Gary Neville doesn't believe Erik ten Hag's decision to leave Casemiro out of the Manchester derby was a mistake.
That is despite his former Manchester United teammate Rio Ferdinand claiming it is "disrespectful" to have the Brazilian sat on the bench. Casemiro was a £70m acquisition in the summer, joining after a trophy-laden period with Real Madrid in which he won five Champions Leagues.
That said, Ten Hag is yet to start his new midfielder in any of the four league games he's been available for. Instead all four of his appearances have come from the bench. Casemiro was only handed half an hour in the defeat at Manchester City, by which point United were 4-0 down.
Ferdinand believes the Dutchman's decision to keep the defensive midfielder sat on the bench in "disrespectful" and counterproductive to his fitness levels.
The former United man said on his his FIVE YouTube channel : "He ain’t been given a start in the team when he’s fit and ready, he’s regressed in terms of fitness, so he’s now worse off than when he came. He still had to get up to speed when he came from that league to this league.
"I wonder the impact it’s having on someone like him. Yes he’s experience and whatnot, but he must be sitting there thinking, ‘wow, I’m happy to be here at Man United but I’m feeling a little bit disrespected here, given what I’ve done’. I’d be surprised if he’s not feeling like that."
Should Casemiro be starting for Man Utd? Comment below
But Neville didn't concur and felt that the decision to start Scott McTominay and Christian Eriksen was justified. He said on the Gary Neville Podcast : "I don’t think if you’re analysing Manchester United ’s performance you should be saying, ‘why didn’t Casemiro start alongside McTominay?’ I don’t feel like that was a mistake from Ten Hag at all."
Ten Hag has opted to stick with Eriksen and McTominay as his midfield duo since their win against Liverpool, which was the first success of his tenure. Casemiro's capture was seen as a major coup given United's need to strengthen in that area of the pitch.
Nevertheless, Ten Hag has maintained that the Brazilian must break into the starting XI in a "natural way" as his continued snub is questioned. The Dutchman claimed: "On the day we signed him, we started to win and it's about the team. The team is doing really well, it's not against Casemiro, it's for, in this case, Scott McTominay.
"He performed great in the team and then we get into a run, but I'm sure it will be important for us in the long and short-term. He will find himself in the team but it has to come in a natural way."
