Quick question; will you sell Mainoo if it means we can go big on Stiller and Baleba right now?
Kobbie Mainoo
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In the latest edition of the United Hour Podcast, we interview Duncan Drasdo of MUST - covering ticket prices, new stadium, INEOS and what fans should be demanding from our club.
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I don’t play that game honestly
Indeed, easy to forget. Not too many midfielders out there better than him at his age tbf. Gavi, Joao Neves, Zaire Emery are a few names that stands out but he is surely up there. Most important thing now is to let him grow at his own pace.
I agree, but suspect Amorin after the poor showing last season is not going along with that, he wants to start building now, with the players he brought in getting priority. If Kobbie can match that with is development and change of style great, if not then he will probably be used to raise more cash.
For me that most significant thing Amorin said at the end of last season was that if the club wanted him to leave, he would go and without compensation, "but I am not quitting". Ruben is a young manager hungry for success... his way; he wants players who can match his expectations ... now!
I'm pretty sure Mainoo played a part in every match he was fit for after Amorim arrived, the manager obviously appreciates him. He was often used as a 10 or up front when injuries were bad. However, he had some success playing in a 2 with Ugarte.
I think he'll be fine and people are panicking for no reason. He's in direct competition with Bruno in that midfield right now, which is why links to players like Baleba made sense (and links to players like Stiller make no sense at all) so will have to show he can start ahead of him at some point, but in my opinion they're looking at him to be the long term successor in that position.
It's all in Mainoo's hands though. He needs to keep working hard and improving, but he'll get his chances. The outcry after one game is quite pathetic.
No
Link to Baleba still make no sense for Mainoo's development this year. Amorim will play his expensive buy as many as he can, thus push down Mainoo in picking order. Bruno - Baleba would be starters, with Case sub in for Baleba or Bruno. Amorim was even name-dropped Mount as CM, if necessary. Where I think "necessary" means when chasing goals.
Imho, if we get Baleba this season, in only limited circumstances that Amorim will partner Baleba with Mainoo, as both are still very young. Baleba would be partnered with more experienced/older players.
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I am sure the club is now the ones holding the narrative, as it needs to be. The head coach can express his desire for this and that but the decisions will be with the management. Kobbie is surely not a problem for Amorims desire to compete quickly, so doubt he is going anywhere for the near future. The club has to find financial stability in other ways then selling our most promising academy player.
That's true but if we get another cm, his opportunities will become fewer.
He might not be stopping amorim, but selling him might speed up amorim to get us where he wants.
Me too. Selling Mainoo and keeping Bruno would be the exact opposite of building a team for the future.
I would sell Bruno now, buy a competent keeper and see how Mainoo and co do. If we can get Baleba or Wharton at sensible prices excellent.
How many goals does Bruno cost us in midfield? You are talking as if he is making 4/5 mistakes a game and Kobbie makes none?
Kobbie makes mistakes too and he does not having the passing range, athleticism of Bruno.
Kobbie is good in tight spaces but he is mainly good at passing 5-15 yard passes, he is not a creative player/
He should be loaned out this season. Love the kid, but he needs to play, and his role this season is Bruno depth. So being honest, he basically won't play. Normally there are enough games to go around, this season there won't be. I'd rather loan him out, develop more, rather than him getting FA Cup and Carabao Cup minutes with the odd league sub appearance.
I still think he is a real talent. There was a reason why he was parachuted into the England lineup to help fix their midfield issues, having only made his senior debut 7 months prior. As a long-time caf lurker, it is my opinion that he is judged too harshly on here at times. It is tough for a young footballer to adapt to playing in a midfield 2, especially when that team is losing most weeks. Hopefully Amorim gives him a run of games soon. It would be a huge shame to see his development get stunted for another season. Exciting academy lads like him are what Manchester United are all about.
Spot on.
I was disappointed he didn’t come on instead of Ugarte against Arsenal. But the thing which concerns me with Mainoo is that he looked to be the only player in our squad who didn’t improve significantly from a fitness/intensity perspective during preseason. It doesn’t matter how much talent you have if you’re a wet lettuce in the middle of the park.
Yeah he's obviously talented he can be an important player for us for a long time. There are a lot he'll need to add to his game to achieve this though.
First he needs to figure out what kind of midfielder he really wants to be. If he's a deep lying playmaker then he really needs to get the ball a lot more often and make more passes, deep lying playmakers make a lot more passes per game than Mainoo does, they also have a wide range of passes than he's showing so far, he really needs to improve his medium to long range passing.
If he wants to be box to box midfielder (I don't think he has the running power for this role) somehow he'll need to become better at getting back after getting forward, this is basically half the job and he struggles with that when he does ventures forward and also improve his g/a.
If he's going to play as an advance midfielder he would really need to significantly improve his ability to play line breaking passes and he'll need to score much more regularly. Also he'll need to get better at pressing as that is very crucial in the modern game.
At this point in time he's a talent still learning his craft, there shouldn't be pressure on the manager to play him at the expense of the team performance and result, he's going to get game time from time to time. It's up to Mainoo to work on his game and force the manager to play him more often.
I think we should be proactive in that way. A year on the bench and he will be asking to leave next summer. Send him to a team that suits the way he plays.
He should be adapting to the way we play.
If we signed Baleba . Mainoo would shine. He is struggling for game time because of Bruno dropping back. He is still young, talented. Needs a bit of work off the ball. A potential international player. Look well he did for England
In a way it's probably not the worst that Mainoo actually has to fight for his place.
Pretty much agree.
I already posted this summer about Mainoo and how fans must try to keep their senses.
Midfielders aren’t usually fixed in a position or role before 24-25, it’s a position that requires maturity.
We are creating our own problems by judging that Mainoo should be this or that or hasn’t improved.
The kid showed huge talent, played for England in an international tournament and we are already trying to say he’s not good enough or should be shipped.
We never protect our youngsters and then we wonder why they don’t turn out good. We shouldn’t expect a midfielder that just turned 20yo to be running our midfield and put him in the spotlight. Give him time to develop, I’d even say it’s good to build his hunger by not playing him all the time
Well it's not like they go to another club and they are much better.
Would seem a bit mad to do that when Baleba and Mainoo in a two together on paper looks like a top midfield.
It’s no surprise if we dont handle and prepare them well. It’s also not like United’s academy has historically been the biggest provider of PL players.
To each his own, if churning out academy players because they’re not mainstays at 20 is the way to go like Chelsea, then maybe I’m old fashioned for believing young players should be protected
It's always good to fight for his place, and his place in the squad would be fine in a normal season. But no European football means someone like him just won't get anywhere near the game time he needs. He's competing with Bruno for the spot in midfield. Barring a big injury that pushes Bruno out of midfield, he's not getting in ahead of him for any league game.
League Cup and FA Cup games aren't enough for Mainoo.
Simple fact is he is not good enough.
Midfield at the moment is one of the worst areas on the pitch for United. You have Bruno who is playing out of position there and Casemiro who is out of the door at the end of the season at the twilight of his career. You also have Ugarte who turned out to be massive flop and fell out of favor as well.
Mainoo can't even get a sniff at getting playtime in this conditions. How can we expect for things to get better when midfield reinforcements arrive in the ilk of Baleba, Wharton or Stiller?
Thank god the club did not hand him a moronic contract during ETH tenure. Get rid while he still has value.
Midfield at the moment is one of the worst areas on the pitch for United. You have Bruno who is playing out of position there and Casemiro who is out of the door at the end of the season at the twilight of his career. You also have Ugarte who turned out to be massive flop and fell out of favor as well.
Mainoo can't even get a sniff at getting playtime in this conditions. How can we expect for things to get better when midfield reinforcements arrive in the ilk of Baleba, Wharton or Stiller?
Thank god the club did not hand him a moronic contract during ETH tenure. Get rid while he still has value.
We need to fix his contract situation. We need to show him he is in our long term plans, but he can’t demand a top salary because he hasn’t backed it up with performances. He’s a developing young player.
Now the question of where he fits best in Amorim’s plan?
I’d say he should be the 6, because he has the press resistance to progress the ball. He also can do playmaking further up the pitch in this role.
He can also play in the 10 position, but is more a player that knits things together than has presence in the box. He does have close dribbling ability that can see him create a shot for himself or others, but lacks the power that Mbeumo and Cunha have.
The manager has to find the best use of him. I don’t think binning him off is right, he’s too talented.
His greatest asset is facilitating play, like a mini Seedorf, and that should be utilized to make players around him better.
Contrary to what one reads on here, Mainoo has a high workrate and can play in midfield.
Now the question of where he fits best in Amorim’s plan?
I’d say he should be the 6, because he has the press resistance to progress the ball. He also can do playmaking further up the pitch in this role.
He can also play in the 10 position, but is more a player that knits things together than has presence in the box. He does have close dribbling ability that can see him create a shot for himself or others, but lacks the power that Mbeumo and Cunha have.
The manager has to find the best use of him. I don’t think binning him off is right, he’s too talented.
His greatest asset is facilitating play, like a mini Seedorf, and that should be utilized to make players around him better.
Contrary to what one reads on here, Mainoo has a high workrate and can play in midfield.
Is Mainoo injured - he is not in the squad at all for Fulham and I cannot see any comments on why
He is according to livescore
The treatment of Mainoo is baffling when you consider how awful our midfield actually is. Casemiro can't run, Ugarte is a foul machine who can't pass under pressure and Bruno/Mount are far better further up the pitch.
Technically gifted footballer but can he make himself a presence in the air from long throw-ins though? If not, bring on 2 CBs when we're chasing a goal instead. The Amorim way.
We're gonna fecking ruin the kid and in 6 months, we'll start seeing leaked stories from the club about his attitude.
Needs to put in a transfer request as soon as possible he is wasting his career sitting on the bench here
Absolutely insane from Amorim. Insane.
Nah. He’ll outlast this manager.
Sigh. A tad worrying
Don’t get Amorim here. Heaven & maguire are going to accomplish what exactly when it’s 1-1 at crave cottage?
Amorim is just a head coach in this setup so it may be not necessarily just him keeping Mainoo from playing.
If he’s playing up asking for a ridiculous wage on a new contract then that’s fine. We don’t need a player out on the pitch who’s currently being a pain in the ass off it. Last thing we need is another one of our academy kids on a juicy new contract only to then phone it in at best performance wise and then we’re stuck trying to sell him.
If he’s playing up asking for a ridiculous wage on a new contract then that’s fine. We don’t need a player out on the pitch who’s currently being a pain in the ass off it. Last thing we need is another one of our academy kids on a juicy new contract only to then phone it in at best performance wise and then we’re stuck trying to sell him.
Amorim will be gone before long and Mainoo will get his chance in a 3 man midfield.
If Amorim does stay for a while I'd quite like it if Mainoo left just so I could actually watch him play every week. I love watching him on the ball.