Rio Ferdinand has hit out at Jamie Carragher's comments about Casemiro after his poor display against Liverpool.
The Brazilian was hooked at half-time of Manchester United's 3-0 loss, having given the ball away for the first two goals - both of which were scored by Luis Diaz.
£70 million signing Casemiro looked devoid of confidence after the two mistakes and was replaced by 20-year-old Toby Collyer, who made his Premier League debut.
On Sky Sports, Carragher said it was a "sad sight" to see the former Real Madrid star struggling so badly.
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It followed on from his brutal "leave the football before the football leaves you" comment after Casemiro's shocking display at centre-back against Crystal Palace towards the end of last season.
Ferdinand brought up that comment from Carragher and accused the former Liverpool star of being "highly disrespectful".
He then proceeded to leap to the defence of the 32-year-old, feeling as though he is being asked to do things at United which are not part of his skillset and reminding people of what he did at Real.
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"I heard Jamie Carragher say 'leave the football before the football leaves you' and I just think that's highly disrespectful," he said on the Rio Presents podcast.
'I just think it's really disrespectful because especially given what my man's [Casemiro] won, there's more to it than he's just made a couple of mistakes.
"If you look at the two games before Liverpool he's been arguably Man United's best player. I think it's easier to say that he's gone, he's finished, he's too old,'
"I believe when I look at him, he's being asked to do a lot of things like play 30 yard balls, dictate the pace, these are things Man United would never have recruited him for.
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"He was never asked to do this at Real Madrid. He was cleaning up, security in front, slide tackling, covering all the gaps and then giving it to other people to play football."
Casemiro could well find himself out of the United side for the next game after they completed a £50 million move to bring in Uruguayan midfielder Manuel Ugarte from Paris Saint-Germain.
Topics: Rio Ferdinand, Manchester United, Jamie Carragher, Casemiro
Josh Lawless