David Moyes dropped the coldest, least-media trained response of the year when asked about his team performance at Old Trafford

Moyes on Gueye’s red card

The Toffees boss addressed the incident at full time, surprisingly admitting: “I like my players fighting each other.”

Moyes added when speaking to Sky Sports: “If nothing happened, I don’t think anyone in the stadium would have been surprised.

Idrissa Gueye and Michael Keane fight during Everton’s win at Manchester United

Moyes admitted he ‘likes’ his players fighting each other after Gueye and Keane’s clash”

I thought the referee could have taken a bit longer to think about it. I got told that the rules of the game that if you slap your own player, you could be in trouble.

“But there’s another side to it, I quite 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.”

I’m disappointed we get the sending off. But we’ve all been footballers, we get angry with our teammates.

“He’s apologised for the sending off, he’s praised the players and thanked them for it and apologised for what happened.”

United boss Ruben Amorim agreed with Moyes’ surprise at the sending off, claiming teammates fighting ‘is not a bad thing’.

Speaking during his post-match press conference, he explained: “Fighting is not a bad thing, I don’t agree with that sending off.”

We can fight with a teammate. I know it’s violent conduct but I don’t agree with that. I hope if my players lose the ball they fight each other.”

Michael Keane of Everton and team mates celebrate the win after the Premier League match between Manchester United and Everton at Old Trafford on November 24, 2025 in Manchester, United Kingdom.

Everton held on to claim all three points despite playing over an hour with 10 men

Match-winner Dewsbury-Hall also reacted to the ‘moment of madness’ between two of his teammates.

He added: “It was just a moment of madness. It was obviously avoidable.”

All I can say is Idrissa apologised to us all at half time and said his piece. That’s all he can do and we move on from it.

“The reaction from the lads after it was unbelievable, top tier. We could’ve easily crumbled, gone in on ourselves and lost the game comfortably, but it probably made us grow even more as a team.”

The manager just said he would deal with the situation another time and it was just about keeping to the plan that we had.

“He just wanted us to continue what we were doing and focus on the things we can change.”

Gueye will now be suspended for next weekend’s clash with Newcastle, who visit Hill Dickinson Stadium on Saturday evening as well as their Premier League clashes against Bournemouth and Nottingham Forest.

His dismissal against United was the fifth of his club career and his second for Everton.

The 36-year-old was previously sent off after receiving two bookings against Arsenal in October 2017 during his first spell with the club