Kobbie Mainoo and Manuel Ugarte
Kobbie Mainoo and Manuel Ugarte have only featured together briefly for United under Ruben Amorim
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 injured, and did a good job during United’s famous win.
At Spurs on Thursday, he was part of a triple substitution on 56 minutes and performed superbly, helping to get United back in control of the game. As the visitors threw bodies forward, Mainoo patrolled the middle on his own at times, snapping into tackles, evading markers and progressing the ball neatly.
It was one of his best performances under Amorim and although he only shared a pitch with Ugarte for 14 minutes before the Uruguayan went off, there was enough there to think they are worth starting against Bournemouth on Sunday, with a view to further establishing that partnership.
On paper, it really should work. Ugarte is the aggressive attack dog of this midfield. He races up to press opponents and bites at their ankles, desperately trying to win the ball back. He is also better on the ball than many had expected when he joined from Paris St-Germain.
Next to him, Mainoo’s ability to be press-resistant and dribble past players should be a good fit as a partnership. They tick a lot of boxes when covering that area of the pitch and Mainoo’s talent is too bright to remain a weapon from the bench for long.
Amorim certainly has options in midfield. Mount was making a big impression until his latest injury, and his presence in the side meant a deeper role for Fernandes. The captain will still get games next to Ugarte in that position. Then there is Casemiro, unused as a substitute himself at City and Tottenham, but before then doing enough recently to suggest his Old Trafford career isn’t necessarily over.
But Mainoo is surely the long-term bet here. He has 13 years on Casemiro, for starters, and as United seek to cut costs under the rule of Ineos, the Brazilian must surely be headed for an exit along with his fellow top-earner, Marcus Rashford.
So far under Amorim, Ugarte and Mainoo have spent 180 minutes on the pitch together across four games. As a duo, they have featured in only half of the new head coach’s fixtures so far.
Against the Cherries this weekend, they should get the chance to build on their own personal momentum as a partnership.
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