Old Trafford Man United

Casemiro Sees Red Again, Club Sale Progress & Pep Says Julia Roberts Only Visits Big Clubs

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After the humiliation at Anfield, United returned to winning ways against Real Betis in a 4-1 home win on a snowy Thursday night. Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag will be pleased with this result as it sets the red devils up well in their journey to Spain for the second leg.

A potential talking point for this upcoming fixture will be the lineup. Previously, in cup competitions, Ten Hag has looked to play a strong team irrespective of the opposition. However, with United’s first teamers in need of a rest having played eight games in just 28 days, the Dutch coach, may finally look to rotate.

This could give a big opportunity to someone like Facundo Pellistri, who in recent weeks has gained minutes of the bench and impressed in this time. With a potential starting spot, the Uruguayan may be able to shine with the hope of enforcing himself into Ten Hag’s starting eleven.

United’s return to Premier League action wasn’t so successful.

The Red Devils hosted bottom of the league Crystal Palace at Old Trafford. Despite the embarrassing loss to Liverpool, United had been on great form and thus would have been firm favourites to win.

However, United looked incredibly lacklustre. They started the game with little energy and creativity. This continued throughout the first half. However, a controversial straight red card for Casemiro in the 34th minute, changed the game. United lost control of the match and began to play on the backfoot.

This allowed Palace to gain increasing control in the game. However, despite the more defensive approach, the South London side didn’t look like scoring. Alejandro Garnacho was brought onto change the game but a challenge from Kyle Walker-Peters eventually led to him being resubstituted. Ultimately, United avoided conceding, but were unable to find the creativity needed to steal the three points.

In a club statement, United said: “The duration of Garnacho’s absence is still uncertain, he is set to be out for a number of weeks.”

This could be detrimental for Ten Hag’s side as the Argentinian had proved to be a great asset off the bench using his direct power and pace to damage the tiring opposition.

Casemiro calamity

Having already served a three match suspension after seeing red in a bust up against Crystal Palace, Casemiro wouldn’t want to miss any more games.

However, against Southampton, when in a tackle on Carlos Alcaraz, the Brazilian got the ball, but in the process of this, rode up and caught the Argentinian high. As a result, after a VAR review, Antony Taylor gave Casemiro a red card.

This is massively damaging for United. Without Casemiro, United lack a natural defensive midfielder who can shield the defence and transition the ball well. Thus, the drop off in quality when Casemiro is missing massively hinders the team. As a result, with Casemiro receiving a four game ban, this will leave United very vulnerable for their upcoming domestic games.

Ten Hag will have no choice but to resort to using Fred or Scott McTominay as the defensive midfielder despite their weaknesses in this position.

However, with Marcel Sabitzer back in training following his injury, this will strengthen United’s midfield depth giving Ten Hag greater options.

Next round of sale talks

After the passing of the first soft bidding deadline on February 17th, bidders will now be invited for further talks.

Currently, very few names have publicly expressed their interest in Manchester United. Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad al-Thani are the two main publicly known figures interested in a buyout. Elliott investment management have also gone public about their interest in financing, but this is only for a stake in the club and not a full buyout.

However, despite this, although information is hard to come by, there is definitely other interest from global businesses who currently aim to remain private about their stance on the sale.

As Mike Keegan states, representatives of Ratcliffe and the Qatari’s will take a tour of the club this week. This is important as it will illustrate to each bidder what is needed to fully redevelop the club. This could potentially put off any bidders who don’t want to invest another billion into the stadium, having potentially bided £5-6 billion already for the club.

Fears have increased that the Glazers, particularly on the back of Ten Hag’s resurgence of the club through winning the League Cup, and significantly improving the team, may look to seek external financing, but keep hold of the club’s majority ownership.

This would be the worst case scenario for fans who are desperate to get the Glazers completely out of the club.

However, despite this, its likely the Glazer family will still look in favour of a full sale due to the financial deterioration of the club. They cannot rely on using the clubs own revenues anymore, and thus would need to personally invest in the club which completely contrasts their business model in the previous 18 years.

With Mike Keegan stating that bidders have just 10 days to place their new bids, more organisations may soon go public about the situation.

Ultimately, the next couple weeks will be crucial to the future of the club with no guarantees as to who will be the next potential owner of Manchester United.

Julia Roberts

After Manchester City’s 7-0 thrashing of RB Leipzig last night, Pep Guardiola had one thing on his mind.

Julia Roberts is a famous American actress known for her leading work in many films like Pretty Woman.

However, in 2016, Roberts visited Old Trafford rather than Pep’s Manchester City.

As a result, Manchester United tweeted this the morning after.

This proved a great illustration of the sheer size and magnitude of United, even in their worst form.

Fixtures

United next face Real Betis in the second leg of their round of 16 Europa League tie. With a 4-1 lead on aggregate, the red devils should be confident in progressing to the quarter finals of the competition.

Then on Sunday, United face Fulham in the Quarter Finals of the FA Cup at Old Trafford. With trophies a priority for Ten Hag, the Dutch coach won’t take this game lightly.