Owen Hargreaves has slammed Ruben Amorim's decision to continue to leave academy product Kobbie Mainoo out of theManchester United team. The Red Devils fell to another Manchester derby defeat on Sunday, with Manchester City easing to a 3-0 win at the Etihad Stadium.

The loss leaves United 14th in the Premier League with just four points from four games and confirmed their worst start to a season since 1992/93. It also means Amorim has managed just eight wins from his first 31 league games in charge.

Questions were asked immediately after the full-time whistle at the Etihad about Amorim's future. And there continues to be raised eyebrows at the use of Bruno Fernandes in the middle of the park while Mainoo struggles for minutes.

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Amorim has persisted with using his captain as a deep-lying playmaker alongside another central midfielder.

Many have called for Mainoo to start but the United boss has insisted the England international is competing with Fernandes for one of the spots in midfield.

Mainoo, who is yet to start a Premier League match this season, came on in the 62nd minute and delivered an impressive cameo.

Ex-United midfielder Hargreaves has made clear he believes Amorim must find a way to fit Mainoo into his struggling team.

"Where do you start? There are a lot of issues," Hargreaves told Premier League Productions. "How Kobbie Mainoo doesn't play in this team I'll never know.

"He came on for that game and in half hour he was probably their best player, by a country mile. So first of all he's got to play. [Benjamin] Sesko is not ready. He scored lots of goals in Germany but he didn't look ready today.

"You look at [Erling] Haaland, the way he ran about and pressed, he just wasn't active enough, I know he didn't get much service but he's got to be more active.

"[Bryan] Mbeumo is top, [Matheus] Cunha is top. Bruno can't play there as a central defensive midfielder any more, he's got to play as a No. 10. The way it's set up now it's not working, so tweak it.

"You could make five changes, play Mbeumo up front, Cunha and Bruno as No. 10s, Kobbie has got to get into the team, fact. You give yourself half a chance, I don't see it.

"They had more possession than City today but they didn't look the better team. Did they look like scoring much? No."

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