Casemiro & McTominay

[Walrus]

The prevailing opinion on here seems to be that we have signed Casemiro to replace McTominay, and that Scott will soon be dropped once Casemiro has settled in.

Whilst it is certainly a possibility that the above will happen, what we have in fact seen so far - and what I thought would be the case - is the two of them playing together with one of Eriksen/Bruno. In my view, this is our most balanced and effective midfield, with Fred deputising for McTominay when required.

The oft suggested Casemiro - Eriksen - Bruno midfield looks fragile, lacks a bit of physicality and energy, and Bruno especially is too prone to high risk balls. Casemiro - McTominay - Eriksen has a better balance and structure to it, and I hope that Ten Hag sees things the same way.

 

[Abraxas]

I prefer Casemiro and Fred plus one other, probably Eriksen with maybe Bruno somewhere up top. I think McTominay has been a useful foil for Eriksen, but I'm not sure how necessary him and Casemiro in the same team are. Yes McTominay can play a box to box role but he's still not great, I think Fred would add to our press.

 

[RaddyRed]

Depends on the opposition. Against the so called lesser sides playing Eriksen and Fernandes will work as we should be looking to attack them and with a now solid cb pairing and Casemiro patrolling in front, will have enough defensively.

Against the top 6 sides the more cautious midfield works, although Eriksen and Bruno are complete opposites in style, so not sure it has to be one over the other.

 

[SalfordRed18]

Mctominay is more of natural box to box midfielder than Fred. It makes sense.

 

[Glideman]

I think the midfield of Casemiro, Eriksen and Bruno works well. McTom isn't needed if Casemiro is a starter. Fred to rotate with Eriksen and McTom to rotate with Casemiro.

 

[flameinthesun]

If Mctominay continues in this form I wouldn't be surprised if we see Mct and Casimero with one of Eriksen/Bruno (more likely Bruno) ahead of them.

 

[Remember the geese]

The prevailing opinion on here seems to be that we have signed Casemiro to replace McTominay, and that Scott will soon be dropped once Casemiro has settled in.

Whilst it is certainly a possibility that the above will happen, what we have in fact seen so far - and what I thought would be the case - is the two of them playing together with one of Eriksen/Bruno. In my view, this is our most balanced and effective midfield, with Fred deputising for McTominay when required.

The oft suggested Casemiro - Eriksen - Bruno midfield looks fragile, lacks a bit of physicality and energy, and Bruno especially is too prone to high risk balls. Casemiro - McTominay - Eriksen has a better balance and structure to it, and I hope that Ten Hag sees things the same way.

Perhaps if we are playing away to City, otherwise it seems a bit too conservative. I think Casemiro, Fred, Eriksen/Bruno would make more sense. For now though I am enjoying seeing Eriksen and Bruno in the same midfield and I'm intrigued to see if we will make any compromises to it moving forward.

 

[Canuckred64]

Doesn't Casemiro and Fred start most of the time for Brazil? I thought that was the plan for United if we didn't get de Jong. Ten Hag seems to like McTominay and he is getting his minutes.

 

[Rightnr]

Plenty of games to go round this year for everyone and given McT won't be at the world cup, we can push him more than some of our other starters.

 

[Tom Cato]

"Casemiro & McTominay"

This feels like a forbidden sentence

 

[city-puma]

McAsemiro or McAsemroFred are all possibilities.

 

[DJ_21]

Depends on the opposition. Against the so called lesser sides playing Eriksen and Fernandes will work as we should be looking to attack them and with a now solid cb pairing and Casemiro patrolling in front, will have enough defensively.

Against the top 6 sides the more cautious midfield works, although Eriksen and Bruno are complete opposites in style, so not sure it has to be one over the other.

Agreed, eriksen and Bruno both played against Liverpool and we controlled and dominated most of the match. I do think against someone like city though who like to pass around a lot then Fred would be a good option with maybe Casemiro and only 1 of eriksen or Bruno playing. Fred would offer us more energy and press.

 

[Grande]

The prevailing opinion on here seems to be that we have signed Casemiro to replace McTominay, and that Scott will soon be dropped once Casemiro has settled in.

Whilst it is certainly a possibility that the above will happen, what we have in fact seen so far - and what I thought would be the case - is the two of them playing together with one of Eriksen/Bruno. In my view, this is our most balanced and effective midfield, with Fred deputising for McTominay when required.

The oft suggested Casemiro - Eriksen - Bruno midfield looks fragile, lacks a bit of physicality and energy, and Bruno especially is too prone to high risk balls. Casemiro - McTominay - Eriksen has a better balance and structure to it, and I hope that Ten Hag sees things the same way.

I’ve thought along the same lines myself. On the other hand, we played Liverpool with both Eriksen and Fernandez starting, and no Casemiro, didn’t we.

 

[Oranges038]

Agreed, eriksen and Bruno both played against Liverpool and we controlled and dominated most of the match. I do think against someone like city though who like to pass around a lot then Fred would be a good option with maybe Casemiro and only 1 of eriksen or Bruno playing. Fred would offer us more energy and press.

That is just not true at all.

 

[Nobby style]

The prevailing opinion on here seems to be that we have signed Casemiro to replace McTominay, and that Scott will soon be dropped once Casemiro has settled in.

Whilst it is certainly a possibility that the above will happen, what we have in fact seen so far - and what I thought would be the case - is the two of them playing together with one of Eriksen/Bruno. In my view, this is our most balanced and effective midfield, with Fred deputising for McTominay when required.

The oft suggested Casemiro - Eriksen - Bruno midfield looks fragile, lacks a bit of physicality and energy, and Bruno especially is too prone to high risk balls. Casemiro - McTominay - Eriksen has a better balance and structure to it, and I hope that Ten Hag sees things the same way.

Wait a sec, have we even seen a pure midfield of Casemiro - Ericksen - Bruno so far? If so, when? I believe McTominay hasn't come out in either of the matches Casemiro has played in. How can you make this claim?

 

[DJ_21]

That is just not true at all.

Which part? Liverpool hardly had a sniff at goal up until like the last halve an hour. They never even looked like scoring up until we got caught out.

 

[Bosws87]

Fred starts with Casimero over Mctominay every day of the week, the hate Fred gets is simply mind blowing especially considering he’s one the few that could of held their head up last season.

 

[shamans]

Against a difficult team I want us to play

Casemeiro, Fred, Mctominay

and have Antony do whatever the hell he pleases.

 

[Uniquim]

Fred have a tendency to bolt up the field with Casemiro playing in Brazil, and then other attackers drop down to provide passing options.
I want us to experiment with both options, but if McTominay is the prevailing option, we need to buy another midfielder. I think we need to regardless, to be fair.

 

[Walters_19_MuFc]

Casinay or McMiro?

 

[Oranges038]

Which part? Liverpool hardly had a sniff at goal up until like the last halve an hour. They never even looked like scoring up until we got caught out.

About Utd controlling and dominating most of the game.

They had 70% possession, 3 times as many passes, 4 times as many touches, had the same amount of shots on goal and had more shots over all, I don't like using it but they also had a higher xg.

Granted it was a good defensive display, they dominated the ball, dominated possession and the bossed the game.

 

[MadDogg]

McTominay's extra physicality gave him the edge over Fred for a few games, but with Casemiro coming in that advantage is lessened. He's currently in fairly good form so will probably continue being ahead in the pecking order for now, but with all these games coming up there's going to be a lot of rotation. Ultimately I expect Fred to move back ahead. And obviously there will be plenty of games (perhaps even the majority) that neither of them will start as we use Eriksen beside Casemiro.

Scott actually had a really good month when Rangnick first took over, but quickly fell away again after that. He isn't even playing as well as he was at that time, but we'll see if he can maintain it now. I don't think he's ever played well for more than a month at a time before but I hope he proves me wrong. Even his last few 'good' games have all tended to be good for only half the time he was on the field, with him struggling for the rest.

 

[Sandikan]

McAsemiro or McAsemroFred are all possibilities.

McAss

 

[TheReligion]

Against a difficult team I want us to play

Casemeiro, Fred, Mctominay

and have Antony do whatever the hell he pleases.

No point him doing that if we have no link up player in the midfield

 

[Walrus]

Wait a sec, have we even seen a pure midfield of Casemiro - Ericksen - Bruno so far? If so, when? I believe McTominay hasn't come out in either of the matches Casemiro has played in. How can you make this claim?

I was offering an opinion

 

[dutchred]

The best thing is that we have options. Casemiro and Fred play together for Brazil and give more attacking options. Casemiro and Mac give more defensive stability. Mac seems to have improved a lot under ETH and i would love to see Iqbal and Mainoo given some games in the cups

 

[Irwin99]

On this player form and in this team shape Eriksen is the one I'd sacrifice for a more defensive player. He's been fine/good but I just wonder if Casemiro and McTominay (or Fred) gives a bit more solidity.

Bruno seems to be getting back to his best in terms of energy and workrate.

 

[Walrus]

Fred starts with Casimero over Mctominay every day of the week, the hate Fred gets is simply mind blowing especially considering he’s one the few that could of held their head up last season.

Not that this is a(nother) “Fred vs McTominay” thread, but this is pure delusion. Fred got hooked at HT in both of the first two matches, and has barely got a sniff since then whilst McTominay has played almost every minute. Fred also gets very little hate compared with Scott - if anything he is one of the golden boys of the caf.

 

[madi5h]

not sure how mctominay should be assured his place based on form, when the form of eriksen and bruno is just as good if not better, bruno is the only undropable one atm imo when his sheer workrate while captain is invaluable as an example to the rest

regardless i think this point is moot as it will be rotation that decides our midfield this season, eriksen already could probably do with sitting one out and im sure we are all aware how fatigued bruno tends to look in the latter half of previous seasons

 

[shamans]

No point him doing that if we have no link up player in the midfield

I think casemeiro is pretty decent on the ball if given a chance. Also we'd have Sancho.

 

[MadDogg]

Not that this is a(nother) “Fred vs McTominay” thread, but this is pure delusion. Fred got hooked at HT in both of the first two matches, and has barely got a sniff since then whilst McTominay has played almost every minute. Fred also gets very little hate compared with Scott - if anything he is one of the golden boys of the caf.

That's a relatively new thing (and I'd hardly say he's a golden boy as he still gets a lot of criticism). For year after year there was a massive gulf in the level of criticism the two of them got, with Fred regularly being the most criticised player in the team while McTominay was getting off almost free from criticism. It was absolutely ridiculous how the narrative of the two of them was so different. It's only been the last 6-12 months that Scott has started getting criticised to a similar level, and Fred's started getting a bit less. Basically since the second half of last season when Fred was one of our better players and Scott was terrible.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Casemeiro and Mctominay aren't good enough passers between them.

I'd go for

Casemiro - Erisksen - Bruno / Fred / Mctominay

 

[USREDEVIL]

Casemiro is fecking classy innit? Yeah i know there was a couple stray passes but otherwise he was intercepting shots, making really good through passes and blocking passes/crosses. Doing half the defensive work so the defenders are left with little to do.

 

[Eckers99]

Fred starts with Casimero over Mctominay every day of the week, the hate Fred gets is simply mind blowing especially considering he’s one the few that could of held their head up last season.

Ordinarily I'd agree but, based on form, McT has done well enough to keep his place. And the team needs to be picked on form.

 

[CallyRed]

McTominay will likely play when we have Martinez and Malacia on the left, who have a combined height of 7ft. His height will be beneficial

 

[romufc]

Fred starts with Casimero over Mctominay every day of the week, the hate Fred gets is simply mind blowing especially considering he’s one the few that could of held their head up last season.

Clearly, Ten Hag differs from your view. McTominay started the last 2 games and the main reason is height.

Unfortunately for Fred, having Malacia, Martinez in defence limits his game time.

 

[RedDevilRoshi]

Won’t be surprised if it’s those two as our starting midfield pivot behind Bruno for the Arsenal game this Sunday.

 

[Remember the geese]

Clearly, Ten Hag differs from your view. McTominay started the last 2 games and the main reason is height.

Unfortunately for Fred, having Malacia, Martinez in defence limits his game time.

Or it's because McTominay is deemed to be a better fit for the deeper midfield position, where as Fred may be viewed as a better option than McTominay for one of the number 8 slots?

 

[DrRodo]

Theres a decent player in McT under that horrendous form of lastly. There's something he keeps showing on training mornings that the managers keep trusting him. If he plays like yesterday then ive got no problem on him starting along Cas but McT is known for struggling against stronger midfields

 

[romufc]

Or it's because McTominay is deemed to be a better fit for the deeper midfield position, where as Fred may be viewed as a better option than McTominay for one of the number 8 slots?

Remind me, who came of for Casemiro? McTominay?

Also, we need height and playing Fred means we are worse off and his passing is just as erratic as McTominay.

We have better in Eriksen, Donny in the 8.