This weekend Manchester United suffered their second defeat in a row in this season’s Premier League. After losing 2-1 to Brighton in extra-time last weekend, Liverpool got the better of The Red Devils with a 3-0 win.
Unfortunately for one man in particular, a lot of the blame for this loss is falling on his shoulders.
The man in question is Casemiro, with the first two goals resulting from his faults which saw Luiz Dias grabbing a brace. Ultimately the Brazilian was taken off at half-time with youngster Toby Collyer coming on in his place, getting his Manchester United debut.
However, club captain Bruno Fernandes defended is teammate, saying: “When you concede a goal you can’t just point at one mistake.”
Speaking to Sky Sports he continued: “What’s the point in saying Casemiro lost the ball or Kobbie [Mainoo] lost the ball? They lost the ball because they wanted to be brave. It’s part of football. Don’t make it individual.
“Casemiro is more experienced than me. I don’t need to tell him anything, he knows what football is about. He’s played for the two best clubs in the world.”
However, Casemiro has now spoken out, with a similar feeling to Fernandes, saying he wasn’t happy with the tactics played, especially last season.
Discussed on the Talk of the Devils podcast, Casemiro reportedly felt the tactics last season exposed his weaknesses and didn’t help him or his style of play.
On the podcast, Casemiro was described as one of the best defensive midfielders of his generation three years ago, with the Brazilian captaining his national team at that point. However he was now described as looking “spent”.
Carl Anka reported that the midfielder misplaced 10 of his 37 passes, overplaying the ball and not winning tackles like he used to. The reported explained that a lot of the problems for United in their counter-pressing come from “Casemiro being good at his job”, but when he isn’t, “everything breaks down”.
The podcast continued to explain that Casemiro isn’t the most dynamic player or quickest, however the United system isn’t offering him any protection in that, and he’s only getting slower.
It was reported The Athletic spoke to an unnamed United player who recently left the club who describer the Brazilian as “the most professional player in the pre-season”, however they also explained that Casemiro wasn’t happy with Erik ten Hag’s tactics last season with they “didn’t play to his strengths, but exposed his weaknesses with him having to cover more ground.”
United were looking to sell the 32-year-old old this summer, however there wasn’t a single team making an offer for the star, despite rumours from Saudi Arabia.
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