Erik Ten Hag defends Casemiro despite ‘crossing the line’ for red card

Manchester United manager Erik Ten Hag defended Casemiro, who came in defense for Antony during an altercation with Crystal Palace’s striker Jordan Ayew on Saturday. United went on to win by 2-1 at Old Trafford to earn three crucial points.

Meanwhile, the fight between the two teams started when Jeff Schlupp barged Antony off the pitch with a nasty tackle. Casemiro was the first to react and it soon turned out into a melee. On VAR, it was seen that Casemiro had both of his hands on Will Hughes’ neck, which meant referee Tony Harrington gave a red card to the Brazilian midfielder.

The Dutchman hailed the team’s unity but feels Casemiro was a bit unlucky to receive a red card.

“You see this team stands up for each other,” Ten Hag told a news conference after the game.

“It’s such a good spirit for the team and they don’t like when a player can be badly injured and that’s the way Antony got treated. This team sticks together but you have to control your emotions.

“It’s really difficult in such a moment and I see two teams fighting each other and I see two teams of players crossing the line and one player gets picked out and sent off and that’s not right.

“The player from Crystal Palace takes a big risk by this foul that he [Antony] doesn’t get badly injured by pushing him across the line and then everyone is reacting, Crystal Palace and Manchester United players.”

The 52-year-old admitted that Casemiro crossed the line but the VAR also showed that Ayew had his hands around Fred’s neck. Ten Hag feels the referees need to be more consistent with VAR.

“He was one of the players who did even worse than Casemiro, he’s crossing the line there,” Ten Hag added.

“I do definitely [think Ayew should have been sent off] and you have to be consistent as a VAR. Last week they missed Christian Eriksen injured by a bad foul but no VAR interference. They are not consistent and that is not fair.

“Casemiro is protecting our player and also protecting the player who wants to attack, he’s holding him back. He was protecting him, he doesn’t want to hurt a player. Casemiro is crossing the line but many more players are crossing the line.”

Casemiro will now miss the next three matches due to red card. The Red Devils will next face Leeds United on Wednesday.