Liverpool legend defends Man Utd player after Old Trafford shocker

Liverpool’s dominance and destruction of Manchester United at Old Trafford was clear for all to see. 

Arne Slot's side absolutely schooled the hosts, tactically outclassing them and making Erik ten Hag look like he was the new manager on the scene rather than his fellow Dutchman.

Ten Hag's men couldn’t cope with the intensity of their opponents and for a period in the second half, it seemed as if they would be completely overwhelmed by Liverpool as the inherent problems in the United camp were exposed. The home team couldn’t get a foothold.

Read more: Liverpool set to battle European clubs for the signature of Brazilian wonderkid 

But it was one United player in particular who stood out from the rest in the worst way possible. Casemiro was, to put it bluntly, atrocious against Liverpool, being at fault for the first two goals. He looked helpless in the middle of the field and his substitution at half-time could be the final nail in the coffin of his career in English football. 

Casemiro couldn’t seem to escape the abuse both in the stadium and on social media. However, some pundits have been quick to defend the Real Madrid legend, including former Liverpool defender Steve Nicol. 

Defenders should also take the blame

As seen in the video above, Nicol seemed to defend Casemiro when speaking on ESPN's post-match show. The Scot stated: “Casemiro’s won everything, apart from the World Cup, this guy's won everything.

“Was he good? No, he wasn’t. Did he give two passes away? Yes, he did, but why is everybody jumping on Casemiro? What happened to this ‘we win as a team and we lose as a team’? What happened to that?”

Nicol clearly believes that putting the blame on just one player for that performance is harsh and unjust. He felt United's back four should have bailed Casemiro out.

“Everybody's jumping on him but did you see the second goal? After the ball was given away, by Casemiro, they had six defenders - six defenders!

“If your midfielder gives the ball away, you've got a back line that has to defend sometimes and they didn't defend.”

The defending for the first goal was also catastrophic. Luis Diaz had the freedom of Manchester when he arrived at the back post, unmarked, to head home. United’s new right-back Noussair Mazraoui was miles up the pitch.

Make no mistake, Casemiro had an awful outing in the biggest game in English football. But as Nicol insisted, the rest of the United squad also need to look at themselves in the mirror.