Manchester United may have won three Premier League games on the bounce under Michael Carrick, but there are issues to solve, most notably in midfield.Casemiro does not have the legs to last 90 minute...
Manchester United may have won three Premier League games on the bounce under Michael Carrick, but there are issues to solve, most notably in midfield.
Casemiro does not have the legs to last 90 minutes, and has completed a full league match only six times this campaign.
As seen in Sunday’s humdinger against Fulham, whenever the Brazilian has been subbed off in place of Manuel Ugarte, United have tended to concede.
The Uruguayan has been a disastrous signing, and is likely to follow the former Real Madrid superstar out of the door come summer.
United’s midfield woes
Kobbie Mainoo is the only other specialist midfielder, and should any of the trio suffer an injury, Carrick might be required to turn to the academy.
According to The Daily Mail, Jack Moorhouse, who returned from a loan spell with Leyton Orient in League One, is likely to be part of first team training frequently in the second half of the season.
He impressed during his time at Brisbane Road, making 24 appearances in all competitions, while scoring once and assisting twice.
There is every chance Carrick might turn to the 20-year-old, known for his incredible ball-carrying ability, if he impresses the caretaker head coach in training.
Jack Moorhouse had caught Amorim’s eye
It was this trait of his that had caught former head coach Ruben Amorim’s eye, with the Carrington graduate making the matchday squad on four occasions last season.
“Dithering over whether to get a midfielder in or not continued at academy level, and it wasn’t until very late on in the window that Jack Moorhouse got the green light to return to Manchester from Leyton Orient.
“Confidential understands that while Moorhouse had plenty of minutes in east London in the first half of this season, there were growing concerns that recruitment and tactics for the second half of the campaign was going to stunt his development.
“Orient spent the past week trying to do their bit to keep hold of him, but United – albeit late on – sanctioned the recall of a player who was being pursued by Bolton Wanderers, Huddersfield Town and Blackpool for most of the month.
Time to impress Carrick
“Moorhouse will drop back down to play in PL2 with Adam Lawrence’s Under-21s but is expected to frequently train with the first team, giving the 20-year-old his chance to impress Michael Carrick.
“Having made the first-team bench four times last season under Amorim, don’t rule out Moorhouse pushing himself into the midfield picture if anything happens to Casemiro, Kobbie Mainoo or Manuel Ugarte between now and the season finale at Brighton.”
Jack Moorhouse has the quality to excel when called upon, but will need to work on his physicality.
Jack and Tyler Fletcher might be ahead of him in the pecking order for now, but his loan experience will do him a world of good as he looks to earn that long-awaited United debut.
Feature image George Wood via Getty Images
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Category: General Sports
