Manchester United got back to winning ways with a 2-1 win at Crystal Palace in the Premier League. The Red Devils went behind and the familiar sense of dread started to rise, but an impressive second half performance yielded two goals and three points. Classy Casemiro Much has been made of the need for United to sign a new midfielder and one of the key names on that list, Adam Wharton, lined up against them today for the Eagles. But Casemiro showed he’s not finished quite yet with a classy performance at both ends of the pitch. The Brazilian was bursting to do it all, and despite his deep-lying position nobody had more shots on target than the two he managed. He fell short of scoring a goal and missed one big chance, but did complete the one dribble he attempted to give the Palace defence another attacking threat to think about beyond United’s frontline. Tough-tackling performance Casemiro made three tackles, matched only by his potential replacement Wharton – but the Brazilian had the last laugh as he wasn’t once dribbled past, unlike the promising Englishman. He wasn’t always perfect, though, and made four fouls, the most of anyone in a United shirt. In addition, he made three clearances and two interceptions to frustrate the hosts and limit them to just the one goal, which came from a penalty. The 33-year-old contested 15 duels, matched only by a resurgent Joshua Zirkzee, and won seven of them. He came out on top in five of nine ground duels, and two of six aerial duels. With the ball at his feet Casemiro was reasonably efficient, finding his man with 36 of his 45 passes for a success rate of 80%. While it’s clear that he can’t go on forever, Casemiro’s performance today proved that there’s life in the old dog yet. Casemiro stats v Crystal Palace PlayerCasemiro Goals0 Expected goals (xG)0.63 Assists0 Expected assists (xA)0.02 Key passes0 Crosses (accurate)0 (0) Accurate passes36/45 (80%) Passes in opposition half (acc.)20/25 (80%) Passes in own half (acc.)16/20 (80%) Long balls (accurate)3/5 (60%) Total shots3 Expected goals on target (xGOT)0.67 Shots on target2 Shots blocked0 Big chances missed1 Touches65 Unsuccessful touches2 Dribbles (successful)1 (1) Was fouled1 Possession lost11 Tackles (won)3 (2) Interceptions2 Clearances3 Blocked shots0 Recoveries7 Ground duels (won)9 (5) Aerial duels (won)6 (2) Fouls4 Dribbled past0 United had a good chance to see Wharton up close and personal, but on this occasion Casemiro wasn’t outplayed by any other midfielder. Stats taken from sofascore. Featured image Julian Finney via Getty Images The Peoples Person has been one of the world’s leading Man United news sites for over a decade. Follow us on Bluesky: @peoplesperson.bsky.social Joe Ponting Joe has spent more than half his life writing about football and all of it following United. As a child he told a doctor his name was ‘Paul Scholes’, but could never pick a pass like him no matter how much he tried. He cut his teeth working in print media for local newspapers and entered football journalism covering the grassroots game for the Non-League Paper. Here he achieved a career high, interviewing United legend Sir Bobby Charlton to get his views on the lower echelons of the football pyramid. To kill time during international breaks Joe writes album reviews and has strong views on post punk for Plus One Magazine.
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