Why Ruben Amorim turned to Chido Obi as his only Manchester United sub vs Tottenham

Ruben Amorim threw Chido Obi on for the final few minutes of Manchester United's defeat to Tottenham because of the teenage striker's "clever" ability to engineer an opportunity in the penalty area.

A series of injuries this week left United down to the bare bones at Spurs, with six players who were in the squad against Leicester City last week either picking up fitness issues or going down with illness.

It meant Amorim was without a dozen senior players for the trip to north London and eight of the nine substitutes he was able to turn to had never played for the club before. The only replacement who offered any experience was Victor Lindelof, who hasn't played a game for the club since mid-December.

United went behind early on when James Maddison scored but they responded well and had spells of pressure during the game, with Alejandro Garnacho wasting their best chance in the first half. The Argentine also forced Guglielmo Vicario into two saves in the second half.

While Ange Postecoglou was able to make five substitutions, Amorim didn't turn to his bench until injury time and with only three minutes added on, Obi had little chance to make an impact.

The 17-year-old scored a hat-trick in the FA Youth Cup win against Chelsea in midweek but he didn't get a touch on his brief Premier League debut. Amorim opted to bring on the former Arsenal striker in the hope he could make a difference in the box, but he insisted the team had performed well and he hadn't had to call on any of the other youngsters in reserve.

"I think if you see Chido playing sometimes every ball lost in the box, he is very clever," he said.

"So I was trying to put one more player, because I felt the team was good during the game and I didn’t feel the