Anshuman Joshi
Need to take things one day at a time, says Casemiro
In an interview given to ESPN Brazil after Man United’s game against Liverpool on Sunday, Casemiro admitted to having been suffering from sleepless nights owing to the club’s current predicament.
The Red Devils have struggled to build upon their performances from last season, during which they finished third in the league and won the Carabao Cup, and currently lie 11 points off the fourth place in the league with an outside shot at the FA Cup.
The veteran Brazil international has also found it hard to replicate his performances from last season this time round, having been part of the group of players who have been marred by injuries.
The 32-year-old believes United need to focus on taking things on a day-by-day basis, dealing with every game as it comes, instead of attempting to plan ahead going into the business end of the season.
“It’s difficult. This is the point that bothers me most about not fighting for titles.
“Being 20 points behind first place. Sometimes, I can’t even sleep to try to think about doing something different. It’s reality. There’s no point in thinking about title or Champions League places, we need to think about today’s games.
“We need to think about the day to day, we had the opportunity to score nine points in the last few games and we scored two. We were upset. We have to think game by game and focus on the next match, against Bournemouth.”
Casemiro speaking to ESPN Brazil after Sunday’s game at Old Trafford
The defensive midfielder is likely to be part of the squad set to travel to the south coast for their next league game against Bournemouth. The Cherries won 3-0 the last time these two met at Old Trafford.
Casemiro knew what he was signing up for
In January last year, The Telegraph reported that Casemiro, having seen United getting battered 4-0 by Brentford in the second game of last season, told his agent, “Tell them I’ll fix this.”
This quote was making the rounds right around the time when the Brazilian’s integration into Erik ten Hag’s setup resulted in the team consistently putting up good performances and projecting a strong upward mobility.
Casemiro was rightly lauded last season as one of United’s most important players owing to his 14 goal contributions from 53 appearances despite playing deep in the midfield, just like he is rightly praised for the role he played in Real Madrid’s successes throughout the decade gone by.
Like Raphaël Varane before him, Casemiro can’t not have been aware of United’s mid-table reality when he put pen to paper on his Old Trafford deal, so while his admitted hardship warrants sympathy, he owes it to himself to get used to the career trajectory he was choosing for himself when he made the move to England last season.
This season has indicated that age might have begun catching up to Casemiro despite the good numbers he has put up when he has played. Nevertheless, he was never supposed to be a long-term solution for United, who would be wise to have a succession plan in place going into summer.
More Manchester United News-
- ‘Brilliant’ rising star a bright light for Manchester United as Ten Hag continues to struggle with major injury crisis
- Liverpool superstar says 2-2 draw vs Manchester United ‘feels like a loss’
- “I got ahead of myself”- Manchester United hero Kobbie Mainoo apologises for what he did vs Liverpool
Don’t count Casemiro out just yet, though. He may yet have a big role to play before the season ends and even in the coming season. That said, if an offer arrives for him from the Middle East, the Red Devils might want to take that opportunity while they have the chance.
