Erik ten Hag has made the decision to drop Casemiro from Man United’s starting XI for Saturday’s clash at Southampton following his dreadful performance last time out against Liverpool.
The midfielder had a torrid time as the Reds ran out 3-0 winners at Old Trafford before the international break.
Prior to Saturday’s game, manager Erik ten Hag insisted that Casemiro remained an important part of his plans despite the £50m arrival of Manuel Ugarte.
‘You definitely need him, for sure,’ said Ten Hag, revealing that he has discussed with Casemiro about his role. ‘Of course I speak with him about the situation.
‘Everyone can have a bad day at the office – have you never had a bad day at the office? He [Casemiro] is experienced. I guess it’s not the first time he’s had to deal with a bad game, so he has to overcome this as well.
‘But it’s normal in life you have highs and lows. In your life and in the life of a football player, there are many people observing this and who have an opinion on this and you have to deal with this.
‘He knows how to deal with it. Nobody’s career goes only up, no team’s pattern only goes up. Then you have to deal with it then it is about what is the end result.
‘I normally do talk to him and in this case I did as well, but players in our club know when you are playing at this level, there is always competition.
‘They also know you can only be successful if you have a squad that has cover. You can’t have a squad where you only have one player who can cover this you need at least two for each position, sometimes three.
‘Then it’s about what is the best fit for the team. They have to prove it, that is the key word. They have to take responsibility and win games for the club.’
