Erik ten Hag’s tactical tweaks at Man Utd have backfired… and no one is suffering more than ageing ace Casemiro
SIX months is a long time in football.
At the end of last season, Casemiro was being lauded as one of the top midfielders in Europe.
His performances since moving to England and joining Manchester United in a £70million deal at the start of the 2022-23 season had led to praise from fans and pundits alike.
Fast forward to the present, however, and questions are being asked as to whether the Brazilian is still even good enough to merit a starting position at Old Trafford.
In truth, it is too early in the season to completely write off Casemiro.
You simply don’t earn 73 Brazil caps and star for Real Madrid for as long as he did without being immensely talented.
The veteran midfielder, 31, has never been a player who has relied on his pace and physical assets to control games.
Instead, he has always relied on his ability to read the game and take up positions to control the centre of the pitch.
So, what has happened this season at Man Utd to see Casemiro’s performances drop off so notably? The answer lies in two key areas…
The first is the tactical system that United are using under Erik ten Hag with the Dutchman changing the way United builds up now that they have a goalkeeper, in Andre Onana, who is capable with the ball at his feet.
The second issue, though, is more specific to Casemiro with his mobility and ability to control and cover space noticeably regressing.
Let’s take a closer look…
Playing out from the back
When Ten Hag first arrived at Old Trafford, it was believed one of his key tactical principles would see United become a team who play out from the back and build the attack from the first line with short passing.
This belief, however, lasted around two games as United struggled against Brentford and Brighton to kick-off the 2022-23 season.
Goalkeeper at the time, David de Gea, made significant errors attempting to play out from the back.
As a result, Ten Hag quickly change the way in which United played, with more direct passing introduced.
This summer saw United withdraw a previous contract offer to De Gea as they completed the signing of the Cameroon international goalkeeper Andre Onana from Inter Milan.
Onana is a capable shot-stopper, much more capable than he has shown so far this season, but it was his ability to play out from the back that really stood out to United.
So far the build-up patterns have not worked for United.
In the early stages of the season, we saw Casemiro used as a single pivot at the base of the midfield.
From these positions, he was responsible for dropping towards the defensive line to give a short passing option.
Casemiro is not the most technical of midfielders unlike, say, Rodri at Manchester City. So, at times, when receiving the ball in these areas, his body shape would be wrong and he would not open out quickly enough to give himself the option to play the next pass.
We have seen Ten Hag make slight changes to the shape of the United build-up with the likes of Christian Eriksen and Sofyan Amrabat being used to form more of a double pivot at the base of the midfield.
The idea behind this is that having two players dropping deeper would create more passing options and angles to get the ball out from the back.
Unfortunately, we have not seen United manage the next phase where the free midfielder could receive the ball and then open out to play the next forward pass.
Casemiro’s lack of awareness and diminishing receiving skills have resulted in United’s build-up play being slower and less effective than it should be.
Poor execution in the opposition half
This season we have seen Man Utd move to a system of play that relies on moments of transition to create goal-scoring opportunities.
They want to build out from the back before playing more direct passes through the middle to release their quick attacking players in the final third.
This is understandable given the incredible pace of the likes of Rasmus Hojlund and Marcus Rashford.
There are times though that they will have possession against teams that play in deeper blocks to force United to try to break them down.
This is where using Casemiro as the deepest midfielder, or even as the second deepest midfielder, can lead to a breakdown in the attacking movement.
There is a sense that Casemiro would be more effective as a box-to-box type midfield player but as a deep midfielder, he is having to act in this United system at times as more of a midfield playmaker.
With the rest of the United midfield, the likes of Bruno Fernandes and Mason Mount, pushing on to more advanced areas there is an emphasis in this tactical shape for Casemiro to take responsibility to break lines and play through pressure.
United have struggled to break teams down effectively.
And while this is, at least in part, due to poor execution from the likes of Casemiro, when playing through the thirds there are also tactical issues in terms of not having players in the right zones or areas to allow the ball to be progressed through safely.
From a tactical perspective, it is fair to say that Ten Hag is not using Casemiro in a position that makes the most of his strengths.
Not having a more progressive passer in the base of the midfield puts more pressure on Casemiro to make the type of passes that seem to be beyond him.
Casemiro cannot cover and control space
The signing of Amrabat was supposed to provide support for Casemiro at the base of the midfield for United.
So far, however, this has not happened as expected.
Indeed, due to a significant injury list, we saw Amrabat used against Galatasaray this week at left-back, after making his full debut there in the Carabao Cup against Crystal Palace.
The other midfield options for United are all more technical or attack-focused with the likes of Mount, Fernandes and Eriksen all being more comfortable on the ball or in advanced areas.
Youngster Hannibal Mejri has had more game time recently but he is still very inexperienced at first-team level.
This has meant that Casemiro has been used in a role where he has to control a lot of space at the base of the midfield.
This would not be as much of an issue if United were more effective in terms of preventing the ball from being played into the midfield.
So far this season we have seen United struggle to apply regular pressure to the ball as the opposition start the attack.
The more advanced players – forwards, wingers and midfielders – have been relatively poor in terms of engaging the ball or preventing easy passes through them into the zone occupied by Casemiro.
While Casemiro has never been the quickest of players he has always read the game well and then been quick enough to cover space and prevent the opposition from having easy possession in dangerous areas.
Now, with his pace diminishing and with no support either from a midfield partner or from pressure in front, we are increasingly seeing Casemiro isolated and in trouble as the opposition play the ball forward.
There are, of course, ways that United could prevent this issue.
But by introducing a second deep midfielder to help strengthen the central area, they will have one less advanced player to join the attack.
There is an argument to be made for United to change their tactical approach to use Casemiro as the second midfielder with Amrabat taking up the deepest position.
Casemiro is still a player who has the intelligence and experience to help his side, but his lack of physical ability is now becoming a real issue when he is played alone at the base of the midfield.
What does this mean?
There is no doubt that Casemiro is performing at a much lower level than we witnessed last season.
While this is, in part, down to his diminishing physical ability we are also seeing him used in positions and areas that highlight his weaknesses as opposed to playing to his strengths.
If United choose to continue with Casemiro in the midfield then changes will need to be made to allow the Brazilian international to play in a way that covers his mistakes more.
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