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The 9 Man Utd games Casemiro has missed this season – how they fared

Ben Stewart •

Casemiro has made a huge impact at Manchester United this season and the club above sorely missed him this season when he has been unavailable.

The former Real Madrid midfielder has a winning mentality and he managed to almost instantly adapt to life in the Premier League. However, he’s certainly not been shy of picking up a card or two.

We’ve checked out the nine games Casemiro has missed this season and analysed how United have done without him.

Man Utd 1-2 Brighton

Prior to Casemiro’s arrival in Manchester, they were looking desperately short in midfield. Scott McTominay and Fred started against Brighton on the opening weekend, but they came up short in the midfield battle against Graham Potter’s Seagulls.

This result will have set off alarm bells for Erik ten Hag as United looked short of quality in the middle.

Brentford 4-0 Man Utd

United’s struggles then continued against Brentford as they couldn’t cope with the Bee’s strength. Fred started in midfield alongside Christian Eriksen this time, but they were quickly dismantled.

The kind of reality check United needed to get the game-changing signing done.

Man Utd 2-1 Liverpool

Casemiro was paraded on the Old Trafford pitch against Liverpool and his sheer presence clearly clicked United up a gear. Ten Hag delivered his first win as United boss in emphatic style.

Arsenal 3-2 Man Utd

The Brazilian midfielder missed United’s trip to the Emirates due to an accumulation of yellow cards. United put up a valiant fight but ultimately came up short on the day.

Without Casemiro’s impetus in the middle, the likes of Thomas Partey, Granit Xhaka and Martin Odegaard were able to dictate the tempo of the game as Arsenal bossed the possession.

Man Utd 2-2 Leeds

In Casemiro’s absence, United started with a midfield duo of Fred and Marcel Sabitzer. United found themselves a goal down after a matter of seconds against Leeds and they fell two behind in the second half.

Goals from Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho managed to rescue a point, but this was far from a vintage performance.

Leeds 0-2 Man Utd

The 31-year-old’s straight red card against Crystal Palace meant that he ended up missing the doubleheader against Leeds, but United dealt better with his absence better at Elland Road than they had days before at Old Trafford.

Late goals from Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho managed to seal the three points.

Man Utd 3-0 Leicester

Despite the comfortable scoreline, it is worth noting that Leicester managed to have 19 shots against United without Casemiro in the side.

In the end, their quality told, but Ten Hag was far from happy with the first-half performance. “First Leicester played brilliant but second we were rubbish,” he told Sky Sports.

“Our way of playing we were really inconsequential, undisciplined. It was only by David de Gea that we kept our clean sheet at half-time.”

Man Utd 3-1 Fulham

Fulham put up a real fight against United, that was until they hit the self-destruct button. Boosted by Willian and Aleksandar Mitrovic being sent off, United went on to win the game.

However, similar to their performance against Leicester, United had shown some vulnerability without Casemiro bossing things in the middle.

Newcastle 2-0 Man Utd

“They were more determined, more aggression and more desire, in many situations on the pitch and then you can’t win games,” Ten Hag told reporters after the game.

Newcastle had 22 shots throughout the game, whereas United only managed six. Ten Hag’s side struggled to cope with the intensity of Newcastle and they were guilty of giving the ball away cheaply.

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