Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim made an adjustment to his game management.
When Manchester United hired Ruben Amorim one year ago, fans hoped he could wave a magic wand and improve on Erik ten Hag’s failings.
But what we have seen repeatedly is that Amorim has had to do lots of learning on the job, and continually make adjustments.
We take encouragement from the fact that Amorim is gradually making changes, even though it is a bumpy ride along the way.
See for instance the first lesson Amorim learned in English football, when his United side were defeated by set pieces against Arsenal last December.
Fast-forward to the current day, and United have matched Arsenal for the most goals scored from set pieces in 2025/26 with 10, after scoring twice following free-kicks to beat Crystal Palace.
And that’s not the only thing that Amorim appears to have learned.
Who was Manchester United’s MAN OF THE MATCH vs Crystal Palace?ð¤ð¥
Casemiro runs for Manchester United
Photo by Ash Donelon/Manchester United via Getty Images
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Ruben Amorim learns from Casemiro errors
At the start of 2025, Casemiro was down the Manchester United pecking order, with Ruben Amorim preferring Toby Collyer.
Casemiro has since regained Ruben Amorim’s trust, re-establishing himself as a starter, despite being in the final year of his contract.
In fact in recent weeks, Casemiro has been so good that Manchester United have fallen apart without him.
Amorim has frequently substituted Casemiro in games to replace him with Manuel Ugarte, and the results have not been pretty.
The last match United were leading was against Tottenham, before falling 2-1 down after Casemiro was taken off. Eventually the team salvaged a 2-2 draw, but the damage was done.
So it was notable that against Palace after taking the lead, Ruben Amorim decided to keep Casemiro’s role intact.
Amorim kept Casemiro on for the entire 90 minutes, seeking to give the team the best possible chance to defend the lead after going 2-1 up through Mason Mount’s 63rd minute goal.
It helped that Casemiro had not been booked, often a yellow card for the Brazilian is a precursor to a substitution to remove the risk of a second caution.
Without that, Amorim had no added desire to take Casemiro off and bring Manuel Ugarte on, and it paid off.
Manchester United held on to claim all three points, moving up the Premier League table.
Amorim showed that he has learned from recent errors, demonstrating that once again, he is adjusting to the setbacks he has encountered.
And this doesn’t mean that Casemiro will play 90 minutes of every game – but in this particular match against Palace, it was clearly the right call.
Are you surprised by the two Man Utd players who won the most duels?
Player Duels won vs Palace
Joshua Zirkzee 8
Diogo Dalot 8
Casemiro 7
Amad 7
Matthijs de Ligt 6
Noussair Mazraoui 6
Casemiro extension possible
Manchester United could sign Casemiro to a contract extension. The club is open to agreeing a new deal on drastically reduced terms.
Casemiro is showing he is worthy of a new deal, and Ruben Amorim’s actions demonstrate that the midfielder is still his most reliable player.
After bouncing back from heavy criticism, it’s clear Casemiro is a huge asset for Manchester United.
And until United’s alternatives step up and show they can be trusted to run the midfield, we should expect to see a lot more of the Brazilian.