Has Casemiro improved under Ten Hag?

Nah. I think it's just a combination of not being in the classy playmaker shadow of Modric, and the PL suiting him perfectly.

Ten Hag is great at using players to their strengths but Casemiro just seems like someone where what he's good at is blindingly obvious and he barely even needs managing.
 
I think it's just a sign of how ridiculously strong that mid 2010s Real team was, modric and benzema and courtois are still tearing it up 5 years later, casemiro who was considered the third best midfielder in that line up comes here and is one of the best players in the league, varane is an incredible defender and even then ramos was better and they had peak Bale and ronaldo.

Any player from that team going to another would stand out more
 
No. He was class when we signed him. He’s at his peak now. Hopefully we get two more seasons out of him . Even if we don’t it was money well spent in my view. He has played a big part in turning this club around.
 
Given Casemiro’s experience at very top level it could be argued Casemiro has improved Ten Hag .…either way they seem a very good match.
 
No, just been given more freedom as we don’t have Modric/Kroos there.

He had won 5 CL with Real just in case you didn’t know, and he has been best player in their CL final win last season.

Just because he lead us to league cup trophy and current 3rd place in PL, doesn’t make him better player than the one who had conquered European football on 5 occasions.
 
mu4c_20le said:
Be interesting to see how Pogba could do under him
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I’ve thought the same thing…especially today where it was clear that the strategy was to pepper them with long balls forward. Almost literally Pogbas biggest weapon. I think he would have excelled under ETH sadly…
 
It’s funny….I thought it was odd he would choose to come to us at his stage in his career and at the place we were to start the season. But he clearly had something to prove.

That said I don’t think I’ve ever seen a move like this work out so insanely well for a player at this stage of their career. If he stayed at Madrid he would have retired a legend…but he’s making the case now that he was one of the top MFs of his entire generation. And that’s a huge deal that must be supremely satisfying to him…
 
Obviously no, he has always been this good. At United he gets to show another facet of his game (creativity and productivity). Casemiro has always been an outstanding player
 
He was playing a specific role at RM. There were moments when you could see he had a great pass etc and was technically gifted, but due to the system those moments were far and few between.

At United I think he is playing more how ETH would have had FDJ play so deep laying playmaker. So his natural ability comes out more.

Another argument, although Madrid won’t bother due to their success, but did they miss a trick by making him sacrifice. Could he have been better than either Modric or Kroos as an 8?
 
He was one of the greatest defensive midfielders of all time at Madrid.
 
RedRonaldo said:
No, just been given more freedom as we don’t have Modric/Kroos there.

He had won 5 CL with Real just in case you didn’t know, and he has been best player in their CL final win last season.

Just because he lead us to league cup trophy and current 3rd place in PL, doesn’t make him better player than the one who had conquered European football on 5 occasions.
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When did I say Casemiro was shit?

I know he won three damn trebles! :lol:

Everyone is saying how Ten Hag has given him more freedom & yet then saying he hasn’t improved under Ten Hag!

He has been given more freedom under Ten Hag so Ten Hag has improved him IMO.

He is an absolute legend for Real Madrid and everyone who watches football knows what he has done there.
 
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Improvement isn't the right word, he has just been allowed to express himself more freely and to be fair, you can't say Madrid coaches were wrong to consign him to just defensive duties when they have Kroos/Modric in front of him and Casemiro can have 60% pass succession rate games when he's the main playmaker.

To be fair to him though, he was really underrated for years, even when people acknowledged him as one of the finest DMs in the game. No one seems to remembered much about Madrid's trouble integrating Kroos and Modric together and it wasn't until a 24 year old Casemiro started playing consistently that they became consistently dominant in midfield.
 
He wasn‘t fit when he got here and got fit.

The PL suits him perfectly.

Ten Hag lets him play to his strengths and lets him express himself.

A change can be good after many years.

We are a great club (again) and he is enjoying it here. The fan engagement is more intense.
 
Bebestation said:
When did I say Casemiro was shit?

I know he won three damn trebles! :lol:

Everyone is saying how Ten Hag has given him more freedom & yet then saying he hasn’t improved under Ten Hag!

He has been given more freedom under Ten Hag so Ten Hag has improved him IMO.

He is an absolute legend for Real Madrid and everyone who watches football knows what he has done there.
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Where did you get the idea I’ve in any way implied that you’ve said he was shit :confused:

As everyone has mentioned, he was already wordclass for many years at Real. At United he was given more freedom, but that doesn’t mean he does things better now then he did before. IMO He always has it, and he has perfected his role for Real (key DM in dominant midfield which conquered everything for many years) in no less degree than perfecting his role for us (key DM with more freedom to express himself but in relatively less dominating midfield which only start winning things)
 
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Guy has 5 CL’s under his belt.

He’s always been this good. Most people here live in a premier league/United bubble. Also, Madrid are really good at football and he had class team-mates all over so maybe didn’t stand out to people as much.
 
Bebestation said:
When did I say Casemiro was shit?

I know he won three damn trebles! :lol:

Everyone is saying how Ten Hag has given him more freedom & yet then saying he hasn’t improved under Ten Hag!

He has been given more freedom under Ten Hag so Ten Hag has improved him IMO.

He is an absolute legend for Real Madrid and everyone who watches football knows what he has done there.
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What people are saying is it’s likely what we’re seeing is the Casemiro that was always there. He'd be the same if he joined any team that plays with two CM.

Improving a player is like how now you see AWB attacking more, or Rashford making better decisions, Fernandes not being as wasteful etc
 
Casemiro on why he still wanted to improve:
"Obviously, my age played a role, in modern football, a player who's 29, 30, 31, or even 32 is at their peak.

"This is when mentally and physically a player is at their best in their career. At my age, I was still keen to improve. We call him [Ten Hag] the 'Mister', as we say in Brazil, he's the type of coach who will never let the cord slacken.

"He's a very demanding coach, wanting perfection. He knows it's difficult to achieve perfection. In life and football, it's difficult to achieve perfection, but he's a top manager, a top coach, with an incredible obsession to win.

"Next season we want to be in the Champions League and I'll be really frustrated if we don't make it. I'll keep working my socks off to get this in the Champions League. We know that Manchester United will return to glory”
 
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Bebestation said:
I’ve thought about this recently.

Ten Hag has improved nearly every player here at United.

We all knew Casemiro was World Class for Real Madrid and great defensively but I genuinely don’t think he was playing like this.

All the progressive passes, defending and scoring important goals.

Maybe I’m wrong but I think Ten Hag has improved Casemiro as well - an already experienced world class player.
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It’s a good point. Just from a stats point of view he’s already on his best season ever for goals and assists with 11 and we are only just passed half way. He definitely seems to have more freedom. I don’t remember him venturing forward as much as he does for us.
 
pablo__p said:
Wasn't the narrative that Casemiro wanted out of Madrid precisely because they saw him solely as a destroyer, and he wanted to enjoy his football a bit more and show the world what he is really capable of?

That said, I love him.
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Madrid didn’t want him out. He had informed Madrid before the end of the season he wanted to leave for a new challenge.
 
Chief123 said:
It’s a good point. Just from a stats point of view he’s already on his best season ever for goals and assists with 11 and we are only just passed half way. He definitely seems to have more freedom. I don’t remember him venturing forward as much as he does for us.
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Credit goes ETH for not just instructing him to play as he did at RM. But I really think he always had those attributes, was seen in glimpses at RM but more often when playing for Brazil.
 
Bebestation said:
I’ve thought about this recently.

Ten Hag has improved nearly every player here at United.

We all knew Casemiro was World Class for Real Madrid and great defensively but I genuinely don’t think he was playing like this.

All the progressive passes, defending and scoring important goals.

Maybe I’m wrong but I think Ten Hag has improved Casemiro as well - an already experienced world class player.
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I dont know about improved but Casimero and Martinez have taken to the premiership a lot quicker than other players from overseas (felix and gakpo) leagues, maybe thats because their both battlers and winners!
 
a Man Utd with, at the time, nothing more than dreams and promises managed to sign Varane and then Casemiro. And it turns out we didn’t even smash the wages to do it.
 
He has been this good for years. At Madrid it has been overshadowed by players like Ronaldo, Vini, Modric and Benzema. If you watched a lot of real games you would see how good he was.

It was the same with Busquets before Xavi and Iniesta went, he was always this good too
 
Chief123 said:
Madrid didn’t want him out. He had informed Madrid before the end of the season he wanted to leave for a new challenge.
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Madrid spunked loads of money on Camavinga and Tchouaméni, they are also struggling financially. Players like Varane and Casemiro weren't really shown any love in contract negotiations. So they went somewhere where they would be treated with the respect that they deserve. We have benefitted massively from the way that Real treated some of their really world class footballers. At 28 and 30, they were by no means finished in the game, and still have many miles left in the tank. What a privilege it is for us to have them and also for them to show how good they are in the best league in the world.
 
68cob said:
Wasn't he voted best player in his position ever, before he came to United?
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That’s a big claim, buy he has many trophies to back it…

Anyway, he is the best in his position to ever play for us - Keane at his peak was a wonderful, monstrous player, but Casemiro is apparently even better
 
It's probably more like Yaya Toure I think. The qualities have always been there. He's just been let loose from the shackles a little more, and we're seeing what he can do in both boxes.
 
HERBIEUTD said:
I dont know about improved but Casimero and Martinez have taken to the premiership a lot quicker than other players from overseas (felix and gakpo) leagues, maybe thats because their both battlers and winners!
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Well, Bruno kick started rightaway, VDB doesn't. Very experienced players know what they can do and what they want, more likely to find the right "job". But overall please stay away from any Dortmund players, we only have failures if not nightmares.
 
sglowrider said:
He's got a contract till he is 35 at United.

How do we see him evolve his game as he ages?
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Attacking less and sitting infront of the back 4 dictating play from deep. By that time we should have already recruited a ball carrier or box to box CM to take the burden away from needing to get forward as much.
 
Waynne said:
Attacking less and sitting infront of the back 4 dictating play from deep. By that time we should have already recruited a ball carrier or box to box CM to take the burden away from needing to get forward as much.
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Like a Matic?
 
I think it is how Zidane & Ancelotti play, they play compact with 3 midfielders, Kroos, Modric & Cas played close to each other and you will see Benzema coming deep to pick-up the ball, and with that, Casemiro had plenty of passing options and he tended to keep it simple and moving, however, he will often switch it to the other flanks and/or see him get up the field when Madrid where in possession while Kroos stayed back, but Kroos & Modric took more on the responsibility of creating plays from the center while Casemiro's main responsibility was the defensive work

Here, Ten Hag plays with 2 central midfielders plus one attacking midfielder, we all know Bruno likes to operate in half spaces and roam freely which meant he wouldn't be in close proximity to the holding midfielders all the time, and with that you will need your holding midfielders to be able to pass forward to the front 4 and break the lines when possible instead of keeping simple all the time with square passes or back passes, and Cas was already good passer himself which he showed in Madrid, it is just more apparent with us due to the style Ten Hag plays, with Brazil he plays with a partner (Fred or Arthur) and he was able to perform well ( reached 2 Copa finals with Brazil and won it once).
 
Why the feck would Casemiro want to stick around in the PL with this nonsense going on? Seven games suspension after being sent of twice in three league games? After a whole career without getting sent off. He is probably thinking "feck this noise" and I wouldnt blame him.
 
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