There is no doubt that the signing of Mason Mount is yet to pay dividends for Manchester United so far.
Even amid an injury crisis, Mason Mount has been unable to nail down a place in the team, with only four Premier League starts to his name this season.
There has been a lot of attention on Mount’s lack of usage, with the midfielder costing £55 million this summer. He was one of just three permanent signings made by the club.
He started the first two games before suffering an injury himself, and has then struggled to reclaim his place in this side, despite recovering to full fitness in late September.
Paul Scholes on Mason Mount
Club legend Paul Scholes believes Mason Mount just is not a tactical fit for the current Manchester United set up, and believes Erik ten Hag had something slightly different in mind to what has played out so far.
He told the Webby and O’Neill YouTube channel: “It upsets the balance of the team. It upsets the legs he has in midfield. I really think he wanted to play him with Bruno Fernandes but the two of them playing in the team, it just doesn’t seem to be working now.
“It’s difficult to make a case for Mason because he’s not played enough games, so trying to come on here and say ‘he should be playing’, I don’t know, because he hasn’t played. If he has a run of five, six, seven, eight games you can judge that a little bit more.
“You have to get the balance of the team right, that’s the big struggle. I think Ten Hag wants to play as many attackers as he can on the football pitch, which would mean one holding player and the rest attacking players, and Mason Mount would come into that. But it takes away the legs of the midfield, it really leaves them open.
“To bring someone like Mason Mount into the team you almost need two holding midfielders with him to get the balance of the team right.”
Scholes has a point. Ten Hag tried starting a midfield trio of Fernandes, Mount, and Casemiro in the opening two games of the season, and Manchester United were repeatedly cut open, somehow winning a game against Wolves they should have lost, and then defeated at Spurs. The manager has not dared repeat the experiment since, and now Casemiro is out injured.
Amid United’s injury crisis, the one player who has not missed time is Fernandes, which has meant there has been little opportunity for the former Chelsea midfielder. Mount did switch in for him in the Carabao Cup against Newcastle, but did not take his chance.
Mason Mount trending up
At times Mount has looked a little low in confidence, a carry over from his struggles last season at Chelsea, and perhaps the weight of the number seven shirt.
Mount did have a good game in the recent match against Luton where he replaced the injured Christian Eriksen after 40 minutes, and played alongside Fernandes, with Manchester United winning 1-0.
United fans have backed Mount in the wake of that performance, while he was also praised on MUTV following his display. The international break may have come at a frustrating time for him, but that’s the last one of the year, and Mount could kick on once the games restart.
The tactical issue is still a puzzle. Can Mount and Fernandes play together, and in what roles? Erik ten Hag will be hard at work trying to figure it out, although, you would have hoped that spending so much on a player, it would have been a seamless fit, and not such a conundrum.
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