In a battle between arguably two of the Premier League’s biggest underperforming teams this season, Manchester United were shown by up a struggling Tottenham Hotspur side as they lost 1-0.
Tottenham did the league double over Manchester United for the first time in Premier League history and piled on to their misery in what has been a truly nightmarish season for Ruben Amorim’s side.
Having lost to Ange Postecoglou’s troops twice before even their latest outing, United would have been expected to approach the game with a degree of purpose by the visiting fans on Sunday.
But that was far from the case as Tottenham managed to take home the all-important three points, climbing up to 12th place in the Premier League table while Ruben Amorim and Co are now 15th.
| Position | Team | Played MP | Won W | Drawn D | Lost L | For GF | Against GA | Diff GD | Points Pts |
| 12 | 25 | 9 | 3 | 13 | 49 | 37 | 12 | 30 | |
| 13 | 25 | 7 | 9 | 9 | 29 | 32 | -3 | 30 | |
| 14 | 25 | 7 | 9 | 9 | 27 | 31 | -4 | 30 | |
| 15 | 25 | 8 | 5 | 12 | 28 | 35 | -7 | 29 | |
| 16 | 25 | 7 | 6 | 12 | 29 | 47 | -18 | 27 | |
| 17 | 25 | 5 | 4 | 16 | 35 | 54 | -19 | 19 | |
| 18 | 25 | 3 | 8 | 14 | 23 | 50 | -27 | 17 |
After the game, Ange Postecoglou had no sympathy for Amorim, as per his own admission as he has been suffering a similar degree of misfortune with injuries for the past couple of months.
Ruben Amorim’s bench on the day featured only one player who has played for Manchester United in Victor Lindelof — as his side were missing a staggering 12 stars through injury, including big names like Amad Diallo and Kobbie Mainoo.

Jamie Redknapp says he “felt sorry” watching Casemiro during Tottenham vs Man United
While reviewing Manchester United’s defeat to Tottenham, Jamie Redknapp chimed in on Casemiro’s display.
The former Real Madrid midfielder made his first league appearance for United since their 2-0 loss against Newcastle United in December.
In the aftermath of the high-profile clash, Jamie Redknapp admitted that “felt sorry” watching the much-maligned Casemiro anchoring a porous Manchester United midfield against Tottenham.
Redknapp said on Sky Sports: “Casemiro, he gets a lot of stick. In his defence, I played midfield, I felt sorry for him today in there because he’s covering distances that are impossible for Rodri to cover. Rodri would’ve found it hard in that midfield today on his own and he’s the number one [defensive midfielder in the world] as we say.”
“But it was impossible for him.”
Whether Casemiro suits Amorim’s system is a doubt as he is no longer the supreme athlete he once was to play in a double pivot and that too at 32 years of age.
Casemiro has frustrated Ruben Amorim in the past and it seems like the injured Manuel Ugarte, who he worked with at Sporting CP fits the Portuguese tactician’s ideal profile of defensive midfielder far more.
Casemiro lost the ball 12 times for Man United vs Tottenham
The Brazilian international certainly had a rough outing against an athletic Tottenham midfield that featured Rodrigo Bentancur, Lucas Bergvall and James Maddison.
Casemiro lost the ball 12 times, lost seven duels, was dribbled past four times and contested no aerial duels during the contest.
| CASEMIRO STATS: TOTTENHAM VS MANCHESTER UNITED | |
| POSSESSION LOST | 12 |
| DRIBBLED PAST | 4 |
| DUELS WON | 11 |
| DUELS LOST | 7 |
| AERIAL DUELS WON | 0 (0) |
However, the job at hand for the five-time Champions League was anything but a cakewalk.
Casemiro was tasked to play in a two-man midfield with Bruno Fernandes, who is an attacking midfielder by trade.
Furthermore, Fernandes is also 30 and is not getting any younger to play in such a physically-demanding position.
Manchester United were hopeful of selling Casemiro but now, it seems like Ruben Amorim will either have to conjure up a way to get the best out of him or play a youth prospect like Seko Fofana instead of him.
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