Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has provided an update on Casemiro’s fitness as the Brazil international serves the final part of his four-match suspension.
Casemiro’s red cards were both controversial and Ten Hag feels the decisions were harsh, but nevertheless our midfielder has been forced to take his punishment.
Case was able to play in our Europa League last-16 second leg against Real Betis, but he has missed our three previous games in domestic competitions and is once again unavailable on Saturday, when United will host Everton.
Always professional, the Brazilian has been training hard at Carrington and recently represented his country – as captain – during the international break.
However, he does need game time, as Ten Hag explained during the second part of his pre-match press conference on Friday.
“Yes of course, he is taking part [in training] and especially for a player like Casemiro, that is not an advantage,”
said the manager.
“So, he needs a rhythm from the training and from games, so he misses that. But luckily he had a game for Brazil versus Morocco, and we are lucky to have played three games in one week, or six days, so he doesn't miss that much.”
“I don't know, I trust the refs.
“But I have to say both for me are definitely not a red card. Everybody who knows football, they know that when you play at the top level, you know that is not a red card because then you would get sent off in every game of the Premier League, with many players.”
“It's obvious and clear they are two very valuable players for us and especially so in midfield,”admitted the manager to journalists. “We all know how important the midfield department is.
“And what we’ve had to do over several games is to find a new balance and that's not so easy to find that at this stage of the season. And it's sometimes a little bit trial and error, bringing new players in, bringing players in a different position, so that's what we did.
“But against Brentford I was very pleased with the performance from the midfield. Because I think we played very well there. All the three but also in co-operation together. They did a magnificent job. I think they can progress.”
United v Everton kicks off at 12:30 BST on Saturday.