Manchester United legend Gary Neville has claimed it is too big of a risk for his former side to appeal the red card Casemiro recieved against Crystal Palace last Saturday.
United's midfield lynchpin was given his marching orders after VAR told Andre Marriner to have another look at an incident between Casemiro and Eagles midfielder Will Hughes. Replays showed how the Brazilian had placed both hands around Hughes' neck and Marriner was left with little choice but to send him off.
In turn, the former Real Madrid ace will now miss two league fixtures against Leeds either side of a home clash against Leicester City. However, Casemiro's three-match ban expires in time for the Carabao Cup final showdown against Newcastle at Wembley on February 26.
The FA do hold the power to extend a three-game ban to four if they deem the appeal ‘frivolous’ and if they were to do that in this case, Erik ten Hag would be without one of his most important players for the final.
Considering he is already missing one midfielder in Christian Eriksen through injury, it seems naive to think Ten Hag will risk another for what is United's biggest game of the season so far.
That is of the belief of Neville anyway, who told Sky Sports: "He’ll never get off. It’s too big of a risk, they could risk another game and they could increase it so they won’t appeal it.
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"I think they’ll feel they can get through the three games [without Casemiro]."
Ten Hag clearly felt hard done by in regards to the decision and has since bemoaned the lack of consistency when it comes to VAR. The Dutchman claimed Casemiro was not the only player guilty of committing a red card offence.
"I see two teams fighting each other," the United boss added. "I see two teams where several players crossed the line and one player is picked out and gets sent off. For me that's not right.
"When you freeze, Casemiro has crossed the line. But many more players are crossing the line. It's about consistency."
His analysis of the situation has been quickly questioned by former referee Dermot Gallagher, who agreed with the decision to hand Casemiro a straight red card.
"I think Casemiro is a red card," he conceded. "You can’t condone a player putting his hand around someone’s throat."
Gallagher also claimed that the FA will mull over footage of the melee to determine if any further action needs to be taken against any of the other players involved.
