Man Utd boss Ruben Amorim has hinted that Kobbie Mainoo’s long-term role at Old Trafford could be further forward after “struggling” defensively.
The Red Devils beat Romanian champions FCSB 2-0 on Thursday evening to seal a spot in the Europa League last-16 and avoid a two-legged play-off tie.
Mainoo stood out in the win with the England international – who started in a more advanced position – scoring one and setting up another for Diogo Dalot.
With Amorim’s 3-4-3 system requiring two narrow No 10s, Mainoo could now have a long-term future in one of those roles with the Man Utd boss hinting that could be the case by insisting that the Red Devils star is “struggling” in a midfield role.
Amorim told reporters: “To have time to train, to create connections between everybody, that is really, really important for us.
“Even the staff, everybody there in training, knowing each other in the right environment, I think it’s really important.
“Then you can have one week to prepare a game, so you can work in the beginning of the week, on your idea and still have time to focus also on the opponent to prepare the game in a better way.
“I can understand my players better – and put together the Kobbie position today.
MORE MAN UTD COVERAGE ON F365…
👉 Mailbox: ‘Thick’ Rashford racism theory debunked by Garnacho evidence
👉 Plotting the paths of Man Utd and Spurs to Europa League final
👉 Man Utd attempt to ‘hijack’ Tottenham transfer with Tel ‘wanting’ Red Devils move
“We need time to understand the players. He was struggling a lot defending as a midfielder. Now more as a No 10, you can feel it that he was so free, playing the ball near the box, and near the box he is really good, making the small connections.
“I need time and we need time to work with the players to understand what is the best position for them.”
And Amorim thought Mainoo – who has been linked with a move to Chelsea – was key for Man Utd in the second half when the Red Devils had more space to operate in.
Amorim added: “In the second half, you can see the opponent getting tired, more slower when they covered the space.
“We had more space with the players with Kobbie between the lines. One against one from Amad [Diallo], and the pace of [Alejandro] Garnacho, helped a lot. We managed to score two, we should score more.”
On qualification for the last-16, Amorim continued: “That is massive for us. The joy of winning, the feeling of winning, but we will have two [free] weeks to work on our idea and to prepare for the games. It’s really massive for us.
“We are in the next stage, we are going to prepare for the next stage, but the most important thing now is to recover. Sunday, we have a game with our fans and we have to be ready for that.”
