The reverberations of Manchester United’s home defeat to Liverpool will be felt for a long time as it happened at the worst possible moment with the international break looming.
Manchester United will have the chance to put things right next on September 14 but till then, the players and the manager will have to bear the constant flurry of criticism.
Amid the doom and gloom, one Man United star would be thankful for some words of support from Rio Ferdinand.
Even more so now, as Sunday Oliseh, one of the best defensive midfielders in football history, has launched his own defence of the player in full agreement with Rio Ferdinand.
Sunday Oliseh comes to Casemiro’s defence
Casemiro is bound to have two weeks straight from hell as his mistakes will be endlessly dissected in the international break after a horrid time against Liverpool.
Subbed off at half-time Toby Collyer making his league debut, it brought renewed scrutiny on the player after a good first two games.
Rio Ferdinand made sure to remind everyone of that fact as he launched to Casemiro’s defence, calling Jamie Carragher’s criticism “disrespectful”, adding that Casemiro’s game has been stretched beyond limit.
Oliseh, a world-class defensive midfielder in his day, would know a thing or two about playing that position and he has echoed similar sentiments.
Oliseh called Ferdinand an “intelligent pundit” and stressed that United’s problems go beyond their “players’ inadequacies”, something that was clear in the third goal conceded vs Liverpool.
Oliseh said: “Now that is an intelligent pundit talking [Rio Ferdinand]! Casemiro is an exceptional asset to any team when played right. When are some going to understand that, man? U problems are way beyond just players’ inadequacies? feel sorry for their fans, my Bro Egutu included.”
System vs Player debate
It took three league games of the new season for last season’s debate to renew about whether the players are letting Erik ten Hag down or the manager’s system is putting the players in a thankless position.
The answer lies somewhere in the middle. The individual mistakes by the players, especially Casemiro, are clear to see but Ten Hag’s system is not helping.
It is obvious that the system looks better if the players are not actively sabotaging it through individual mistakes, but it is plain to see Ferdinand and Oliseh’s point that the system exaggerates players’ flaws while not letting their strengths shine.
In the case of Casemiro, his strengths lie in sweeping up in front of the defence through tackles and interceptions and passing it to a progressive player.
Instead, he has been asked to tackle, intercept, and then progress the play himself, all the while going forward to create attacking overloads as well.
Any player in world football will look inadequate when tasked with handling the responsibility of effectively three midfield players, which is exactly what’s happening with Casemiro.
Only Ten Hag can solve the problem with the system, while Casemiro would do well to cut out the individual mistakes. Finger-pointing doesn’t help anyone.
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