CASEMIRO’s Manchester United career hit a new low after he was hauled off at half-time by Erik ten Hag.
The five-time Champions League winner has underperformed for the Red Devils this campaign.
He’s allowed several opposition midfielders to repeatedly ghost past him in the club’s poor start to their domestic and European campaigns.
The Brazilian’s woes continued in United’s Premier League clash with Brentford on Saturday.
He made a critical mistake in the build-up to Mathias Jensen‘s 26th-minute opener, which should’ve been saved by Andre Onana.
That, coupled, with his lack of ferocity, prompted Ten Hag to replace the club’s September Player of the Month with Christian Eriksen at halftime.
United fans took to X (formerly Twitter) in their droves to react to the former Real Madrid man’s substitution.
One wrote: “Casemiro needed to be off.”
Another said: “Casemiro is falling off.”
And another said: “We need to have a serious conversation on Casemiro.”
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One remarked: “Casemiro hooked at halftime. This fall-off is sad.”
Another chimed in: “Casemiro’s been pulled off at half-time. Eriksen on. Right move. He looks done.”
Some have blamed Casemiro’s struggles on the system implemented by Ten Hag, including former Arsenal man Martin Keown.
He wrote in his Daily Mail column: “Casemiro has been sitting deep with Christian Eriksen and Bruno Fernandes further forward, either side of him.
“United are the Premier League’s worst culprits for letting opponents dribble past them and Casemiro tops the list. But it does not help that the 31-year-old Brazilian is often left on his own to deal with the flood of opposition players coming through the middle.
“In the defeat by Arsenal, when keeper Andre Onana had the ball, Casemiro was dropping between the centre-backs.
“That takes United’s most combative midfielder away from the centre and tasks Eriksen and Fernandes with winning the ball back when they lose possession.
“United have not looked comfortable in the system and, against Arsenal, they often resorted to long passes in the hope Marcus Rashford could make something of a one-v-one opportunity.
“When Casemiro dropped to create a back three, Ten Hag was ordering his full-backs to get high and wide.
“Aaron Wan-Bissaka looked wary of carrying out that instruction because he was not getting cover from midfield, and there was nobody screening the passes into the counter-attacking Gabriel Martinelli.
“Mikel Arteta’s men exploited that vulnerability for their first goal.”
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