Are we a one man team? (And that man is Casemiro)

We’re struggling as a result of playing a game every three days. It’s far too much. Yes of course we’re better with Casemiro, but the insane fixture list is clearly starting to have an effect and it’s only going to get worse. We’d probably have won this game if we’d played it when it was originally scheduled.
 
No. We have a squad where in 5-6 positions the immediate back up is a drop in quality from someone very good, to someone who isn't even reliable, and that includes both of the midfield positions.

I think we'd have similar issues if both Varane amd Martinez were missing, or if Rashford and Fernandes both got injured.

Or any combination of these things really. We aren't a good enough team or squad to carry multiple injuries and suspensions at a time to key players. We're still a much better team than last season, but then last season the "good" performances resembled last night, which I think is easily the worst we've played since we lost to Villa about 5 months ago.
 
No, but he’s the only legitimate two way midfielder we have, and it’s not only a matter of finding a backup for him, but also an upgrade on Eriksen/Fred to play next to him.
 
No. Any other game we finish those first half opportunities and put the game to bed early. We obviously didn’t have control of midfield as we usually do but still managed 66% possession and generated a number of good chances. We’ll do over the scum in the away leg.
 
No. Our 3 best players this season have been Casemiro, Martinez and Rashford. I think we could get away without Martinez (wouldn't want to though) but Rashford is just as irreplaceable as Casemiro at the moment.

Also, I wouldn't say Eriksen has quite been at their level but he's a big loss too
 
We had 4 of our 6 midfielders unavailable for the game. We can win without Casemiro just fine; just not when McTominay, Eriksen and DVDB are also unavailable and Sabitzer has only been here a week.
 
Lee565 said:
No but we clearly are lightweight in attack and midfield, if we had either eriksen or casimero yesterday with sabitzer we would have looked a lot better but missing both and having to start with fred alongside sabitzer who has only just joined and needs to get up to speed with both his new teammates and the premier league is a tough ask.

The attack worries more, take rashford out and then we lose a big drop in attacking threat to the point of wondering where will our goals come from
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I think if we had either Casemiro or Mctominay in that game, we win.
 
I would argue that Eriksen is just as important, he dictates the tempo of our play. We need to make sure we have a bigger squad next season as our bench last night was a joke, and yes I know Sancho came on and changed the game but still.
 
The biggest miss was clearly Casemiro but it wasn't just him. We missed Eriksen, Antony and Martial as well.
 
UDontMessWith24 said:
No, but he’s the only legitimate two way midfielder we have, and it’s not only a matter of finding a backup for him, but also an upgrade on Eriksen/Fred to play next to him.
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Think we need 3 which are backup CDM,De Jong and keep Sabitzer if possible. Could then get rid of both Fred and McTominay.
 
Manchester United average 2.3 points and concede 0.7 goals per game when Casemiro has started in the Premier League this season. Without him they are 1.4 points and 2.1 goals conceded.
 
I’d say a 2 man team right now. Casemiro glues it all together, but we wouldn’t have goals without rashford.
 
I think yesterday showed how much we need Case and Eriksen, the midfield 3 was reminiscent of the drivel we’ve seen the last few years. Just weren’t creating spaces for each other or giving options. Seemed happy just to stand behind players waiting on Varane, Shaw or Martinez to find some miracle pass.

Cant blame Sab as he probably doesn’t know if he’s coming or going yet but Fred and Bruno were poor. Cas and Eriksen work the midfield creat spaces and options just making life easy for our defence. It’s a worry that 1 more injury and we are totally screwed.
 
Of course, Erickson is also missing. However, we have, at least, adequate backup for Erickson. The problem is that we don't have any real backup for Casemiro. (I think that needs to be a priority summer signing, along with a striker.) Sabitzer offered no help at all against Leeds' press. He did not offer himself to receive the ball in the middle of the pitch. Another problem in the Leeds game was that Dalot looked very much like he had not played in 6 weeks. He was not sharp defensively, and he looked under duress when Leeds pressed. Fernandes is really poor on the ball and in decision-making with his passes and dribbling in the defensive half of the pitch when United is pressed. He gave away the ball for the first goal, and it is not the first time that he has done so.
 
RashyGiggsy said:
Of course, Erickson is also missing. However, we have, at least, adequate backup for Erickson. The problem is that we don't have any real backup for Casemiro. (I think that needs to be a priority summer signing, along with a striker.) Sabitzer offered no help at all against Leeds' press. He did not offer himself to receive the ball in the middle of the pitch. Another problem in the Leeds game was that Dalot looked very much like he had not played in 6 weeks. He was not sharp defensively, and he looked under duress when Leeds pressed. Fernandes is really poor on the ball and in decision-making with his passes and dribbling in the defensive half of the pitch when United is pressed. He gave away the ball for the first goal, and it is not the first time that he has done so.
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I think sab was decent for his first game, as a number 6, at OT for your first game, you aren't going to create as much as he did. I think case and sab will be a great duo, so i think theres too much pressure on him to perform right now.
 
Seems daft to say this when Rashy is in the form of his life.
But obviously an actual true world class midfielder ties the room together massively.

But with Eriksen, Antony and Casemiro out, and arguably Martial too, it's not a wonder things looked a bit ropey.
Not to mention with Sabitzer making his first start and Dalot first game for about 6-8 weeks.

It all adds up.
 
RashyGiggsy said:
Of course, Erickson is also missing. However, we have, at least, adequate backup for Erickson. The problem is that we don't have any real backup for Casemiro. (I think that needs to be a priority summer signing, along with a striker.) Sabitzer offered no help at all against Leeds' press. He did not offer himself to receive the ball in the middle of the pitch. Another problem in the Leeds game was that Dalot looked very much like he had not played in 6 weeks. He was not sharp defensively, and he looked under duress when Leeds pressed. Fernandes is really poor on the ball and in decision-making with his passes and dribbling in the defensive half of the pitch when United is pressed. He gave away the ball for the first goal, and it is not the first time that he has done so.
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Come on pal.
 
Casemiro, Eriksen, Antony, Martial - that's 4 of our starting 11. So bit dependent on our starting team.
 
Casemiro is the only DM we have in the squad. We just need to buy another DM as Casemiro’s backup.
 
We have 4 players that make the team tick and 2 Casimiro and Eriksen were unavailable. Luckily Martinez and Rash were playing well again and got the point. With Fred you are always up against it as a starter because he isnt good enough. He has shown when we are winning with 15 mins to go that is his skillset.
 
UNITED ACADEMY said:
Casemiro is the only DM we have in the squad. We just need to buy another DM as Casemiro’s backup.
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The first sentence seems about right. The second not so much. Better to spend on a high class partner to Casemiro. Eriksen can then become a squad player and the new midfield partner might even be able to fill in at DM when Casemiro is absent.

The trick is to buy players who will be first choice as they will play many more and better games for you than backup players.
 
surf said:
The first sentence seems about right. The second not so much. Better to spend on a high class partner to Casemiro. Eriksen can then become a squad player and the new midfield partner might even be able to fill in at DM when Casemiro is absent.

The trick is to buy players who will be first choice as they will play many more and better games for you than backup players.
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I would say sell McFred and VDB and sign DM for Casemiro's ''backup'' and CM to rotate with Eriksen.
 
No, but he has done really well this season so far.

I can't believe some UTD fans were slagging off his signing in the summer saying at 30 he was "past it" & only here for the money & that's it, after those same fans had no doubt watched about three years of non-stop McFred screwing up our midfield, Cassy is a huge upgrade on those two that's for sure.
 
BlueHaze said:
We are 100% a one man midfield. Soon as he's out it looks like a shithouse again.
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I feel that.

It's It's exact same case with us. When we dont have Partey its game changer, and not in a good way.
 
This is a definitive no. Rashford is carrying our attack - if we didn't have Rashford, we would really be struggling.
 
We are not a one man team but have too many indispensable (no reliable back up) players:

1. Casemiro. Deputy: McT, Fred. Immense quality drop.
2. Rashford. Deputy: Garnacho. Talented youngster but very far from Rashford level.
3. Bruno. No deputy. He always plays.

Shaw (Malacia)
L. Martinez (Shaw)
Varane (Lindelöf)
Dalot (AWB)
Eriksen (Sabitzer, Fred)
Antony (Pellistri)
Martial (Weghorst)

Honorable mention: Licha. Fortunately, Shaw is a competent back up for him. I was thinking to include Varane in the list but it can be argued that Lindelöf will be okay sub for him.
 
ThinkTank@Cafe said:
We are not a one man team but have too many indispensable (no reliable back up) players:

1. Casemiro. Deputy: McT, Fred. Immense quality drop.
2. Rashford. Deputy: Garnacho. Talented youngster but very far from Rashford level.
3. Bruno. No deputy. He always plays.

Shaw (Malacia)
L. Martinez (Shaw)
Varane (Lindelöf)
Dalot (AWB)
Eriksen (Sabitzer, Fred)
Antony (Pellistri)
Martial (Weghorst)

Honorable mention: Licha. Fortunately, Shaw is a competent back up for him. I was thinking to include Varane in the list but it can be argued that Lindelöf will be okay sub for him.
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Depth is definitely an issue. Even in the positions where we have the bodies, it's not just the drop in quality, but the fact the player in question is almost completely different to the type of player EtH wants there in order to play his system. This means he's constantly having to tweak things, which is extremely difficult in a season where there's so little time on the training pitch between games.

Unfortunately, our squad is the legacy of multiple managers and no long term recruitment strategy from the club (like from a sporting director etc). At least a few players are making a fist of it and making themselves useful, like AWB, but it's still holding us back.
 
Kind of, yeah, we can still play well without him but the problem is we don't have anyone that can play DM like him. Fred, McTominay etc are not DM's and they don't have the positional awareness for it so it's too easy for our midfield to be completely bypassed when he isn't there
 
Crimson King said:
Depth is definitely an issue. Even in the positions where we have the bodies, it's not just the drop in quality, but the fact the player in question is almost completely different to the type of player EtH wants there in order to play his system. This means he's constantly having to tweak things, which is extremely difficult in a season where there's so little time on the training pitch between games.

Unfortunately, our squad is the legacy of multiple managers and no long term recruitment strategy from the club (like from a sporting director etc). At least a few players are making a fist of it and making themselves useful, like AWB, but it's still holding us back.
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Yes. This is the biggest issue.
 
Sort of. Our only real 6. We have 2 mids that are good enough and then the drop off is huge. I'm starting to think that it would be better to prioritize bringing in 2 new mids then a striker, as important that is also.
 
ThinkTank@Cafe said:
We are not a one man team but have too many indispensable (no reliable back up) players:

1. Casemiro. Deputy: McT, Fred. Immense quality drop.
2. Rashford. Deputy: Garnacho. Talented youngster but very far from Rashford level.
3. Bruno. No deputy. He always plays.

Shaw (Malacia)
L. Martinez (Shaw)
Varane (Lindelöf)
Dalot (AWB)
Eriksen (Sabitzer, Fred)
Antony (Pellistri)
Martial (Weghorst)

Honorable mention: Licha. Fortunately, Shaw is a competent back up for him. I was thinking to include Varane in the list but it can be argued that Lindelöf will be okay sub for him.
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Without Varane we lack composure and leadership at the back. Lindelof, add Maguire for that matter, raise your blood pressure by 10% at least. Yes you can get away with it sometime but 3/4 of EPL teams are capable of punishing you, particularly when we fail to score 2+ goals before 60min.

Without Eriksen we are 100% relying on Bruno, and we lack attacking flare upfront. nevertheless, Casemiro is more critical of the 2.
 
No mctominay to cover for case, no Eriksen, no Antony who is extremely important for us, no martial, Fred and sabitzer in midfield yes we looked like shit for ten or four times fifteen minutes it happens
 
We also have Eriksen out and he’s been excellent this season. Take any of those two or Bruno out and our level will drop.
 
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