Erik ten Hag told what he must do to “absolute disgrace” Manchester United player

Erik ten Hag has been called to make an example of “absolute disgrace” Casemiro in front of his Manchester United squad in training.

Casemiro has endured a tough time at Manchester United since his return from a long-term hamstring injury he sustained in November 2023.

Signing for £60 million from Real Madrid in the summer of 2022, Casemiro was an initial revelation under Erik ten Hag, scoring a number of key goals under the Dutchman and helping the club lift their first trophy in almost seven years.

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However, after an initially decent start to 2023/24, a hamstring problem kept him out until early 2024, and his performances have not been the same since.

He has drawn a lot of criticism in recent months after multiple games have left United exposed. The most recent tie against Bournemouth once again promoted ex-players to feel he is a large reason for the goals United are conceding.

An “absolute disgrace”

Former United and Premier League goalkeeper Ben Foster has spoken about Casemiro, blasting the Brazilian international for his “absolute disgrace” of a display for Bournemouth’s second goal of the game, scored by Justin Kluivert.

“The second goal, Casemiro, he’s a holding midfielder,” Foster said on his show The Football Fill-In. “He should be that engine, that rat in the midfield, the disruptor – somebody that breaks up all the attacks, gets in people’s faces.

“The second goal, for me, is an absolute disgrace. It’s an absolute disgrace. He’s allowed to wander into that space and get his shot off.

“Casemiro almost notices at the last second, meanders in, hangs a leg in there, and I’m thinking, do you know what? If I was a manager of a team and my holding midfielder did that, that action there and then, I’d say that’ll do. You, come off.”

Foster continued, explaining that Ten Hag should call a meeting with the players during training and show Casemiro’s mistake.

“And I’d make a point of showing this in the week as well. Next week, we’d have a meeting on Monday, and I’d show this to everyone and say, ‘You see that, that’s an absolute disgrace’.

“The reason why he was brought off was because you break a neck, you bust a gut, you get in front of that player, you shut it down and you block it. What you’ve done there is you’ve just allowed him to walk in, get his shot off and score a goal. Simple as that.” 

Sleepless nights

Casemiro recently admitted that he has had sleepless nights surrounding the poor form at Old Trafford, where he lies awake thinking about decisions he would have made had he had a second chance.

“It’s difficult. This is the point that bothers me most about not fighting for titles,” Casemiro told ESPN Brazil after the clash against Liverpool two weeks ago.

“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.