Manchester United legend Paul Parker has leapt to the defence of Brazilian midfielder Casemiro.
The former Real Madrid star, who won numerous European Cups in Spain, has been criticised this season – a pile-on instigated by Jamie Carragher saying on Sky Sports last season that the player was ‘finished’.
“This has to stop because we are watching one of the greats of the modern time,” Carragher later followed up after United’s 4-0 defeat to Crystal Palace last May. “I always remember the saying ‘leave the football before the football leaves you’. The football has left him.”
Those comments invited more criticism with it being so generally accepted to be truth, that the player was out of the picture when Ruben Amorim took over – and he has only recently started to play again, thanks to a number of injuries at the club.
And Parker believes that Casemiro’s struggles for form are due to the poor performances of players around him, and the qualities of different team-mates.
“Casemiro playing for Real Madrid wasn’t any quicker than he is now,” Parker said, exclusively on this week’s Talking Devils podcast. “But you watch him play for Manchester United and see what he does, he was doing exactly the same then. The difference is what’s around him. He sees passes, he sees space, his expectancy for people to run… he sees space before he gets the ball. Sometimes, he miskicks it. But that’s over time. There are little things that are starting to happen but that’s natural.
“When United lose everyone says they don’t have any legs. Real Madrid never had a quick midfield. Him and Modric played with their minds and they retained the ball better. They also had a back four that squeezed up and made it tight for opponents. Now with Casemiro alongside Eriksen, when you have centre halves who sit far deeper, it creates a big problem. Casemiro is still a great player and he gets absolutely persecuted every time United don’t win a game of football.”
Paul was speaking on this week’s Talking Devils podcast.
You watch it here or download on all podcast platforms.
https://www.youtube.com/live/oQ2BZ\_sAYFU?si=Ek85\_PZ3qkIp7kJU