Riddle me this: Casemiro scored the opening goal in a Carabao Cup final that his side won and yet his most extravagant celebration came not in the aftermath of his header nor after the full-time whistle had blown.
Shortly before half-time, Casemiro successfully shepherded the ball out of play for a goal kick under significant pressure. It was a nothing incident, really. But Casemiro roared at the swathes of Manchester United supporters, like a lion who has just won the Pools. They returned in kind, a mass of clenched fists and cheers and teeth forced together into celebratory grimaces.
Will football supporters ever grow tired of watching players celebrate tackles? God I hope not.
That is the great paradox of Casemiro. He is a player who seems to exist in two states: the serene, consummate controlling midfielder, always on time and rarely rushed as a result; and the fierce agitator, prepared to slip into the dark arts and take several players with him for the ride. All or nothing.
He’s a midfielder who, as we have already proven, loves to win the ball at least as much as he loves scoring goals.
More from Football
Spurs look happier and tougher to beat under Cristian Stellini - here's what Conte could learn27 February, 2023
The Chelsea fans who sent Graham Potter death threats don't really love football27 February, 2023
Gordon up top, start Isak and buy the next Casemiro - how Newcastle can reach the next level27 February, 2023Since Casemiro joined Manchester United, they have lost three league matches and he didn’t start two of them. It is damning him unfairly with weak praise to conclude that Manchester United’s midfield has merely been dragged into the present day, but it’s also true.
For too long, United’s midfield was a pace where the opposition was king. It was filled with reactors, not pro-actors. The unlucky actors spent most of their time trying to put out fires and the rest desperately getting rid of it as quickly as they could in case they started another.
Midfield control, at anything above the lowest – and least dangerous – tempo, was something that happened to other well-run, less debt-leveraged teams.
Now with Casemiro, control is the whole of the law because he is everything; his fingerprints lie over every teammate. An hour into Sunday’s final I realised that I’d forgotten Christian Eriksen exists. Suddenly it’s just Casemiro plus one.
When Eric Cantona left Manchester United, it was not his skill or even impact on the pitch that Alex Ferguson heralded most. Instead, it was the manner in which Cantona changed the culture of the club. During his eight-month ban, Ferguson persuaded Cantona to stay by tasking him with overseeing the development of a crop of talented academy graduates.
“Nothing he did in matches meant more than the way he opened my eyes to the indispensability of practice,” said Fergie. “Practice makes players.”
That became the mantra for a new age of Manchester United. If there was one trait that all of the most successful Class of ‘92 shared, it was not extraordinary innate talent but an ability to squeeze the most out of the talent they had through practice. Eric taught them that.
Casemiro’s signing now has a Cantona twinge, albeit we must beware leaping into the land of wild hyperbole. If Cantona changed Manchester United’s culture on the importance of training, Casemiro is hoping to offer a similar example in terms of hunger and winning mentality.
It is working so well because Casemiro likes what he has found: a manager who is his kindred spirit. He freely admits that he was shocked by Erik ten Hag’s obsession with winning.
We cannot pretend that all of this has occurred through glorious design. Manchester United’s marquee midfield signing coulda, woulda, shoulda been Frenkie de Jong, if United had thought to check if De Jong was as up for the move as they were.
There are reasons for regret too. On one of the many trains back north on Sunday evening, supporters sang and cheered but also bemoaned what might have been if their club had tried to fix this central midfield issue in any of the last three summers.
But these are trifling details and these supporters – and this club – are choosing for now to look forward, not back. A few short months ago, I/we/maybe you doubted all this a little.
Casemiro was a £60m 30-year-old who was being parachuted into the most obvious long-term rebuilding job in high-end European football. On that, Erik ten Hag has jumped through hoops at triple speed to make United successful in the short term. In turn, that makes Casemiro’s arrival look entirely logical.
It wasn’t that I – or anyone else – lacked conviction of Casemiro’s brilliance – quite the opposite. Why was he here? He had won 18 trophies at Real Madrid, including five European Cups in nine years. Had he not watched Manchester United play? Had he never heard of Avram Glazer?
We’re all for a bit of community action, helping out someone desperately in need as an act of charity, but wasn’t there somewhere a little more sunny and a little less Europa League-y? Someone certainly hadn’t tried to stay on the WiFi in the press box on a Thursday night.
The answer, it appears, is hunger. Hunger is what drives the tackling – “I go for the ball like it’s a plate of dinner”. Hunger is what fuels the fist pumps and the lion roars. Hunger is what took him to the top and hunger is what brought him here.
Cristiano Ronaldo chose to engineer a move to Saudi Arabia to top up his goalscoring statistics. Casemiro chose to leave the European and world champions because he saw the chance to make Manchester United…well, Manchester United again. Pick your own hero; I’ve chosen mine.
from Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/pmsPRe3
Post a Comment