Casemiro was a second half substitute for Manchester United against Manchester City, and yet, he was one of the most discussed players in the wake of the defeat.
There has been a collective refusal from the media to acknowledge the strong performances from Scott McTominay, when questioning why Casemiro did not start.
One typically hysterical reaction came via The Mail, which asked: “He wasn’t trusted to start against Man City, so did the boss REALLY want him?”
The answer to the ‘Casemiro conundrum’ as the newspaper put it, is staring them right in the face. Look at Scott McTominay’s recent displays.
Scott McTominay’s performances are going ignored
Casemiro is a world class player who will 100 per cent become an undisputed starter for Manchester United. This was envisioned to happen a lot sooner, but Erik ten Hag probably did not envisage the team going on a four-game Premier League winning run.
The reason Casemiro has not been in the team is because McTominay has simply been so good, for club and country.
This is a remarkable turnaround from his laughably bad performance on the first day of the season against Brighton, where fans were rightly very critical.
He came back into the starting line-up against Liverpool, starring in a 2-1 win and also featuring in victories against Southampton, Leicester, and Arsenal.
In the win over Arsenal, McTominay was so efficient he completed 100 per cent of his passes, an astounding figure considering passing is not among his highest qualities. This demonstrated the improvement Erik ten Hag has helped to make in his game already.
The solution is not to unnaturally throw McTominay onto the bench and disrupt a winning team, especially for such an important game. There is also something important to be said for playing a local lad in a derby game.
The same critics questioning Casemiro’s absence in the line-up for the derby are the same ones who would be piling on him if he did not single-handedly win United the game against City.
United lost the game, convincingly. And this will be the catalyst for change to bring Casemiro into the starting line-up.
The match away at Everton next weekend could be ideal for him, a much better circumstance than tasking him with trying to defeat a City side at the top of their game.
But in all the Casemiro hysteria from the press, McTominay’s performances are being willingly ignored, and so is the good work Ten Hag has done with him.
A midfield three of McTominay, Eriksen and Fernandes had been productive, and by making one change, Ten Hag would have risked upsetting the form of the other two. Now, as it happened, both Eriksen and Fernandes played poorly on Sunday, but the reasoning behind the decision was sound.
McTominay was actually the better of the trio, winning four out of four duels on Sunday, making one interception and blocking one shot.
It wasn’t enough to stop the team losing, but all the press and pundits seem to care about is Casemiro’s absence, along with Ronaldo’s, which is tiring. Both players will get their opportunities. Let’s just acknowledge that sometimes when a player is left out, it’s not because of them, it is simply that others are more deserving, or have earned it; and in the case of Scott McTominay, that’s exactly what happened.
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