Ruben Amorim must go back to basics if he is to drag Manchester United, and himself, out of this mess.

I am not asking him to change the system. He has made it abundantly clear that he will not be doing that. But he has to take action.

It sounds ridiculous, but that could simply be to use players in their best positions. I have had enough of watching the opposite.

Selecting a talking point from Sunday’s 3-0 defeat by Manchester City was difficult, so consider this a lucky dip of the multiple qualms I felt during the derby.

Bruno Fernandes is one of the world’s best attacking midfielders. He has made top spot in the Premier League’s ‘chances created’ metric his own since arriving in 2020.

So, against City, why was I seeing Fernandes dropping as deep as the back three to receive the ball while Noussair Mazraoui and Patrick Dorgu were often United’s most advanced outlets?

Amorim must at least pause the midfield experiment when Chelsea visit Old Trafford on Saturday.

With Matheus Cunha and Mason Mount missing the derby through injury comes a prime opportunity to push Fernandes into his preferred number 10 position.

Amorim can help himself by pairing the United captain with Bryan Mbeumo on either side of Benjamin Sesko.

That would allow two natural deeper midfielders in Casemiro and Kobbie Mainoo to start together and likely offer elusive balance.

Mainoo only featured for about 30 minutes against City and instantly looked like United’s most comfortable player.

Amorim can also keep it simple by returning Mazraoui to his back three, replacing Luke Shaw, who is the inferior of the two.

That would, in turn, leave the second number 10 spot free for Fernandes, with Amad Diallo moving back to right wing-back.

If he should change anything, Amorim must stop nullifying his own captain.

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