Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has revealed the reasoning behind his surprise decision to drop Casemiro from the starting lineup against Southampton, opting instead for Christian Eriksen to anchor the midfield.
The Dutch tactician’s move comes after Casemiro’s disastrous 45-minute display against Liverpool, where the 32-year-old’s errors led to two goals, resulting in an embarrassing half-time substitution.
Despite publicly backing the former Real Madrid star, Ten Hag has chosen to make changes for the trip to St Mary’s, handing Eriksen a rare start.
The decision to bench Casemiro has raised eyebrows, but Ten Hag’s move signals a tactical shift, with Eriksen’s creativity and vision expected to bring a new dimension to United’s midfield.
Ten Hag said:
‘We have a squad and we offer a lot of games, he will play I am convinced of this.’
On the surprise inclusion of Eriksen, he added: ‘He has had a good pre-season, in training he’s had very good performances. So, he has earned a start.’
Ugarte, meanwhile, started for Uruguay over the course of the international break but having only signed late in the transfer window has been deemed not yet ready to be thrust into the starting XI.
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‘Manuel, we have to integrate into the team,’ said Ten Hag. He has only had two sessions, we have to integrate and that takes time.’
Ten Hag did make one other signficant change to his team with Garnacho dropped to the bench and Amad promoted in his place.
The Argentina international caused controversy earlier in the week when he liked a social media post citing Cristiano Ronaldo’s criticisms of Ten Hag, but beIN Sport insist that is not the reason the for the 20-year-old’s demotion.
Eyebrows were raised at Marcus Rashford being handed another vote of confidence at Garnacho’s expense but Ten Hag insists the United stalwart deserved another opportunity.
‘Not only today, but he’s in a good place and he needs a goal or an assist,’ Ten Hag said.’
Last game he had very good crosses. That moment will come, we will wait for that momentum and then he will fly.
‘All strikers want to score and from my experience once a striker starts scoring they are going to fly.
As Eriksen set to pull the strings from midfield, Manchester United will be looking to dictate the tempo against Southampton and bounce back from their humiliating defeat to Liverpool.
