You are right! 7.43 according to Opta
Which is really good for an 18 year old making his debut.
37
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 32
- Goals
- 5
- Assists
- 1
- Yellow cards
- 4
Which is really good for an 18 year old making his debut.Ironically, the problem with these young, brilliant midfielders is the levels of dependency placed on them, which then leads to far too many games too soon, which they pay for later down the line as their miles on the clock are absurd by their late 20's. Barca have just gone about ruining Pedri, and Cesc was quite the Traveller by 30ish, so it's a cautionary tale in itself, but given our predicament, we actually need what he provides. Desperately.
Control, composure and the ability to play in and out of tight spaces in any direction at any time are qualities we've been screaming out for since Scholes' retirement, and all of sudden, the asset is plopped right into a flailing, poor midfield. The onus should be on protecting him and managing his minutes, but I wonder how enthused we will be to do that, when he can do things nobody else can.
I wonder if the urge will be to make him integral but monitor his minutes with frequent substitutions at around the mark he came off yesterday. For my money, he'd start the majority of the upcoming games no question, so long as his fitness holds up, but the margins are thin in terms of the amount of PT that can prove to be detrimental. It's tricky, but we're hardly in a position to overlook him and go in a different direction with how our other midfielders are performing.
Nothing alike. Pogba is at his best as the most advanced of a three man midfield. He's heavily restricted playing in front of the defence and tends to get caught on the ball in dangerous areas.
Yeah. De Jong is the obvious comparison. Veratti is another. Kovacic also.
You know when I was watching Mainoo yesterday I was thinking about Cesc's breakout season.
People forget, before Cesc became a more attack minded midfielder, he was effectively Viera's replacement. He played that role of getting the ball deep, turning and moving through the thirds.
As much as I hated Arsenal back then, I admired how he could pick up the ball and run right through midfield and then play through balls. I see that style of player in Mainoo. If he can get anywhere near that level we'll be set for years.
That was what I noticed. I think I counted one time he lost the ball in the whole game, and even that was under pressure. There were many times when most players would have lost the ball, but he has the technical ability and confidence to keep it. I didn't think it was an amazing performance, there is a bit of hype in the ratings I think, but he brought a number of qualities that we really need in midfield, which is really very encouraging. I mean the likes of Bruno will always give the ball away sometimes, and maybe to some extent we have to forgive that as his job is to score and assist, but to complement that we really need the possession keepers in midfield alongside that - and McTominay is not great at that, Eriksen pretty good but lacking in bite and energy, and both Amrabat (who I am not sure is good enough) and Casemiro always look better when playing further back with a bit more time and space. Plus he really did his job defensively, which is especially pleasing as when I have seen him in the youth teams he has been more of an attacking player primarily. And his passing was good. Very good full debut.
Play Mainooo Manuuu win. Simple as.
people saying its only one game and 72 mins PL football but this is not like when a young attacked comes in scores and we rave him up..
This is more technical ability. We have seen in pre season and now in an away game where he has looked calm and composed.
How many players do we have that when they come back from injury, we say... oh need to let him get match sharp, into the groove... etc.. whereas Kobbie come in and took the football.
The biggest compliment to him is when experienced footballers are giving him the ball in areas where no one else is trusted. He is asking for the ball knowing he is being pressed but still having the presence of mind to say.. I'll sort it out.
This is more technical ability. We have seen in pre season and now in an away game where he has looked calm and composed.
How many players do we have that when they come back from injury, we say... oh need to let him get match sharp, into the groove... etc.. whereas Kobbie come in and took the football.
The biggest compliment to him is when experienced footballers are giving him the ball in areas where no one else is trusted. He is asking for the ball knowing he is being pressed but still having the presence of mind to say.. I'll sort it out.
One of the most pleasing, and promising, things for me was the way in which he handled the atmosphere and responsibility. Especially in that number 6 role which is notoriously difficult to get right and manage. At 18 years old.
Very impressive and shows maturity well above his years. You can’t teach that.
Very impressive and shows maturity well above his years. You can’t teach that.
I think it's viewed as an amazing performance by some, because we've lacked a player like that for so long. He was involved across the pitch, even cleared one off the line! He made the team function properly and you can see why Ten Hag was so keen to have him involved in pre-season. I think if that injury hadn't occurred, he'd have been straight in the side. I actually think with Casemiro, he's looked better for us going forward and playing as a box to box. His passing from deep is sloppy, I'd be very keen to seen a Bruno, Casemiro and Mainoo midfield.
Yeah young Cesc is the absolute gold standard for teenage deep or central midfielders in the world game let alone the PL. Mainoo's defensive awareness is on another level to what Cesc's was in terms of defensive positioning, reading play to intercept and also slotting in deeper, even at CB temporarily, but obviously when talking about Cesc, it's what he offered his team in terms of controlling midfield and hurting the opposition that goes into stellar territory, and if Mainoo can come close to that, he'll be a legend here.
The number of times he escaped the press or even used it to his advantage yesterday tells that he's utterly unphased at this level. It will be interesting to see if and when the point comes where he is flustered and is reluctant to dance around 3 converging opponents like they're not there. If he features in the upcoming games and performs as he did yesterday, there'll be no way the media aren't raving about him and propelling him right into the spotlight - MotD are already covering Mainoo and highlighting his game, it's only going to intensify, I think.
Well I must say, it's all very exciting.
Definitely don't see much Pogba. Pogba was a final third no.8 -- long diagonal passes, skillful feet, strong frame and acceleration at carrying the ball. Juventus era v1 Pogba had a wicked thundershot on him too. You'd want to keep Pogba away from the build-up and closer to their half of the pitch.
Mainoo definitely seems like more of a midfielder who wants to play in the middle phases. Receive from deep, drive, quick short passes. We'll hopefully see more of his playmaking abilities in a more comfortable home games (whenever those may be this season!). But even without that, just the profile points he's bringing already will be massively beneficial.
To be fair to Murtough, the youth team has a few, so it seems an intentional approach.
Mainoo stands out with his composure but Hannibal, Gore, IHA are all very nimble with the ball and hard workers off it. Would class IHA more of an attacking player though.
Not sure why that thinking doesn't seem to be reflected in the senior group, dare I say, it might be due to the managers' influence on first team transfers?
Remember Ferguson used to tell the players that if they were in trouble and didn't know what to do, give it to Scholes. Very early days, but Mainoo has that composure and calming presence in abundance.
I didn't watch the game but I Loved his "every touch compilation video" that goal line clearance was something else and his composure on the ball is something else
The hype is insane. In many ways fun to see - i'm excited about him too but i don't see this mad rush to go so over the top on him. Let's see how he goes now he will rightly get plenty of minutes!
He already looks like one of the best pure central midfielders we've had for 10 years.
It makes me happy and sad at the same time.
Still, a long way to go. He must be consistent.
It makes me happy and sad at the same time.
Still, a long way to go. He must be consistent.
I thought Hannibal looked like a headless chicken (nothing to do with his haircut) when he came on. He ran around a lot, but with zero composure. That was the big thing with Mainoo, he was so composed.To be fair to Murtough, the youth team has a few, so it seems an intentional approach.
Mainoo stands out with his composure but Hannibal, Gore, IHA are all very nimble with the ball and hard workers off it. Would class IHA more of an attacking player though.
Not sure why that thinking doesn't seem to be reflected in the senior group, dare I say, it might be due to the managers' influence on first team transfers?
Awful.
Pogba didnt have any sense of positioning and defensive awareness, and was dispossessed easily. Mainoo is more like de Jong in this regard - less flashy, but with very good ball control and ball retention skills. The game showed he also has good defensive awareness, goal line clearance was difficult to make in that situation but he envisaged
Looked quality. Home grown too.
You love to see it
You love to see it
Solid post.
Mainoo and Hojlund are both very exciting and we need to surround them with better players that allow them to reach their full potential and avoid burdening them both with the responsibility of carrying us. It’s not like the old days of introducing raw talent into a successful team full of proven winners.
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Nothing special...
This is my take on Hannibal as well, I am a bit surprised he's getting so much praise on here. Looks like he has a decent skillset but I don't see a midfielder in him, runs around crashing into people way too often to play him regularly as well. We also have too many no10s already so I wouldn't be surprised if he's gone in the summer tbh. He provided legs a few times and that will be his role in the squad I reckon.
The issue we have when these talents come through is we start to rely on them which weighs on them a lot. They aren't surrounded by a squad of winners anymore so you really need to be careful how they are managed. Some people on here are already coming out with "he's our best midfielder" after 1 game, which is exactly what I'm talking about.
Nothing like Pogba. I have seen the complitaion of his touches and his style is Carrick esque. First phase deep lying midfielder.
I hope so. He looks like he's got some growing to do so he could end up fantastic. Or do a Greenwood. You never know.
Mainoo is press resistant from what we have seen till now, Carrick was not to that level.
Carrick was playing the greatest Barca teams let’s not compare their press resistance abilities after Everton
It's not hype imo. I've never hyped Mainoo but after last match this kid is going places mate. It's just too bloody obvious.
Very true, it's why players like Doku at City can turn up and perform with relative ease...the task is made so much easier when you have Haaland/Barnardo/Rodri around you.
At the very most. Like I said, he was good, but people are going a little overboard
So now those stats count? When Maguire was putting in 7's but only getting 3's from the experts on theCaf those stats were rubbishYou are right! 7.43 according to Opta
At the very least. He was a 7/8 out of 10. The only reason he wasn't a 9/10 was because we seriously lack players who compliment the way he plays the game. He can only do so much on his own.
I thought it was good too. Just not an 8/10
I remember Billy Gilmours debut for Chelsea.
Like I said, he was good. Just not an 8/10
That is true but still I don't see many similarities between them. Carrick used to play deep in midfield but he was never the one comfortable against press (be that Barca or Everton), and he barely run with the ball. He was all about passing and understanding of the game both on and off the ball, but that alone doesn't make him and Mainoo similar players.
I think it's fascinating it's so difficult to describe what kind of player Mainoo is. But when you see him on the ball you just get it.
I don't watch Chelsea so no idea.
Pfft barely a 5/10 on those stats.