His flaws are less exposed the futher up the pitch he is. Still don't fancy him in games where we will have little of the ball, he can't cover the ground because he moves like he's in treacle.
37
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Definitely better in a more advanced position.
Been saying we should try him further forward for ages, had a great game.
What a player this boy is going to be
It is like he is almost forcing the trade between Zirkzee and Douglas Luiz. Clearly left the midfield in order to move for the 10 position. Very nice to see.
Wouldn't mind seeing a front 7 like this against Palace;
Amad - Ugarte - Collyer - Garnacho
----------- Mainoo - Bruno
----------------- Striker
Let's see how that works.
Amad - Ugarte - Collyer - Garnacho
----------- Mainoo - Bruno
----------------- Striker
Let's see how that works.
Has to be converted into a AM
Bruno in midfield is key as nobody else has his passing range, and amorim always uses 1 playmaker
Not a good passer 
One thing about playing him in an advanced role is just the ball retention. He's better at it than anyone we have and there's no way you want to play possession football and not have your advanced players keep the ball and pass it around a bit. He and Amad bring this element and it's essential.
Great, great footballer. His football intelligence for a 19 year old is completely off the chart. The way he watches the play and times his runs are so clever.
Personally prefer him a bit deeper but Ruben Amorim is clearly trying a few different things to see what works in his system and the only two players that offer the exact combinations of close control, passing ability, work rate and cleverness are Mainoo and Diallo.
Still the shining light on a struggling team, and whatever happens he's going to be important going forward into the latter stages of the Europa League and next season.
Personally prefer him a bit deeper but Ruben Amorim is clearly trying a few different things to see what works in his system and the only two players that offer the exact combinations of close control, passing ability, work rate and cleverness are Mainoo and Diallo.
Still the shining light on a struggling team, and whatever happens he's going to be important going forward into the latter stages of the Europa League and next season.
I didn’t realise this was his first start in Europe. He started a major international tournament before starting a Europa League group stage game!
Bruno is better deeper, he isn't good enough in close spaces.
I’d like to see this experiment continue with him playing further forward. Ugarte, Collyer and Bruno could all cover the position behind.
His ability to play in tight spaces and keep the ball under pressure is very good. He also showed last night he can make the right runs at the right times.
His ability to play in tight spaces and keep the ball under pressure is very good. He also showed last night he can make the right runs at the right times.
I think it's obviously in our best interest to get both Mainoo and Fernandes in the lineup and functioning, and this is the way to do it. I like Kobbie deeper but am no longer keen on seeing Bruno in an advanced position - he's much better in centre mid.
Amorim said he's starting to see Mainoo more effective higher up the pitch than as a CM in his system. Interesting to see how he utilises him from now on.
It’s been obvious from the start that Mainoo would work best as one of the two 10s
Still can’t believe he’s only 19. The strength and athleticism will develop over the next few years, what a player we’ll (hopefully) have then.
These are sort of posts we were getting a few weeks back on a 19 year old in his second full season.
Why dont fans have patience with players anymore?
I'm not sure they ever had, there just wasn't an online outlet to vent all that nonsense
I think when you put him in that position it causes all sorts of problem for the opponents naturally. He's good at tight spaces, quick thinking, and capable of releasing quick, accurate passes. Simply a nightmare to play against in that position. The best AMs are rarely a physical specimen, they're very intelligent players who catch defenders off guard with brilliant touches and passes. Let him play there and let others play deeper. Including Bruno. I think he fits that profile more than a CM who sits deep.
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Agreed. It’s fairly common for young players to start further forward and work back into midfield with age. Just because he might get some games there, doesn’t mean he won’t develop into a central midfielder.
His best performance of the season by a country mile and reminded me of last year's Mainoo. Infield 10 is the positon that he fits best in this set up and the position that I hope he is deployed in going forward.
Clearly he is best in that position, and it was a good performance. I'd still love to see him replicate it in a Premier League game, where the intensity and physical attributes of the opposition are just better. Still think he has to improve on that aspect, even for the CAM position. But his technical skillset is much more suited to that position than CDM - seems like it's clear to Amorim.
Definitely one of those things fans have clocked before highly paid managers.
Paul Scholes in his early days started there too. Younger CM's who like to attack are harder to coach in the defensive role. We have seen in the last 12 months where Kobbie has not been as involved in games.
I like how Amorim says it, he mentioned how Kobbie struggled defensively and that he doesn't have time in training to try out players in different positions, now we have had more training sessions, you can see he is trying players in different positions.
Yesterday was the first time we saw 2 cut back goals, which is Amorim's vision.
Good game yesterday. Regardless of what position he’s going to play, he needs to work hard on his conditioning. I’m a little bit worried that he hasn’t improved in that area since breaking through. Either the coaching staff hasn’t prioritised it (which would be an indictment of them) or he’s simply too physically limited (which would be worst case scenario).
Kobbie and Amad should be our starting 10s for the rest of the season.
He played the full 90 mins, which is a good start. Without looking, that feels like the first time in quite a while.
As others have said earlier, ideally he's the third man in a three-man midfield as opposed to an out-and-out number 10, in my view anyway. Obviously nowhere near Iniesta level yet, but that's the sort of role that appears ideal. Ideally, I think he's more suited to La Liga than the Premier League.
But in Amorim's system he's clearly more suitable as one of the tens as opposed to one of a middle two. With him as one of two in the middle, you just end up getting dominated in there. Not sure, how rigid Amorim's system is, but you'd think there'd be flexibility to enable one of the 10s (preferably a Mainoo or Bruno) to drop into midfield quite often to create more of a 3-5-2 system.
His lack of dynamism is not so critical as one of the tens, though Amorim's system demands a whole stack of running/mobility so he'll still need to work on that issue in the coming months.
Might be harder for him to get into England line-up as a ten though as there's plenty of options for Tuchel in that position.
But in Amorim's system he's clearly more suitable as one of the tens as opposed to one of a middle two. With him as one of two in the middle, you just end up getting dominated in there. Not sure, how rigid Amorim's system is, but you'd think there'd be flexibility to enable one of the 10s (preferably a Mainoo or Bruno) to drop into midfield quite often to create more of a 3-5-2 system.
His lack of dynamism is not so critical as one of the tens, though Amorim's system demands a whole stack of running/mobility so he'll still need to work on that issue in the coming months.
Might be harder for him to get into England line-up as a ten though as there's plenty of options for Tuchel in that position.
Whilst I believe he is a great talent and that strength will improve, I doubt he will become much faster or more athletic. He just does not seem to have it in him but still early days
100%, he is also a goal threat too.
It would probably have happened sooner if we had more CMs to pick from. Eriksen and Casemiro can only really play if we're dominating, so then you're left with Ugarte, Mainoo, Bruno and Collyer. Where Bruno has generally played further forward and Collyer is inexperienced.
The 10 suits him on the ball because Kobbie can receive the ball back to goal, How many times did Bruno speed up play into his feet and got the return on a one two?
That is how we have to break teams down, the quick passing and movement, with Amad as a wing back, I think they can link up really well as they are both good in tight spaces.
This gives Bruno the opportunity also when teams high press to find the ball in behind, it just gives us different weapons in attack.
I dont understand this... he has come out saying why he didn't earlier. Ruben came in and Kobbie was recovering, he was starting in the CM most games.
Amorim in his presser has said, he has not had enough time to find out the best position for players, which is why we see rotations, he is trying to find players positions.
In the last few weeks, we have had 1 week training sessions and you can see, Bruno is further back, Eriksen and Kobbie now starting as the 10's.
When Garnacho starts he inverts to the wing back because it suits him. I think we will see a better Manutd in the next month, we have 2 weeks of training coming soon.
This might be one of the good examples of why fans should not just assume managers/pundits etc. know best. The caf has some awful takes but Mainoo's skillset being much more useful in the advanced role was called super early, same on how mental it was to start Case/Eriksen vs Newcastle. We need a representative in the dugout!
His skillset is so much more suited to that CAM role, especially if given licence to roam. As others have pointed out, him at left CAM and Bruno behind him can allow the 2 to interchange giving us more movement. He has the quick feet to play the position. Just needs to get a bit quicker. It was only against a weak European team but Amorim should be seeing if he can convert him into that role for the rest of the season. Having two options there in terms of Garnacho and Mainoo would be interesting if Garnacho stays.
Whilst I agree the opposition wasnt the best, how many times have we struggled away from home, regardless of opponent?
It was one of the best halves I have seen us play in a long time, where you just felt, yep, a goal is coming, we attacked and created multiple chances.
This has to now be taken into our PL games, see if we can do replicate it.
To be fair there were more people who said it wasn't his role and questioned whether he was good enough to play for United.
Redcafe is generally much better than Reddit though, who basically downvote you for saying anything other than positive nonsense.
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