[GueRed]

he looks so much more comfortable when he comes deep and we look a better team for it

feck knows why ten hag keeps insisting he pushes forward, he’s not getting on the ball as much and he isn’t suited to it

Anyone who followed Mainoo through the youth teams would say that one of his strengths is his play around the edge of the opposition's box.

One-Twos, flick-ons, neat touches and final passes.
I think the manager has seen this ability on the training pitch and is now trying to see if the player can replicate it in PL matches....

Unfortunately there weren't many opportunities for Mainoo yesterday because we were forced back and played a quite deep defensive line for a large part of the game.

 

[Tarrou]

Anyone who followed Mainoo through the youth teams would say that one of his strengths is his play around the edge of the opposition's box.

One-Twos, flick-ons, neat touches and final passes.
I think the manager has seen this ability on the training pitch and is now trying to see if the player can replicate it in PL matches....

Unfortunately there weren't many opportunities for Mainoo yesterday because we were forced back and played a quite deep defensive line for a large part of the game.

I'm not referring to play in and around the opposition box though, I'm talking about us progressing the ball from deep. No doubt, he's good at all that stuff when he actually gets on the ball.

He can't get on the ball enough though, he's 18 and doesn't have the positional awareness yet. I'm sure he'll get that but right now it isn't there.

 

[saivet]

With Cas in the team his touch frequency bares a suspicious similarity to the others who have played the non Bruno/DM role this season. Is anyone going to accuse him of hiding from the ball or have we reached the point were the idea that Ten Hag's set up is causing this might be accepted.

Yeah seems more of a structural / instruction based thing as similar criticism was also given to Mount as well.

 

[sincher]

Every game? It’s been 2 hasn’t it? Plus the performance for one of them is as the best performance of the season up until Casemiro gassed

Maybe my imagination but I feel like the same basic problem has applied in a lot of games. In fact one of the things about Mainoo is he has looked to solve the problem. In a lot of the games before that the midfield just stayed wide open.

 

[Bobski]

His low touches has always been there even during under Ole...

Never to the extent that is now typical. Looking at Fbref, and I don't know how reliable they are, but PL passes attempted per 90mins played by McTominay season by season in his Utd career;

2017/18 - 49.6
2018/19 - 47.5
2019/20 - 52.2
2020/21 - 55.7
2021/22 - 47.3
2022/23 - 33.5
2023/24 - 31.5

There are 2 fairly obvious stand out seasons there and they both come under Ten Hag who uses the guy in extremely advanced positions and is clearly not giving him much responsibility in ball progression from deeper areas.

 

[Woziak]

So he stops exactly on his birthday? I was being a little pedantic, I’m sorry.

Listen this kid plus many more coming through give us hope.

 

[Longlivekeano]

Seems like a hybrid between Scholes and Butt. Levels are somewhere in between, but closer to scholesy

 

[reelworld]

I read somewhere (might be here though) that younger players, those whose still physically developing, have longer recovery time from runs and sprints.
So I feel what's been perceived as lack of pace is the fact that since he still very young his recovery ability is not as advance as more physically ready players.

Once his physical attributes catch up with his footballing ability he'll be a monster of a player

 

[RedRocket9908]

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

 

[Ghostrider318]

I hope we are careful with handing out improved contracts to academy prospects who make it to the 1st team.

Last thing we want is to give him a 75k pw contract and it goes to his head.

 

[Vidooq]

Smart move, but lets not put him on 250k per week, PLEASE.

 

[Valencia Shin Crosses]

I hope we are careful with handing out improved contracts to academy prospects who make it to the 1st team.

Last thing we want is to give him a 75k pw contract and it goes to his head.

Pretty standard to give out contracts like this if an academy player is a first team starter.I’d assume it’s not going to be some absurd pay but certainly will reflect his importance as opposed to being on the minimum pro contract he probably is on currently.

 

[lex talionis]

One should always be careful. The duty of care of thrown out the window when we brought in player whom we knew had issues such as Alexis and Pogba, and later Ronaldo. I don't see any such issues with Kobbie Mainoo.

 

[criticalanalysis]

Guessing it's similar to the Garnacho contract that was reported as 'reasonable' and bonus based. Considering Garnacho's form since then, I'd say so far so good.

Can't wait to see ETH give another speech

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/L25zGZfjFzY

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/JEgCtbYEz20

 

[Adamsk7]

I mean he’s currently a starter so it ain’t gonna be like £40k a week or anything like that. I’d say he’s shown similar promise to Garnacho so maybe £60k? With a review in a couple of years? So long as we don’t go 70k+ I think that’s fair. There are far worse players on far more in our squad.

I wonder what Amrabat gets?!

 

[Fortitude]

It's nice to wish we will keep him grounded via decent, incremental wage upgrades, but his talent and the demand for him by other clubs will dictate the packages we offer; he is born and bred United, but his agent wouldn't be doing his job if he doesn't have us paying the competitive rate for his service.

In other words, if Mainoo keeps on making waves, he's going to be a big earner before long.

What we don't to be doing is paying him above and beyond prematurely, Woodward style

 

[Ali Dia]

I mean he’s currently a starter so it ain’t gonna be like £40k a week or anything like that. I’d say he’s shown similar promise to Garnacho so maybe £60k? With a review in a couple of years? So long as we don’t go 70k+ I think that’s fair. There are far worse players on far more in our squad.

I wonder what Amrabat gets?!

The mad thing is players like Williams will probably be on more. We are richer now than we’ve ever been and we are finally lowering wages back into something to aspire towards. I would have given the likes of Bellingham or Greenwood 100k week and that’s for absolute top level break out talent. Mainoo will be on that or more by the end of next season if he keeps this up.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Just don’t go overboard please.

 

[Valencia Shin Crosses]

It's nice to wish we will keep him grounded via decent, incremental wage upgrades, but his talent and the demand for him by other clubs will dictate the packages we offer; he is born and bred United, but his agent wouldn't be doing his job if he doesn't have us paying the competitive rate for his service.

In other words, if Mainoo keeps on making waves, he's going to be a big earner before long.

What we don't to be doing is paying him above and beyond prematurely, Woodward style

Agree, it’s not like we can afford to keep him on miniscule wages while he’s one of the first names on the team sheet every week.

And there’s a nice middle ground between comfortably improving a contract and putting a teenager on Rolls Royce wages instantly.

 

[RedRonaldo]

I hope we are careful with handing out improved contracts to academy prospects who make it to the 1st team.

Last thing we want is to give him a 75k pw contract and it goes to his head.

Still need to award them with better contract if they do perform, otherwise they would want to leave if being seriously underpaid for long.

He is on currently on around 10k I think, so probably a pay rise to 50-70k would be about right as compared to other average PL first team players.

 

[RedRonaldo]

The mad thing is players like Williams will probably be on more. We are richer now than we’ve ever been and we are finally lowering wages back into something to aspire towards. I would have given the likes of Bellingham or Greenwood 100k week and that’s for absolute top level break out talent. Mainoo will be on that or more by the end of next season if he keeps this up.

Bellingham is on 350k+ a week at Real Madrid.

 

[TheReligion]

I mean he’s currently a starter so it ain’t gonna be like £40k a week or anything like that. I’d say he’s shown similar promise to Garnacho so maybe £60k? With a review in a couple of years? So long as we don’t go 70k+ I think that’s fair. There are far worse players on far more in our squad.

I wonder what Amrabat gets?!

Amrabat is on loan

 

[Ali Dia]

Bellingham is on 350k+ a week at Real Madrid.

He was supposedly on 65-70 when Dortmund signed him and we apparently wouldn’t match it. He’d also broken out ages before Madrid signed him.

 

[Fortitude]

Agree, it’s not like we can afford to keep him on miniscule wages while he’s one of the first names on the team sheet every week.

And there’s a nice middle ground between comfortably improving a contract and putting a teenager on Rolls Royce wages instantly.

Unlike the vast number of players we've given stupid pay bumps to, Mainoo's driver is likely to be pushed from outside the club, by what those tapping him up are proposing; we're going to have to remain competitive and that'll pretty much be that, I think. What we don't need to be doing is the extra, the Woodward special, but outside of that, I think he'll quite rapidly go up the pay grade in line with his importance and significance to the team.

 

[Valencia Shin Crosses]

Unlike the vast number of players we've given stupid pay bumps to, Mainoo's driver is likely to be pushed from outside the club, by what those tapping him up are proposing; we're going to have to remain competitive and that'll pretty much be that, I think. What we don't need to be doing is the extra, the Woodward special, but outside of that, I think he'll quite rapidly go up the pay grade in line with his importance and significance to the team.

Yeah I think with INEOS and the smart hires they are making i feel confident that our days of the Woodward pay structure are in the past

 

[Jeppers7]

Important that we improve his contract. He’s already one of our best midfielders.

 

[SAFMUTD]

Hopefully its a reasonable deal with a lot of add ons based on performances. You can ruin a youngsters career very easily if not managed properly, more talented players have gone to waste.

 

[RedIan]

Thought he had a quiet game, not quite at the races first half.

 

[Tony247]

He is not a DM to sit deep but he has got tremendous skill to bring ball out of tight spaces. Sometimes I feel he should be playing 10 behind Hojlund. This kid can make things happen.

 

[2 man midfield]

Thought he did ok today, not sure where the criticism is coming from. There was a huge gap in the centre, but I’d put that on Casemiro before Mainoo.

 

[Bobski]

The pace of the game was too much for him in certain moments, people have consistently said that his recovery runs can be a struggle, and I think that is true, he is just not physically ready yet to cover the ground in this wide open style that Ten Hag prefers, asking too much from him.

However he is exceptional on the ball with his composure and ability to play out of trouble, when it slows he excels.

 

[massey]

The game was a bit too fast paced for him but he had good moments and is our best player in tight situations some of his quick feet passing and finding angles is class and that ball to Fernandes was nearly a great one if just a bit lighter.

 

[pascell]

His lack of pace is worrying, too many times a runner from CM for Villa got away from him.

 

[Jeppers7]

Fabulous young player.

 

[Lentwood]

Ridiculous

 

[Alemar]

In the first half, he was quite poor, as was Casemiro. But in the second both were better. And to be frank, it was difficult opposition for Mainoo in the middle of the park, so good experience

 

[Dan_F]

Thought he did ok today, not sure where the criticism is coming from. There was a huge gap in the centre, but I’d put that on Casemiro before Mainoo.

Isn’t it the tactics? We’ve had so many midfield combinations and it’s always the same. The starting position of the second midfielder always seems 5 yards higher than it needs to be.

 

[Tony247]

His lack of pace is worrying, too many times a runner from CM for Villa got away from him.

He doesn't have pace, it is evident. That would limit his ability to counter or backtrack. Where he excels is control and pass. ETH needs to find a suitable position for his strengths.

 

[Teja]

I think on the ball he was fine. For whatever reason we didn't give him the ball much.

Defensively the whole midfield seemed overrun. It got better when dalot started stepping into the middle in the second half but really out matched physically.

 

[3KDré]

Not a great game, kept losing Ramsey. Lots of their chances were created in his area.