Man United star is being ‘disrespected by teammates’ amid poor form

Manchester United have had a poor start to the season with midfielder Casemiro also looking less like his world-class self from last term.

The Brazilian was absolutely key for United during Erik ten Hag’s debut season in charge at Old Trafford. He scored the opener in the Carabao Cup final and helped transform the team’s defensive performance alongside the defensive duo of Lisandro Martinez and Raphael Varane.

However, it has been a difficult campaign so far for Casemiro. He has had multiple different centre-back partnerships behind him whilst also being part of several midfield trios.

Strangely, the Brazilian is currently the club’s top goalscorer with four goals and he also has an assist as well. Yet, he has seemingly dropped off in his defensive standards.

Paul Parker, who played for United for five years, believes that whilst the midfielder has looked ‘heavy’, the main problem is that he is attempting too much due to the poor and that is impacting his performance.

Casemiro did look a bit heavy when he came back from holiday before the pre-season,” Parker told Bettors. “I could imagine that his performances have been affected by that.

“I still think that he will be able to turn things around when the team starts performing better. Right now it looks like he is trying too much because he knows he won’t get hard work from the players around him.

“He wants to attack, defend, go into the duels, run with the ball, get into the box and get all the way back to make a tackle in his own box and I get why he is doing it but it’s wrong.

“It’s like the kid in school who is so much better than the rest so he wants to do everything himself but in the end it makes him look bad, even though he does it from a good heart.”

Parker’s assessment can be understood as Casemiro is certainly not the only underperforming player at Old Trafford right now.

The former United defender also believes that many of the younger players within the squad are not putting the effort in on the pitch, which is putting extra pressure on the 31-year-old in the engine room, and has labelled it as ‘disrespectful’ to the former Real Madrid man.

“He does it because the younger players around him are just walking around,” continued Parker. “Rasmus Hojlund is the only one who is working hard and a lot of the players are being disrespectful to Casemiro by the way they just walk around on the pitch. Casemiro is trying his best but it’s not working at the moment

“Casemiro is a super player, so I have no doubt that he will improve once he gets this stability around him. He needs some help from the players around him.”

The experienced midfielder is not available for United this weekend against Sheffield United after picking up a small injury whilst on international duty with Brazil.

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