Carragher claims Liverpool nightmare lays bare Man Utd over-reliance on Casemiro
Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher has blasted Manchester United midfield Casemiro and claimed the Brazilian had his worst performance in a Red Devils shirt so far during Sunday's 7-0 defeat at Anfield.
Carragher was covering the clash on co-commentary duty for Sky Sports and had an ideal view as he watched his former side put enemies United to the sword with a remarkable second-half display. Liverpool went in at the interval 1-0 up and notched six during the second half to leave United reeling from their joint-heaviest defeat in a competitive fixture.
Casemiro has come in for huge praise in recent weeks, especially after scoring the first goal during the recent Carabao Cup final triumph over Newcastle. Without the Brazil international, United tend to falter, with Scott McTominay struggling to deputise in his absence.
Analysing the former Real Madrid man's performance on Monday Night Football, Carragher claimed: "Casemiro has been one of the best players in the league this season, but he was very very poor on Sunday.
"You could see he wasn’t at the races. A player of his class shouldn’t give the ball away the way he did. He was supposed to look after Harvey Elliott, but he made it too easy for him. The second goal is the killer for United. Casemiro couldn’t get near anyone, he's fallen over twice.
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"To quote Gary Neville, it was scabby. It was his worst game for passing, he didn’t win one tackle. This is away at Liverpool. It shows how important he is to Manchester United. They lose to Man City without him, he's not at the races at Anfield and they concede seven."
Casemiro had an afternoon to forget at Anfield (Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images)HAVE YOUR SAY!Is Carragher's assessment of Casemiro's performance accurate? Comment below.
Casemiro has been the subject of 'signing of the season' shouts during his debut campaign in the English top flight, though the fee United forked out for him raised eyebrows at the time.
The Red Devils paid an initial £60million to persuade the Brazilian to swap Madrid for Manchester, but it has proved to be worth every penny, with Casemiro pulling the strings for the majority of the campaign.
The 31-year-old was withdrawn from proceedings at Anfield while the score was 5-0 to Liverpool. By then, the damage had been done and Casemiro was forced to watch the final two Liverpool goals from the bench.
United's over-reliance on Casemiro has been identified as a problem prior to Carragher's assessment and some fear the quality decline from the Brazilian to January signing and deputy Marcel Sabitzer is too steep for United to really mount a title tilt this term.
Up next for Ten Hag's men is the first leg of their Europa League round-of-16 tie against La Liga outfit Real Betis. United welcome the Spanish side to Old Trafford first, before a second-leg trip to Benito Villamarin Stadium awaits the Red Devils following a league clash at home against Southampton.
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