Erik ten Hag reveals the major reason why he substituted Harry Maguire and Casemiro during Luton Town vs Manchester United match

During the first half of Man United’s 2-1 win over Luton Town, both Casemiro and Harry Maguire were taken off.

Erik ten Hag, the manager of Manchester United, said that taking Casemiro and Harry Maguire off at halftime against Luton was both a practical move.

When United beat Leicester City 2-1 in the first half, Casemiro and Maguire were both sent off. Scott McTominay and Jonny Evans came on to replace them.

In the 34th minute, Casemiro got a yellow card for tripping Amari’i Bell. Five minutes later, he fouled Ross Barkley, which looked like a foul that would get him a yellow card.

The Brazilian has been shown a yellow card eight times in his last ten games for United, and Maguire was shown a yellow card for intentionally fouling Luton star Carlton Morris.

“I think the game was going in the direction, there was a lot of pressure on the referee, they both were a risk for another booking and we have a good replacement with Scott McTominay and Jonny Evans,” Ten Hag said. “So that’s why we took them off, we didn’t want to go in that risk.”

Ten Hag said Casemiro, who has been sent off three times for United, did not deserve to be booked, but he did say that the challenge on Barkley might have been bad enough to get a card. “It looked like he got booked even when he wasn’t touching anyone, and it happened a lot at the start of the game.” It’s crazy, and today was the same way.

It was so unfair that they were booked first. I took him off because the second could have been given. When you get booked for not touching an opponent, it’s hard to play.

“You can see now he (Casemiro) is back in the team he gives so much to the team, so much calmness, organisation, so we are very happy since he is back it lifted the team’s levels.”

Luke Shaw was also booked and took a seat before halftime. He was seen walking through the mixed zone after the game. Ten Hag stated that his injury was not a knock and was probably the same problem that made him leave the game against Aston Villa at halftime the week before.