Man Utd star’s form ‘such a worry’ that Erik ten Hag is ‘preparing to drop’ him
Erik ten Hag is getting ready to leave Manchester United midfielder Casemiro out of the team after a poor run of form, according to reports.
The Red Devils kicked off the new season in terrible fashion with Ten Hag overseeing their worst start to a new campaign since 1986 following their victory over Brentford before the international break ended that run.
And it is now two victories in a row after they narrowly defeated Sheffield United 2-1 on Saturday evening with Ten Hag’s side moving up to eighth in the Premier League.
Casemiro was absent from the match against the Blades after being given some extra days off following the international break to recover from a minor injury.
He sustained the injury against Venezuela on international duty with Brazil before aggravating it against Uruguay in their next match – but, even if fit, Casemiro may have missed out against Sheff Utd anyway.
GiveMeSport claims that Ten Hag has an ‘unforeseen dilemma’ with Sofyan Amrabat ‘finding his feet’ at Man Utd and Scott McTominay making himself ‘undroppable’ after scoring three goals in two Premier League matches.
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Casemiro has put in a number of underwhelming performances in the early part of this season after being one of the Red Devils’ best players last term.
And his form has become ‘such a worry that insiders at Old Trafford say the United boss was preparing to drop the Brazilian for the trip to Sheffield United’.
The report adds that ‘his place is already in jeopardy’ for the upcoming derby match against Manchester City next Sunday ‘even if he’s fit’.
It is claimed that Casemiro’s injury absence from the Man Utd team to face the Blades was ‘just kicking the can down the road and Ten Hag knows he’s going to have to make a tough decision on Casemiro in the coming days’.
But former Man Utd defender Paul Parker reckons Casemiro’s performances have been impacted by his team-mates’ failure to put in the “hard work” around him.
“Casemiro did look a bit heavy when he came back from holiday before the pre-season. I could imagine that his performances have been affected by that,” Parker told Bettors.
“But Eric Cantona was always heavy when we started the pre-season but then the season started and he was there to perform 100%. Eric didn’t enjoy the pre-season at all.
“We have to say that Man United are lacking stability at the moment. Raphael Varane and Lisandro Martinez are injured and Erik ten Hag haven’t played with the trio on the midfield with Casemiro, Eriksen and Fernandes, which Casemiro enjoyed so much to be a part of.
“I still think that he will be able to turn things around when the team starts performing better. Right now it looks like he is trying too much because he knows he won’t get hard work from the players around him.”
