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A colleague from this parish received little notice from Erik ten Hag in Carrington two weeks ago when he mentioned Casemiro’s absences and suggested that “it’s fair to say that not all of them have gone particularly well.”

Ten Hag interrupted him: “We did very well without Casemiro: against Arsenal, two against Leeds, I remember other games too where we did very well without Casemiro and also at the beginning of the season.”

Those last seven words confirmed that the reference to Arsenal was the away game in January, when Manchester United lost and were dominated in midfield. Arsenal had 25 attempts to United’s meager six, scored 520 passes, 124 more than United, won three times as many corners and had nearly 60% possession. The 3-2 scoreline flattered United.

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Casemiro was in Manchester rather than London that day, having cynically fouled Wilfried Zaha four days earlier, a bookable flagrant offense and his fifth in the Premier League. That led to a one-match suspension. Thirteen days later, his confrontation with Crystal Palace midfielder Will Hughes was doubtfully ruled a red card offence, leaving Casemiro sidelined for three more games.

In the first, against Leeds at Old Trafford, United trailed 2-0 with half an hour to play, but drew level. In the rematch at Elland Road four days later, it wasn’t until Lisandro Martínez emerged to restore the team’s balance that United took control, breaking the tie on 80 minutes.

For Leicester’s visit, United fortuitously took the lead at half-time after a performance that Ten Hag called “rubbish”. He replaced Alejandro Garnacho with Jadon Sancho, whose impact was immediate. United won 3-0.

Ten Hag admitted that the addition of loan midfielder Marcel Sabitzer, whose full debut came in a draw with Leeds, had thrown United’s rhythm upside down. “They’re not robots, that’s the first thing, and we have to bring Sabitzer into a crucial position and then he has to know how to move at the times of the chances to create the right situations. It takes time, but we don’t have time.” , we have to win games, so everything has to go perfectly”.

When Ten Hag dared to rest Casemiro against West Ham in the FA Cup, he called him up at half-time and hooked Scott McTominay. One reporter joked that it was like sending Dad to figure it out. United rallied from 1-0 down to prevail 3-1 and Casemiro was instrumental.

Fulham were superior to United for 70 minutes until their implosion in the FA Cup quarter-final, only this time Casemiro was unavailable due to a third domestic suspension. Again Ten Hag made a tactical adjustment in midfield and again McTominay broke through.

If my colleague was present, Ten Hag could have looked it up in the post-game report. Bruno Fernandes, Marcel Sabitzer and Fred filled all the central midfield roles; Fernandes scored two, Sabitzer scored the game-winner, and Fred claimed an assist.

Casemiro will not travel to Newcastle on Sunday and if he is at Old Trafford for the Easter matches with Brentford and Everton he will be in one of the stadium’s boxes.

United’s four-winning run in August and September with Casemiro parading ahead of the thunderous win over Liverpool and a substitute against Southampton, Leicester and Arsenal laid the foundation, but Ten Hag was learning on the job in those first few weeks. and there would be no red. October. Casemiro’s lack of integration into the team was mercilessly punished by Erling Haaland and Phil Foden in the 6-3 win over Manchester City.

In the 12 Premier League games in which Casemiro started back-to-back, United have lost once at Aston Villa and won eight. In what will be his only appearance for a club in four weeks, Casemiro’s insightful pass found Marcus Rashford to beat Real Betis.

It’s fair to say that he does particularly well when he plays.

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