[M Bison]

The criticism in the Mainoo thread feels harsh to me, especially when he's lining up with Casemiro at the moment. Surprised at his performance levels, awful game today.

 

[Red00012]

I’m hoping Saudi will take him off our hands in the summer.

 

[mancsarered]

It's just us and our decisions to buy has beens, Odegaard was a top buy for Arsenal by comparison.

He was surplus to requirements and Arsenal did some good business with the loan + buy. Way different than buying one of their first team players.

 

[Roboc7]

The idea he just needed games is out the window, has been awful this season, so many issues with him now, just have to hope one of Saudi teams still want him.

 

[RedC]

I remember him playing some awful basic passes sometimes for Madrid in big games, but he just does it so regularly for us in every game he plays.

 

[Paul778]

He also doesn't seem to have the same passion he had last season

I think last season he believed he could make a difference and that ETH would build something at Utd.

I'm sure some of the behind closed doors things this season has made him think differently. With so many things no working well in the team it must be hard to feel like ETH is close to a winning formula.

Or maybe that's just how we're all feeling

 

[Matt851]

Thought we'd have 2/3 years.

It's quite an incredible decline from his performance levels last season

 

[MyOnlySolskjaer]

It's quite an incredible decline from his performance levels last season

Well it's a combination of him declining and Eriksen falling of a cliff. When the two were on song with Licha behind, we genuinely looked like a team that could have control in midfield and go toe to toe with Barca.

 

[Bondi77]

The two worst passers of a ball in our team are ex Madrid players and the two of our highest wage earners....fecking unbelievable!

 

[Ali Dia]

As we know SJR didn’t approve of this transfer. I doubt Casemiro will be here beyond this year. Hopefully we replace him with the right high intensity young players. We develop players.

 

[Leftback99]

We'll struggle to offload in the summer.

 

[Vidooq]

He is starting to go on the ground frequently and it seems that he is mistiming his challenges.

He used to be on the front foot last year, was scoring more regularly, finding himself in shooting positions, scoringfrom distance.

This year, we rarely see any of that that, and where I see a big issue is that he is not tracking back his runners from the middle, almost every game this happens at least once.

He is declining, no question about that. In hindsight, Rice would've been the smarter signing longterm. Case does not have the legs anymore, which should not come as surprise, given his age.

 

[arthurka]

Sorry but he is a worse signing than Antony. Just terrible

 

[Gator Nate]

After the last several matches, I can see him as a sub, but no longer a starter. Offloading him may be harder than we hope.

 

[Remember the geese]

Sorry but he is a worse signing than Antony. Just terrible

No he isn't. Nowhere near.

 

[Dec9003]

This is so funny. I wonder why De Bruyne, Silva, Salah etc don't get this "out of form" epithet.

I’m glad I made you laugh! I don’t think he is done as a player, I think given some time he can get back into form. If he doesn’t hopefully we can sell him in the summer but I wouldn’t be in a big rush to write him off.

 

[arthurka]

No he isn't. Nowhere near.

I think he is. We paid 60m for this guy who is absolutely shot. The other guy still has his legs.

 

[Remember the geese]

I think he is. We paid 60m for this guy who is absolutely shot. The other guy still has his legs.

Casemiro was a massive player for us last season. Antony has been underwhelming in both seasons.

 

[arthurka]

Casemiro was a massive player for us last season. Antony has been underwhelming in both seasons.

Well he only played half of a season.. rest was arguing every single red card he got. Antony still has his legs

 

[Remember the geese]

Well he only played half of a season.. rest was arguing every single red card he got. Antony still has his legs

Antony has legs, but can't do much with them. Truth be told, I'd happily sell both players.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Mainoo should be the deepest midfielder picking the ball off the defenders. Casemiro is shockingly bad at it. It completely destroyed our build up.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

We'll struggle to offload in the summer.

Saudi is our only hope. He’s at the right age and is still a very big name signing. Need to him, Antony, Sancho and Martial this summer (and more but these for sure)

 

[Gabriel Djemba-Bebe]

Well he only played half of a season.. rest was arguing every single red card he got. Antony still has his legs

He only had 2 red cards last season. One of which definitely wasn't a red, and the other you could also argue was harsh. So that's what - 6 games missed through red card suspensions? Doesn't quite add up to half of a season.

 

[georgipep]

The way he's playing it 'seems' he's trying to get the manager sacked. I'm also not sure why he keeps playing him instead of Amrabat because the amount of basic passing errors Casemiro is making one would presume Amrabat would be given a chance. But Amrabat imo is being unfairly judged when games have already been lost but Casemiro seems to be a cause of dysfunction consistently at the base of the midfield this season, and for all the goals he has scored to 'save us' we likely wouldn't need saving if he had done his job in midfield in the first place.

If one wasn't to know, one would be mistaken to to think that ten Hag was showing favouritism towards Casemiro rather than give Amrabat a fair chance in midfield who is without a doubt a better player in the build up phase on the ball.

In my view, Amrabat's fatal flaw is his lack of speed and agility (similar to Maguire in that sense).

As for Ten Hag playing Casemiro, there are two plausible options in my mind:
1) As it was with De Gea, there is a contractual (minimum minutes if fit, etc.) or backroom (will "poison the well") reason to play him.
2) The overall performance justifies playing him, regardless of his sloppy passing.

And I tend to think it is 2), mostly because there seem to be a very clear tactical instruction towards all players to go "route one" every time, since our forwards and main creator (as well as Casemiro himself) are best suited to attack open spaces and go direct.

 

[M Bison]

Amazes me how sloppy he is on the ball, i saw his pass completion % in the low 70's, vs Garner (as an example) in the mid 90's. Looks very poor at the moment, its the biggest issue for me, we just havent got the legs to keep up with athletic teams or quality on the ball to dictate the tempo. We're relying on an 18 yo to cover for him and make up for his deficiencies. We'd be better with a Garner in there as opposed to Casemiro at the moment.

 

[SoCross]

We need a more mobile version of Casemiro. A good player in his position is crucial to the team.

 

[DJ_21]

His legs have gone. He goes to ground way too often. A younger mobile version in the summer is a must! When he came in he transformed our team which goes to show it is very important for every team to have a solid DM.

 

[DJ_21]

Mainoo should be the deepest midfielder picking the ball off the defenders. Casemiro is shockingly bad at it. It completely destroyed our build up.

He can play that role quite well… I’m hoping we sign someone for that role though. We need a more physical presence than Mainoo. A strong tackler, good passer. Someone with good positional awareness. I noticed against Everton Mainoo was upfront and on the LW at times. And Casemiro is forever going forward… that’s the reason we’re always exploited.

 

[arthurka]

Antony has legs, but can't do much with them. Truth be told, I'd happily sell both players.

Amen to that.

 

[Adnan]

In my view, Amrabat's fatal flaw is his lack of speed and agility (similar to Maguire in that sense).

As for Ten Hag playing Casemiro, there are two plausible options in my mind:
1) As it was with De Gea, there is a contractual (minimum minutes if fit, etc.) or backroom (will "poison the well") reason to play him.
2) The overall performance justifies playing him, regardless of his sloppy passing.

And I tend to think it is 2), mostly because there seem to be a very clear tactical instruction towards all players to go "route one" every time, since our forwards and main creator (as well as Casemiro himself) are best suited to attack open spaces and go direct.

I think you could well be correct mate, but I'm not sure Amrabat's speed or agility is any worse than Casemiro. I'd actually argue that Amrabat is more agile than Casemiro and hence is a better call carrier. And also playing a more direct game suits a number of players in our team hence playing Casemiro seems a more logical choice but I think with Mount on the way back, a midfield 3 of Amrabat, Mainoo and Mount is our best midfield as far as playing out from the back because those players can receive on the turn, pass and carry the ball better than the players who are currently playing in midfield.

I think the only thing we will miss with Casemiro not playing is his aerial ability in both boxes if his form this season is anything to go by.

 

[georgipep]

I think you could well be correct mate, but I'm not sure Amrabat's speed or agility is any worse than Casemiro. I'd actually argue that Amrabat is more agile than Casemiro and hence is a better call carrier. And also playing a more direct game suits a number of players in our team hence playing Casemiro seems a more logical choice but I think with Mount on the way back, a midfield 3 of Amrabat, Mainoo and Mount is our best midfield as far as playing out from the back because those players can receive on the turn, pass and carry the ball better than the players who are currently playing in midfield.

I think the only thing we will miss with Casemiro not playing is his aerial ability in both boxes if his form this season is anything to go by.

Agree about those 3 but that means either no Bruno or him on the right which takes Garnacho away from his most effective position.

 

[Adnan]

Agree about those 3 but that means either no Bruno or him on the right which takes Garnacho away from his most effective position.

I think we should look to prioritise the system which benefits the collective as a whole. Bruno has some very good attributes that can be utilised in the final third as long as we keep the ball better in central areas. So keeping the ball better should mean less transition football and more sustained attacks. So as good as Garnacho is as a young player, I think having more control in possession would potentially make starting Bruno in a wide playmaker role a better bet due to potentially coming up against a settled defense in a lower block rather than the transition threat that Garnacho is currently doing well in. Garnacho will get plenty of games and I think rotating Garnacho, Rashford and Bruno would give us better balance as a team.

 

[SER19]

I thought he settled fine yesterday, but yes, his opening 10 minutes was simply dreadful.

 

[FrankDrebin]

Individually he's been a hard watch this season.

 

[georgipep]

I think we should look to prioritise the system which benefits the collective as a whole. Bruno has some very good attributes that can be utilised in the final third as long as we keep the ball better in central areas. So keeping the ball better should mean less transition football and more sustained attacks. So as good as Garnacho is as a young player, I think having more control in possession would potentially make starting Bruno in a wide playmaker role a better bet due to potentially coming up against a settled defense in a lower block rather than the transition threat that Garnacho is currently doing well in. Garnacho will get plenty of games and I think rotating Garnacho, Rashford and Bruno would give us better balance as a team.

I'm not disagreeing but this is something for preseason training drills. I don't think we can transition to such a game plan mid season under the pressure we are to achieve CL qualification.

 

[Adnan]

I'm not disagreeing but this is something for preseason training drills. I don't think we can transition to such a game plan mid season under the pressure we are to achieve CL qualification.

I agree that a good preseason will have the potential to develop automatisms in the build up phase which due to injuries this season hasn't been possible. But I would still hope to see better passing ability from a deeper lying midfield position, because as good as Casemiro was last season, he doesn't deserve to be a regular starter on the form he's shown this season.

 

[erikcred]

Casemiro was a massive player for us last season. Antony has been underwhelming in both seasons.

Not defending Antony, but Casemiro's effectively becomes a really expensive one season loan.

 

[Remember the geese]

Not defending Antony, but Casemiro's effectively becomes a really expensive one season loan.

Agreed.

 

[gormless]

Injured according to the Brazil national team

 

[Red00012]

I was at Old Trafford for the Fulham game and couldn’t believe how bad he was . I came on here that night and couldn’t believe some of the comments saying he was good , decent, ok etc . You see it different at the game to be honest.
The standout for me was when he got dispossessed in the 1st half that lead to a counter and an Onana save . He walks up to Onana and Onana says something to him Casemiro just bursts out laughing . Unfortunately he couldn’t give 2 fecks he’s won it all and now he’s here for his last big pay day. And no amount of kissing the badge at Forest away at the end of the game will change that .