Several Manchester United players have played in different roles so far under the new leadership of Ruben Amorim.
Manchester United appointed Ruben Amorim as their new head coach in November shortly after Erik ten Hag was sacked from the managerial role.
The Portuguese head coach has suffered a difficult start to life at Old Trafford, with just 11 wins in his opening 24 matches in charge.
It is clear that Amorim’s playstyle does not suit all of the United squad and he has a balancing act of trying to play to their strengths while also keeping his general system in place.
That has led to some players being moved into different positions – Bruno Fernandes is playing as a more deeper midfielder, Joshua Zirkzee has moved to the no.10 position, while Amad has also played at wingback.
Amorim hints at Mazraoui position change
Noussair Mazraoui is another player who has been tested in different positions. Under Amorim, he has played on both flanks as a wingback as well as both wide centre-back roles.
However, on the weekend, Amorim hinted that the Moroccan is also able to play in the midfield, which could mean that he operates there in games before the end of the season.
Mazraoui played as a no.10 in one game for Erik ten Hag, who also claimed that the 27-year-old had the attributes necessary to play in the engine room.
“It’s really important,” replied Amorim when asked by club media about Mazraoui’s ability to play in multiple positions.
“He can play also as a midfielder so I think nowadays when we have a lot of games, a lot of competitions, to have players that can do different positions is really important.
“And I think he’s going to improve in the future but you can say, if you look to this season, he is one of the best players in our squad and he needs to continue.”
Mazraoui could help fix big United problem
United fans would not be blamed for having negative thoughts about playing Mazraoui in the midfield after Ten Hag’s experiment using him as a no.10.
But instead of playing in an advanced role, seeing the defender operating in a deeper role alongside someone like Manuel Ugarte could end up working.
Ugarte can be very useful out of possession in Amorim’s system but he needs a ball-dominant player next to him. That is one of the main reasons why Fernandes has been moved deeper.
If that build-up role can be occupied by Mazraoui instead, then it would allow Fernandes to move back closer to goal in his best position.
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We have already seen how technically secure and press resistant Mazraoui can be at centre-back, full-back and wingback, so it might be worth testing him in deeper midfield because of the limited options right now.
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