If anything can typify the undulating career of Harry Maguire, it is that his revival on the international stage could be 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 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 for a clumsy bodycheck 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 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 no victories can be taken for granted when Andoni Iraola brings his boys along for a game.
But United will have felt like two points were left on the south coast. On the balance of a wildly fun game, in which they dominated a scoreless first half, they might be right.
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
First, they led through a Bruno Fernandes penalty an hour in, adding further strength to arguments that he has been the best player of any denomination this season. And then they were harshly denied a second by Stuart Attwell and his video cronies ruled no foul by Adrien Truffert in the act of pulling down Amad Diallo. A strange decision.
From its immediate aftermath, Ryan Christie levelled by exploiting United’s vulnerability to counter-attacks, but before long a James Hill own goal had them back on top. At that point we were discussing United’s resilience and their ability to blend resilience with style under Michael Carrick.
But it wasn’t to be, because United and Maguire have each walked a complicated path and his red card fed into the genre. For United, they still have a grip on third place, but not as tight as they would like.
Within that, we might query if Carrick ought to reshuffle his attacking deck. Reflective of form, he 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, or when, 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 United found openings surprisingly easy to create. Finishing them was another matter.
Across the first half, they were good for 11 chances – Amad Diallo drew the first of several saves from Dorde Petrovic inside three minutes and across the next 42, Bruno Fernandes had three cracks, Matheus Cunha a couple, and Diogo Dalot launched one so high it hit the roof of the Steve Fletcher stand.
Junior Kroupi is the Premier League’s highest scoring teenager by some margin this season
Pretty as they were in the build-up phases, too often the shortcoming was found in the important bit. Usually, that meant pot-shots from the fringes of the area, not helped by Mbeumo’s failure to offer better options with his movement. Marcos Senesi swallowed him whole for large chunks of the first period.
If that was frustrating for Carrick, then he will have been pleased with the wider patterns, typified by Cunha’s engrossing duel with Alex Jimenez – they were aggressive and occasionally thrilling to watch.
And yet there were weaknesses, particularly on the counter. The early Diallo chance was a case in point – Rayan broke at rapid speed only to botch the finish. That was a warning for what was still to come, but for the time being, it was United’s game.
Their breakthrough came shortly before the hour mark via a penalty, won after Cunha’s umpteenth run at Jimenez. This time, he got past and the Spaniard yanked at his shirt with a correct outcome. Fernandes fooled Petrovic into going the wrong way.
Carrick clenched his fists and did so again when a second penalty was denied, on this occasion when Adrien Truffert pulled down Diallo. That was followed by a hard outcome, because Bournemouth broke at speed and Christie threaded a leveller.
What came next was great theatre. First, Hill headed a Fernandes corner into his own net before Alex Scott hit a post in a retaliation, and then, finally, the kicker of Maguire’s dismissal and Kroupi’s penalty.
