[DJ Jeff]

Impressive showing for an 18 year old playing his first game at Anfield.

He's very calm and composed. Amrabat worried me today far more than him.

 

[A-man]

That pass to Garnacho was something extra! Looks so much more composed than the other midfielders.

 

[OL29]

His press resistance reminds me of Romeo Lavia who I wanted us to get in the summer.

 

[Adnan]

He's only 18 and will improve physically, where his acceleration over the first few yards will improve once he gets stronger. And once he matures physically, I believe we'll see a even better player.

 

[Remember the geese]

My boy. We aren't even seeing his best attributes at the moment. Far better on the ball than off it. Played a lovely through ball earlier to put Garnacho 1 on 1. That is just a fraction of it though.

 

[Skills]

I'd like to see

Mainoo----Hannibal
--------Casemiro

With Fernandes on the right.

 

[bond19821982]

Good game. He has that aggressive instinct as well. Was just cautious after that yellow. Very matured for his age.

Anfield isn't an easy place kid. You deserve all the applauds.

 

[C'est Moi Cantona]

A level above the rest when he has the ball/in close spaces, but seems to have a paracute attached when running back.

 

[Andycoleno9]

Love the kid. Complete midfielder who has it all.

 

[RedIan]

He is the future of our midfield. such class so yo7ng.

 

[Fridge chutney]

I think he will develop into an excellent player.

 

[ole@thewheel]

Suddenly a:

Casemiro (ver 2022)-Mainoo
Bruno

Looks quite balanced technically and physically. Casemiro can even have freedom to get in the box without being worried of being exposed in the back.

Doubt thag ETH has this on his plans though.

 

[Blood Mage]

He's got huge potential. Not many could pull off that pass to Garnacho in the second half, it was Pogba-esque.

 

[ColvaleGoa]

He's got huge potential. Not many could pull off that pass to Garnacho in the second half, it was Pogba-esque.

Damn...that would have been some goal made in the Academy!

 

[macheda14]

I’m actually really shocked at his positional awareness in a defensive sense. There’s still some naivety, but the amount of times he gets himself in a place to block shots or make crucial headers. I barely watched him at youth level so thought of him more as a deep lying playmaker, but there’s a lot more to him. Just so bloody calm.

 

[RedRonaldo]

What a player. I think he is already our best midfielder this season, we should play him more.

 

[Son]

We might struggle to hold onto this guy long term.

If he continues this kind of ridiculous potential and I was in charge of Madrid I’d want to build a midfield around Bellingham and Mainoo.

Same for England I think this guy and Bellingham could finally get England over the line to a major trophy. We finally have someone who is a potential world class playmaker from deep.

England rarely produce these types of footballers.

 

[bosnian_red]

We might struggle to hold onto this guy long term.

If he continues this kind of ridiculous potential and I was in charge of Madrid I’d want to build a midfield around Bellingham and Mainoo.

Nah, I'm more concerned about us ruining another elite prospect than the thought of him leaving. We are good at making players think we'll figure it out and extending them.

 

[Son]

Nah, I'm more concerned about us ruining another elite prospect than the thought of him leaving. We are good at making players think we'll figure it out and extending them.

We do that with strikers though which tend to get super hyped earlier due to pace and no defensive responsibilities.

This guy is so much more complete as a footballer and it’s impressive to see. A player like Mainoo you need to turn a good side into a great one. He makes things tick.

I don’t even think it’s possible we could sign a better midfielder than this guy. Certainly potential wise we can’t.

 

[Red the Bear]

Saying someone is wise beyond their years is too much perhaps but it does seem to apply to him.

So calm and composed most of the time, we should probably be looking to build a midfield of mainoos than whatever we've been doing in these past few years.

 

[lex talionis]

I’m now worried Mainoo will jump ship for Real or Barcelona.

 

[Sea-Cow]

I hope we have him working with a sprinting coach or something because my god he once again looked slower than christmas out there!

Gravenberch dribbled right past him multiple times, and Mainoo didn't get near him when "chasing" back.

This sucks for him because he is amazing when we have the ball! That reverse pass to Garnacho was incredible! But how can you play as a number 8 in the Prem if you're running in sand?

 

[stoinz]

He wasn't fazed by the atmosphere at all, which was really impressive for a young player. Like one of the poster said above, I was more worried by Ambarat than him. Glad that ETH trusted him to start. This would be an invaluable experience for him.

 

[Ali Dia]

We need to put the right aggression and mobility in bedside and I think then we finally have a balanced hardworking midfield that can include Bruno and a forward who will press.

 

[United888]

I think this guy can be the key of ETH building his ideal team. He has the composure when being pressed, press resistant, can pass the ball, can read the game well, can play quick touches, and can carry the ball forward. It’s almost like this guy can be developed into ETH’s Frenkie de jong.

Now we are out of Europe, ETH needs to keep playing him and start using him as his main deep-lying playmaker and push Bruno further forward, let Bruno score more goals rather than going deep. We might end up putting him in a big responsibility for 18 years old but it will allow us to improve as a team for next season.

Mainoo - Casemiro
Bruno - Mount - LW
Hojlund​

 

[gajender]

We need to put the right aggression and mobility in bedside and I think then we finally have a balanced hardworking midfield that can include Bruno and a forward who will press.

Why we have to include Bruno at all to be honest Infact Summer is the best time to move him on might still get some decent fee instead of wasting another year on an experiment that simply doesn't work if you intend to compete at the highest level.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

We need to bring in more Mainoo’s to the first team. You add 4 players who have his composure and ability to handle tight situations and you’ll see playing proper front-foot football.

 

[next_number_seven]

I hope we have him working with a sprinting coach or something because my god he once again looked slower than christmas out there!

Gravenberch dribbled right past him multiple times, and Mainoo didn't get near him when "chasing" back.

This sucks for him because he is amazing when we have the ball! That reverse pass to Garnacho was incredible! But how can you play as a number 8 in the Prem if you're running in sand?

I'm surprised by this.
He's very quick normally

 

[Bondi77]

I hope we have him working with a sprinting coach or something because my god he once again looked slower than christmas out there!

Gravenberch dribbled right past him multiple times, and Mainoo didn't get near him when "chasing" back.

This sucks for him because he is amazing when we have the ball! That reverse pass to Garnacho was incredible! But how can you play as a number 8 in the Prem if you're running in sand?

He has been paying too much time watching Casemiro.....he will soon learn not to.

 

[Irrational.]

To come into a cauldron of screeching Scousers and put in such a composed performance speaks volumes of the lad. He has a bright future.

 

[bosnian_red]

I hope we have him working with a sprinting coach or something because my god he once again looked slower than christmas out there!

Gravenberch dribbled right past him multiple times, and Mainoo didn't get near him when "chasing" back.

This sucks for him because he is amazing when we have the ball! That reverse pass to Garnacho was incredible! But how can you play as a number 8 in the Prem if you're running in sand?

He'll be fine to be a #6 or #8. He's more about quick movements and technique, composure... not actually chasing back. Enzo Fernandez is quite slow, but he's a fantastic midfielder. Mainoo is the same type. Scholes also was a slow player. And many other mids. It's not a problem at all. In fact if you look at the best deep ball playing midfielders over the years, they're never fast.

 

[NoPace]

We need to bring in more Mainoo’s to the first team. You add 4 players who have his composure and ability to handle tight situations and you’ll see playing proper front-foot football.

Yeah. I was mad at Antony and Hojlund most of the game but they aren't anarchic players, so might do better in a system where we have more control.

--------------------Hojlund--------------
Garnacho-----Bruno-------Antony
-------------Mainoo--CM---------
Shaw-Lisandro-RCB-Dalot
-----------------Onana--------------

is how I think of the team going forward. For this year, you'd say Casemiro and Varane, and then hopefully they can be sold and replaced with a midfielder who can play and contribute defensively and a CB comfortable with a high line and having to move wide at times.

 

[Mercurial]

Kobbie is Mint!

 

[December_16]

Haha are we already worried about losing him to a Spanish team? Can we just actually have him string a few consistently good games together first before getting wayyyyyy ahead of ourselves?

 

[Pexbo]

He reminds me of Busquets. The way it just doesn’t seem to matter how he receives the ball or how many players he has on him, he’s got a feint, twist or turn and the balls out of his feet with the second touch being to a player in space.

 

[Fortitude]

He's only 18 and will improve physically, where his acceleration over the first few yards will improve once he gets stronger. And once he matures physically, I believe we'll see a even better player.

I hope we have him working with a sprinting coach or something because my god he once again looked slower than christmas out there!

Gravenberch dribbled right past him multiple times, and Mainoo didn't get near him when "chasing" back.

This sucks for him because he is amazing when we have the ball! That reverse pass to Garnacho was incredible! But how can you play as a number 8 in the Prem if you're running in sand?

Seeing a number of posts referring to this, particularly in terms of recovery runs, but what is actually evident is that whilst he's mentally and technically able, he doesn't have his adult stamina and power yet and one of his clear vulnerabilities until he does, is that he can be run off and outworked because he is running out of steam and needs more time in recovery per sprint and aggressive action than those who are in their full adult body.

It's not a coincidence that he sometimes looks like he's running in treacle and at others is more explosive and able to open up to full stride without issue. One minute he can track a runner to the wire, and then the other, that same runner will leave him for dust. That's down to recovery not outright athleticism. You will more often than not see that teens and even very young 20's players cannot compete over a full game of PL football, looking absolutely exhausted by around 75min; we're constantly seeing this with Garnacho and Hojlund, and you will see it for the vast majority of players in that age bracket dotted throughout the league. Youngsters who have an adult's capacity are the anomaly. All of it revolves around recovery and power per sprint or output capability - hard-running is easier the less times you do it; the PL makes demands of hard sprints over and over and that's trying to match power with full-grown men who are not only stronger most times, but have far more capacity to repeat those runs than the youngsters do. A very simple way for a good adult player to swat a good young player is to simply run them off the pitch with superior athleticism and capacity. The youngster, more often than not, will flag. What you need to check is how many repeat max output runs a teenager can make compared to a full-grown adult. You'll see massive diminished returns inside a half, especially if physical tussles are also involved, which also take a massive draw from the body. Kobbie is good and able for the first or second load, but if you can pile that 3rd, 4th or even 5th on him, you will see a massive decline in succession.

Further to the above, in phase recovery, the game still goes on, so that's where a grown man can further take advantage as the youngster will still be flagging and less able to complete basic duties. i.e. if Garnacho is matched on an explosive attacking run that takes a lot out of him, the opportune time to go at him is immediately after that, where he has not recovered and will struggle to track a runner going in the other direction. Simply run him off the pitch. Give him that time to recover, however, and he'll look like his usual self.

This is one of the follies of playing youngsters most times, but the greater the team, the more they can offset such things, by being in control of the game and also having clean contingencies that always cover for this issue i.e. a partner or teammates who are on the pulse and quickly back up the kid in question and afford them the extra time to recover, particularly by quick retrieval in defensive phases, but also by passing the ball elsewhere in attacking phases, allowing the youngster to reintegrate with the play further down the line (reducing their need to sprint again until absolutely necessary).

Bottom line is, it's not about raw speed, pace, power etc. which will fluctuate wildly for most youngsters in a single game of football if it's a hard game or opponent(s) who work them at a rate beyond their recovery capacity.

A better midfield set who can run and work in unison, collectively hunting the ball and tactically pressuring will immediately make someone like Mainoo look deceptively adult in terms of physical capacity because they'll better mask his current capacity, which is perfectly normal for a teenage midfielder in the chaos and power battles of the PL midfield. This was also why it was a travesty ten Hag did what he did at Newcastle with the kid; two of the most physically powerful and athletic midfielders in the league, who grown men struggle against in direct tussles, and Mainoo against both until he came off the pitch! Not enough is spoken about how epic it was he could even perform in those conditions, let alone still look the part whilst being set up to fail.

 

[Fortitude]

We might struggle to hold onto this guy long term.

If he continues this kind of ridiculous potential and I was in charge of Madrid I’d want to build a midfield around Bellingham and Mainoo.

Same for England I think this guy and Bellingham could finally get England over the line to a major trophy. We finally have someone who is a potential world class playmaker from deep.

England rarely produce these types of footballers.

I’m now worried Mainoo will jump ship for Real or Barcelona.

This will be the elephant in the room before long if we don't buck our ideas up. He is not a player that will need to entertain flailing around outside of the CL places. He's a already a player the 'best' club in the game is trying to entice away and the more he performs, the more tapping up will be done. We'll have to up his contract exponentially to ward off suitors because it won't be run-of-the-mill as he is of the calibre that goes directly to the best clubs in the game. It is the Real, Barca, Munich level straight out the gate, and evidently City for this country, too.

First things first is getting him good partners, but as a club, we need to be back in the fray sooner rather than later because there's no obligation on his behalf to wallow in the limbo we've known for so long when he could legitimately be challenging for titles and playing CL deep into the competition as a bare minimum.

 

[Biggins]

This kid is something else.

 

[yardieUnited]

Could be monster as an box to box midfielder or a deep lying midfielder. Not sure what i want him to be. I was impressed with him, playing as an box to box cm midfielder in the academy

 

[Rojofiam]

Mainoo has rejected City's approach several times over the last few years whilst playing youth level football if I'm not mistaken. I don't think we need to worry about him leaving, unless we still haven't progressed from our current level in ~5 years' time.

I'm more worried about whether we can find an elite level CDM for him and Bruno, before the latter starts declining eventually.