The two midfield players who have been at the heart of Manchester United’s renaissance this season, Casemiro and Christian Eriksen, will not be available to manager Erik ten Hag for the next three games.
Eriksen was ruled out until late April or early May last week after a terrible tackle by Reading’s Andy Carroll led to a serious ankle injury.
Casemiro has added insult to injury by being sent off against Crystal Palace today for holding Will Hughes by the neck during a group altercation.
He will be sanctioned with three games for violent conduct.
The Brazilian’s enforced absence will put an end to any plans the manager may have had to slowly integrate loan signing Marcel Sabitzer into the United squad.
“While Sabitzer learns, United must navigate a compact series of February games,” The Athletic’s Carl Anka wrote ahead of the Palace match.
“[Casemiro-Fred] They are a couple with history in the Brazil national team, but they favor stability over creativity and left United flat for much of the first half. [against Reading].
“Despite all of Fred’s improvements this season coming off the substitute bench, his qualities are best focused on limiting the space the opposition can enjoy in midfield.”
However, Anka’s colleague at The Athletic, Mark Critchley, believes that Casemiro has also been a good collaborator going forward.
“[He] it’s even better when you think about the added and largely unexpected bonus United gets for its money.
“Casemiro was not taken to Old Trafford to score twice against a mid-table Championship side in the FA Cup fourth round. But his goals against Reading last weekend were his third and fourth of the season, following two in the Premier League against Chelsea and Bournemouth.
“Add in the four assists that Casemiro has recorded since the post-World Cup restart, for a total of five since he joined, and a player who has helped prop things up at one end of the pitch is starting to contribute at the other, too.
“In a season where United are heavily reliant on Marcus Rashford to carry the goalscoring load, only three other players have more goals than Casemiro and he is just three more away from surpassing them.”
So how can United keep up the momentum without the two pistons of their midfield engine?
Ignoring promotions from the academy, on the surface there are now only two options for midfield, Fred and Sabitzer. But if that association does not materialize, there are other solutions.
Scott McTominay is probably out for two weeks, but could be back quickly due to the emergency, depending on the nature of his injury.
Another player who could be drafted into the midfield is Lisandro Martinez, who played 22 times for Ten Hag as a holding midfielder at Ajax. His place in his defense could be taken by Luke Shaw, who excelled there during his post-World Cup absence, with Tyrell Malacia at left-back.
Bruno Fernandes is also an experienced central midfielder and could play further back. One option to later replace him at number 10 is Jadon Sancho, who played in that position for 25 minutes against Reading earlier in the week.
One thing that may be an advantage is that two of the three games Casemiro will miss are against the same opponents, Leeds United, allowing the manager to find a formula that can be consistently applied in his absence.
Regardless of what Ten Hag decides to do, there are quality alternatives at your disposal to minimize the impact of the duo’s absence.
