At left wing-back, the player who won the Champions League as a No 10. At right wing-back, the forward who scored 20 Premier League goals last season. Manchester United finished Saturday’s defeat at Brentford with what could seem the latest example of Ruben Amorim’s determination to put the squarest of pegs in the roundest of holes but with yet another illustration that the system is paramount. Amorim may die upon a hill, if that hill is labelled 3-4-3. Wing-backs are here as long as he is, even if they aren’t really wing-backs.
Which, to compound the sense that Amorim’s dogma is holding United back, few are. Certainly not Mason Mount or Bryan Mbeumo, the duo who ended the Brentford game out of position. But also not Diogo Dalot or Noussair Mazraoui, who are more often found there. Each has the willingness to give it a go, but is essentially a full-back. Perhaps Patrick Dorgu is, too, though it is harder to tell. Amad Diallo is a winger at heart; like Dalot and Mazraoui, his best role is rendered redundant by Amorim. He has to compromise to play.
