Erik ten Hag told one different area is holding Man Utd back after Andre Onana criticism

Andre Onana may be Manchester United’s current fall guy following his latest damaging display away to Galatasaray in the Champions League on Wednesday night but Erik ten Hag’s biggest problem is the absence of a top level holding midfielder.

That is according to pundit Chris Sutton, who questioned the initial signing of Brazilian Casemiro at the start of last season and now considers himself vindicated.

The 31-year-old arrived from Real Madrid in a deal worth £70m and despite winning praise last season, he has looked well off the pace when not sidelined by injury during Ten Hag’s difficult second campaign. He has also been shown three red cards in 2023. And writing in his Mail column, top takesman Sutton said United are an outlier in not having a top central midfield player.

“Arsenal have Declan Rice. Manchester City have Rodri. Tottenham have Yves Bissouma. Chelsea have Moises Caicedo. Liverpool have Alexis Mac Allister,” Sutton said. "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.”

But it is Onana who continues to take much of the criticism and Sutton added that the Cameroon international “needs all the protection he can get, too, given the way he has been flapping whenever anything flies his way.”

Owing to his errors between the posts, United’s Champions League destiny is no longer in their hands. They must beat Bayern Munich at Old Trafford later this month while hoping the result between Copenhagen and Galatasaray goes their way.

Results in the Premier League have seen an upturn, with five wins from the past six moving them to fifth position. But United make the trip to fellow top-four hopefuls Newcastle United on Saturday evening with up to eight players ruled out - including Casemiro, whose last action came in the EFL Cup hammering doled out by Eddie Howe’s side at the beginning of November.

He sustained a hamstring injury in that match with United saying his absence would be “several weeks.”