United View: Reds play out bore draw

Manchester United played out a goalless draw at Sunderland on Saturday, in their quest to finish third in the Premier League. 

It was a largely forgettable game, as United had to ride their luck and rely on Senne Lammens to come away with a point.

Michael Carrick made several changes to the side that secured Champions League football against Liverpool last weekend, notably the absence of Benjamin Sesko and Casemiro. 

The Brazilian was suffering from only a minor setback, whereas the former was still struggling with a recurring shin injury.

Mason Mount and Joshua Zirkzee came in to start this match, perhaps a chance to showcase their talents for next season or, at the very least, be put in the shop window for any potential takers in the summer.

Zirkzee is more likely to be moved on than Mount, on account of his lesser wages; however, the Dutchman showed his lack of match sharpness, failing to make much of an impact at the Stadium of Light. 

Whereas Mount got through his fair share of work, making 14 defensive contributions on the day.

The Reds would have surely lost without the intervention of Senne Lammens, making two crucial stops to deny Noah Sadiki and Brian Brobbey. 

The Belgian has, at least in my opinion, been United’s signing of the season.

Coming in late on in the window, as a young goalkeeper, yet being able to rise to that challenge and usher in a level of calm and assuredness that hasn’t been seen at Old Trafford since the days of David De Gea. 

He’s shown he has the minerals to make it at Manchester United; it’s exciting to see how he’ll progress in the next few years.

The pressure is off, but United still have two purposes before the end of the season. 

First, they need to finish in third, which would only be the fifth time they’ve achieved a finish of third or higher since Sir Alex Ferguson’s departure.

Then, there is the assist record that Bruno Fernandes is still chasing. 

He currently sits on 19, one behind the record held by Thierry Henry and that Belgian lad who used to play for City. 

No doubt the Portuguese international will do everything in his power to try and come away with that accolade.

Elsewhere, the FA Youth Cup Final has caused quite a stir recently, with Manchester City choosing to host the final at the 7,000-seater, Joie Stadium instead of the 50,000-capacity Etihad Stadium.

City claims it is due to ongoing construction work on the Etihad’s North Stand, and has only allocated 968 tickets for United, which sold out almost immediately. 

Whereas, at the time of writing, tickets for the home end are still available.

United have offered to host the final, to allow the players a chance to play in front of a huge crowd, but City, not wanting to give up home advantage, refused.

You may argue that United only had an attendance of 3189 in the semi-final at Old Trafford, which is true, but it was still 1775 more than City managed in their 4-1 victory over Blackburn at the Joie Stadium.

Back in 2022, 67,000 attended the FA Youth Cup Final between United and Nottingham Forest. 

However, players are being denied that honour, which is a real shame, as for many, they may never get the opportunity to play in front of a crowd of that size ever again.

The senior team next face Nottingham Forest on Sunday, which will be the farewell game for Casemiro.