Erik ten Hag refused to blame Casemiro’s absence on Manchester United’s failure to close the gap on Premier League leaders Arsenal following last night’s 2-2 draw against Leeds United.
The Red Devils were without their midfield linchpin who will miss three games through suspension after he was sent off against Crystal Palace last weekend.
Ten Hag decided against appealing the Brazil international’s three-game ban and it appeared as though United missed their midfield linchpin, just as they did in their recent defeat at Arsenal.
The visitors looked on course for a famous victory when Raphael Varane doubled Leeds’ advantage with an own goal and although United staged a creditable second half comeback which culminated in Jadon Sancho’s equaliser, Ten Hag was left to rue a missed opportunity.
Victory would have taken Untied to within five points of leaders Arsenal, albeit having played two games more, and a tilt at the title now looks only a remote possibility.
Ten Hag was particularly unhappy with the shoddy start his side made last night but opted against pinning responsibility on a new-look midfield pairing of Fred and January transfer deadline day recruit Marcel Sabitzer.
‘Very poor [starts to each half] and it’s unacceptable to start any game,’ he said. ‘Especially a derby in the way that we did, you are down and have to fight back.
‘We made big mistakes and it has to do with attitude, we are not ready to go into the duels, we lose the duels, the formation was also bad when we lost the ball, we didn’t follow our principles and we were quickly down.
‘We had a warning in the first half and second half it was the same.’
When asked if Casemiro being unavailable impacted on United’s shoddiness, Ten Hag added: ‘We have a great team and it doesn’t matter who is coming in, we have to win this game with 11 or with 15 players who are available and on the pitch.’
The former Real Madrid star will also miss Sunday’s reverse fixture at Elland Road as well as next weekend’s game against Leicester, but will be available for the Europa League tie against Barcelona and will make his domestic return against Newcastle in the Carabao Cup final on February 26.
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