Manchester United's strongest midfield under Ruben Amorim deserves a second chance

When assessing the options available to Ruben Amroim to fit specific roles in his 3-4-2-1 system at Manchester United, armchair pundits had long tipped Manuel Ugarte and Kobbie Mainoo to nail down those two places at the base of midfield.

Ugarte is a former Amorim star at Sporting and the 23-year-old has quickly re-familiarised himself with the head coach’s methods. Ugarte has started five of Amorim’s eight games in charge and was impressive at Manchester City and Tottenham this week.

But only one of those starts came alongside Mainoo, in the disappointing defeat to Nottingham Forest at Old Trafford. That was probably the most underwhelming performance of the Amorim era so far and while Mainoo lasted the full game, he hasn’t started since.

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The only other game the 19-year-old has started for Amorim was the 4-0 success against Everton, when he was fielded next to Bruno Fernandes. The cautious handling of Mainoo and the Stockport-born starlet’s battle to establish himself has been one of the low-key stories of Amorim’s first eight games in charge.

There has certainly been an element of second-season syndrome for Mainoo, having began 32 of United’s last 33 games up until the win at Southampton earlier this season, he has now started just five of the last 21.

While some of those absences are down to fitness reasons, he has also been an unused substitute three times so far for Amorim and came off the bench at City and Tottenham this week. He was needed early at the Etihad, when Mason Mount went off