Erik ten Hag now has the excuse to get Manchester United playing his way

In the days that Manchester United were finalising his transfer, an advisor to the club noted Casemiro's running stats were worse than Scott McTominay's.

That is hardly a jolt when Casemiro held the fort in the sedate La Liga and was flanked by peerless passers in Toni Kroos and Luka Modric. It does possibly inform Erik ten Hag's preference for McTominay in the Manchester derby.

By not playing Casemiro, Ten Hag played him out of the team. It was six weeks ago today Casemiro was paraded by United on the Old Trafford pitch and warmly welcomed by Roy Keane, another midfield heavyweight.

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The prospect of Casemiro starting on the bench at City 41 days later would have been fanciful that night. Yet he was a substitute before then against Southampton, Leicester, Arsenal and even FC Sheriff.

The final question of Ten Hag's post-match press conference at the Etihad centred on Casemiro, a £70million investment and sole defensive midfielder in the squad. Not utilising him in a game United sieved six goals was not a good look.

"On the day we signed him, we started to win and it's about the team," Ten Hag said. "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."

McTominay was only recalled as he had the good fortune to be dropped at Brentford, where United skulked off at the interval 4-0 down. A Casemiro recall this week is inevitable.

Sir Alex Ferguson's tinkering was often perplexing but he would reserve specific players for