they threw it all away. Jarrod Branthwaite – the young Everton defender United are keen to buy – had his fingerprints on Rashford and then Zirkzee’s goals in the 34th and 41st minutes. Rashford scored again just after the break and in the 64th minute James Tarkowski joined the chaos, giving the ball away in his own half and opening the door wide for Zirkzee again.

United soaked it all up and that will have satisfied Amorim. He needs some faith to grow into these players and afternoons like this really help. A day that had started with United fans protesting against ticket price increases ended with a sense of what it was once like to regularly record scores like this. It is thanks to victories like this – however they come – that the mood within a football club and in the dressing room can begin to change.

This was also a special spectacle and given that Everton have to play Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester City between now and Boxing Day, it is a rather frightening thought where Dyche and his team will be by then. They face Wolves at home on Wednesday and that already feels like a must-win game.

Here, for a while, Everton were more than just in the game. United were a little too easy to play through at this stage and the chances were a little too good to cough up the ball. Old habits. Beto, Everton’s Portuguese striker, had two chances. One was cut wide open, the other almost crawled in. On the left, meanwhile, young Iliam Ndiaye was a handful.

United looked unsure, but then scored and that turned out to be the crucial moment of the match.

The goal brought some luck as Rashford’s first shot from a corner was cleared by Branthwaite. However, Rashford had made his fortune with a powerful run down the left that won the corner in the first place. Six minutes later United were two ahead.

This time Branthwaite had no excuses. The defender’s mistake, given possession by the increasingly impressive Amad Diallo, left United in overload heaven and it was Zirkzee who took advantage, arriving late and slotting into an empty net from eight yards.

It was a big moment for the young Dutchman, who celebrated with an imaginary machine gun. However, it was Everton who had fired the bullets into their own toes, and suddenly the match felt very different.

Jarrad Branthwaite, the defender who was keeping an eye on United, played a role in two of the goals

Amorim’s faith in some players needs to grow, but afternoons like this will help him

For now, though, United can be pleased with their performance against the Toffees

This was the kind of Everton episode where managers were sacked – Sean Dyche must have wondered why he was bothering

United could now relax while Everton had to hunt. United got the better of their opponents again in the very first minute of the second half.

A long ball from Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford was cleared and when Zirkzee played an absolutely sublime blind ball around the corner to Diallo, United were somehow numerically superior again. With Rashford making ground on his outside, it was all about the timing of Diallo’s pass and he judged it perfectly, allowing his teammate to finish low between Pickford’s legs from an angle.

Everton by now looked bent on self-harm and when they fell apart again to gift United a fourth goal in the 64th minute, the end began to run out.

This time the culprit was another person from Dyche, Tarkowski. With time to make a pass in his own half for the du-outs, the Everton defender delayed for a reason known only to himself. This allowed Diallo to take the ball from him and feed Zirkzee for a simple side-foot finish at the other end.

United now scored for the first time since beating Sheffield United at home in the Premier League in April. There was time for more, but in the end it was enough.

Amorim will feel like he now has something to work with. As for Dyche, he turned at the end to greet the remaining Everton fans and was greeted with the kind of gestures that tell a manager only one thing.