FIVE ASIDES Premier League: Palace 1, United 1
For weeks, United’s midfield general has been basking in acclaim. Pundits who thought he was too old to be worth £50m have woken up and seen that, in a world where someone is prepared to pay £70m for Antony, £50m for Casemiro might well be a bargain. Last night, though, it all went wrong. The guy had one job: to get through the game without a yellow card, as he already had four (from just 12 Premier League starts). And he couldn’t do it. Getting a yellow where others might get a red is part of his artistry, and sure enough, in the 80th minute, that is what he did. Wilf Zaha was racing past him, but the danger wasn’t all that great – United had six other players back. It was just a bad decision. The force has been with Casemiro ever since he became a regular. It’s just that here it was the force of habit, which gets stronger as we grow older. To save two points, he was prepared to throw away three at Arsenal – and in the end, the two points weren’t saved anyway. As if to prove that it really wasn’t his night, the gods offered a glimpse of atonement in the final minute, only for him to miss an open goal as a corner, whipped in by Bruno Fernandes, brushed his thigh.
The last time we saw Wout Weghorst – apologies, Besiktas fans – he caused utter mayhem in a World Cup quarter-final and inadvertently turned Lionel Messi into a tough guy. Last night was the opposite, a debut so quiet as to be almost tranquil. He chose to wear No 27, Ivan Zamorano-style, because 2+7 = 9, and not because he had a premonition that he would have 27 touches in his first game for United. That was the fewest of any outfield starter on either side, and for much of his 68 minutes the game passed him by. It wasn’t for the want of trying or showing for the ball. Early on, in particular, Weghorst had the bouncy enthusiasm of a puppy, even if he combined it with the movement of an old dog with arthritis. He looked alarmingly slow at times, but his one-touch link play was deft, he helped the defence at corners and made an important off-the-ball run into the six-yard box to create the space for Fernandes’s goal. Weghorst only had one half-chance, a header onto the roof of the net from Luke Shaw’s cross, and would benefit from a greater variety of service. He showed everything, good and bad, that we expected. He is what he is.
Marcus Rashford should not have started. He was playing with a bruise on his hip and a weight on his shoulders, after scoring all but three of the last 11 goals from United’s forward line. Here you could see both sides of him at the same time – this season’s rejuvenated superstar, slipping a beautifully simple ball through to Christian Eriksen to set up his assist, and last season’s lost boy, making the right runs but sometimes rounding them off with a scrambled decision. He looked in need of a breather. Even so, he nearly scored: had a penalty been given when Scott McTominay was tripped, Rashford might well have taken it and extended both his scoring sequence (to eight matches in a row) and United’s winning run (to 10). But this was a gig too far for him. Better, surely, to have started Alejandro Garnacho – a super-sub who needs to learn how to bamboozle a fresh full-back, after tormenting a few tired ones. Then Rashford could have come on for the last half-hour, which is when most of his goals arrive anyway. As it is, he’s even wearier now, which, like Casemiro’s suspension, will make a tough job even harder at Arsenal.
Erik Ten Hag was right to say that United couldn’t blame the ref for the draw. By the time McTominay went down, they should have been two up. On expected goals, according to fbref.com, the final score was 2.1-0.5. United’s performance was a right old mixed bag – slick, then suddenly sloppy; pacey, then pedestrian (as the ball went to Antony, who was told off for dawdling by Fernandes). Ten Hag added, also rightly, that he would have to look in the mirror. If it made perfect sense to send on Garnacho for Antony, it was unduly defensive to swap Weghorst for McTominay. Ten Hag seems apt to forget that the best way to defend a one-goal lead is to turn it into a two-goal lead (something United haven’t managed away from home in the league under him). But we can’t complain too much. Selhurst Park is a tricky place to go on. a winter’s night, and it was the first time in the league this season that United had squandered a lead of any kind. Their other two draws were a comeback at Chelsea and a stalemate against Newcastle, and the four defeats (Brighton, Brentford, City, Villa), you may dimly remember, all involved racing into a 2-0 deficit.
Halfway through the league season, there’s good news and bad news. The bad news is that United are still paying for their dismal start. They’re eight points behind the leaders Arsenal, and six of those eight are accounted for by the first two matchweeks, when they capitulated to mid-table opponents. That symptom has persisted: in their six meetings with the teams now sitting between seventh and 12th, United have only one win (over Liverpool, those well-known mid-table trundlers). But the good news is the way United have dealt with everyone else. Against the current top six, they have four wins (Arsenal, City, Spurs, Fulham), one draw (Newcastle) and only one defeat (City again). Against the current bottom eight, they have seven wins out of seven, with Leeds still to come. All told they have 12 wins, only four fewer than in the whole of last season. They can always have a bad run but, with 39 points in the bag already, they should get the 30-odd required to reach their realistic target, the top four. They’re still in three cups, even if the ejector seat beckons when they meet Barcelona in. the Europa play-offs. They have even been mentioned in connection with the league title, though that talk will remain fanciful unless they pull off an upset at the Emirates on Sunday. They’re good to watch and even decent to listen to afterwards. They have the spirit to match their massive talent. It could be a lot worse.