Former Manchester United assistant manager Rene Meulensteen has highlighted Casemiro and Raphael Varane as two big problems currently plaguing the side.
The assistant has been speaking to ESPN about the current situation at Old Trafford, with manager Erik ten Hag under pressure after a disappointing start to the season.
Those problems were allayed with a last gasp win over Brentford on the weekend, with two late goals from Scott McTominay turning the game around at the death.
Before then had been another disappointing performance from Manchester United, who at no point looked like coming back before McTominay’s intervention.
An issue has been his failure to get performances out of big-name stars such as Casemiro and Varane, both of whom have looked far from the level they showed during their trophy laden years at Real Madrid.
And Meulensteen believes both are major problems, claiming Varane can’t handle the pace of the Premier League and Casemiro the style that Ten Hag is asking him to play in.
“United have certain shortcomings,” he said.
“(Varane) cannot handle the pace. The Premier League is dynamic. Everything goes at 100 kilometres per hour. That is the big problem in midfield. They have no energy and that is how the defence gets into trouble.
“He (Ten Hag) wants to put a lot of pressure on, with a lot of intensity. Just like at Ajax. But he doesn’t have the players for that. The players don’t have the mentality to constantly put pressure on.
“Casemiro, for example, can’t handle it at all. Ten Hag has a certain conviction about how he wants to play. But he has to find ways to get there.”
