Manchester United can use Bruno Fernandes and Mason Mount to solve problem position
Erik ten Hag's Manchester United squad might be stretched at the moment, but one area that is beginning to look like it has strength in depth is in central midfield, where the performances of Sofyan Amrabat and Mason Mount in midweek added to the options.
Amrabat came through an hour as he builds up his match fitness following a disrupted pre-season and Mount played the first half before being withdrawn at half-time in what was a pre-planned move. The £60million midfielder helped create four chances in those 45 minutes and produced his best performance for the club to date.
It was also a night when Casemiro suggested talk of his demise was premature, while Bruno Fernandes didn't come off the bench and Christian Eriksen and Scott McTominay missed out with illness.
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If he sticks with the 4-3-3 Ten Hag has plenty of competition for places now. Amrabat may have made his first start at left-back but nobody doubts the on-loan Moroccan will soon be at the heart of the United midfield.
Ten Hag could return to the diamond midfield he used against Brighton now and Amrabat played in a similar system under the Dutchman in their second season together at FC Utrecht. Mount and Amrabat as the wider midfielders in that approach could work, with Casemiro deep and Fernandes at the tip.
But the surplus of midfielders could also present Ten Hag with the chance to find a solution to United's lack of right-wingers. Facundo Pellistri hasn't convinced from the start on his two appearances there and to play Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho would mean fielding one on their weaker side and doing away with an attacking option off the
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