RUBEN AMORIM plans to teach Mason Mount his tactics even while the England star recovers from his latest injury setback.
Mount, 25, limped off in the 14th minute of Sunday’s Manchester derby.
Amorim has now confirmed the midfielder will be out for “several weeks” with a muscle problem – but will still swot up on the Portuguese’s approach in the meantime.
The United chief said: “(It will be) several weeks. I don’t know the exact date but he is going to be out for a long (time).”
Mount signed from Chelsea in 2023 for £55million but has played in just 33 of 78 possible games in a United shirt.
A calf injury kept him out for almost four months last term, while a hamstring problem restricted his progress earlier this season.
Amorim looked to have earmarked the Three Lions man as one of his starting No10s in his 3-4-3 formation.
Asked if United would look to get to the bottom of Mount’s injury problems with this latest lay-off, Amorim replied: “That is not my department.
“What I can do is to help Mase, to teach him how to play our game when he is recovering.
“Try to use that time for him to think in different things and then I think the worst part is that we don’t have time to train like we should do when you are recovering for a lot of injuries.
“We are always travelling, we have games, so training we don’t have all the team together and this is really hard to recreate the game before they come to the game. You see with Vic.
“Vic was recovering, they train really well, we push him, we make all the sprints that he should do before he come to a game, but the game is a completely different world. So, they have to have more time to train so it is really hard.
“We try to manage that with rotation but even with rotation it is really hard to have all the squad. With Mason Mount, we are going to help him.
“It is really hard for the player to be out for so long and he’s trying really hard. The same as Antony. If they try really hard, we will help them until the end.”
Brazilian Antony is the poster-boy of why it went wrong for Amorim’s predecessor Erik ten Hag, having flopped completely since joining for £85m in 2022.
But in Mount’s absence, Amorim may have to rely on Antony more than previously expected.
‘HE NEEDS MORE CONFIDENCE’
The 24-year-old started Thursday night’s 4-3 Carabao Cup defeat at Tottenham.
Amorim added: “He needs more confidence.
“If you remember the Antony that play in Ajax, he lacks a little bit of confidence to go one against one, but he will improve.
“He is working really hard and trying and playing more inside than outside, especially in this game. He just has to do that. To work really hard and I will help him to be a better player.”
LEAVING HIS MARC
Marcus Rashford has been left out of United’s last two matches, with Amorim insisting it is due to selection not a disciplinary issue.
That is despite the England forward revealing in an interview on Tuesday that he is looking for “a new challenge”.
Asked if the 27-year-old will be available for Bournemouth at home on Sunday, Amorim replied: “Yes, of course.”
The Portuguese boss then confirmed Rashford had been left behind for Spurs purely because of selection choices, not because of discipline.
He added: “It is the same thing guys, the same thing. Totally the same thing.”
Man Utd ratings vs Spurs as Bayindir has a shocker and fans left laughing at Antony
ALTAY BAYINDIR had a game to forget as Manchester United were dumped out of the Carabao Cup.
Not many of the Red Devils were able to impress as they were beaten by Tottenham Hotspur.
SunSport’s Katherine Walsh has provided her ratings of the Man United squad…
Altay Bayindir – 2
Squandered his audition after Andre Onana’s recent blunders against Nottingham Forest and Plzen.
Was responsible for Spurs’ opener when he spilled Pedro Porro’s shot into the path of Dominic Solanke.
Was probably fouled but still flapped as Son made it 4-2 from a direct CORNER in the 88th minute. Perhaps Onana isn’t so bad?
Victor Lindelof – 4
Caught slacking and lacking and a mile off the pace as Spurs’ front line rang rings around United for most of the game.
No surprise he came off injured just before half-time.
Leny Yoro – 5
Was physically targeted by Solanke in the first half, but the 19-year-old stood up to him and Son fairly well.
Jeered by the home fans when he was nutmegged by Djed Spence and was lucky when referee John Brooks blew for a foul early on.
Made a crunching tackle on Son in the 86th minute right in front of a rowdy home end – but the Korean scored from the resulting corner.
Lisandro Martinez – 3
All over the place at the back. Directly assisted Tottenham’s second when Maddison’s cross hit off his extended back leg and into the path of Kulusevski from five yards.
Solanke eased past him for 3-0 too and was lucky not to gift Spurs a fourth soon after.
Diogo Dalot – 6
Only United defender who had a clue.
Solid crosses and switches in play while pressing the makeshift Spurs backline, which was often overplaying.
Christian Eriksen – 6
Inches away from bagging the equaliser at 1-0 but was blocked by Yves Bissouma.
Overhit several corners as he was tasked with taking from both sides but was clapped off from the home fans when he made way for Kobbie Mainoo.
Manuel Ugarte – 4
Has perhaps stolen Martinez’s “Butcher” title at Man Utd as the Spurs fans wanted him hit with a booking.
Constantly gave away fouls and conceded dangerous free kicks which isn’t ideal with James Maddison on the pitch.
He almost poked Kulusevski’s cross into his own net, but did well to make sure it went just wide.
Noussair Mazraoui – 5
Knew he was in for a difficult evening against Son, who was wonderful going forward with several intricate passes.
Booked for catching Spence, Amorim’s head was down when Maddison took the free-kick.
Couldn’t get his feet right for chance just before half-time.
Antony – 4
A nervy start saw him lose the ball in a dangerous position with a minute gone which set Son away to cross into Brennan Johnson.
Too casual on the ball and put visitors under pressure in the early passages.
Basically gave the home fans something to laugh about every time he lost the ball, which was several times to 18-year-old Archie Gray.
Bruno Fernandes – 6
He did his creative job when he could, putting Hojlund through inside 11 minutes, only for the Dane to fluff his lines.
Curled just wide from outside the area and assisted Zirkzee’s goal to give the travelling end a glimmer of hope.
Drew a booking for Sarr for a tackle from behind and was booed before his free-kick clipped the top of the net.
Rasmus Hojlund – 5
Rarely got a sniff with United working on the counter early on and weak on the ball when did receive it.
He was thumped and bullied by the makeshift Spurs backline of Gray and Radu Drăgușin and replaced by Joshua Zirkzee in the 55th minute.
SUBS
Jonny Evans (’44 Victor Lindelof) – 4
Solanke drove the ball through his legs for 3-0.
Bizarrely got on the scoresheet with a last-minute consolation with a header from a corner.
Kobbie Mainoo – (’56 Eriksen) – 6
He was waiting on the sidelines before Solanke tripled Spurs’ lead and brought some much-needed composure with his side 3-0 down.
Joshua Zirkzee – (’56 Hojlund) – 6
Had United’s first attempt on target in the 61st minute but his header was well kept out by Fraser Forster.
But gave United hope when he made it 3-1 a minute later from Forster’s blunder.
Did better than Hojlund in out-muscling Dragusin.
Amad Diallo – (’55 Antony) – 8
Just as Martin Odegaard did last night against Palace, Amad’s introduction turned things around for the Red Devils.
The tricky winger made it 3-2 when his unbelievable pressing forced Forster into ANOTHER error from a routine free-kick.
The star of the show also fed the ball to Fernandes, who assisted Zirkzee’s goal and brought some much-needed impetus to United’s forward play.
Alejandro Garnacho (’72 Ugarte) – 5
The sub everybody was waiting for after he was dropped for United’s 2-1 win against Man City on Sunday.
Chased every ball down but loses points due to the crazy impact of the earlier substitutions.
Amorim has had a mixed bag of results since taking over last month, winning four games, losing three and drawing once.
The ex-Sporting Lisbon chief sees progress though, particularly when it comes to how the team are attacking.
Amorim, 39, said: “We are improving near the opponent box. We have some games that we are near the box but without real threat. You could see different things (against Spurs).
“You could see we can shoot, we are near the goal and you feel it, you really feel it. I think it is a good thing in our team.
“I feel that our team is faster at pressing more, the physically is improving and the understanding of the game.
“You can see it by the controlling of the game and you see it more especially in this game, but also the last game that we understand more the position and the movement we should do.
“There is a lot of things, but it is hard to think of the good things because we are out and let’s focus on the next competition.”
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