Manchester United head coach Michael Carrick has sprung a surprise with his team selection against Leeds, handing captain Bruno Fernandes the role of the team's furthest player forward.
Carrick made two changes to the side that started the 2-0 defeat to Atletico Madrid in the Champions League earlier in the week, with Harry Maguire and Amad Diallo replacing Ayden Heaven and Marcus Rashford. The decision to keep faith in the midfield trio of Youri Tielemans, Carlos Baleba and Andrey Santos - all signed in the summer transfer window - raised questions over Fernandes' role.
Fernandes deployed as centre-forward
Having been pushed out wide in the Spanish capital, Fernandes had been expected to return to his more natural No10 role at Elland Road. However, he started the game operating as the centre-forward, flanked by Amad and Bryan Mbeumo.
"Manchester United are playing without a centre-forward," Gary Neville said while on co-commentary duty for Sky Sports. "It is a complete about-turn from the Manchester United boss. Manchester United are playing a new system. It is not clear after 15 minutes that they are more difficult to play against."
Absences explained
Manchester United are without Luke Shaw, Kobbie Mainoo, Benjamin Sesko, Patrick Dorgu and Manuel Ugarte against Leeds as they go in search of a first win in six games across all competitions.
Explaining the absences of Shaw and Mainoo, in particular, Carrick said the pair lost their battle to return to the matchday squad. "Close-ish, not close enough," the Man United head coach told Sky Sports when asked how close Shaw and Mainoo were to making the matchday squad. "It is what it is, we have to adapt and adjust. This is why we have the squad and we have to be versatile at certain times and today we have a good team and the boys are looking forward to it."
