Danny Murphy has leaped to the defence of Casemiro, insisting the Manchester United midfielder needs more defensive help from his team-mates. 

Erik ten Hag’s side have started the season sluggishly and suffered their first defeat against Tottenham on Saturday. 

United’s midfield was overrun with ease and Casemiro came under huge scrucinty for his performance against the north London side and Wolves on the opening day of the season. 

Speaking on talkSPORT, former Liverpool midfielder Murphy said: ‘I don’t think he is a “Steady Eddie”, I think he is a hell of a lot better than that.

‘It’s all about the dynamic of a team and the way someone fits in and the way people perceive you to be.

‘He’s a holding midfielder, if he was playing in a midfield that had a better defensive, tactical set-up, he wouldn’t look as isolated as he has done in the first two games.

‘He’s a wonderful player, you don’t win the [number of] Champions Leagues [five] he’s won playing in Madrid for the years he had, if you’re a ‘Steady Eddie’ – you don’t stay in that team.

‘He’s better than a “Steady Eddie” and he’s very good on the ball, he can see a pass and he can score a goal.’

Casemiro had a successful first season with United last term and scored as the Red Devils beat Newcastle in the Carabao Cup final in February. 

But he has started this season poorly and been dribbled past six times compared to  Manchester’s City’s Rodri (1) and the revitalised Yves Bissouma (2) of Tottenham. 

United will return to action on Saturday when they host Nottingham Forest at Old Trafford.  

A stressed bull suffered incurable catastrophic injuries after leaping over a wall with a sheer drop behind it during a Spanish festival.

The 91-stone (580 kilograms) animal, called Vicioso, was sedated before being put to sleep after vets concluded nothing could be done to save it.

Dramatic footage showed the bull jumping 50ft into the abyss after it was let loose to charge at crowds during the Bou de les Penyes festival in the Valencian municipality of Ontinyent on Saturday.

Revelers gasped and put their hands to their heads in shock when the animal went over the edge of the low stone wall without seeing what lay behind it.

The animal crash-landed on the hard edge of a river bed near a bridge a few feet upstream.

Vicioso was the second bull to appear during the fourth day of the bullfighting and running festivities.

All was proceeding as normal until the animal slipped free from his rope and ran along the curved edge of a road at a high speed.

Upon reaching the bend in the road that crosses the town’s Pont Vell bridge, without slowing down, the powerful animal leapt clean over the parapet of the bridge, which stands just over half a metre high. 

‘These are unexpected accidents’, said Vicioso’s owners. ‘With brave bulls, you never know how they are going to react or behave. In this case there was a low wall, and he came out very strongly. It is clear that he saw it as an opening’. 

Saturday’s incident led to a suspension of the festivities.

German Zaragoza, who had helped organise them, said: ‘This was a tragic accident of the sort that happen rarely.

‘The bull was coming down the slope very fast and jumped without seeing what was behind the wall.

‘The veterinary service acted very quickly to sedate it.’

A spokesman for the livestock farm which had raised Vicioso added: ‘With fighting bulls like these you never know how they’re going to react or behave.

‘In this case there was a low barrier, it went off very fast, and obviously it saw a clearing in the crowd.’

But critic Marco Pereira raged: ‘This is pure and utter barbarianism.

‘There’s no tradition here, it’s idiocy.’

Another enraged local said: ‘It’s shameful that people still play with animals.’

An 82-year-old man had to be hospitalised after being tossed in the air by a bull in Ontinyent last December. Initial reports at the time said he had suffered bad injuries but medics later confirmed the animal’s horns had pads on them which saved the pensioner’s life.

Researcher Rosa Fernandez found last year 34.7 per cent of the Spanish population supported festivities involving bulls and wanted to keep them, 44.1 per cent wanted them banned and 21.2 per cent were against them but did not want them banned.