Man Utd: Casemiro now 'needs help' after 'bad period' at Old Trafford

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·20 September 2023

Man Utd: Casemiro now 'needs help' after 'bad period' at Old Trafford

Highlights

Manchester United's poor start to the Premier League season has affected midfielder Casemiro, who has been exposed and left to deal with opposition players on his own.
Journalist Dean Jones believes Casemiro needs more support from the players around him to return to his best form.
Casemiro's defensive stats have been impressive, but it's important to consider that Manchester United has been under pressure in every game. The return of Mason Mount and the integration of Sofyan Amrabat should alleviate some of Casemiro's defensive duties.

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Manchester United have endured a tumultuous start to Premier League proceedings since the new campaign got underway and journalist Dean Jones has identified midfield ace Casemiro as a player that has become ‘a bit of a victim’ of his side’s subpar period.

The Old Trafford-based outfit will have to improve if they are to qualify for Champions League football again by the end this season, considering they currently reside in the bottom half of the table.

The start of 2023/24 represented an opportunity for Erik ten Hag and his entourage to firm up the Red Devils’ chances of competing on all fronts, though it couldn’t have been further from the truth thus far as they have won just two of their opening five fixtures. However, even in their two wins, the on-field performance was not up to scratch and were arguably lucky to walk out winners.

Ten Hag’s side scraped past Wolverhampton Wanderers with a 1–0 victory in their season curtain-raiser, while they found themselves 2–0 down within the first five minutes of their affair with Nottingham Forest two weekends following. A trio of goals ensured they ran out triumphant but the Old Trafford faithful will be concerned with their side’s form as they look to drastically improve. Marry that up with a 2–0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur and two 3–1 losses to London duo Arsenal and West Ham United and the mood inside the Manchester United camp will be one riddled with sorrow.

Manchester United’s engine room has been riddled with frailties this season and, therefore, highlighted as an area of weakness in Ten Hag’s outfit. Ex-Arsenal defender Martin Keown, in his column for MailOnline, has placed some of the blame on the Dutch tactician, claiming that his tactics has left Casemiro exposed at times.

“Casemiro has been sitting deep with Christian Eriksen and Bruno Fernandes further forward, either side of him. “United are the Premier League’s worst culprits for letting opponents dribble past them and Casemiro tops the list. But it does not help that the 31-year-old Brazilian is often left on his own to deal with the flood of opposition players coming through the middle. "In the defeat by Arsenal, when keeper Andre Onana had the ball, Casemiro was dropping between the centre backs. That takes United’s most combative midfielder away from the centre and tasks Eriksen and Fernandes with winning the ball back when they lose possession."

In corroboration with Keown’s scathing assessment of the former Ajax chief, journalist Dean Jones has told GIVEMESPORT the £300k-a-week earner will soon improve after becoming a ‘victim of the club’s bad period’.

Casemiro has become a bit of a victim – Dean Jones

Jones has suggested that Casemiro will require further midfield support to see him return to the peak of his powers, an aspect we so often saw in 2022/23. Further to that, the transfer insider insisted that he has become an easy target to blame for Manchester United’s below-par start to the season. Speaking to GIVEMESPORT, he said:

“He needs help from those around him and because the players around him keep changing at the moment, because of the unavailability of people, he hasn’t been able to get that familiarity in terms of the style of play. They brought in Sofyan Amrabat to play alongside him, but we haven’t seen it yet.“But you’d like to think that once players like Amrabat are available, Mason Mount’s available, and you can actually see what Manchester United are supposed to be, then we should see the best version of Casemiro again. At the moment, I just feel like he’s being made to be a bit of a victim of this bad period.”

How does Casemiro compare to Rodri and Declan Rice this season?

The age-old debate of whether Casemiro is the best holding midfielder in the Premier League has died a slow death of late due to the 31-year-old’s performances, while the likes of Declan Rice and Rodri are surging to new heights. The former has expertly settled in at north London, while the latter continues to be one of Pep Guardiola’s best performers at Manchester City.

While, statistically at least, Casemiro looks to have picked up from where he left off from last season, his defensive numbers are superior - in comparison to Rodri and Rice - purely because Manchester United have been under the cosh for the best part of every game they have played in the league so far. Whether the intangible aspects of his game will improve upon the return of Mount and the integration of Amrabat is yet to be seen, though it will certainly alleviate some of the defensive duties he is currently carrying on his own.