It should not have taken this long for a club of Manchester United’s grandeur and resources to bring in a player of Casemiro’s quality to the heart of midfield.
While their rivals populated the key anchor role with world-class talent – Fernandinho and Rodri at Manchester City, Fabinho at Liverpool and N’Golo Kante at Chelsea - United have spent, and wasted on the whole, more than £1 billion in the post Alex Ferguson era on a host of ill-fitting players in other positions, and made do with a central midfield not fit for purpose.
As is the case in many aspects of their transfer policy, United seem to have got there in the end, years after their rivals. Eyebrows were raised at the fee shelled out for a 30-year-old in the summer, even more so after Casemiro’s poor control led to Everton’s opener on Sunday. But over the course of the next 85 minutes, the Brazilian showed United fans what their side had been missing, for far too long.
It just did not make any logical sense. What good did it do spending £90 million on Paul Pogba when he was forced to play alongside Scott McTominay, or splashing the cash on Angel Di Maria from Real Madrid when he had Daley Blind as his defensive option behind him?
McTominay and Blind are good players in their own right, and have had successful careers on the international stage, but neither are of Fernandinho’s class, or could hold a candle to the breathless defensive work-rate of Kante.
What’s more, the fact both have been utilised as central defenders for their respective countries tells you all you need to know about their stock in midfield.
A bizarre neglect of such a key position stretches back further, even in the successful final years of Ferguson’s tenure. Wayne Rooney, England and United’s all-time top goalscorer, often found himself deployed in central midfield, with the club citing Rooney’s passing range as the reason for such a move.
What would have made more sense was to keep a master of his craft in his preferred position, where he had spent a lifetime garnering record results, and bought a specialist, metronomic anchor.
Everton v Manchester United player ratings
It is of course too early to tell if Casemiro will be a hit in this United side who flutter between catastrophe and renaissance week by week, and are up against Omonia Nicosia in the Europa League on Thursday night. But in his first Premier League start at Everton, he showed a defensive nous conspicuous by its absence in the red half of Manchester for a decade, or more.
United took their time to unleash the five-time Champions League winner on the English top flight. While rumours circulated Casemiro arrived short of fitness, ill-equipped to cope with the rigours of the supposed best league on the planet, The National understands there were no such concerns, and the club simply afforded McTominay time in the starting XI after his impressive start to the season.
It did not start well at Goodison, those sharpness fears heightening after Casemiro was caught on the ball in a dangerous position in the run-up to Alex Iwobi’s opener. Had United been duped into thinking a player at this stage of his career could be the long-awaited solution to a decade of midfield inferiority?
The 85 minutes that followed put such fears to bed. Casemiro made four tackles at Goodison – no United midfielder has made more in a single match this season – while he also won possession more often than any player on the pitch.
It was not a perfect full league debut by any stretch. Coupled with his early error, Casemiro lost possession more often than anyone in red, but given many of these passes were attempts to instigate attacks with penetrative pick-outs, he can be forgiven.
The pass into Cristiano Ronaldo for the game-clinching goal came from a very familiar source, after Casemiro had leapt into a tackle to win possession. The Brazilian already has as many league assists as McTominay managed all last term - dynamism not lost on his new manager.
“Casemiro will anticipate quickly and you saw how important he is," Erik ten Hag said after the match. “He is composed and wins a lot of balls and he grew into the game. I am so pleased.”
Now for the dreaded consistency. The early Casemiro effect signs are good and given some proper back four protection, at last, United can become a different proposition altogether.
What is the Supreme Petroleum Council?
The Abu Dhabi Supreme Petroleum Council was established in 1988 and is the highest governing body in Abu Dhabi’s oil and gas industry. The council formulates, oversees and executes the emirate’s petroleum-related policies. It also approves the allocation of capital spending across state-owned Adnoc’s upstream, downstream and midstream operations and functions as the company’s board of directors. The SPC’s mandate is also required for auctioning oil and gas concessions in Abu Dhabi and for awarding blocks to international oil companies. The council is chaired by Sheikh Khalifa, the President and Ruler of Abu Dhabi while Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, is the vice chairman.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Read more about the coronavirus
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
New Zealand 57-0 South Africa
Tries: Rieko Ioane, Nehe Milner-Skudder (2), Scott Barrett, Brodie Retallick, Ofa Tu'ungfasi, Lima Sopoaga, Codie Taylor. Conversions: Beauden Barrett (7). Penalty: Beauden Barrett
Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD)
What is THAAD?
It is considered to be the US' most superior missile defence system.
Production:
It was first created in 2008.
Speed:
THAAD missiles can travel at over Mach 8, so fast that it is hypersonic.
Abilities:
THAAD is designed to take out projectiles, namely ballistic missiles, as they are on their downward trajectory towards their target, otherwise known as the "terminal phase".
Purpose:
To protect high-value strategic sites, such as airfields or population centres.
Range:
THAAD can target projectiles both inside and outside of the Earth's atmosphere, at an altitude of 93 miles above the Earth's surface.
Creators:
Lockheed Martin was originally granted the contract to develop the system in 1992. Defence company Raytheon sub-contracts to develop other major parts of the system, such as ground-based radar.
UAE and THAAD:
In 2011, the UAE became the first country outside of the US to buy two THAAD missile defence systems. It then deployed them in 2016, becoming the first Gulf country to do so.
MATCH INFO
What: India v Afghanistan, first Test
When: Starts Thursday
Where: M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengalaru
FIGHT INFO
Men’s 60kg Round 1:
Ahmad Shuja Jamal (AFG) beat Krisada Takhiankliang (THA) - points
Hyan Aljmyah (SYR) beat Akram Alyminee (YEM) - retired Round 1
Ibrahim Bilal (UAE) beat Bhanu Pratap Pandit (IND) - TKO Round 1
Men’s 71kg Round 1:
Seyed Kaveh Soleyman (IRI) beat Abedel Rahman (JOR) - RSC round 3.
Amine Al Moatassime (UAE) walk over Ritiz Puri (NEP)
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
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The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
The biog
Name: Abeer Al Shahi
Emirate: Sharjah – Khor Fakkan
Education: Master’s degree in special education, preparing for a PhD in philosophy.
Favourite activities: Bungee jumping
Favourite quote: “My people and I will not settle for anything less than first place” – Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid.
GROUPS
Group Gustavo Kuerten
Novak Djokovic (x1)
Alexander Zverev (x3)
Marin Cilic (x5)
John Isner (x8)
Group Lleyton Hewitt
Roger Federer (x2)
Kevin Anderson (x4)
Dominic Thiem (x6)
Kei Nishikori (x7)
NYBL PROFILE
Company name: Nybl
Date started: November 2018
Founder: Noor Alnahhas, Michael LeTan, Hafsa Yazdni, Sufyaan Abdul Haseeb, Waleed Rifaat, Mohammed Shono
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Software Technology / Artificial Intelligence
Initial investment: $500,000
Funding round: Series B (raising $5m)
Partners/Incubators: Dubai Future Accelerators Cohort 4, Dubai Future Accelerators Cohort 6, AI Venture Labs Cohort 1, Microsoft Scale-up
Sinopharm vaccine explained
The Sinopharm vaccine was created using techniques that have been around for decades.
“This is an inactivated vaccine. Simply what it means is that the virus is taken, cultured and inactivated," said Dr Nawal Al Kaabi, chair of the UAE's National Covid-19 Clinical Management Committee.
"What is left is a skeleton of the virus so it looks like a virus, but it is not live."
This is then injected into the body.
"The body will recognise it and form antibodies but because it is inactive, we will need more than one dose. The body will not develop immunity with one dose," she said.
"You have to be exposed more than one time to what we call the antigen."
The vaccine should offer protection for at least months, but no one knows how long beyond that.
Dr Al Kaabi said early vaccine volunteers in China were given shots last spring and still have antibodies today.
“Since it is inactivated, it will not last forever," she said.
