Life isn’t getting any easier for Erik ten Hag at Manchester United.
The defeats keep rolling in, it’s now likely that the team will finish outside of Europe and produce their worst-ever season during the Premier League era.
Manchester United deservedly lost 1-0 to Arsenal on Sunday at Old Trafford and are now sitting eighth in the Premier League table, three points behind sixth-placed Newcastle United, who they play on Wednesday night.
One thing the under-fire Erik ten Hag can’t fail to mention every time he talks to the media is the injuries to his players.
Casemiro played at centre-back during Manchester United’s 4-0 loss at Crystal Palace and he had an absolute horror show at Selhurst Park.
But the Dutchman stuck by the 32-year-old for the visit of Arsenal, even though he had bona-fide centre-back Willy Kambwala on the bench.
When the team news came out, Peter Schmeichel was dumbfounded by that call from the Manchester United manager by stating ‘I can’t for the life of me understand why Kambwala can be on the bench and not play’, as he told Premier League Productions (12/05/24 at 3:40 pm).
Well, those worries and concerns from the legendary goalkeeper came true once more because Casemiro was at fault for Arsenal’s winner scored by Leandro Trossard.
The Brazil star kept Kai Havertz well on side, even though everyone else had pushed up the field and Arsenal duly punished their struggling opponents.
And as you can imagine, Schmeichel was then left frustrated by Casemiro’s actions because he had cost his team again.
Willy Kambwala and Casemiro at centre-back for Manchester United
“Casemiro can’t play centre-back,” insisted Schmeichel before the game.
“I can’t for the life of me understand why Willy Kambwala can be on the bench and not play, I can’t, honestly. It was so bad on Monday night and he was exposed, so why don’t you put a proper centre-half in there and then put Casemiro up there next to Mainoo?”
After the game: “We talked about Casemiro not being a centre-half. Look at Havertz here looking at Casemiro, he knows he is not where he is supposed to be. He clearly plays him onside. Then the next bit with Casemiro here, he is supposed to stop the cross going that way, but he’s not. He defends this as a midfield player. It leaves the space for Trossard to come in. Take nothing away from what Havertz and Trussard do here. But it is a preventable going that Manchester United have conceded again.”
Arsenal let Manchester United off the hook
Let’s be honest, if Arsenal wanted to go at Man United here and truly embarrass them, then they would have done so.
But they just made sure to do the basic rights in every department because all that mattered to them were those three points.
Now Arsenal can sit back and watch Tottenham try to help them out in the Premier League title race on Tuesday night when they face current holders, Manchester City.
As of this moment, destiny is in the hands of Pep Guardiola and his players, but one thing is for sure, the title race will now go to the final day of the campaign.
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