Rio Ferdinand believes that Casemiro demonstrated his innate football intelligence and validated his own theory with his performance in Manchester United's victory over Everton on Sunday. Rio Ferdinand believes that Casemiro's performance validated his theory.
Casemiro was given his first start in the Premier League by Erik ten Hag at Goodison Park. Prior to this match, Casemiro had been left on the bench for the 6-3 defeat at the hands of Manchester City the previous weekend. United walked away from Merseyside with three points after claiming a 2-1 victory, which moved them up to fifth place in the Premier League table. Casemiro was one of the standout performers for the away side, and he was one of the reasons why United won.
The Brazilian midfielder's night did not get off to a good start when Amadou Onana stole the ball from him during the buildup to Alex Iwobi's first goal of the match. But as the game went on, his experience shone through, and he not only regained possession of the ball on multiple occasions, but he also provided the crucial assist that Cristiano Ronaldo used to score the game-winning goal.
Since Casemiro made the move to the club in the summer from Real Madrid in a deal that could have been worth up to £60 million, Ferdinand has been extremely vocal in his support of Casemiro. And after criticizing Ten Hag's decision to start him from the bench for the Manchester derby, he went on to explain the value that the 30-year-old brings to the team after pointing out the differences that age brings.
On BT Sport, he stated that Casemiro possesses the necessary level of experience. "He has multiple Champions League titles to his name, and he has a good understanding of football. Because of his intelligence, he will quickly adjust to the new stadium and environment despite the fact that they are different from the ones he is used to.
"If you don't have a certain level of intelligence, you won't be able to play at that level [at Real Madrid]. Although he got off to a shaky start—he was the one who passed the ball to the opponent who scored—the manager noted that he improved as the game went on. If you watched a highlight reel of him today with the ball, you might conclude that he shouldn't be playing the game at all.
He made the following statement: "Without the ball, the positions that he took up, the way that he regained possession, and [the way that he] didn't allow [opposition] players to play the ball forward into dangerous areas, that is what you need in your team if you are going to have any stability." I'm not worried about him having possession of the ball because he will pass it on to players who are more creative.
He continued by saying, "That has been his game throughout his entire career." He is there to fill in the blanks and make up the gaps. As a center back, I believe it is essential to have someone in front of you who is aware of how to control the space in front of you so that you do not easily give up opportunities.
"He is the only midfield player in the Man United squad that knows how to defend instinctively, and it's part of his make-up, the best part of his game," said Jose Mourinho.
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Rio defends casemiro