When Manchester United signed Casemiro from Real Madrid, the expectation was that he would immediately be introduced into Erik ten Hag’s starting line-up.
The deal to bring Casemiro to the club was not completed in time for him to play against Liverpool in August – instead, he was unveiled on the pitch as United claimed their first win of the season.
Scott McTominay, who has been the subject of intense criticism over the last 12 months, starred in that game and made himself undroppable as his Brazilian counterpart watched from the stands.
Since then, McTominay has kept his place and Casemiro has started just one game, the Europa League loss to Real Sociedad last month.
Now, speaking after United’s embarrassing defeat against Manchester City, Ten Hag has explained why it was difficult to drop McTominay after a string of promising performances.
“I said already before, it had nothing to do with Casemiro, it was all to do with Scott because, when you look at Brentford, he wasn’t in the team [and] we lose. Then [from] the day that Casemiro signed, we played six games and we won five,” Ten Hag is quoted as saying by the official Manchester United website.
“And, in five games, he [McTominay] played. In one game, he didn’t, and that was against [Real] Sociedad [a 1-0 loss]. So, for me, that was logical [to play McTominay] because it’s competition in the team. For me, it wasn’t a choice [not to play him].
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“He performed really well, he developed really well and it had nothing to do with Casemiro, but I’m sure Casemiro will play a really important role.”
It has been reported that Casemiro is in line to finally make his first start in the Premier League this weekend, with Ten Hag aiming a return to winning ways against Everton on Sunday.
Before that, United will need to secure three points against Cypriot side Omonia. Having lost the opening group game, United already face must-win scenarios in the tournament.
There’s an added incentive to finishing first in your group this year, with second-placed teams facing third-placed Champions League teams in the round of 32.
All group winners will qualify for the round of 16 and with United’s fixture list already congested, Ten Hag will be keen to avoid adding another two games.
Why is the focus on McT. Most people I’ve seen have made the rather obvious point that one of either Bruno/Eriksen should have been dropped. Have we a serious manager here? He won’t change the team if it’s winning? Absurd. There are different challenges in different games needing different tactics and players.
Thought ETH was a tactical master. Well he set up the team not only to lose. But to lose heavily. And they did.
His start at united has been perplexing IMO. I’m sure it will work but for me there are a few red flags already which people shouldn’t be ignoring.