Louis van Gaal was sounding uncharacteristically modest. Manchester United possess a leader who doubles up as a role model. Just not, he suggested, him. “He is an example for everybody: his fellow players, players from other clubs and also for the manager,” he said. It was his latest paean to his captain, Wayne Rooney, who scores sporadically but invariably draws eulogies from managers, and not merely United’s.

“He has always been very clear in his affection towards the club and every Evertonian will tell you we are all extremely proud of him,” said Roberto Martínez. “He is a phenomenal footballer.”

The Spaniard neatly sidestepped questions as to whether Rooney’s scoring return to Goodison Park will prompt a permanent comeback but the 29-year-old’s goal, his first on Merseyside for eight years, meant he was the headline-maker nonetheless. In many respects, however, Van Gaal was the difference-maker. His was a pastoral and tactical triumph. The sure touch he mislaid en route to Arsenal, when an attempt to play a pressing game with ageing, slowing midfielders resulted in a 3-0 defeat, was rediscovered. So, too, was United’s winning habit.

While Everton mourned Howard Kendall, the architect of two title-winning teams, Van Gaal illustrated the influence an elite manager can have as, from the ruins of a wretched performance in London, he fashioned a more pragmatic, more athletic side. United dominated at a venue where Chelsea were destroyed last month.

Morgan Schneiderlin and Ander Herrera were back in midfield, offering an injection of energy and validation for Van Gaal in the form of a goal apiece. Phil Jones and Chris Smalling, the central-defensive partnership in a spring surge, were belatedly reunited as a clean sheet was kept.

Van Gaal’s gambit of reinventing Daley Blind as a playmaker at the back was put on hold. The solidity of twin stoppers was prioritised. “They did fantastically,” said Van Gaal, explaining his thinking. “Do we need a defending centre-back couple or a pair capable of building up [the play]? It is dependable on the qualities of the opponents.”

Given United’s tradition of buccaneering attacking, that could suggest a newfound fearfulness. Rather, however, it was an intelligent use of resources. Blind had been targeted: by the speedy Theo Walcott, the forceful Graziano Pellè and the pacey, powerful Bafétimbi Gomis. Everton’s Romelu Lukaku, who shares the Swansea striker’s imposing physique, instead found himself confronted with two brick walls in Jones and Smalling.

Van Gaal produced another explanation for the omission of Blind and Memphis Depay. “That is dependable on the defeat of the Dutch team,” he said, suggesting they were traumatised by Holland’s failure to qualify for Euro 2016. The former Holland manager, who had 10-15 meetings this week in his attempts to put his ordeal at Arsenal behind him, portrayed himself as part-bureaucrat, part-social worker.

“It is the total human being principle,” he said. It was not total football. Whereas, in recent games, virtually every United player had been a midfielder by trade, there was a clearer division of labour at Goodison Park, with specialist defenders and, after the half-time introduction of Jesse Lingard for Juan Mata, a front three challenged with bursting beyond the Everton defence. Rooney’s 187th Premier League goal, a tally bettered only by Alan Shearer, came when he breached the offside trap. So did a second chance; each appeared to disprove the theory Rooney has lost his dynamism as he prepares to enter his 30s. Van Gaal felt speed of thought, rather than of legs, accounted for Rooney’s threat. “He is always running in behind at the right moment,” he said. “That is more important.”

If Van Gaal’s ability to read the game deserted him at Arsenal it has otherwise been apparent. Lingard’s belated second appearance for him, 14 months after the first, gave United one more direct runner. It proved another telling substitution after Anthony Martial’s introduction against Liverpool and Antonio Valencia’s entrance at Southampton.

Van Gaal’s most distinguished predecessor, Sir Alex Ferguson, ended up as an inveterate tinkerer of teams. For once the Dutchman will resist the temptation to fiddle for the Champions League clash with CSKA Moscow. “I am not stupid,” he said. “I won’t change too much on Wednesday.” Sunday’s Manchester derby may present a greater test of a strategist’s capacity to devise a winning blueprint.

Man of the match Ander Herrera (Manchester United)