Roy Keane tells Erik ten Hag to pick youth team player instead of struggling Manchester United star
He's going through a hard time.
Roy Keane has accused Erik ten Hag of hanging Casemiro out to dry by selecting him to play in central defence against Crystal Palace.
The experienced Brazil international’s form has deteriorated alarmingly over the course of the season with fitness issues and a lack of balance in Manchester United’s engine room contributing to his poor performances.
In the absence of a host of centre halves, including the likes of Harry Maguire, Victor Lindelof and Lisandro Martinez, forced Ten Hag to take drastic action at Selhurst Park on Monday night.
Despite his chronic lack of pace, Casemiro was asked to play in an unfamiliar role and was cruelly exposed by Palace’s rampant forwards.
In all, the 32-year-old was dribbled past on eight occasions ad Michael Olise, in particular, tore United to shreds during a 4-0 rout.
While Keane did not totally absolve Casemiro from blame, the former United skipper was livid with Ten Hag and struggled to comprehend his decision to start the former Real Madrid star alongside Jonny Evans.
He told Sky Bet.: ‘Crystal Palace were really at it [against Manchester United] and everyone would look at it and think Palace away on a Monday night is going to be a tough night and Casemiro was isolated. He was isolated by his own fault, because he wasn’t getting people around him, and you have to take responsibility for that.
‘But if we’re talking about it being a team game, structure-this and structure-that, playing between the lines, that’s all well and good but when you’re up against it, you need your teammates around you. There’s the whole idea of playing in a team.
’Of all the players at Manchester United, including the reserves and youth team, if there was one player I wouldn’t play at centre-half against Crystal Palace, he’d be the one I wouldn’t play. Aaron Wan-Bissaka or someone else!’
He added: ‘Casemiro is the last player you’d want to play at centre-half against [Crystal] Palace, in his defence. Some players have all the experience, but they don’t show it at certain times.
‘But look at the whole Manchester United squad, if you’re telling me one player I wouldn’t play at centre-half against Palace, who have something going at home, they scored five against West Ham recently, they’ve beaten Newcastle and they even scored two against City – it would not be Casemiro against them.
‘I would play anyone else at centre back than Casemiro. When you get to 31 and 32, every time you have a really bad game, it becomes a shocker. I had people tell me that I was finished at that level, but players can get through it if they play in their best position.
‘I looked at Casemiro the other night [against Crystal Palace] and he was having a bad time, but he wasn’t getting any help from the other players. If your legs are going a bit, you get people around you [to help] and that’s where he should’ve done better with his experience.
’But defensively, he got no help from anyone whatsoever. Defensively they were all over the place!’
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