John Brewin has filed his match report from the ground, so that’s my cue to go and find a piece of cheese. Thanks for your company and correspondence, and I’m sorry not to have got through it all – one minute this game was a stalemate, the next it was 2-2. Do join Scott Murray for the next game in the Premier League, in which another team from the north west turn up on the south coast: Brighton v Liverpool, 12.30pm (GMT) tomorrow. And, for now, do have a look at John’s report. The first word in the headline had to be Maguire.
And here’s Michael Carrick, being less diplomatic than usual. “To give one [of those penalty shouts] and not give the other, it’s crazy,” he says. “I just don’t understand it…. Massive, absolutely massive. That’s what VAR is for. Baffling really.”
Asked about making sure of being third for the next three weeks, he says: “We’re in a good place. We could have had more tonight but we’ll take it and come back stronger… We’ve made a lot of steps, I’m happy with the way things have gone but there’s still room for improvement.”
A philosophical take on the refereeing. “Whatever the merits or otherwise of the decisions tonight,” says David Howell, “seeing a literal two-goal swing from one feels like a great illustration of how, in a sport as low-scoring as this, individual refereeing decisions – often sufficiently subjective as to cause actual professionals to disagree even after seeing all the angles – have an absolutely massive impact.
“I’m instinctively pro-VAR, but I think its existence ultimately shines a spotlight on just how often football matches swing dramatically in ways functionally indistinguishable from luck.”
“Seen worse 4 goal draws,” says Dave Estherby. “Neither team really needs the 3 points as a Champions League/mid-table place await the visitors/hosts respectively.
“Maguire’s an idiot, Tommy T won’t like that one bit. Also, sterling work by Utd to lay on the buses for the fans for the long journey back to London...” Ouch!
Here’s Bruno Fernandes, echoing Cole. “More or less the same situation as the Amad one. I can understand the referee not wanting to give two penalties to the same team, but what I don’t understand is that the VAR doesn’t get involved. He feels those decisions often go “against the small players”.
Asked about the result, he says: “I’m disappointed because we did enough to get that three points… We had to finish the game with a lot of suffering… The frustration is also with ourselves because we could have gone 3-1 up.”
Asked if United have more fighting spirit under Carrick, Fernandes says no, he feels that has always been there. “But with Michael we’ve been in very good form.”
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Now they’re showing Amad’s penalty shout (not given) and the penalty Maguire conceded. “For me,” Andy Cole says, “there is no difference.” Maybe it’s just that Evanilson was more central, closer to the goal.
Sky is replaying the sequence that led to the United penalty. I was a bit harsh on Cunha, who did very well to win it – chesting the ball down, running at Jimenez, bursting between him and another defender, then going down when Jimenez grabbed a piece of his shirt.
United show their Achilles heel again, dropping points on the road, under lights, against a team lower down the table. But they did well to avoid defeat as they played 22 minutes with ten men. They were under the cosh even before Maguire was sent off: the shot count spun round, from 11-4 to United in the first half to 12-3 to Bournemouth in the second and 16-14 to Bournemouth overall. The final score (goals, not shots) could easily have been 4-4 again.
United now have 55 points, which means they’ll remain third over the Easter holidays even if their nearest rivals, Villa, win on Sunday. Bournemouth stay 10th for now, with 42 points, but they will spend the weekend looking over their shoulders at Fulham (41), Brighton and Sunderland (both 40), and even Palace (39).
To see the whole table, click here.
So Bournemouth draw for the fifth game running. At least this one had plenty of goals. The headlines will be grabbed by Harry Maguire: handed an England recall in the morning, handed a red card in the evening.
FULL TIME! Bournemouth 2-2 Man United
It was a game of two halves: half a 0-0, and half a 4-4.
90+10 min They take the free kick short, which I wasn’t expecting. Then they fiddle about a bit, but still win a corner.
90+9 min Free kick to Bournemouth! Wide on the left, 35 yards out.
90+9 min There’s been a hold-up which will push the game past the 100-minute mark. Still time for Bournemouth to nick it.
90+7 min Shaw wins a free kick 40 yards out. Mount, following it up, retrieves the ball and there’s one last chance for Fernandes. His shot is on target but blocked.
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90+6 min United sub: off goes Amad, on comes the lesser-spotted Mason Mount.
90+5 min The next yellow card goes to Sesko, for giving Senesi a shove as a long ball comes their way. This looks being one of those rare games in which Sesko comes on and doesn’t score.
90+5 min A cross reaches Evanilsen, who sends a looping header over the bar.
90+4 min Fernandes and Shaw combine to get United into the final third. Then they fail to combine and Fernandes’ pass goes straight out of play.
90+3 min Mainoo drives through midfield and Smith gets a yellow card for pulling him back.
90+2 min Another calm catch by Lammens. He needs to go long, surely, just to relieve the pressure.
90+1 min This will be the first of NINE minutes of added time. Bournemouth could win it 4-2!
90 min A caption inform us that Junior Kroupi now has nine goals this season, seven more than any other teenager. ANother shot comes in, from Truffert, but Lammens has it covered.
89 min Bournemouth string together about 20 passes. United win the ball back but can’t get out of their left-back zone. A Bournemouth cross is headed away, crucially, by Heaven.
87 min Andoni Iraola makes another sub. Off goes Rayan, on comes Ben Gannon-Doak for a rare outing.
86 min Brooks cruises into the box and takes a shot that is blocked by Yoro – now United’s senior centre-back.
85 min United’s last two visits to Bournemouth have ended in a draw. They’d probably settle for a third.
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84 min Casemiro went off too, to be replaced by Manuel Ugarte. The momentum is with Bournemouth, and so is the ball.
82 min Carrick responds by sending on Ayden Heaven to take Maguire’s place at the back. Heaven has played seven minutes in Carrick’s ten games in charge. And the man sacrificed is Cunha! That’s a surprise.
GOAL! Bournemouth 2-2 Man United (Kroupi pen 80)
There it is! Yet another equaliser. Kroupi goes left, Lammens goes the other way.
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Penalty and red card! Harry Maguire sent off
Maguire’s red-letter day has just gone horribly wrong. He put a hand on Evanilson’s chest. It’s soft, and he’s saying so in no uncertain terms, but he’ll have to go.
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77 min This is Bournemouth’s highest-scoring game since 10 February, when they won 2-1 at Everton. And they look as if they can smell their next equaliser.
75 min Shot! Scott hits a screamer onto the bar, it rebounds onto Lammen’s back and somehow doesn’t end up in the net.
73 min Subs! For Bournemouth – Brooks and Smith replace Adli and Jimenez.
GOAL!! Bournemouth 1-2 Man United (Hill OG 71)
How do you celebrate an England recall at 33? If you’re Harry Maguire, by forcing an error at the back post which restores your team’s lead. The error was Senesi’s I think – nothing poor Hill could do about it.
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70 min United go searching for their lost lead and Cunha wins a corner.
On the bench, it’s Sesko time! On comes United’s supersub and off comes Mbeumo, who’s been looking weary for the past month.
69 min That’s the fourth time this season that Bournemouth have found an equaliser against Man United. The first three came in the 4-4 at Old Trafford.
GOAL! Bournemouth 1-1 Man United (Christie 66)
They’ve done it again! Christie finds the net with a neat poke through the legs of Maguire. But it’s complicated … There’s a penalty check at the other end, for a possible foul on Amad. No pen! Huge cheer.
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65 min The corner, like the other nine or so in this match, comes to nothing.
64 min United, relaxed by the goal, push forward again. Mainoo plays a lovely through ball to Cunha, who wins a corner.
62 min So United get a goal, as they have in every game under Michael Carrick. It came somewhat against the run of play. But at least Bournemouth’s fans don’t have to sit through another 0-0.
GOAL! Bournemouth 0-1 Man United (Fernandes 60)
Fernandes takes his time, goes left … and sends Petrovic the wrong way!
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Penalty! To Man United
Cunha goes down in the box, somewhat theatrically, but Jimenez did pull his shirt so it’s hard to see this being overturned.
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58 min Cunha, on the left, sends in what would have been a very good cross for Benjamin Sesko. It sails over the bald head of Bryan Mbeumo. Next thing you know, Tavernier is denied by Lammens.
57 min Bournemouth have been the better side since half-time, taking five shots to United’s one.
56 min Bournemouth again, bustling down their left. All Adli has to do is cross – which he does, into the crowd.
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55 min Bournemouth get a few touches in the box and the ball breaks for Jimenez, who has a shot that goes wide.
54 min Dalot plays a simple pass straight to a red-and-black shirt, but Yoro bails him out with a sliding tackle. A camera finds Mason Mount warming up.
52 min Fernandes lofts the ball into a crowd of tall men with sharp elbows. It has to be a free kick and Stuart Atwell gives it to Bournemouth.
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51 min It’s just one counter after another. Now Uniterd break and Shaw, on the overlap, wins a corner.
50 min As the ball bobbles about above the United box, Lammens puts in a very punchy punch.
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49 min Truffert troubles the United defenders, only to find Maguire tidying up. As United counter, Cunha is outrun by Jimenez; over on the other side, as if seen in a giant mirror, Dalot does the same thing to Adli.
47 min End to end! Cunha drives down the left and plays a through ball to Mbeumo, who can’t find Amad with his cross. Petrovic starts a counter which finishes with Christie becoming the latest player to blaze over the bar.
In the studio, Andy Cole is asked what it will take to break this deadlock. “A little bit of magic.”
It was a half of two halves. United were on top for the first one, getting 62pc of the possession and piling up the shots. But Djordje Petrovic coped with them and then Bournemouth grew into the game, showing their pace and testing Lammens. In terms of shots it’s 11-4 to United, but for shots on target it’s only 4-3.
This is shaping as a good night to be Brazilian. Cunha has been the best player on the pitch, and Rayan and Evanilson have been dangerous too.
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HALF-TIME! Bournemouth 0-0 Man United
It’s been a lot more fun than it looks.
45+1 min Bournemouth see off the danger and sprint upfield. Then they slow down, much to the understandable chagrin of the crowd.
45+1 min This will be the only minute of added time.
45 min United play some more neat passes and win yet another corner.
44 min Adli beats Dalot down the left but sends his low cross into the arms of Lammens. Both goalies have been very switched on.
42 min United play their way out of trouble with some quick short passes, only for Mbeumo to lose the ball with a stray first touch. He’s been out of sorts lately.
40 min Save! The free kick is well struck by Tavernier, curling it towards the corner, but Lammens saw it coming. He’s a keeper.
38 min Carrick has a conference with his experienced assistant, Steve Holland. And Bournemouth have a free kick in a dangerous position near the D.
36 min Save! By Lammens at the other end. I was too busy typing the previous post to see whose shot it was. We’ve had 15 shots already, four to Bournemouth, 11 to United.
35 min Chances! Two of them, both to Fernandes. His first shot is blocked, then United come again and his second is saved by Petrovic despite being sweetly struck. Fernandes was on the left after swapping places with Cunha.
“You have to fancy United,” says Alan Smith, “to score.”
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34 min James Hill’s long throw is a good one, but it too finds Maguire’s head.
33 min Bournemouth are seeing more of the ball now. They probe down the right, they probe down the left, and eventually they go long, allowing Maguire to head away.
32 min Bournemouth’s turn to hit a wild shot: Christie advances smoothly through midfield, then blasts the ball over the bar.
30 min There was a yellow card just now for Casemiro, a veteran who still gets into trouble like a teenager.
29 min Bournemouth have had only 38 per cent of the possession, which may be a plan: for United, where the ball is concerned, less tends to be more.
28 min United have their tenth shot of the game, and their worst. Dalot, so much better at getting into positions than doing anything with them, blazes the ball into Row Z.
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26 min Bournemouth break at pace, then United do the same and it takes a scorpion kick from Jimenez I think to stop Cunha releasing Fernandes down the left.
25 min Half-chance! For Amad, from a crisp cross by Cunha. Amad tees up a volley but Truffert does well to get in the way.
23 min Penalty appeal! Did Maguire give Evanilson a crafty nudge? Stuart Atwell says no, and the VAR agrees. The crowd, curiously, begs to differ.
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22 min Save! The first one from Lammens, who has to get down fast to keep out a snap shot from Rayan.
20 min Another United corner. It leads to a chance for Maguire, with his foot not his head, and he skews his shot so badly that the ball returns to Fernandes. He tes up Cunha, whose shot is rasping but blocked.
19 min Better from Bournemouth, or rather worse from United: Maguire misplaces a pass and Yoro shanks a clearance. But then Maguire wins a free kick to dig his team out of trouble.
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18 min United counter beautifully, with a fine switch from Cunha on the left to Amad on the right. Fernandes has another shot, deflected for a corner, which United can’t do much with.
16 min Another save by Petrovic, this time from Fernandes. All three of United’s shots so far have been on target, unlike Bournemouth’s one. But now Bournemouth have a long throw on the right.
14 min It feels as if both attacks have a goal in them.
12 min An excellent perpendicular pass finds Tavernier in the hole, and Mainoo has to be quick to pick his pocket. Mainoo, like Maguire, is back in the England fold.
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10 min Save! By Petrovic at the near post from Cunah, whose shot with his left foot was a lot better than that cross just now.
7 min Mbeumo and Amad are on the same wavelength on the right, but they’re well policed by Truffert. United head over to Cunha, who skies his cross.
5 min Chances! For both teams! First Amad draws a save from Petrovic with a right-foot shot, then Bournemouth break at speed down the right and Rayan drags his shot wide of the far post.
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3 min The corner is easily cleared and Amad has a glimmer of a counter-attack, but it too is snuffed out.
2 min United have the ball but can’t escape the Bournemouth press. Evanilsen wins the first corner of the night.
Both teams go into a huddle. No ref in the middle of either.
The players walk out into the fog of a firework display. United seem to be in their off-white strip. Sky reckons Rayan will be on the right for Bournemouth with Tavernier as the 10.
“Oliver Glasner. Eddie Howe. Unai Emery,” says Eric Peterson. “And now, Andoni Iraola. Was there some sudden change to the Premier League bylaws that said, as of 1 March, only squads with managers rumored to be a candidate to take over Manchester United next season would be allowed to play against them?
”Next up, after the international window: Daniel Farke. Just sayin’.”
Good spot! But in my capacity as the editor of United Writing, I’d rather have Michael Carrick than any of them.
Both managers have gone for a fluid front four. It’s going to be interesting to see how the defences cope, though both sides have been defending well since they allowed each other to score four times in one evening.
Over the past nine league games – since Semenyo left the south coast and Carrick returned to Carrington – Bournemouth’s back four has been the most parsimonious in the Premier League, conceding only six goals. United have conceded nine in that time, one more than Arsenal and Brighton. You have to hand it to Bournemouth’s back four for coping without Dean Huijsen and Milos Kerkez.
And you have to hand it to Harry Maguire for playing so well that he has won a recall to the England squad at the grand old age of 33. He is also expected to be offered a new contract by United. Their current back four, with Matthijs de Ligt and Lisandro Martinez injured, has pace on the right (Leny Yoro and Diogo Dalot) and wisdom on the left (Maguire and Luke Shaw). It will be no surprise if Iraola puts his pacey forwards on the right to test the old stagers.
“Greetings from Canada,” says David Gayton. “Almost fun fact: Cunha was born the day after United clenched the treble. May 26, 1999.”
That is a fun fact. Though it may also make a few people feel older than they did a minute ago.
The first email has landed. “Free buses?!” splutters Peter Oh. “No free WiFi though, am I right?”
Wish I could tell you. Maybe someone at the ground will see this and let us know.
The free buses, by the way, are expected to pull into Manchester at 4am. So there will be a price to pay.
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Teams in full
Bournemouth (4-2-3-1) Petrovic; Jimenez, Hill, Senesi, Truffert; Scott, Christie; Tavernier, Rayan, Adli; Evanilson.
Subs: Mandas, Smith, Milosavljevic, Diakite, Toth, Gannon-Doak, Brooks, Kroupi, Unal.
Manchester United (4-2-3-1-ish) Lammens; Dalot, Yoro, Maguire, Shaw; Casemiro, Mainoo; Amad, Fernandes, Cunha; Mbeumo.
Subs: Bayindir, Fredericson, Heaven, Malacia, Ugarte, T Fletcher, Mount, Zirkzee, Sesko.
Teams in brief: two changes for Bournemouth
Andoni Iraola makes two changes to the XI that drew 0-0 at Turf Moor. Alex Jimenez replaces Adam Smith at right-back, while Amine Adli comes in for Junior Kroupi in the front four. It looks as if Adli will be on the left with Rayan slipping into Kroupi’s shoes as the no 10.
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Teams in brief: United unchanged
Michael Carrick does like to keep things simple. He sticks with the starting XI that served him well against Villa, so Benjamin Sesko is on the bench again.
Preamble
Evening everyone and welcome to what could be a rip-roaring occasion. When Manchester United and Bournemouth last faced each other, in December, they ended up scoring four goals apiece.
Now they meet again on a Friday night on the south coast. This may suit the fan on the sofa a lot better than the travelling supporter, but United have softened the blow by laying on free buses for the return trip from Manchester. Hats off to the member of staff who managed to get that idea past Jim Ratcliffe.
Bournemouth’s first goal in the 4-4 feast was dished up by Antoine Semenyo. They have a peculiar record since letting him go in January: no defeats in nine Premier League games (while everybody else has lost at least once), but only three wins. They have been drawing matches and, increasingly, drawing blanks. Their last four results have been 0-0 at West Ham, 1-1 at home to Sunderland, 0-0 at home to Brentford and 0-0 at Burnley. Their flying forward line, which includes two teenagers in Junior Kroupi and Rayan, is surely too good to let that continue.
Andoni Iraola has some great memories to call upon against United, including two 3-0 thrashings at Old Trafford. And although Michael Carrick has done a masterly job since replacing Ruben Amorim (P9 W7 D1 L1, top of the table in that time), this is just the kind of fixture that has tested him – on the road, in the evening, against supposedly lesser opposition. His team lost at Newcastle, drew at West Ham and won narrowly at Everton, and those are the only games on his watch in which they’ve failed to score twice.
When United drew at the Vitality Stadium last spring, there was little to play for as they were 15th and their hosts were 10th. Bournemouth are 10th again now, but a win will lift them to eighth, which could be enough for European football next season. A win for United, who are now within seven points of Man City, will keep them on course for the Champions League and allow them to play grandmother’s footsteps with their noisy neighbours.
Whatever the result, both sides will have rather too much time to dwell on it. After tonight they don’t play again for three weeks – Bournemouth return to action on 11 April, United two days later. After binning the midwinter break, the Premier League is having one just as spring is here. Ours not to reason why.
