Donny van de Beek's Everton performance makes a mockery of three Manchester United managers

If the remainder of this season is about the rehabilitation of a player, a manager and his football club then this emphatic victory, and even better performance, was just what Donny van de Beek, Frank Lampard and Everton required.

A midweek hammering at Newcastle had not augured well for supporters still reeling from the disastrous Rafa Benitez reign and hardly brimming full of good will towards bungling ownership.

But Lampard, whose managerial reputation suffered minor collateral damage like so may before him at Chelsea, had seen enough in Van de Beek, despite his painful experience at Manchester United, to make his loan signing one of his first orders of business.

And the Dutch international’s display in the centre of the Everton midfield made a mockery of three Manchester United managers, including interim to the interim Michael Carrick, who had decided that the £35 million former Ajax man was not worthy of a start in an average United team over the past two seasons.

The Leeds victory was the 24-year-old’s first league start of the season, just the fifth of his 17-month Premier League career, and raised questions over how United could first sign, and then jettison, a player of such obvious technical quality.

"I expected that,” said Lampard. “I know Donny as a player from the outside.

"I brought him here because I know his talents. He can play, his intelligence and his work ethic - he's a technical player.

"He matched the other players, he gave us a sense of calm, he linked the play and gave us a sense of confidence on the ball. That's exactly what I brought him here to do.”

All sorts of theories, from the tactical to the conspiracy, surrounded Van de Beek and United’s baffling refusal to start him, a policy continued by Ralf Rangnick after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s sacking.

But Lampard, on the contrary, sees quality and versatility in the Dutchman and, while using him as a sitting central midfielder in the Leeds victory, is already considering other roles for him, of a more offensive nature.

"I think he can do different roles, and I think that's the beauty and why I moved so quickly to get him when I came in,” added Lampard.

"I'm a big admirer of his as a player. He played in a double six today, and I know he's got the talent to link and get us through the lines of the pitch with his passing.

"He's got the work ethic needed in that role, I know he can do higher, he's a goal threat too.

"That was one of the big pulls in getting him in, knowing that he can bring different elements of his game to help us in different ways. In that disciplined role today he did it really well."

Certainly, although only a small sample size, this victory did much to suggest reports of Van de Beek’s demise were grossly exaggerated and so, too, Everton’s after the three points afforded them something of a cushion at the foot of the table while dragging Marcelo Bielsa’s side firmly back into the relegation zone’s gravitational pull.

Given the poisonous, often hysterical, atmosphere that surrounded Benitez in the latter days of his reign, any change in management would have had a positive effect but Lampard clearly has made an instant impact in the Goodison dressing room, a point confirmed by winger Anthony Gordon.

The 20-year-old had a hand in the first two goals, for Seamus Coleman and Michael Keane, before scoring the third and left the field to a standing ovation, led by Lampard himself.

“I feel the trust he has got in me. He tells me daily,” said Gordon. “He is an unbelievable manager and he has surprised me, really, with how good he is tactically.

“There is a thing that tactics come from foreign managers and them being geniuses but we need to start giving recognition to the young English managers, such as the gaffer.

“He is a tactical genius and I am thriving off that. I’m learning from him every day, stuff I hadn’t heard before.

“It was those little details, for us to be faster and more aggressive. He wanted to push us higher up the pitch and while it might not seem a lot, those little details go a really long way in a game like this.

“It’s knowing how to get the little details right and what they are doing for the team. It showed in the performance with the result.”

For Leeds, an eighth minute injury to Stuart Dallas was a concern but so, too, was another poor outing by Brazilian winger Raphina who is looking increasingly fatigued in what is becoming a difficult season for his club.

“Players can play better or worse, it's very difficult to stand out and to shine when you're an attacker,” said Bielsa. “There aren't attackers who are at a high level continuously.”