If anything can typify the undulating career of Harry Maguire, it is that his revival on the international stage was followed by a game-changing red card within a matter of hours. Poor fella, even in the good times he cannot outrun the drama.
We should explain how that looked and the dramatic effect it had on this brilliantly entertaining match, which is to say that Manchester United led 2-1 with 77 minutes played and a moment later they had 10 men and it was 2-2.
His dismissal — the seventh of his career — for a clumsy shove on Evanilson was warranted, and the subsequent penalty from Junior Kroupi decisive, but you would have to be stoney of heart to feel nothing for Maguire on the day England manager Thomas Tuchel brought him in from the cold. Or not. If you support Bournemouth or simply enjoy carnage, you won’t care a jot.
Either way, we saw that most familiar of sights — a Bournemouth draw. This was their fifth in succession and seventh in an unbeaten run of 11, so victories are not to be taken for granted.
But United will have felt like two points were left on the south coast. On the balance the game, in which they dominated a scoreless first half and were reduced to rage by refereeing inconsistencies in the second, they might be right.
The griping had some foundation and traces to an incident shortly after Bruno Fernandes put United in front on the hour with a penalty, when the prospects of a second spot kick seemed high after Adrien Truffert pulled down Amad Diallo.
Harry Maguire was handed a straight red card just hours after he was recalled for England
Just minutes earlier too, the defender had been wheeling away in delight after putting Man United ahead
Referee Stuart Attwell and his video assistants thought otherwise, which was the cue for an immediate Bournemouth attack and a Ryan Christie leveller.
Before long, a James Hill own goal had United back on top, but then United’s fury really escalated with the Maguire episode, because they felt the manner he impeded Evanilson was no worse than what Truffert did with Diallo. United boss Michael Carrick said: ‘He’s definitely got one of them wrong. If one isn’t a penalty, the other isn’t a penalty. it will be interesting to see which one they acknowledge is wrong.’
His skipper, Fernandes, grumbled a similar sentiment.
For United, perspective comes from knowing they still have a grip on third place and have utilised their freedom from cup and European fixtures to build up serious momentum. Carrick’s role in that has been utterly pivotal and his case for a permanent appointment grows by the week.
But this match represented a lost opportunity and the volume of chances missed in the first half invited a thought about his line-up. Reflective of form, Carrick had made the call to retain the same side that beat Aston Villa, which was logical enough. But there is a temptation to wonder if Benjamin Sesko will lose patience with his current duties from the bench: his goal against Villa was his eighth in 10 games and still wasn’t enough for a start ahead of Bryan Mbeumo.
Such effectiveness would have been welcome here. The tightness of Iraola’s defence has become their defining characteristic since Antoine Semenyo’s departure, and especially of late, but the creation of opportunities wasn’t United’s issue. Finishing them was another matter.
Across the first half, they were good for 11 chances — the best of which was a volley crashed against the legs of Bournemouth keeper Djordje Petrovic by Fernandes — but found no way through. Mbeumo’s failure to offer better options with his movement did not help; Marcos Senesi swallowed him whole for large chunks of the first period.
But the wider patterns of United’s play were impressive for their aggression and speed, typified by Cunha’s engrossing duel with Alex Jimenez. Cunha attacked the Spaniard relentlessly, which was the precursor to the first penalty, when he sidestepped Jimenez and was hauled down. Fernandes fooled Petrovic into going the wrong way and finally United had a breakthrough.
Diallo’s claim for a second was promptly dismissed, before Christie and the Hill own goal provided the next twists in 20 minutes of madness. That sufficed for entertainment in its own right, but then Maguire endured his latest tribulation, a man whose path is evidently scripted to ensure each good turn is accompanied by the occasional face plant.
Junior Kroupi is the Premier League’s highest scoring teenager by some margin this season
Fernandes was clearly frustrated and said: ‘Not getting a penalty and then we get a penalty against where it’s the same situation as Amad – one is one, one is not. I know it’s difficult for the referee to give two penalties to the same team in one game but I don’t understand why VAR doesn’t get involved in that situation or with Harry [Maguire] because either one is a penalty and so is the other or none of them are.
‘Amad is getting to a point where he’s going to shoot and he gets pushed – you can see that something puts him completely out of balance. It’s frustrating for the small players because they always say the small players are soft and when it’s the bigger players they end up giving the fouls.
‘I think the other situation is a penalty but I also think the one on Amad is a penalty and that could’ve changed the game.’
