I don't think we'll see him this weekend, I think he's probably further behind in his recovery than people think, the fact we pulled him out of the behind closed doors friendly suggests this too.
37
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 30
- Goals
- 4
- Assists
- 1
- Yellow cards
- 3
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik @Rood and Imran @Annihilate Now! start with the good news by celebrating Manchester United Women's emphatic FA Cup win over Spurs at Wembley and the future of manager Marc Skinner.
Then it's the bad news and the ever worsening form of our Men with losses to Arsenal and Palace.
Finally the main debate - ETH Out now or keep him until the end of the season - if not longer. Are you Team Nik or Team Imran?
That was 10 days ago though, and he's been in training since then
What if he's not as good as Bellingham?
Training fitness and being match fit are two completely different things. It'll be Mount-Amrabat-McTominay vs Sheff Utd.
I think he's a top talent who has everything to play in midfield. What he needs is experience and to stay injury free when he returns so he can work on proving consistency at mens football level. We've seen he can do it already in preseason but thats just a couple of games and before his momentum was cut with the injury.
For me he's one of those players that you just want on the pitch at this point, because he may have a slightly worse game than a McTom or Amrabat etc, but if he has a decent game or a good game you come out way ahead because he's got so much more potential than those players. He could be as good as anyone we've had in our midfield. Its just about giving him the chances and time to come through the rough spells that might come along the way.
I think Elanga is a good example. When he first came into the first team he looked a threat, he got a few goals and goal involvments and had some end product that if he could keep it up or improve on it he could be a good player. However those involvements dried up and when theres little end product even when he was making a good run and being found it wasnt as much of a threat, in the end his product was poor in his final season here. But he got the time to show what he could do. He came in and he made an impact so we had some belief in him and then with that credit he got chances for a good amount of time before he was moved on. And now with a change of scenery maybe he kicks on and becomes a good player but he had his chances here and he simply wasnt ready to take them as a young player. Some players only come into their own at 25-27 so maybe years down the line he will be good enough. But it wasnt to be as a young player at United.
Thats what I want to see with Mainoo and at least some or half of it with Hannibal. Give them the chances to show over time, with runs of games and playing with the starting teammates that they arent going to be good enough as a young player to be competing or starting midfielders in their earliest 20s. If they dont do that well for 3 or 4 games then its not much different from our starting midfielders other than Casemiro and if you want to include him Bruno, but he is usually deployed in an attack role.
For me he's one of those players that you just want on the pitch at this point, because he may have a slightly worse game than a McTom or Amrabat etc, but if he has a decent game or a good game you come out way ahead because he's got so much more potential than those players. He could be as good as anyone we've had in our midfield. Its just about giving him the chances and time to come through the rough spells that might come along the way.
I think Elanga is a good example. When he first came into the first team he looked a threat, he got a few goals and goal involvments and had some end product that if he could keep it up or improve on it he could be a good player. However those involvements dried up and when theres little end product even when he was making a good run and being found it wasnt as much of a threat, in the end his product was poor in his final season here. But he got the time to show what he could do. He came in and he made an impact so we had some belief in him and then with that credit he got chances for a good amount of time before he was moved on. And now with a change of scenery maybe he kicks on and becomes a good player but he had his chances here and he simply wasnt ready to take them as a young player. Some players only come into their own at 25-27 so maybe years down the line he will be good enough. But it wasnt to be as a young player at United.
Thats what I want to see with Mainoo and at least some or half of it with Hannibal. Give them the chances to show over time, with runs of games and playing with the starting teammates that they arent going to be good enough as a young player to be competing or starting midfielders in their earliest 20s. If they dont do that well for 3 or 4 games then its not much different from our starting midfielders other than Casemiro and if you want to include him Bruno, but he is usually deployed in an attack role.
You think Mainoo is one of the best midfielders in the world?
Imagine that
Just keep Casemiro away from him. Cannot believe how many games he missed because of a stupid push.
People seem to be setting him up to fall. The lad has talent but let's actually let him play some football before comparing him to Bellingham or even comparing against our current Midfielders.
Fully expect at least an 8/10 performance rating from him in every start
Maybe he could be better?
From what I have seen, could be. There are signs he could become really top midfielder in the game, and I don’t say that often to other youngsters. But I mean it could also go different ways than I thought too, we will have to see.
But I am totally confident on him.
It’s a matter of faith on the player. It’s ok if people want to down play him abit, it’s a safer option to do so, and putting less pressure on youngster and let him to have time develop, which is not a bad thing.
But I don’t think Mainoo would need that, he is that special. Just like Bellingham who was basically a nobody 3 years back, playing in Championship, now he is considered best in the game.
A brace and MOTM from him this weekend and then we can see how he progresses from there.
Enough of these low performances, we need straight 10/10s, especially from the very young and inexperienced players
Is it too early to start talking about a potential Ballon d’Or this season? I don’t think it is…
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He's practically the heir to Ronaldinho at this point.
Should have scored
Messi just said the judges robbed Kobbie and he didn’t deserve his win this year.
If he gets European Goalscorer on top, it will be the bare minimum I expect
Yep. So he could be better, the same or worse.
In other words, we've no idea how he's going to compare to an incredible player like Bellingham.
Petition to rename the club Mainoochester United
You're delusional, nothing you've seen can suggest that as he's only played one premier league game.
It's the least he could do.
Only after the renaming of the Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year award
I don't think anyone expects him to be our saviour. Our defence right now is poor, you can cite injuries, poor keeper, lack of pace, all that, but they've no protection from midfield as well. No current mid we have tracks runners, we've seen the likes of McT, Eriksen and Casemiro casually stroll back time and time again while the opposition mids pour forward. At the very least Mainoo will try and put in some tackles, offer a physical presence. These days McT and Casemiro in particular think being physical is conceding free kicks in dangerous area, it isn't, being physical is winning back possession, sadly something neither does these days. Will he fix all our problems- no, but he can help alleviate some.
Sometimes you can just see it with a young player though. Like when watching Pogba in the academy at 16 you knew he was special. The talent is there already, it's everything else that is unknown.
The same Paul Pogba who made his PL debut one month before his 19th birthday? A year older than Mainoo is now?
Yeah, that's the chap. As soon as we signed him at 16, it was very apparent that he was a special talent.
This is what I mean though, I don’t think nobody is expecting Mainoo to be a saviour, nor should giving a chance to a good player prove we are a poor club. When other gifted 16 to 18 year old got game time at top clubs, was this the case too? No one player can get us back on track, and I too see Kobe as Martial or Rashford coming through. Nobody was calling for Martial to be benched after scoring against the Poo.
I literally said in my post while I can see talent in a lot of youngsters in our academy there’s some I don’t think will make it. Or be saviours or world class or even professionals. I have no expectations merely hope.
We are a team associated with giving young players a chance and celebrating and getting excited over a player breaking through. To me its that rather than anything. The manager will know if his ready.
Pogba should have been given his debut sooner, as it was clear to everyone he was a special talent. Unfortunately for us, his work rate and mindset wasn't exactly top level.
Balon d‘or winner 2024/25
Still think our best midfield pairing this season will end up being Amrabat and Mainoo.
Yep, and that was the first evidence of his decline.
Fergie made a huge error that game, playing Park and Rafael as CM. Also this resulted in Pogba leaving the club, so it was bad for several reasons.
Stockport Xavi is back!!
The people mocking and disparaging comparisons to Bellingham should go back to the Jude forum. It wasn’t but 6 months ago that it felt a good few people were doubting his talent. Saying they don’t see it. Now his the best in the world! How things change quickly…
Progression can be rapid. Apart from the saviour line, can people state genuine reasons why they wouldn’t want to play him when fit?
Progression can be rapid. Apart from the saviour line, can people state genuine reasons why they wouldn’t want to play him when fit?
Rumours Madrid are preparing a £100 million bid in January