Manchester United produced a flat, goalless performance at the Stadium of Light, settling for a 0-0 draw that underlined a growing concern in midfield. Michael Carrick\u2019s side were marginally better after the restart, but their tame attacking play left Sunderland largely untroubled and reliant on chances through a soft centre.<\/p>\n
Carrick could rely on his defence to preserve a clean sheet, but the absence of Casemiro, who leaves the club at the end of the season, was evident. The Brazilian missed the game through a knock, and United were given a practical glimpse of life without their destructive defensive midfielder. Manuel Ugarte was also absent, so Carrick named Mason Mount alongside Kobbie Mainoo in a double pivot.<\/p>\n
Mount did not provide the required defensive protection. In fairness, Mount is not a holding midfielder and was unsurprisingly bullied by more physical opponents, but the lack of resistance in midfield emphasised Casemiro\u2019s value in providing balance. Sunderland exploited the Casemiro-shaped hole in the first half and kept consistent pressure on United.<\/p>\n
Carrick adjusted at half time, moving Mainoo into the sole No. 6, pushing Mount further forward and asking Bruno Fernandes to drop slightly deeper. The tweak had limited effect as Sunderland continued to probe and create the better openings.<\/p>\n
Player ratings reflected mixed individual displays. Senne Lammens earned redemption with an impressive all-round display between the posts and several timely saves. Noussair Mazraoui held firm against Chemsdine Talbi. Harry Maguire and Lisandro Mart\u00ednez were largely steady at the back, while Luke Shaw produced another unflappable defensive outing. Up front, Joshua Zirkzee offered little in place of the injured Benjamin \u0160e\u0161ko. Amad Diallo showed endeavour but surrendered possession too often. Matheus Cunha was quiet and missed late chances.<\/p>\n
Substitutions brought fresh legs but little in the way of a decisive spark. The match ended level, with possession split 50-50, Sunderland xG 1.16 to United 0.57, and Sunderland enjoying 15 shots to United\u2019s 11, including four on target to United\u2019s one.<\/p>\n
GK: Senne Lammens\u20148.9
\nRB: Noussair Mazraoui\u20148.2
\nCB: Harry Maguire\u20147.1
\nCB: Lisandro Mart\u00ednez\u20147.4
\nLB: Luke Shaw\u20146.9
\nCM: Mason Mount\u20146.9
\nCM: Kobbie Mainoo\u20147.1
\nRW: Amad Diallo\u20146.4
\nAM: Bruno Fernandes\u20147.4
\nLW: Matheus Cunha\u20147.2
\nST: Joshua Zirkzee\u20146.0
\nSUB: Patrick Dorgu (65\u2019 for Zirkzee)\u20146.1
\nSUB: Bryan Mbeumo (75\u2019 for Amad)\u20145.9<\/p>\n
Subs not used: Altay Bay\u0131nd\u0131r (GK), Diogo Dalot, Ayden Heaven, Leny Yoro, Tyrell Malacia, Jack Fletcher, Tyler Fletcher.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
United’s tame attack and midfield void without Casemiro left them exposed in a goalless draw again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13711,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1083,172,689],"tags":[1162,1637,342],"class_list":["post-13712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-man-utd","category-epl","category-sunderland","tag-analytics","tag-assists","tag-bruno-fernandes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13712"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13712\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}