Manchester United have to back Ruben Amorim by getting rid of eight players

At eight o'clock outside the Stretford End on Sunday night, Manchester United supporters were still lined up. Bruno Fernandes had put in a shift on the pitch and it continued towards the car park as he fulfilled as many autograph and selfie requests as possible.

It was a night for the United captain to make time for the matchgoers after a respectable end to Ruud van Nistelrooy's first week in interim charge. It was not a bad draw with Chelsea but there was not a lot of good about it.

Noussair Mazraoui was United's most accomplished performer and, at the time of writing, he is one of two successful signings of the Erik ten Hag era. The other is Jonny Evans.

Evans was invited in to train with United by his old mate Darren Fletcher. Then he was invited to attend the pre-season tour. Then he was invited to sign a one-year contract. Then he ended up playing 30 games.

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That would only happen at United. Even a feel-good story like Evans' is cause for self-reflection and analysis.

There is another conundrum at centre back: how has Victor Lindelof survived eight years at United? Lindelof has started in two of the past four games and was teammates with Ruben Amorim at Benfica. They lunched together in the Carrington canteen during Amorim's internship at United in April 2018.

One hopes for United's sake that Amorim and the Ineos brains trust agree Lindelof should be released next summer. Ineos's card is already marked following a blinkered and Dutch-centric first transfer window. Mazraoui, hitherto the only success, signed the shortest contract of the five to arrive.

Players and their