Former Manchester United defender John O’Shea has suggested that one of Michael Carrick’s stars deserved the Man of the Match award over Bruno Fernandes this weekend.
Manchester United earned a convincing 2–0 win over Tottenham Hotspur in their Premier League encounter at Old Trafford.
The home side began the match strongly, with Bryan Mbeumo presented with an early opportunity, before Spurs briefly found their footing and enjoyed a spell of possession. United remained defensively solid and gradually took back control, with the game swinging decisively in their favour before half-time.
Cristian Romero was sent off for a reckless challenge on Casemiro, reducing Tottenham to ten men. United wasted little time in making their advantage count, as a well-worked corner routine allowed Mbeumo to find the bottom corner with a composed finish, giving the hosts the lead heading into the interval.
The second half unfolded largely as expected, with United dominating possession while Tottenham sat deep and looked to limit damage. Two United goals were ruled out for offside before Bruno Fernandes finally doubled the advantage.
The captain timed his movement perfectly to meet a driven cross from Diogo Dalot, guiding his effort into the bottom corner to seal the victory and secure all three points for Michael Carrick’s side.
O’Shea says ‘very effective’ United star deserved MOTM vs Spurs
It wasn’t a huge surprise to see Fernandes named as the Man of the Match at full-time, especially after his smart finish ruled out any comeback from Spurs.
While he was very impressive, John O’Shea has suggested that his pick for the standout player would have been Mbeumo, who be believes had a big impact on the win.
“Listen, Casemiro is in the mix again, he’s been maintaining a high level of performance,” began O’Shea when asked for his Man of the Match.
“The good thing about it is that it’s not a clear winner, but also the team performance was really strong.
“I might just edge it to Mbeumo in fairness to him, I think the work-rate… Bruno has a few more highlight moments but I think Mbeumo’s impact on the team overall was very effective.”
Mbeumo is working for the team
There has been a lot of talk about many players since Carrick took charge. The likes of Kobbie Mainoo, Casemiro, Fernandes and Matheus Cunha have been getting plenty of attention.
Mbeumo has almost moved into the background slightly but he is still getting on with his work, and the forward has three goals in Carrick’s four games in charge so far.
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He is doing things for the team as well. It is clear that he favours the right side of the pitch but the Cameroonian is regularly making runs on the left side to ensure balance as the centre forward.
With 10 goals for the club now, Mbeumo will be hoping to reach at least 15 before the end of the season and hopefully those goals will help guide United back into the Champions League for next season.
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