Arsenal have Declan Rice. Manchester City have Rodri. Tottenham have Yves Bissouma. Chelsea have Moises Caicedo. Liverpool have Alexis Mac Allister.
Manchester United, meanwhile, have a defensive midfielder who I described as a £70million panic signing last year, for which I was criticised.
Casemiro performed well last campaign. Better than I expected of the Brazilian in his 30s. But he is now injured and when he does feature, he doesn’t look like he’s got the legs to keep up with the demand of this level.
Not like Rice, or Rodri, or the other elite midfield men out there who can control proceedings. The decision to let Casemiro sign a long-term deal is looking more and more foolish because he is not the answer to the lack of protection being provided by the midfield.
Goalkeeper Andre Onana needs all the protection he can get, too, given the way he has been flapping whenever anything flies his way.
Kobbie Mainoo is an excellent prospect but he is only 18. As good as he was in that first Premier League start against Everton last weekend, he needs time to blossom.
Mainoo’s lack of experience may be why Erik ten Hag did not start him at Galatasaray in the Champions League on Wednesday. United led 2-0, then 3-1, but unprotected, they threw it away to draw 3-3.
Bruno Fernandes tried to help out defensively, but he was the one who gave away the two free-kicks which led to goals from Hakim Ziyech.
United need a specialist protector in midfield. Someone who can act as a barrier, particularly when they have a lead.
They have dropped eight points from winning positions in the Champions League this season, remember. That’s more than any other team among Europe’s elite.
Mainoo may be the right man in time. But it would be asking too much too soon to expect that of him now, week in, week out.
Onana’s struggles will dominate discussions after that horror show in Istanbul. But defensive midfield is a problem which needs addressing sooner rather than later for United — perhaps in the January window if they want to move forwards.
Zusckpu
478
United should have gone for Wilfred Ndidi when Leicester got relegated. They would have gotten him for a good price.
matcdekpz
394
ETH need to be brave first few matches we lost he payed casamero who was out of shape speed and stamina he let mctominy sit on bench or out of team even he was fully fit and in full form of goals too for his country. Playing unfit casamero too much cause him injury. Waste on money on Onana and mount we don’t need those players for those too we can get harry cane but our manegement are no sense who we buy who we not before end of last season we are going to buy Kim Napoli defender almost we baught but we loose him to Bayern. We were behind Pau Torres Aston villa baught him we were Ruban Dias few years back city baught him We never able to baught correct payers we just consider them and other teams baught them . Then we buaught always panic buys. Varrane , casamiro , Bastian Schweinsteiger, cavani , randem falco , Ronaldo ( 2nd time ) like old out paced lot of players we baught that is no correct business . We let lukaku go just one injured bad season he was every young that time because coach doesn’t like him he was still very good .
MogastyJn
143
Good morning brothers and sisters. Please I’m just reminding everyone . This is the month of December, a month that can ruin your life if you don’t take care . This is the month even sometimes our friends become our enemies. Because this is the month our souls and spirit talk to us before we’ll take a step forward. So please from this “1st December to 31st “ we used to encounter a lot of temptations within our family, relationship, marriage, businesses and etc . Please anytime you are about to step out either going to work or whatever you’re going to do please pray 🙏 and cover yourself with the holy BLOOD 🩸 of LORD before you can take step on what you are about to do . May we all be protected from GOD so we stay safe and active and meet here again in the year of 2024 . Enjoy your holidays and stay blessed 😇 bye 👋👏👏👏👏👏👏 . MOVE WITH GOD AND YOU WILL WIN