Manchester United have beaten Bournemouth at Old Trafford to record a first win of 2023. Casemiro, Luke Shaw and Marcus Rashford were all on the scoresheet.
Here is a look at five things we learned from the win…
Eriksen can’t stop assisting
Christian Eriksen provided the assist to open the scoring, for the second successive game at Old Trafford.
The Dane now has eight assists in a Manchester United shirt, since signing on a free transfer back in July.
This one came from another set-piece, with his free-kick picking out Brazil international Casemiro.
It was a delight to see Eriksen setting up his fellow midfielder. The pair are striking up a formidable partnership, even without scoring goals.
When they start combining like this, they can really reach the next level as a pairing. United are lucky to have both.
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Casemiro is different class
Everybody knew this before Casemiro signed for Manchester United, and it didn’t take a performance against Bournemouth to tell us.
But, it really is a joy to watch the Brazilian play for United week in and week out, that the Brazilian’s quality deserved to be soaked up.
It is a long, long time since we have had a midfielder of Casemiro’s quality running games in the middle of the park.
Just seeing his name in the starting line-up provides total confidence that we will get a strong performance from the whole team.
There will be bigger tests to come, but Casemiro has nothing to prove. Let’s continue to enjoy him for the foreseeable future.
Cruel luck for Van de Beek
Donny van de Beek returned to Manchester United’s starting line-up for the first time since November, and did not even last the first half.
The Dutchman was injured at the end of the first half after a bad tackle, and looked in real pain as he walked off the pitch.
His short appearance summed up how frustrating his spell at Manchester United will be. This was really bad luck – but he could be running out of chances.
Luke Shaw shows another side of his game
Luke Shaw has been excellent at centre-back over the past week, but playing him there also loses what he can offer at left-back.
He provided a reminder of this as he scored Manchester United’s second goal of the game, finishing off a move he had started, 40 yards downfield.
Shaw ran onto a pass from substitute Alejandro Garnacho, to score his second goal of the season, finishing off a truly fantastic team move.
This was Shaw’s first goal at Old Trafford since 2018 on the opening day of the season v Leicester, with three goals in between all coming away from home. So this one was well overdue.
Diogo Dalot makes return
It was a real positive to see Diogo Dalot make his return from injury for Manchester United in the second half.
Dalot had been out of action since suffering an injury in Portugal’s World Cup quarter-final defeat.
The right-back replaced Aaron Wan-Bissaka to play the final 21 minutes plus stoppage time, helping United to see out the game.
He looked bright when he came on, having a shot on target and was sharp with his passing. It’s good to have him back.
Dalot could get the nod in the FA Cup on Friday as a starter, but it has to be said that Wan-Bissaka has made a real case for himself, playing a part in four successive clean sheets.
It was a night of returns, with World Cup winner Lisandro Martinez coming off the bench in the final minutes to make his return to action.
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