Casemeiro was shown a straight red card as Manchester United produced one of the goalless football scores of the weekend in the Premier League. The United midfielder was sent off in the 34th minute for a studs-up tackle on Carlos Alcaraz, earning him a four-game suspension. Referee Anthony Taylor first gave Casemiro a yellow card for the foul, but VAR sent Taylor to the pitchside monitor, where he reviewed the incident and gave Casemiro a straight red card. United was even more displeased with the officials after three penalty appeals were denied during the game.
Both teams came close to scoring, with United’s Bruno Fernandes hitting the post and Southampton hitting the crossbar twice and having an effort saved off the line. Both goalkeepers, David de Gea and Gavin Bazunu made spectacular saves to keep the game scoreless. It’s a crucial point for Southampton, who are now two points behind 17th place, but they’ll feel they could have secured a shock victory at Old Trafford. Nevertheless, United failed to consolidate their third-place position and now lies just two points ahead of fourth-placed Tottenham, with whom they have a game in hand.
United returned to Premier League action for the first time since their historic 7-0 loss to rivals Liverpool last Sunday. Nevertheless, encouraged by Thursday’s Europa League comeback win over Real Betis, United came close to scoring in the 16th minute when Marcus Rashford’s low drive was superbly stopped by Bazunu, who then denied Rashford at his feet moments later. De Gea, the goalkeeper for Manchester United, then performed a great save to tip over Theo Walcott’s close-range bullet header. Just after the half-hour mark, Casemiro unleashed a hard right foot on Alcaraz’s shin, reducing United to ten men.
Following a VAR review, an angry Casemiro was awarded a red card, and United’s anguish was nearly doubled when James Ward-ensuing Prowse’s free-kick was diverted narrowly wide. United’s dissatisfaction grew as Bazunu stopped superbly from Raphael Varane at the back post before being denied two penalty claims, the first for a tackle on Fernandes by Kyle Walker-Peters and the second for a handball against Armel Bella-Kotchap. Aaron Wan-goal-line Bissaka’s clearing four minutes into the second half was crucial in keeping the game scoreless. After a deflection from a Walker-Peters cross beat De Gea, the defense prevented substitute Scott McTominay from scoring an own goal.
Ward-Prowse then kissed the top of the crossbar with a fantastic free-kick in the 54th minute, while De Gea stopped Walcott yet again as he raced through one-on-one only for the Spaniard to push his drive away. Moments later, Bazunu was forced to make an even better save, tipping Fernandes’ dipping low effort from distance onto the post as the rebound rolled across the face of the goal.
Southampton slammed the woodwork at the other end a minute later, when Walker-Peters’ powerful angled attempt crashed off the post. But, neither team could find a winner in a tense draw that maintains United unblemished in their past 14 Premier League encounters with Southampton. United suffered a late injury setback as replacement Alejandro Garnacho was forced off the field following a challenge by Walker-Peters.
“The refereeing has influenced this game, and we discuss two concerns [Casemiro’s red card and United’s lack of a penalty]. In Europe, Casemiro has appeared in over 500 games. He had never had a red card before, but now he has two in four or five [Premier League] games,” Manchester United head coach Erik ten Hag said. “We’ll deal with that, but the agreement was that the referee influenced this game. There is no doubt, so I’m not sure why the VAR isn’t interrupting because they previously did. A huge congratulations to the crew. We showed a lot of character after a long period with 10 after playing on Thursday. Today’s performance was excellent. We knew we should have won, but we didn’t. We take that point and move on.”
“We are quite pleased with the performance. We are not pleased with the result, but we are pleased with the performance,” Southampton head coach Ruben Selles said. “We demonstrated identity, the ideas that guide our game, and we saw a team working together, wanting to be together, and wanting to gain something out of the game.”
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