David Moyes on Idrissa Gay’s red card: ‘I love it when players fight each other’ in Everton’s win over Manchester United at Old Trafford

Gueye was sent off 13 minutes into the game for slapping teammate Michael Keane in the face after the two sides got into a heated argument over a missed pass that nearly resulted in a goal by Bruno Fernandes.

Fortunately for Gueye, Everton went on to pick up the three points despite being reduced to 10 men for most of the game after an impressive performance from Keiynan Dewsbury-Hall and a goal from Jordan Pickford.

But Moyes was optimistic about the result, which saw them beat his former employers at Old Trafford and move them above city rivals Liverpool in the Premier League table, and saw the passion shown by both players as positive.

He told Sky Sports: “I was surprised. I don’t think anyone in the stadium would have been surprised if nothing had happened. I thought the referee might have had a little more time to think.”

Idrissa Guyet collided with Michael Keane and was sent off by referee Tony Harrington.

Image credit: Getty Images

“I have heard that the rules of the game say that slapping your own player or raising your arm in any way can cause problems, but there is another side to this as well.

“I really like it when the players fight with each other and get annoyed with each other because of bad balls and things like that.

“If you want a winning team and you want the resilience and toughness that got us results, you need players who react like that. It’s unfortunate that he got sent off, but as any of us who were football players will tell you, it’s common to be frustrated with your teammates.”

As reported on the Sky Sports broadcast, Everton were the 47th team to travel to Old Trafford to suffer a red card, but were the first to win.

Everton’s ten men were made hard to beat with solid performances from centre-backs Keane and James Tarkowski, and an inspired performance from Pickford in goal.

There is one person in particular that Geye will be forever grateful to. It was Dewsbury Hall and he was delighted with Everton’s performance.

“It was just a moment of madness,” he said of the incident.

“It was clearly avoidable. All I can say is that Idrissa apologized to us all at half-time and gave his opinion. That’s all he can do and we move on from there.”

“The reaction from the players after the game was unbelievable and top-level. We could have easily collapsed and let ourselves be attacked and lost the game comfortably, but that probably helped us grow even more as a team.”

“The manager said we would deal with the situation another time, but all we had to do was stick to the plan we had. He just wanted us to continue doing what we were doing and focus on what we could change.”