1 week Ago By Vatsal Gupta
The goalless Manchester derby between the city rivals won’t make the highlight reels of the Premier League in the years to come. It was a reflection of the position the two teams found themselves in, struggling to rediscover their mojo and far away from any contention in the league. Still, Ruben Amorim will be hopeful for the future as the performance provided a foundation to build from, much like Nottingham Forest.
The tide is turning somewhat at Old Trafford and that is personified by one player who Amorim has now accepted has proved him wrong at the club with a record-breaking display vs Man City. Photo by Ed Sykes/Sportsphoto/Allstar via Getty ImagesRuben Amorim lauds Man Utd star’s turnaroundIf Ruben Amorim’s form of communication at United so far had to be summed up in a single word, there aren’y many options better than “honest”.For better or for worse, Amorim is always happy to put out the full picture in his interviews which is dangerous at times but is a breath of fresh air.
The latter happened after the Manchester derby when he conceded that one player in his squad who wasn’t ‘the best option’ just a few weeks ago has proven him wrong now. Casemiro has re-entered the first-team fray after being frozen out and criticised by even Sir Jim Ratcliffe but the Brazilian has buckled down and fought back to claim his place again. Amorim praised him for his spirit and said that he’s worked hard to regain his place.
He said: “The important thing is that Casemiro won everything with Real Madrid. He wasn’t playing because I understood he wasn’t the best option for the way we want to play, but he kept working.“I don’t differentiate between players.
If they progress in what I ask of them, they have an opportunity and if they play well, they keep playing. That’s the case with Casemiro. He’s our player.
”Casemiro’s record-breaking Manchester derbyAs a veteran of the game, Casemiro would have come into this game knowing that it would be a match between City’s possession vs United’s transition, so his job was to sweep up any threat. He took it to the extreme and dropped a record-breaking performance, headlined by 11 tackles, the most by any United player on record in a Premier League game. In addition, he won a remarkable 13 duels, losing just four, as he rolled back the years with his trademark display of mixing intelligence with physicality.
Add to that his 60 touches, four passes and touches in the final third, and it truly an all-action display to put an exclamation mark on a resurgence that has been building up to crescendo for quite some time now. Maybe he’s not as wasted an asset as he looked at the start of the season and United can stomach his wages for one more year if he keeps performing like this..
