“Never again” – Chelsea legend expects Amorim to avoid replicating ‘Massive mistake’ | OneFootball

Former Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel hopes that Ruben Amorim has now learned his lesson after committing a ‘massive’ tactical blunder against Newcastle United.

With Bruno Fernandes and Manuel Ugarte serving bans and Mason Mount out with an injury, the Manchester United boss found himself with limited options in the middle of the park ahead of the final fixture of 2024. Nevertheless, it remains unclear why he decided to keep the young and energetic Kobbie Mainoo on the bench and opt for the slow, ageing partnership of Casemiro and Christian Eriksen.

As expected, the experienced duo were easily overrun by their Newcastle counterparts, with the visitors scoring twice in the first 20 minutes and threatening to add more. This prompted a swift adjustment from Amorim who introduced Mainoo as a reinforcement after half an hour, causing an embarrassing moment for Joshua Zirkzee who was harshly cheered off the pitch by his own supporters in a now infamous incident.

Therefore, Obi Mikel urges Amorim to avoid this choice at all costs in the future, thus echoing what Gary Neville and a host of other pundits had previously stated.

“There’s no way, and I hope this never happens again, that you see Casemiro and Eriksen play in the midfield for Manchester United,” said the Nigerian legend on Obi One Podcast.

Jon Obi Mikel insists Ruben Amorim cannot play Eriksen & Casemiro together ever again

(Photo by ISSOUF SANOGO/AFP via Getty Images)

“Who is going to run for who? If you’re a 30-something-year-old midfield player, or a player, you need a younger player beside you who can compensate because you don’t have the legs to run anymore. You need a young player, fresh legs, energetic, who is going to be able to cover that ground for you,” argued the former Chelsea man.

“When you have those two, who is going to help who? Who is going to run for who? So for me, it’s a massive, massive mistake, it’s awful to watch. Listen, brilliant players have talked about it. We’ve all said it: Casemiro is a fantastic player, he’s played for Real Madrid, he’s won so much, he’s been an absolutely fantastic servant for football, he done everything,

“But when your legs are gone, your legs are gone. There’s nothing else you can do, especially in the Premier League. You will get found out.”