Add thelocalreport.in As A Trusted Source
As Reuben Amorim Looking back at how far a serial has come Champions League The winner had fallen, adding: “At the beginning he was behind every midfielder, even Toby.” Toby Collier, now on loan championship club West Bromwich AlbionWhere his starts exceeded his substitute appearances, he was ahead casemiro in pecking order Manchester United,
This became part of a humiliating decline. Amorim came in and quickly put Casemiro at the back of the queue. eric ten hag Collier was brought on for Brazil in what seemed to be a personal nadir, a 3–0 defeat. liverpool When he was at fault for two goals and missed half time.
And if the intervening period included a brief renaissance under Ruud van Nistelrooy in the autumn of 2024, it seemed unlikely that Stretford & Casemiro would launch into chorus after chorus of namesakes. They won 4-2 on Saturday brighton,
“He struggled and worked and now he is back in the national team,” Amorim said. “He is very important to us. [On Saturday] He ran a lot, he had to run so high and then come back and he is doing that. So I’m really happy with him and other people need to look at Casemiro.
A year later, United have a new Casemiro problem. If, at different points, different United managers concluded that they could not play with him then, they could not play without him now. The figures indicate this only.
Similarly, there was a change of pace on Saturday: they were 3-0 up and headed when Amorim replaced Koby Manu and soon lost control. It was somewhat of an indictment of the Mancunian that the manager later had to call manuel ugarte to strengthen their midfield and Brighton were still in danger getting a 3–3 draw.
Six days earlier, United had kept a clean sheet when Casemiro was substituted at Anfield. The way Liverpool adopted an all-out attacking approach after that could be attributed to conceding, but Casemiro has played 128 minutes against Liverpool and Brighton and United have not breached this. sene lamens After he left, he was beaten three times in 52 minutes.
There is a widespread trend. United have not heard from him on the pitch since August; When he joined this campaign he only allowed three goals. And if the reason was Casemiro being sent off before Enzo Maresca’s side scored against Chelsea, meaning he was suspended for the defeat to Brentford, then United have played 10 games in all competitions this season.
They have conceded three goals in 463 minutes on the pitch with Casemiro, or one every 154 minutes; 13 in 437 without him, or one in every 33. A coincidence? It hardly feels like this. His praise and criticism of others? Definitely.
Manu is stuck in a malaise under Amorim, always looking lost. Ugarte lacks Casemiro’s quality on the ball. United are always in danger of falling behind in the center of the pitch, with Amorim’s 3-4-3 likely to leave the pair facing a trio.
There is no place to hide; Losing the midfield battle could result in losing the game. And when Casemiro’s partner in attack is Bruno Fernandes, there is a huge responsibility on his shoulders.
And that workload, for a player who is in his 34th year and trying to put pressure on a team more often, is why Amorim has concluded that Casemiro can no longer play 90 minutes. He has not completed a single United match all season.
The downfall of Ugarte and Manu (or this Manu, anyway, given a hapless performance on Saturday and his enduring struggles under Amorim) is huge. While they were interested in Brighton’s Carlos Baleba, it was a strange move that United did not make a midfield signing in the summer, preferring to buy three forwards instead. This made Casemiro more important.
Amorim’s squad has depth in some positions – the number 10, most obviously, and centre-back, because when Lisandro Martínez is fit again, he will have five or six reliable options – but not in goal or, perhaps, at wing-back, where Patrick Dorgu could come in and cause chaos, or in the middle of midfield.
Which is risky for a team with a limited schedule. “Having only one game per week is a big advantage and we have to take advantage of it,” Amorim said. But they have a three-game week in a month against Crystal Palace, West Ham and Wolves. They face four games against Newcastle, Wolves, Leeds and Burnley in 11 or 12 days after Christmas.
And his talismanic personal renaissance came when he played about an hour a week, when he was two bookings shy of another ban and when he was frustrated at Grimsby and Brentford, two matches he missed.
Amorim has struggled to win games for most of his reign. Yet when Casemiro loses the victory seems difficult to maintain; It seems completely difficult to win without him. Casemiro has become infamously indispensable.