Ruben Amorim urged to ditch ‘con’ Kobbie Mainoo experiment after Man United deja vu
Gary Neville has warned Ruben Amorim against playing Kobbie Mainoo in a false-nine role, insisting that Manchester United need a proven presence up top.
Neville was speaking on Sky Sports following Chelsea's 2-1 Premier League win over West Ham, when he was asked about the Red Devils' 2-0 loss to Crystal Palace on Sunday. During that game at Old Trafford, Amorim deployed Mainoo through the middle while leaving strikers Joshua Zirkzee and Rasmus Hojlund on the bench - a move that Neville thought to be either experimental or down to a dislike towards his strike force.
And while there are some benefits to using a false-nine system, Neville ultimately explained that it was far from the solution to United's woes. He said: "When I saw Kobbie Mainoo up front yesterday, I thought Fernandes was going to play in that position or something. [Alejandro] Garnacho might play up front and [Bruno] Fernandes to the right.
"When I saw Kobbie Mainoo as a centre forward or dropping in, I thought, 'It's okay that. You'll get control of the game'. A little bit of what I've talked about here, you can get decent football and it can con you. It can kid you this decent football, where you're watching nice passes outside of the box and up to the final third.
"It's about putting the ball in the back of the net. It's about getting bodies in the box, it's about getting bodies across defenders and making sure that you're really creating chances. And that's not going to happen that much. Everything has to be perfect with Kobbie Mainoo up front, and Garnacho and Amad.
"You've got three quite lightweight players, really talented, good players. But everything has to be absolutely perfect, and I'm just thinking about it from a Crystal Palace point of view