Let there be lightbulbs
Casemiro and Eriksen switch on the electricity to move United within a point of a guaranteed place in the Champions League
FIVE ASIDES Premier League: Bournemouth 0-1 United
After a few middling games, Casemiro came good again when it mattered. His early goal defined the game and ended up winning it. As an overhead kick, the goal has naturally been described as spectacular, but it was actually even better than that. It began with a good bit of pressing from Jadon Sancho, picking a pocket as Bournemouth played out into midfield. After pinging around the Bournemouth box, the ball came out and again United pressed well as Victor Lindelof, now understudying Lisandro Martinez as well as he did Rapha Varane, shovelled it to Christian Eriksen in the inside-left channel. When he took a touch and looked up, you could see the lightbulb going on above his head as he decided to float in a chip. The beauty of it was that you could see a very similar lightbulb above the head of Casemiro, who was charging from midfield to centre-forward. Marcos Senesi’s attempted clearance went straight up in the air, like a coin being tossed. Casemiro adjusted magnificently, improvising a bicycle kick as if he was playing football on the beach. Because Senesi had intervened, Eriksen wasn’t awarded an assist, but he so deserved one. Two heads are better than one, as they say, and two wise old heads, singing the same tune, are better still.
United got the result they were looking for, and then found Liverpool handing them a gift they hadn’t dared expect. They now need just one point from two home games to return to the Champions League. These three points came with a certain amount of style too: for the first 25 minutes, Erik ten Hag felt, they played some of their best football of the season. But they were still not taking their chances. Of their 20 shots in the match, only five were on target, and four of those came from the midfielders – two from Casemiro, one from Scott McTominay and one from Bruno Fernandes (an elegant side-foot volley, top marks for technique). The only forward to bother the goalie was a sub. Wout Weghorst played well for 34 minutes, hitting one decent shot and playing a wonderful reverse ball to Antony, only to see him squander it by taking too many touches.
United were more efficient at the other end. David de Gea had one of those days when he makes three or four saves and keeps a clean sheet against the odds (on xG, Bournemouth were worth 1.2 goals, to United’s 1.4). The clean sheet was De Gea’s 17th of the season and it won him the Golden Glove. It hasn’t been his finest hour, with shockers at Seville and West Ham, even if the good days easily outnumber the bad. I’d still favour letting him go, with many many thanks, and reverting to the plan Ole Gunnar Solskjaer reneged on – anointing Dean Henderson as his successor.
This was United’s final away game of the season. With a bit of luck we can say goodbye to their third strip, the lime-green absurdity that makes them blend into the grass on a sunny afternoon. They are fifth in the away table and won’t be going anywhere else as Fulham (sixth) can’t catch up even if they steal a win at Old Trafford on Sunday. It’s astonishing that United are so respectably placed when you remember that they took only one point from their eight trickiest trips. From the 11 easier ones, they have taken 26 points. They have won eight of those games, drawn two, and lost only at West Ham, which would have been a draw had de Gea not slipped. It’s a big improvement on the past few years: now they just need to show the same ruthlessness against better teams.
In the home table United are fourth with 42 points from 17 games. With a comfy four-point lead over Newcastle, they can’t be caught by any of the clubs below them. They can overtake Arsenal by getting a point against Chelsea on Thursday, as often happens. If United then beat Fulham to make it four points from their final two games, they will leapfrog Liverpool (who have finished with 44 home points) and end up second in the home table. They will still be some way behind the runaway leader. You can probably guess who that is.
Tim de Lisle is the editor of United Writing and a sportswriter for The Guardian. If you’re on Twitter, do follow him and United Writing. If you received this piece by email, please feel free to forward it to the nearest Red.