Chance for Am to show Mainoo faith

THE time has come for Ruben Amorim to put his faith in Kobbie Mainoo.

- By DAVID MCDONNELL

United are five games into the new Premier League season and Mainoo has yet to start any of them, the midfielder having played just 76 minutes coming off the bench.

An unused substitute in the first two league games, Mainoo’s only start was in United’s humiliating EFL Cup exit to League Two Grimsby.

Even when Amorim deviated from his preferred central midfield pairing of Casemiro and Bruno Fernandes for the 3-0 derby defeat at Manchester City, dropping the former, Mainoo was overlooked, with Manuel Ugarte getting the nod ahead of him.

The irony of that decision is that when Mainoo eventually did come on at the Etihad Stadium, just after the hour mark, he brought more energy and mobility to United’s midfield, underlining the folly of Amorim’s decision to start the hapless Ugarte over him.