'It's not fair' – Man Utd legend Rio Ferdinand savages Erik ten Hag over handling of Casemiro

Rio Ferdinand has slammed Erik ten Hag's persistence with deploying midfielder Casemiro at central defence for Manchester United.

The Real Madrid legend's lack of experience at centre half was exposed again for Arsenal's winning goal at Old Trafford on Sunday. After the ball was cleared, the Brazilian was too slow to get back up the pitch, resulting in him playing Kai Havertz onside, before the ex-Chelsea star cut the ball back for Leandro Trossard to tap in from close range.

United are experiencing a huge crisis in their backline as Raphael Varane, Lisandro Martinez, Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelof were all absent through injury. Despite the lack of options, Ferdinand believes Ten Hag has to come up with a new plan to move Casemiro out of the back-line.

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“When is he going to take Casemiro out of the backline,” the former England captain asked on his 'Vibe with Five Podcast'. "Why can’t Ambrabat play there or Scott McTominay? Was Scott [McTominay] injured?

“I just don’t think it’s fair. If you see a few mistakes from somebody who is playing there, who has never played there before, and you see those mistakes early, you should go: ‘Do you know what? I’m not going to do this to you.

“'I don’t care how experienced he is, I’m not going to do this to him. Come on. We’ll move you out of there and get you back to the position you know’."

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When asked if he believes right-back Aaron Wan-Bissaka could potentially do a job at central defence, Ferdinand replied: “Yeah, play him there. Then play one of the other guys right-back. Put Amrabat there. You’ve played him left-back, play Amrabat right-back.

“That’s the most natural thing for me. Aaron Wan-Bissaka centre-back and Amrabat at right-back, because he was happy to play him left-back for a few games. I don’t know. We just look like we’re on repeat here. We look like we are an uncoached team.

“In the creative end of the pitch we were also lacking massively. Decision making and quality just weren’t there.”

Ten Hag did have United academy defender Willy Kambwala on the bench at Old Trafford. The young Frenchman has played in some important matches already for the club, including the 2-2 draw against Liverpool last month. Many were left wondering why he was not deployed in the back-line against Arsenal.

When asked about why Casemiro was in the back four ahead of the youngster, Ten Hag said: "I didn't have options. Kambwala was not fit. Just returning from injury is not fit to start.

"McTominay? I haven't seen it but what I heard, was not always a success and I think he's better in that advanced position, higher up the pitch and there we had our problems."