Former Premier League referee Graham Poll has warned Manchester United star Casemiro that he will continue to be booked or sent off in the top-flight unless he changes his game.
The midfielder was sent off for the second time in three Premier League games during the Red Devils' draw with Southampton on Sunday. He had put in an overzealous tackle on Carlos Alcaraz, which saw his foot go over the ball and hit the Saints star on the shin.
Anthony Taylor originally showed a yellow card before upgrading it to a red card after checking the pitchside monitor. Casemiro will now serve a four-game ban, and Poll has warned he will continue to face punishment as a result of his style of play.
“When I was refereeing I can, with clear conscience, say that I NEVER ‘targeted’ a player. When impartiality is your watchword how could you?" Poll told BettingSites.co.uk.
"Of course there are players who are more physical and therefore more likely to be disciplined by the referee and Casemiro clearly fits into that category. Casemiro, having attracted so many disciplinary cards recently, clearly hasn’t learned to adapt his approach.
"His manager will, I hope, advise him to do so. Roy Keane and Patrick Vieira from my time in the Premier League stand out as both incredibly talented but very physical players. I used to caution both of them very regularly.
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"But only sent Vieira off twice and both for second yellow card offences. I might even argue that these types of players were often given more licence as I worked harder with them to keep even tempered through the game.”
Casemiro will now miss the FA Cup quarter-final against Fulham, the Premier League trip to Newcastle, the visit of Brentford and the clash with Everton. It means that he will have been suspended for eight games since the turn of the year, following his red card against Crystal Palace.
United boss Erik ten Hag was left furious, but the Red Devils will not be appealing against Casemiro's sending off. The Dutchman did blast referee Anthony Taylor for his performance though.
"Casemiro has played over 500 games in Europe. He never had a red card. And now, what is it? In [the space of a few] games and 20 games [in total] in the Premier League, he has two red cards," he said.
"His absence is not the issue. We will deal with that. The issue is that this game was influenced by the referee. I said what I said. That is the refereeing is influencing the game and we talk about two issues.
"Big compliment to the team, they showed big character. When you are a long time playing with 10 against 11, and we played on Thursday, once again the team is fit physically and mentally. It was a great performance by our lads and we could have won this game."
