Heroes come in many shapes and sizes. Ruben Amorim will take any oblong that comes his way. The fact Saturday’s saviour was the teacher’s pet will have felt even sweeter.
The way Amorim gushes over Mason Mount has been quite disconcerting at times. What has he seen that everyone else hasn’t? Even with £200m of new striker toys to play with this season, Mount still has four league starts to his name, despite battling yet another injury at the start of the new campaign.
His selection on Saturday was immediately justified as a goal of incongruous quality, given what has come before, earned Amorim a stay of execution.
Mount could have easily called it a day on numerous occasions, given the unrelenting injury setbacks he has suffered. But back he comes, with maverick performances like this against Sunderland to steer United to a rare victory – only to more often than not find himself back in the treatment room before he knows it.
That dogged determination is what has left Amorim so enamoured. But the fact that Mount has often thrived, as opposed to most others around Old Trafford in recent times, is no coincidence.
“I have a good relationship with the manager,” Mount said when asked by The i Paper whether he is the teacher’s pet. “I don’t think it’s any better than all the other lads.
“I think I have the experience of playing a similar formation to what he likes. As I have played it before in the past. Knowing the roles and what he wants out of the team resonates with me because I’ve done it before.
“That’s something that I obviously understand. I think all the players understand it now. But I think at the beginning, especially, it was something that maybe he could lean on me because I know the positions.”
Understanding what Amorim is trying to do puts Mount in a minority of one, but it goes a long way to explaining his stature in the eyes of the manager. It does help to have someone, anyone, on board.
Amorim’s beloved system relies heavily on No 10s who start outside but drift inside. Not many other coaches deploy such methodology, hence United’s continued struggles for goals.
Mount is probably the only player at Amorim’s disposal who has done it before, at Chelsea. Had he been fit for longer, Amorim may not be in such a predicament.
“I think Mason can give us more like a midfielder than a winger or a striker,” Amorim said. “He can defend really well, he is really smart, he can attack really well.
“Today he had a number of minutes, because we have to manage when a guy like Mason is returning from injury. He did really well.”
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One of football’s good guys, the reaction of team-mates as Mount was substituted having set United on their way to victory with his superbly-taken opener – just his third league goal in red – was like the final act at the Proms, comrades coming from all angles to shower him with adulation.
From speaking to people who know him best, Mount is considered an upstanding member of the squad. Whenever he comes up against former club Chelsea, you see Mount embracing everyone from kitmen to water carriers. In the modern, superstar-driven game, that is not common practice.
Amorim looked like a man under pressure on the touchline as kick off got under way in the driving Manchester rain. Dressed in a tracksuit, he looked uncharacteristically weathered, more damaged than Storm Amy could cause.
One touch and finish from the one player the beleaguered boss feels he can call upon sees him live to fight another day. Amorim will need more moments like that should he get the chance to see this seemingly doomed project through.
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