Rio Ferdinand was not happy with Jamie Carragher’s comments (Picture: YouTube/Getty)
Rio Ferdinand has hit out at fellow pundit Jamie Carragher for his ‘disrespectful’ comments about Casemiro which resurfaced following Manchester United’s heavy defeat to Liverpool.
Liverpool capitalised on two errors from Casemiro as Luis Diaz scored twice in the first half before Mohamed Salah struck in the 56th minute to complete a deserved 3-0 win for Arne Slot’s side.
The manner of the result ramped pressure back up on Casemiro who was hauled off at half-time at Old Trafford.
The Brazilian had impressed in United’s first two games of the season but now faces an uncertain future as a starter for the Red Devils following his most recent display and the signing of Manuel Ugarte.
The performance brought back memories of a lacklustre display against Crystal Palace at the end of last season as well as a viral clip in which Carragher told the midfielder that he should ‘call it day’ and move to Saudi Arabia.
‘I always remember something when I retired myself, there’s a saying I always remember as a footballer: “leave the football before the football leaves you,”‘ Carragher said after the game in May earlier this year.
‘The football has left him at this top level. He has to call it a day at this level of football and move.’
Casemiro struggled against Liverpool last weekend (Picture: Getty)
However, the resurfaced comments have not gone down well with Ferdinand who brandished them as ‘disrespectful’.
‘I just think that’s highly disrespectful. I just think it’s really disrespectful because like especially given what my man’s won,’ the former United centre-back said on his YouTube channel.
‘I just think it’s a tad disrespectful in that there’s more to it than just he has made a couple of errors because if you look at the two games before this season, he has been probably arguably Man United’s best player.’
Ferdinand also insisted that Casemiro can still play a key role in Teg Hag’s United side but that the team must adapt the way they play to suit the Brazilian’s attributes.
‘It’s easy to say that he’s gone or he’s finished,’ Ferdinand added. ‘He’s almost 32 or he’s 32 years old, right, but when I look at him, I just feel that he’s being asked to do a lot of things, like play 30-yard balls and dictate the pace of the game.
‘These are things that Man United would never have recruited him for. He has never been asked to do this at Real Madrid. He is going to make mistakes because that is not his natural game.
‘The only way that Casemiro can succeed at Manchester United is if the structure of the team is there to support the type of player that he is.
‘You buy players to fit in a system the way that you play. Casemiro has been put in a team that is playing a way that he has never played before.’
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