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

I can’t think of one team that was a one man team and that one man being a defensive midfielder. So I will have to say no. We aren’t just without Case, but also without Eriksen and McTominay.
 
Interesting that Maguire and Lindelof got hammered last season whilst Varane and Martinez have been praised this season...

To my knowledge, Casemiro has not started the following Premier League games...

United 1-2 Brighton
United 0-4 Brentford
United 2-1 Liverpool
United 3-6 City
United 2-3 Arsenal
United 2-2 Leeds

That means without Casemiro, we've shipped 18 goals in 6 games, including against some very average sides.

What is going on here? Has our defence improved or have Varane and Martinez benefitted massively from Casemiro? Is the CDM now more important defensively than the CBs in the modern game?

To be clear, I think Martinez and Varane are excellent and are our two best CBs....but why do we still have huge problems without a proper CDM?

Nobody should be conceding an average of three a game, that's poor by any teams standards. It's a concern there seems to be such a huge trend towards us not being able to defend with Casemiro
 
Lentwood said:
United 1-2 Brighton
United 0-4 Brentford
United 2-1 Liverpool
United 3-6 City
United 2-3 Arsenal
United 2-2 Leeds
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The Brighton and Brentford games Maguire started along with Licha. Other than that its

Liverpool game - not sure why it’s here? We conceded a goal - it happens.

City game - Varane picked up an injury in the first half and was subbed off shortly after (I think it was 2-0 at the time he went off). In fact, the 2nd and 3rd goal of that match was because he was struggling to run.

Arsenal game - agree but I’d put it down to fatigue.

Leeds - similar to above.

So essentially - we can criticise the CB pairing for two games - Arsenal and Leeds.
 
The difference that cas makes is obvious. Reason is because he is the only world class central mid we have currently and the only we have had since the likes of Keane and Scholes. Whe he isn't there, we are significantly weaker.
 
Having to name the guy in the thread title should tell you that we're not.
 
The Corinthian said:
The Brighton and Brentford games Maguire started along with Licha. Other than that its

Liverpool game - not sure why it’s here? We conceded a goal - it happens.

City game - Varane picked up an injury in the first half and was subbed off shortly after (I think it was 2-0 at the time he went off). In fact, the 2nd and 3rd goal of that match was because he was struggling to run.

Arsenal game - agree but I’d put it down to fatigue.

Leeds - similar to above.

So essentially - we can criticise the CB pairing for two games - Arsenal and Leeds.
Click to expand...

Its not just about those two though...so all of the games are relevant.

Martinez started both the Brentford and Brighton games with Maguire. Both international CBs.

My concern is we have four CBs who start regularly for their national teams. Why do we ship goals at a ridiculous rate when one players is missing?
 
Rashford has been a one-man team in attack after the world cup as we don't have any consistent goal threat apart from him.
 
I expected nothing better without Casemiro. We've been quite lucky to get away with so many points the last time he was banned for 3 games against Leeds (x2) and Leicester. This ended now. We can't play football without him.
Not helping that ETH doesn't have a plan B, but I don't think it's fair to blame him for that in first season here.
 
Take him out of the middle and we are woeful.
 
Rashford finding his form, Martinez being class and most of all this guy are the biggest differences between last season and this season. Truly lost without him.
 
Varane,Martinez,Casemiro and Eriksen are our only players. Plus hopefully Garnacho. Just don't ever rely on any other player in the squad. They keep on letting us down year after year. Some have been here 5 years plus and they keep on going missing anytime they face adversity.
 
I’m already worried how we replace him when he’s finished.
 
I think it's more that we are a two-man midfield which is not surprising given we've had a shit one for years and Case and Eriksen are levels above the others.
 
Its certainly worrying how poor we are without him. Yesterday was so bad. Felt like an Ole team in his last year.
Its time to stop feckin about with WW who clearly is inept as a striker, thats if Martial can stay fit. We have some amazing attacking talent and its about time we went out and showed it. Get Bruno back at 10, Rashfor/ Martial - Anthony/ Pellistri/ Sancho..

and play Martinez holding if Cas is out. Im sure it would make a huge difference.
 
Martinez, Varane, Bruno and Rashford are all very key players for us, but Casemiro is probably the most influential player we've had since Fergie's days.
It's absolutely unreal how poor we look without him.

We really have to hope we can get through these next 2 banned games, thankfully they're at home.
 
Thia goes beyond one man. This is a system issue and style of play issue. We have been outplayed many times with Casemiro in the team.
 
Every season there will be players you lean on that when they are out of the team the stats are far worse. You could probably find a similar stat for many clubs. It used to be we're a one man team with Ronaldo and without him we'd be fighting relegation. It's bs of course. Then Rashford steps up.

That's just how football plays out. You have cycles of having certain key players depending on the team, the style, the weaknesses and strengths you have. We have big weaknesses protecting the defence and very few ballplayers, so yes, it's a problem we have that only one man rectifies.

I'm sure it's not lost on the manager either.
 
I mean he’s Casemiro but take him out especially with Eriksen out too and our midfield becomes a shambles. Absolute liabilities in there without Casemiro and Eriksen
 
Jeppers7 said:
I mean he’s Casemiro but take him out especially with Eriksen out too and our midfield becomes a shambles. Absolute liabilities in there without Casemiro and Eriksen
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Thing is though take Rodri and KdB from City or Partey and Odegaard from Arsenal…
 
Jeppers7 said:
Yeah it’s always going to have an impact but I feel the drop off to our next options is massive.
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Yeah that is the bigger problem. We don't have a defensive midfielder aside from Casemiro. Not even an 18 year old who is a natural there. That's the bigger reason for the drop off than Casemiro just being really good and our system doesn't work without him. It's - our system needs a DM, just like every system. We don't have a backup DM. That's it.
 
Dannn411 said:
Thia goes beyond one man. This is a system issue and style of play issue. We have been outplayed many times with Casemiro in the team.
Click to expand...
A system where we are top 3 level and going all the way in all the cups when we have an actual DM there (despite literally having a championship level striker and feck all production from the right wing all season) is a pretty good system to me.
 
It's bad enough when we play without a real striker, but take Cassemiro out and we are a shambles. Hopefully Martial can now stay fit for the rest of the season and play 90 minutes in every single game...
 
Lentwood said:
Interesting that Maguire and Lindelof got hammered last season whilst Varane and Martinez have been praised this season...

To my knowledge, Casemiro has not started the following Premier League games...

United 1-2 Brighton
United 0-4 Brentford
United 2-1 Liverpool
United 3-6 City
United 2-3 Arsenal
United 2-2 Leeds

That means without Casemiro, we've shipped 18 goals in 6 games, including against some very average sides.

What is going on here? Has our defence improved or have Varane and Martinez benefitted massively from Casemiro? Is the CDM now more important defensively than the CBs in the modern game?

To be clear, I think Martinez and Varane are excellent and are our two best CBs....but why do we still have huge problems without a proper CDM?

Nobody should be conceding an average of three a game, that's poor by any teams standards. It's a concern there seems to be such a huge trend towards us not being able to defend with Casemiro
Click to expand...
Defending is a team game. Two good CBs don’t make a good defence in a poorly performing team.

We have a lack of control and organisation when Casemiro isn’t in the side. It needs to be addressed in summer along with the striker situation and we can’t afford to make the wrong choice. It’ll be a critical time for ETH and this side’s progression.
 
We are not a one-man team. But being the only world-class player we have in the middle who is used to compete at highest levels, Casemiro is the sole glue that can hold the departments together.
His absence exposes all the limits of the team, especially in terms of mentality and leadership.
 
We saw last season how difficult it was for Maguire/Lindelof/Varane to defend when forwards came running freely at full speed. We see the same this season when Casemiro doesn’t play. I think that is the main effect.
 
We are a one man midfield and one man attack team. Without Casemiro in midfield we are spineless, without Rashford in attack we are toothless. A very unexpected good run of form this season from Rashford has masked a very poor attack for ETH.
 
Amazing how we finished 2nd and 3rd in the league without him but that is another story.
 
If you have to clarify who that man is, then no.
 
Kostov said:
We are a one man midfield and one man attack team. Without Casemiro in midfield we are spineless, without Rashford in attack we are toothless. A very unexpected good run of form this season from Rashford has masked a very poor attack for ETH.
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it’s shocking how much money this attack cost and how poor it has been considering. It’s nowhere near good enough except rashford.
 
I’d love to say no, but we look like a pub team when he’s not playing. People say that Eriksen is a big miss (which he is), but we were still doing fine without him when Casemiro played.
 
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