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Manchester United’s long list of injuries have caused Erik ten Hag major headaches throughout his difficult second campaign at Old Trafford.
Ten Hag has had to deal with a wafer-thin squad for the majority of the season, with his back line in particular hit hard with absentees.
So much so that Brazilian midfielder Casemiro has had to step in at centre-back in recent weeks and the former Real Madrid man has struggled badly as a result.
He put in a disastrous display in the recent 0-4 annihilation at Crystal Palace was his worst game in a United shirt and he simply cannot continue in that position.
Former United skipper Roy Keane has weighed in on the stark decline in Casemiro’s form and insists he shouldn’t have started in the centre of defence against Palace.
Speaking on Gary Neville’s Stick to Football podcast, Keane feels a youth team player should have been chosen over the Brazilian.
“Of all the players at Manchester United, including the reserves and youth team, if there was one player I wouldn’t play at centre-half against Crystal Palace, he’d be the one,” said Keane.
Keane added that he thought Casemiro would be in for a “tough night” given the atmosphere at Selhurst Park and the strong recent form of Oliver Glasner’s side but the five-time Champions League caused his own issues.
“He was isolated by his own fault, because he wasn’t getting people around him, and you have to take responsibility for that,” he said.
Keane did admit that Ten Hag’s tactics didn’t help the 32-year-old on the night with the team desperately lacking in structure for many weeks now.
“But if we’re talking about it being a team game, structure-this and structure-that, playing between the lines.
“That’s all well and good but when you’re up against it, you need your teammates around you. There’s the whole idea of playing in a team,” Keane concluded.
United need points from their three remaining Premier League games if they are to qualify for any of the European competitions next season and also need to find some form before the FA Cup final at the end of the month.
However, the trio of league fixtures look testing for United with Arsenal and Newcastle visiting Old Trafford before a trip to Brighton, which hasn’t been a happy hunting ground in recent years.
If Casemiro is deployed in the central defensive position in those games, he would surely be targeted by the opposition who know the Brazilian’s legs have gone.
It’s difficult to make a case for United winning any of their remaining games with Casemiro at the back and Ten Hag will be desperate for Lisandro Martinez to prove his fitness before the all-important final against Manchester City.
The Argentine is back in training but after being rushed back too quickly already this year, Ten Hag will want to manage his number one centre-back accordingly.
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