Kobbie Mainoo | 2026/27 Performances
- Thread starter MyOnlySolskjaer
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Zidane lost to Karlsruhe when he was Mainoo's age!
A stellar performance from him. Still buzzing and can’t wait to see him play again.
Somehow people still manage to sneak in a ”keep your enthusiasm down please sir, he is still no Zidane”
Just so they can sneak in a ”told you so ”when he has a below average game one day. Soooo important to never really be excited and happy about anything. Yikes
Somehow people still manage to sneak in a ”keep your enthusiasm down please sir, he is still no Zidane”
Just so they can sneak in a ”told you so ”when he has a below average game one day. Soooo important to never really be excited and happy about anything. Yikes
A 6/10 according to the BBC. Crazy.
Bloody hell Jeff. This is a car crash of a post, especially given the timing and the performance Mainoo put in yesterday.
Mainoo is 21. Of course he’s still developing his game, especially after last season which I’m sure was really challenging for him given he needs to be playing regularly. Despite that he’s already shown he can deliver against top teams and at the highest level. It seems you have a short memory.
Consistency will come and if we find him a regular partner in a settled set up then that will obviously help.
No one thinks he’s the finished article. Who would be at 21? Obviously he’s home grown and from the academy. He cost the club nothing. Is it any wonder that United and its fanbase are extremely excited and proud given the history we have of giving young players opportunities and developing pathways.
He can be United's Modrić. Its criminal Tuchel didnt give him a single minute at WC but good for United.
I'd say pirlo became prime pirlo at the young age of 32 but yeah same page
Wasnt modric playing for Tott at around 25-26 also?
All i'm trying to say is i cant think of too many 21 year old players who dominated the midfield position. When did Roy Keane / Scholes become stars?
There will never be another Zidane and Mainoo will never be a Pirlo who was a completely different player with a different sort of skill set, but that was quite a Modric-esque performance yesterday in my eyes.
Is there any talk in "the papers" about Mainoo? He has a standout performance yesterday, not only very good for his level but also he does things most other players can't even do.
I’m surprised no one’s come in with an 100m bid for him yet. Not saying I want us to sell him obviously. He’s untouchable. But you see all these average midfielders going for ridiculous money and we have a world class young midfielder on our hands
Typical Simon Stone article. He has the scoop in terms of news but anything analytical about us is always negative (minus Bruno who he absolutely loves and Rashford, randomly).
Kobbie is something else man. Really pissed off that Amorim didn't even consider him and the board was ready to sell him for 30-40m. The kid and yes, he's a kid still is special. Baleba-Kobbie might be the PL Midfield duo that brings energy, composure and tenacity in that midfield. Really happy that Carrick also praised him publicly, deserves it.
I thought he had an ordinary first half, not taking enough risks, not agressive enough, the whole midfield were not at it first half. Then the second half he was brilliant, if he can play consistently close to that level we have a top player on our hands.
I think there was a period where he might have had some small injury issues that reduced his mobility. Because in his first season he was extremely agile dribbling. After that till during Carrick's time here he didnt seem to be able to make such quick movements to protect the ball and keep it under pressure. He relied more on strength. But then there were 3 or 4 games at the end of last season where he was back to unbelievable dribbling out of situations with quick movements that could have ended in a couple of wonder goals - very close to going into that special player category. Despite having less preseason than most of his teammates, day 1 he was again able to show that he has good agility.
Is he slightly faster as well? Maybe. Its impossible to check with the eye. And everyone is moving slower in the early weeks of the season than their max speeds last season because of fitness and having less sprints to show off their top speed. But so far hes faster than Santos and Tielemans and 42nd top speed for a "midfielder" as categorised by fotmob out of 74 players, so in the middle of the pack and not one of the slower midfielders in the league like people were suggesting previously. And 7th out of midfielders from Arsenal, Aston Villa, Chelsea, Liverpool, City and United - right behind Anderson who has only been a tiny bit faster so far. So there certainly isnt a big gap
I've always said I find it so strange that with Kobbie there's an irrational amount of focus on what he can't do rather than actually talking what he can do. The things that he's good at, he's the best at in the team and with him being 21 there is so much space for improvement in his weaker areas.
Amorim's era toxicity contributed to this type of thinking. One of the stranger criticism is his lack of progressive passing. Sure he might not be the best at it presently but for someone with his technical ability, it's such an easy area to develop, the same with his long passing. You can already see him attempting more of these since Carrick has been here and to repeat his age, he's 21 so the scope for improvement is huge.
What he does bring in terms his composure, short passing moves, strength on ball and dribbles is so important to this team.
Amorim's era toxicity contributed to this type of thinking. One of the stranger criticism is his lack of progressive passing. Sure he might not be the best at it presently but for someone with his technical ability, it's such an easy area to develop, the same with his long passing. You can already see him attempting more of these since Carrick has been here and to repeat his age, he's 21 so the scope for improvement is huge.
What he does bring in terms his composure, short passing moves, strength on ball and dribbles is so important to this team.
No they wouldn't have. There were some terrible sources saying that we might be willing to sell, but even they said it would take £70-80m. If he was actually available for £40-50m he obviously wouldn't still be here as there would have been dozens of clubs willing to pay that.
From memory any decent source that commented on it said there was no interest in selling him, except in the sense that we'd listen to offers for any player in the squad in case some exceptional offer came in.
Now if we hadn't fired Amorim and he'd continued on until the end of the season and been given this season as well, then there would have been a worry we'd have sold him this window. Mainoo would have just had a full season of barely playing and with us backing the manager that obviously wasn't going to change that, there would have been a real risk of us looking to sell now. Especially as Mainoo wouldn't have signed the new contract in that case, meaning he would only have one season left. But that's a bunch of if's and maybe's.
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Yeah we were laughing at that last night. He made it look like his absence from the teamsheet was why we lost at Hull.
The simple control he offers with those repeated short passes... he makes angles for them that other players don't, so he makes it look simple. Like Naseem Hamed throwing punches from weird angles, Kobbie plays simple passes.
Perhaps his genius is just too subtle for some. I love Kobbie and the control we have when he plays. England missed that.
Thank you.
That does not mean he isn't good or that I (or anyone else..) dislikes him. It's just a realistic post.
Comparisons to Modric and Pirlo? Why heap such accolades on a v young, emerging player.
Mainoo is similar to Sesko imo. Both are v young, talented, at Manchester United with much expectation. But we await to see their personality develop... both seem timid to me and that will need to change at Manchester United.
Kobie Mainoo is now a footballing genius.
Why are fans saying such things?
This just increases unrealistic expectations.
I was getting my head chewed off in the match day thread for criticising him at second half, but it's all opinions. I always liked Mainoo but I just thought in the first half he (and many of his teammates) were not at the required standard.
Same people will say Rice or Anderson are worth their fees because they run around a lot and make forward passes from time to time
I think the best thing for Kobbie at the moment is the return of Rashford. All the analysis and focus is on Marcus and his circus, so Kobbie is free to just play his game and be quietly brilliant. Thought he had a cracking game.
I am, and have been, consistently, stating that Declan Rice is good, v good at times, however he is highly overrated and I stand by this.
I think Eliot Anderson is a v v good young player. He is someone who wants to do stuff, he isn't passive.
Thing is, I actually think the way Tuchel and now Maresca play Anderson, do not get the best out of him. Anderson can do all those, what I consider to be basics for a Premier League midfielder.. take the ball, make himself a yard and pass it 10 yards. I personally (and unlike some on here..) do not think this makes you some incredible talent, but that's just my opinion. I watched Anderson at Forest and he can sit, play box-to-box, play advanced... he takes corners, free-kickd, supported his forwards, and really, consistently pushed Forest forward. I like midfielders like this. Anderson is a great young talent, he has immediately established himself as England's first choice midfielder. I commend him for that.
I could agree if you showed the same nuance and leniency with Mainoo.
But if you have such high standards, where Mainoo needs to « impose himself on the game », then Rice or Anderson don’t need excuses to get the best out of them if they’re so good already.
I would have largely agreed with much of this...back in March. However it seems slightly outdated, as Mainoo HAS been the best player on the park in the majority of the games since then. Pretty sure I've given him MotM in five of his last six starts, and that's because he has started doing all the things that you say he needs to be doing in terms of influencing and dictating the games (which was the exact same 'criticisms' I had before that as well).
Now it is still a fairly small sample size so only time will tell whether this is the new normal or if it's just a good patch. But as much as I agree he shouldn't be hyped up to a level his performances don't warrant (something that some people were doing), I also think it's only fair to give him credit when he actually is performing to the level that we want him to do. Sure we obviously hope that he improves even further as time goes on, but the end of last season and now start of this season is showing very good signs of him doing just that.
Oh, and he's regularly had some of his best matches against top teams so that seems a bit of a strange one. If you're expecting him to dominate possession in those games that's unrealistic, as we don't set the team up to do that in those games.
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That's my boyyyy!
Saw that, absolutely ridiculous.
More than competition I'm glad they are here to give him some help and rest.
Has there been any comment about any injury? Seemed to signal to the bench a few times before actually going off.
He's becoming as vital to the team as Bruno.
Carrick has lost three games since taking over. Newcastle was 1-1 at the point he was subbed off, he missed the Leeds defeat and then Hull where he didn't come on until midway through the 2nd half.
Carrick has lost three games since taking over. Newcastle was 1-1 at the point he was subbed off, he missed the Leeds defeat and then Hull where he didn't come on until midway through the 2nd half.
If he continues like this he'll eventually be captain.
They alluded to it many times on TOTD, that he would have in fact be sold if a suitable offer came, I remember Laurie saying that was around 50 million.
Just need to accept that some people don't understand football. No amount of arguing can fix that.
The sort of game that if Moussa Dembele played would be hyped up by everyone. I think he can become a world class 6 at this rate because his duel win rate and strength is utterly ridiculous.
I’ve criticised Kobbie a lot over the last 18mths as I didn’t think he was improving or doing what he needed to be doing for the team but his performance against Ipswich I thought was very very good.
It wasn’t just his usual close control and short passing that stood out but more the aggression he was showing in winning the second balls, that’s what I’ve wanted to see more off as that’s what’s we lack.
Along with that he was also looking to progress the ball forward, the ball through to Cunha for the penalty, let alone the control of the ball to skip through 2 challenges was superb.
Hopefully this becomes his standard and he really pushes on this season.
It wasn’t just his usual close control and short passing that stood out but more the aggression he was showing in winning the second balls, that’s what I’ve wanted to see more off as that’s what’s we lack.
Along with that he was also looking to progress the ball forward, the ball through to Cunha for the penalty, let alone the control of the ball to skip through 2 challenges was superb.
Hopefully this becomes his standard and he really pushes on this season.
He was imposing himself on games and contributing off the ball last season, too. Today was no different. Super talent.
Yet, Liverpool were praised for earning a point against Forrest
But like I mentioned in another thread, it's all sooo much easier to take when United win, even more so after a 5-1 victory.
Love the hate