It felt as though the entire world watched Manchester United lose 4-0 to Crystal Palace on Monday night, such was the strength and volume of reaction to the game. They stumbled and faltered their way through 90 agonising minutes at Selhurst Park, appearing witless and malformed as their excellent hosts put them to the sword.
The post-mortem saw a decent chunk of the ire directed towards manager Erik ten Hag (naturally); Antony, one of the world’s least popular players, copped his standard flack (obviously); but it was Casemiro who took the most damage. He was their worst performer, their biggest problem, and at points it was painful to watch.
“Casemiro is having his ‘Gary Neville at the Hawthorns’ day” read one of the… kinder… posts on social media on Monday night. Many of the others are simply too savage, or too explicit, to print.
That’s a reference to Neville’s terrible performance at West Brom in 2011, the one that made him realise his career at the top level was done. It’s hard to imagine how difficult that must be: for a fierce, dedicated, elite-level professional to come to the sinking realisation that they’re no longer what they once were.
Maybe Monday night’s fiasco at Selhurst Park was indeed Casemiro’s moment, maybe not; maybe it already came and went, in a non-primetime slot, but, as fierce competitors often do, he ignored the signs.
The truth is he’s looked ropey all season. Few were particularly surprised by this ragged showing, and the mitigating factor of him deputising at centre-back – a position he has barely ever played – can only excuse so much when the alarm bells have been ringing since August.
The Brazilian set a terrible record on Monday: He was dribbled past eight times, a Premier League season-high; for context, Virgil van Dijk has been dribbled past twice in the entirety of the 2023/24 campaign.
Casemiro was dribbled past 8 times against Crystal Palace this evening, a record in a Premier League match this season. 😬 pic.twitter.com/PcLJ51fuGY
— WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) May 6, 2024
One of those dribbles was Michael Olise sending him crumbling to the floor in the buildup to the first goal. His feet were slow, his balance wildly off, and there’s a fair question to be raised over why he was pushed up so aggressively anyway, given he was supposed to be stood at the heart of the defence.
He should never have been that exposed – he engaged in 14 attempted tackles from centre-back, which is absolute insanity – but once you are that exposed, you cannot commit and dive in the way he did. Not if it leaves only 36-year-old Jonny Evans between Palace and the goal.
It is, unfortunately, yet another example of Casemiro getting his positioning and spacing completely wrong this season – and he seemingly doesn’t have any athleticism left in the tank to recover. It’s been happening all year in midfield, with his partner Kobbie Mainoo earning sympathetic grimaces from those who see the Herculean task he gets landed with as a result. On Monday it was the defensive line’s turn.
It wasn’t always like this – and it’s important not to completely rewrite history off the back of moments like this. Casemiro’s 2022/23 campaign for Manchester United was very strong; his clutch mentality was infectious; he scored important goals, delivered thunderous blocks and tackles; and he helped them win the Carabao Cup.
But as this season has worn on, his value in every area other than set pieces has sharply dipped, culminating in Monday’s disaster. He may only be 32 years of age, but with around 15 full seasons of football under his belt, his race (at the top level) might genuinely be run. Minutes played, not days lived, is potentially a much more accurate way of determining how fresh, or not, a footballer is.
Monday night ended with Jamie Carragher telling Casemiro to “leave football – before football leaves you.” It’s a galling, gut-wrenching way to speak about a player who stands among the best ever defensive midfielders to play the game, with five Champions League winners medals to his name – but wrapped up in that statement is genuine concern.
If this is indeed the end, if what we just witnessed was Casemiro’s Neville moment, then real care and self-awareness has to be taken over the next steps. Performances like this, from elder statesmen of the squad, give credence to the theory that United truly do require a root-and-branch reform – starting this summer, and perhaps starting with him.
