[GreatDane]

Who knew that a 32-year-old midfielder would struggle in the middle of the pitch with no team-mate within 25 yards of him and looks better in a more normal structure

He's been made to look a fool and I would love it if he gets some respect to his name back.

 

[Ekeke]

Another very good game, Leicester's squad players mostly but still more impressive than most of our players

 

[Vault Dweller]

Keep this up please, Case.

 

[Freak]

Case rolling back the years. Love it

 

[Still ill]

The bolognese sauce of foot ball player. Not new, no wow factor, not exciting anymore, but when it works, it works well.

You're kidding, right? Weird to post that after last night. How wow do you want him?

 

[tenpoless]

You're kidding, right? Weird to post that after last night. How wow do you want him?

I don't want him to wow me. I just want him to be consistent.

 

[FrankWhite]

Great goal but I still maintain that he takes too many low xG shots. Shots from outside the box, poor shooting angles, etc.
Bruno, Garnacho and him are quite guilty of this. Probably why they end up taking more shots than everyone else and we don't score many goals.
Hopefully Amorim can fix this as he appears to but a lot of emphasis on feeding the striker.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Who knew that a 32-year-old midfielder would struggle in the middle of the pitch with no team-mate within 25 yards of him and looks better in a more normal structure

Really makes me chuckle how this place is full of tactical experts who somehow failed to see that our formation and tactics last night were identical to every other game this season. Which is particularly mad considering we've an example of a similar goalfest the last time we played in this same competition.

 

[Lyng]

Really makes me chuckle how this place is full of tactical experts who somehow failed to see that our formation and tactics last night were identical to every other game this season. Which is particularly mad considering we've an example of a similar goalfest the last time we played in this same competition.

We played with two defensive minded midfielders. We haven't otherwise this season?

 

[Tincanalley]

Great goal but I still maintain that he takes too many low xG shots. Shots from outside the box, poor shooting angles, etc.
Bruno, Garnacho and him are quite guilty of this. Probably why they end up taking more shots than everyone else and we don't score many goals.
Hopefully Amorim can fix this as he appears to but a lot of emphasis on feeding the striker.

Judge in chambers. Guilty, m'lud. Cringe.

 

[JJ12]

Wasn't set up to fail

 

[Tincanalley]

Really makes me chuckle how this place is full of tactical experts who somehow failed to see that our formation and tactics last night were identical to every other game this season. Which is particularly mad considering we've an example of a similar goalfest the last time we played in this same competition.

I never knew of so many tactical experts gathered in one place.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

We played with two defensive minded midfielders. We haven't otherwise this season?

Team selection is not the same as tactics. Mainoo was right up at the top of the tackles/game stats when he was starting regularly.

 

[FrankWhite]

Judge in chambers. Guilty, m'lud. Cringe.

Team leaders shots per game, Bruno (3.1), Garnacho (2.8) and guess who? Casemiro (1.6).

 

[DWelbz19]

Great goal but I still maintain that he takes too many low xG shots. Shots from outside the box, poor shooting angles, etc.
Bruno, Garnacho and him are quite guilty of this. Probably why they end up taking more shots than everyone else and we don't score many goals.
Hopefully Amorim can fix this as he appears to but a lot of emphasis on feeding the striker.

It’s the same with his passing, generally. Always attempts the spectacular/killer pass too often. He’s gotten a little better recently but over the course his career here his passing accuracy is something like 80% which is really low for a central/defensive midfielder.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

It’s the same with his passing, generally. Always attempts the spectacular/killer pass too often. He’s gotten a little better recently but over the course his career here his passing accuracy is something like 80% which is really low for a central/defensive midfielder.

He's been weirdly maverick, with everything he does, for someone who came here with a reputation of being the most disciplined CM at his previous team. Part of me wonders if he's doing whatever the feck he wants because he's always wanted more of the limelight and this is the first time he feels he's a better player than all the other CMs in his team?

 

[BarstoolProphet]

He's extremely entertaining when on song. Cleaning up defensively, playmaking all over the pitch and our by far most dangerous player inside the box.

 

[diarm]

“No wow factor” as he’s pinging belters in the top corner from 30 odd yards.

 

[mctrials23]

I just love his little smile when hes enjoying himself.

 

[Bwuk]

Most goals he's ever scored in a season is 7 in all comps. I reckon he'll beat that this year, especially when Amorim comes in.

 

[El-Manos]

10/10 last night, Would be great if we could get him back to his best.

 

[RedIan]

I dont think it’s a coincidence Casamiro was so good last night. Ugarte sitting allowed him to show case his real abilities,
A great midfield partnership.

 

[FrankWhite]

He's been weirdly maverick, with everything he does, for someone who came here with a reputation of being the most disciplined CM at his previous team. Part of me wonders if he's doing whatever the feck he wants because he's always wanted more of the limelight and this is the first time he feels he's a better player than all the other CMs in his team?

It's weird. It's a like his whole life he's been this conservative, responsible adult. Now he's in the twilight of his career, he's trying to go out in the blaze of glory? Everyone does the opposite, start of as mavericks then age into old wise players you can rely on to make good choices.

 

[Lyng]

Team selection is not the same as tactics. Mainoo was right up at the top of the tackles/game stats when he was starting regularly.

No no my point was more that with Ugarte Casemiro didn't have as massive defensive duties as otherwise. Thus he was better. I'd argue the same for Bruno really

 

[Pogue Mahone]

It's weird. It's a like his whole life he's been this conservative, responsible adult. Now he's in the twilight of his career, he's trying to go out in the blaze of glory? Everyone does the opposite, start of as mavericks then age into old wise players you can rely on to make good choices.

It’s a football mid life crisis. Leather trousers and a red convertible.

 

[MadDogg]

He’d obviously been given instructions from ETH which were a little too complicated. Let off the leash he was a completely different player yesterday I felt.

I mean, the instructions he was given last season basically amounted to 'cover the entire middle half of the pitch all by yourself while opposition run at you with numbers multiple times every match'. No midfielder in the history of the game could have succeeded in the job that ETH had Casemiro do last season (although obviously some could have done it better).

We've been playing a bit more normally this season and it's not a surprise that Casemiro has performed better.

 

[Matt007a]

He’s clearly not got the legs for the cdm role on his own. However if you put Ugarte in there to do that job, he’s much more capable on the ball than I think we realised when he came. He was better last night that Eriksen has been for 2 years. He needs that destroyer next to him with legs though.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

No no my point was more that with Ugarte Casemiro didn't have as massive defensive duties as otherwise. Thus he was better. I'd argue the same for Bruno really

I think Ugarte played well and that helped our performance. I don’t see this as any sort of tactical rejig by Ruud though. Same tactics, different players. I see Eriksen wasn’t even on the bench. Maybe he wasn’t fit to play? With Mainoo out that central midfield basically picked itself.

 

[Lyng]

I think Ugarte played well and that helped our performance. I don’t see this as any sort of tactical rejig by Ruud though. Same tactics, different players. I see Eriksen wasn’t even on the bench. Maybe he wasn’t fit to play? With Mainoo out that central midfield basically picked itself.

I am not saying that either. The one thing is that a ton of people have said the reason for Casemiros issues was to much defensive ground to cover on his own. And I think last night's match adds, at least some, merit to that claim. Very small sample size etc

 

[KeanoMagicHat]

He's been weirdly maverick, with everything he does, for someone who came here with a reputation of being the most disciplined CM at his previous team. Part of me wonders if he's doing whatever the feck he wants because he's always wanted more of the limelight and this is the first time he feels he's a better player than all the other CMs in his team?

It would make sense because it's hard to steal the limelight from Kroos and Modric. A lot of players go to Real Madrid to accept water carrier status if it helps them get trophies, might not fancy it elsewhere

We played with two defensive minded midfielders. We haven't otherwise this season?

This is only the second time that Ugarte and Casemiro have played together in deep midfield for United. The other time was against Barnsley when we won 7-0. Obviously very weak opposition, but it was a surprise Ten Hag never put them together again. Realistically Eriksen is not the strongest off the ball in deep midfield and is more of an attacking midfielder. Mainoo can be decent off the ball when he puts his mind to it but those are the two best defensive midfielders in the squad.

 

[Smores]

I am not saying that either. The one thing is that a ton of people have said the reason for Casemiros issues was to much defensive ground to cover on his own. And I think last night's match adds, at least some, merit to that claim. Very small sample size etc

That much is obvious, not sure what Pogue is on about but it doesn't take a thorough tactical analysis to see how much more compact we were yesterday whether by design (I'm sure Ruud would have focused on it) or just players natural tendency. Then again some denied for months that we had an issue being open.

Casemiro just doesn't have the legs to be that explosive defensive midfielder closing down spaces. Limit the area he needs to cover and he's still a very useful player.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

That much is obvious, not sure what Pogue is on about but it doesn't take a thorough tactical analysis to see how much more compact we were yesterday whether by design (I'm sure Ruud would have focused on it) or just players natural tendency. Then again some denied for months that we had an issue being open.

Casemiro just doesn't have the legs to be that explosive defensive midfielder closing down spaces. Limit the area he needs to cover and he's still a very useful player.

Dunno about a "thorough tactical analysis" but it definitely takes a healthy imagination. We set up exactly the way we've set up in basically every other game this season. Ugarte's impressive engine gave us a bit more presence in central midfield and that was basically the only difference to our last few matches in the league. Although it also helped that the opposition were poor and an early goal gave us a much needed confidence boost. None of which should have come as a huge fecking surprise seeing as all of the above happened the last time we played a match in this same competition.

It's also worth noting that Leicester did still find themselves in a number of promising situations which would have been blamed entirely on ETH and his donut midfield by the redcafe tactical wizards, if he hadn't been sacked earlier this week.

 

[Nobby style]

He's been weirdly maverick, with everything he does, for someone who came here with a reputation of being the most disciplined CM at his previous team. Part of me wonders if he's doing whatever the feck he wants because he's always wanted more of the limelight and this is the first time he feels he's a better player than all the other CMs in his team?

I think he realizes, which is abundantly clear to maybe everyone except Ten Hag, that he is our all around best offensive player and should not be weighted down as a number 6. Plus he's become quite sloppy defensively. It doesn't take a genius to see he should be played alongside a solid 6, and let him play a more offensive role. What?, it took him like 40 minutes to score a worldie and a brace (easily could've been a three) and set up our second with a Scholesque pass. He was pinging them about all over the place in this match. He is a fantastic passer, and header of the ball as well.

The only two times he's been freed up alongside a proper 6, we've scored 11 goals. This is not rocket science. Ten Hag was such a stubborn idiot sometimes. Good riddance.

 

[poleglass red]

the change to 2 more defensive minded mids certainly helped. The fact Leicester was so poor also helped. Good to see him playing well, I'd be wary of proclaiming we're going to see a rejuvenated Casemiro from this moment forth, I certainly hope so, let's see how he fares against some better opposition. I know I'd certainly like to see that central mid pairing against better opposition. I hope that midfield selection was a tactical call by Ruud and not a move made out of necessity. Whatever it was, it looked good, let's hope we see it again in next match.

 

[Smores]

Dunno about a "thorough tactical analysis" but it definitely takes a healthy imagination. We set up exactly the way we've set up in basically every other game this season. Ugarte's impressive engine gave us a bit more presence in central midfield and that was basically the only difference to our last few matches in the league. Although it also helped that the opposition were poor and an early goal gave us a much needed confidence boost. None of which should have come as a huge fecking surprise seeing as all of the above happened the last time we played a match in this same competition.

It's also worth noting that Leicester did still find themselves in a number of promising situations which would have been blamed entirely on ETH and his donut midfield by the redcafe tactical wizards, if he hadn't been sacked earlier this week.

What are you even basing that on? The formation?

Go look at the heatmaps for the Leicester game and you'll quickly see the point. The prominent areas yesterday are in that defensive midfield position, we congested that space and moved up the pitch far more narrow. In the West Ham game or 90% of other games you'll see it's a wing.

Even using common sense for a moment there's absolutely no way Ruud comes in and doesn't try solidify the main area that has left us exposed. He didn't just say do better lads.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

What are you even basing that on? The formation?

Go look at the heatmaps for the Leicester game and you'll quickly see the point. The prominent areas yesterday are in that defensive midfield position, we congested that space and moved up the pitch far more narrow. In the West Ham game or 90% of other games you'll see it's a wing.

Even using common sense for a moment there's absolutely no way Ruud comes in and doesn't try solidify the main area that has left us exposed. He didn't just say do better lads.

You talk about common sense in the same post you're implying that Ruud knew all along what was wrong and how to fix it but decided not to share this great insight with Ten Haag because... reasons.

 

[Smores]

You talk about common sense in the same post you're implying that Ruud knew all along what was wrong and how to fix it but decided not to share this great insight with Ten Haag because... reasons.

You've made up that Ruud decided not to share his insight so don't know what to do with that nugget. I guess every coach has the exact same tactics as the last manager they worked under or something.

Getting very old man yells at clouds here.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

You've made up that Ruud decided not to share his insight so don't know what to do with that nugget. I guess every coach has the exact same tactics as the last manager they worked under or something.

Getting very old man yells at clouds here.

I didn't make up anything. That's implied by your idea that Ruud knew what was going wrong and we repeatedly dropped points due to this issue not being fixed. I'm sure there have been lots of examples of a new coach using different tactics to the last manager he worked under but you'll need a better one than a game in which we used the exact same formation and tactics (and achieved a very similar scoreline) to the most recent fixture in the same competition.

 

[TheGhostOfJamesJoyce]

Great to see him put on a beautiful performance.

It is difficult not to have a soft spot for a person like him; what a spectacular player (in his prime, and even to this date).