FROM EXILE TO MAIN MAN

Kobbie has come in from the cold and helped Carrick deliver big change in United fortunes

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BY ANDY DUNN AS well-executed as it was, the short-corner routine that gave Manchester United the lead really should not be working against professional defences.

It looked clever because it produced a goal, of course. It was fairly basic stuff, though, that was successful mainly because Spurs players somehow failed to see it coming or react.

But those players were not the first - and won't be the last - to be fooled by the excellence of Kobbie Mainoo.

Somehow, they did not notice Mainoo nipping away from the front post to receive the kick before reversing a pass to Bryan Mbeumo that the United forward scuffed past Guglielmo Vicario.

And that is Mainoo.

So much of what he does well goes unnoticed. There is nothing flashy. He is undemonstrative. No finger-pointing, no arm-waving. He is no shrinking violet but he tends not to get involved in many spats.

Among those who did not notice Mainoo’s strengths was Ruben Amorim. Either it was one of those inexplicable blind spots that a manager can have or Amorim saw something that he did not quite like.