Erik ten Hag backs new midfielder to ease Manchester United's midfield issue and warns Mason Mount
manchestereveningnews.co.ukErik ten Hag believes Kobbie Mainoo will be ready to ease Manchester United's midfield issues when he regains fitness. United's midfield was overrun in the fortuitous 1-0 win over Wolves and a post-match graphic of the players' average positions showed how isolated defensive midfielder Casemiro was, with the other members of the front six pushed higher up.
Casemiro is United's only specialist defensive midfielder and Ten Hag started last season with Scott McTominay holding the fort until United were steamrollered by Manchester City in a 6-3 thrashing in October.
Ten Hag felt the post-match graphic was misleading but was keen to highlight the emergence of the 18-year-old Mainoo as a wildcard option.
Mainoo sustained an ankle injury in the opening minutes of the pre-season friendly defeat to Real Madrid last month and is due to be available again in September. Also read: Ten Hag sends blunt message to Maguire over his United future "First, I didn’t see it that way," Ten Hag said when it was suggested Casemiro was exposed. "I thought he was surrounded by Luke Shaw, he was surrounded also in cases by Lisandro Martinez, by Mason Mount. "But definitely, it is a new midfield.
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