Manchester United are finally preparing to play their best XI

The strongest Manchester United team Erik ten Hag has picked all season came in pre-season and lasted 74 seconds.

Kobbie Mainoo was the collateral damage in a Casemiro challenge on Real Madrid forward Rodrygo in Houston on July 26 and he did not appear again for the first team for exactly four months.

Mainoo's ankle injury is a curious sliding doors moment. The 18-year-old was accommodated in the same XI as Casemiro, Mason Mount and Bruno Fernandes against the Madrid of Jude Bellingham, Luka Modric, Eduardo Camavinga and Aurelien Tchouameni.

The setback was the first of a neverending run of injuries. United have recorded 38 cases of injury or illness this season that have caused a player to miss a game and Ten Hag was preparing Mainoo for the team, not the squad.

Casemiro and Mount, both sidelined since November, were supposed to be United's starting central midfielders but now it is a question of which one partners Mainoo. Probably Casemiro.

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Mount is the latest to fall under the number seven hex at United. Twelve games, no goals and no assists. He was dropped by Ten Hag and from the England squad in October.

He has missed 16 of United's 29 games this season through two separate injuries and it is two months today since Mount last had a kick. The 24-year-old at least started ball work as part of his rehabilitation from a calf injury last month.

Mount's maiden season at United could be salvaged through the ineptitude of Antony. The €100million signing is an expensive write-off and can no longer be assured of automatic starting status.

If Antony was as easy