The central character of the "Red Devils" in this match is Harry Maguire. Local time, he was called up to the England national team in the March training camp in the morning but was sent off at Vitality Stadium in the evening but only suspended for 1 match. Not only that, Maguire also received good news when his contract was about to be extended.
Maguire's red card in the match against Bournemouth is the first time in more than 4 years he has been sent off for direct play, since Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's last match as captain of the "Red Devils".
If only considering Maguire's situation, this center-back can hardly complain about referee Stuart Attwell's decision to award a penalty. Evanilson's pull-up only took place for a moment, but that alone was enough to constitute a goal-scoring opportunity for the opponent.
But if looking broadly throughout the match, Man United had the right to get angry because in a similar situation in Bournemouth's penalty area before that, Amad Diallo was pulled by Adrien Truffert with quite strong force. Not long after, the home team counter-attacked and equalized thanks to Christie's goal.
Referee decisions were strongly reacted to on social networks after the match, especially from Man United fans. If the league organizers carefully review Mr. Attwell's decisions, a penalty may be imposed on this black-clad king.
One of Man United's problems in this match is the 3-striker system, which Michael Carrick seems to have not yet found a standard formula. Since the 44-year-old coach took over Man United, no coach in the Premier League has made fewer changes in the starting lineup than Carrick. The 11 names who played against Bournemouth are the 4th time they have kept their positions in the past 10 matches.
One of the controversial issues is Benjamin Sesko's position. In the match against Aston Villa before that, he scored his 5th goal after 7 matches. The Slovenian striker has shown a significant improvement in scoring ability, whether starting or coming on as a substitute, he can tear the opponent's net.
Conversely, the highest striker in the "Red Devils'" attack in the away match to Vitality is Bryan Mbeumo, who has only scored 1 goal in the last 8 matches. The Cameroonian striker is very good at high-speed counter-attacks but is quite deadlocked when besieged by the opponent with a large number. Mbeumo is an important player for Man United but he seems to only be suitable for playing on the wing. If playing center forward, he is only suitable for a defensive counter-attacking formation from beginning to end, like the performance against Man City and Arsenal.
In contrast to Mbeumo, Matheus Cunha is in quite good form. This means that the choice next to the Brazilian striker and Mbeumo at this time is a competition between Sesko and Amad. Sesko is in stable scoring form but Amad is the one who can create a breakthrough even though the match against Bournemouth witnessed a very low performance of the Ivorian striker.
When Sesko was brought on, he replaced Mbeumo, not Amad. This means that Carrick is still giving Amad a lot of confidence and he needs to try harder.
As for Matheus Cunha, he is an irreplaceable star in the "Red Devils" attack. Last week, after scoring against Aston Villa, he was still an important figure in the away game to Vitality. Arranging the Brazilian star in the wide corridor on the left wing is showing the correctness from Carrick.
Bournemouth defender Alex Jimenez had to work very hard to mark Cunha. The loan contract from Milan was constantly surpassed by Cunha, especially in the situation leading to a penalty for Man United.
On Michael Carrick's side, after the match he complained about why Man United was not awarded a penalty after Amad was pushed down in the penalty area. For someone who doesn't like media exposure like Carrick, his implicit criticism of the referee shows that the endurance of this young captain was also pushed to the limit after Mr. Stuart Attwell's decisions.
