Ex-Red Devil Owen Hargreaves has lavished praise on ‘special’ Manchester United midfielder Casemiro following the Brazilian’s impact on Erik ten Hag’s team.
The 30-year-old scored his first goal for the Red Devils with a last-gasp header against Chelsea to rescue a point at Stamford Bridge.
It was the former Real Madrid star’s fourth consecutive start in the Premier League for Ten Hag’s side, and in that time Manchester United have won two and drawn two.
Since Casemiro made his first start in the Premier League, which came in the 2-1 win against Everton where the Brazilian set up Cristiano Ronaldo to score the winner and the Portuguese man’s 700 goal in club football, no player in the Premier League is averaging winning more duels per game than United’s number 18.
Since United’s comeback win at Goodison Park on 9 October, the five-time Champions League winner is averaging winning 8.6 duels per game, which puts him ahead of Amadou Onana and Joao Palhinha (both 8.3).
In the same period, Ten Hag’s side are averaging more possession (56.6%) than Manchester City (56.5%).
From the so-called ‘Big Six’, the twenty-time league champions have also won possession in the final third (21) more often than the other five teams included in that group.
Owen Hargreaves lavishes praise on Casemiro
The 65-time Brazil international’s influence on the United side has been clear to see and Hargreaves, a three-time Premier League and Champions League winner under Sir Alex Ferguson, lauded the ‘special’ South American.
Speaking via Premier League Productions, Hargreaves said: “He’s brought everything – leadership, he’s won five Champions League’s he’s a special player and I think he’s good under pressure, and he helps United be better on the ball.
“We think about United when they were getting results under Ole (Gunnar Solskjaer) and even under Ten Hag at the start of the season against Arsenal and Liverpool they played on the counter.
“Now with Casemiro in there, you can play it into him at all times and he’s brilliant defensively. I think he has so many attributes that go unnoticed and the header against Chelsea is the icing on the cake.
“The thing that has surprised me has been his passing – it’s been exceptional we know defensively he’s really good. Casemiro plays the ball forward – Fred and McTominay were good players, but they didn’t play forward in some of the crucial moments.
“He’s been what we anticipated in terms of defensively winning the ball, one of the best defensive midfielders in the Premier League, and he’s won five Champions League’s – there’s a reason for that because this guy is so reliable.”
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