Do the Red Devils really currently have 66.6 million followers?! That’s too perfect
Kobbie Mainoo
- Thread starter VP89
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Do the Red Devils really currently have 66.6 million followers?! That’s too perfect
My point is « losing the midfield battle » is such a loose term it can mean anything.
Would you say Eliott Anderson wins midfield battles when his team sits just above relegation zone? Or that we are 1st in the League since Carrick took over in spite of having such a bad midfield?
It is a lose term, but it clearly can't mean anything.
No forest doesn't win many midfield battles, loses a clear majority of them.
And yes, our results are in spite of our midfield, that's why we are over performing.
Then by your own standards, we should also be very wary of Anderson or of any midfielder that is not playing for a team with 70% duels won and 60% possession all the time.
I would 100 percent not play him with Mainoo, I think that would not work.
"70% duels won and 60% possession all the time" nice strawman.
Then please explain your point.
You use the vague argument of losing the midfield battle to depreciate Mainoo, which if it’s not about possession and duels, then what’s it about?
You could’ve rightfully argued he still needs to develop his passing range or mobility, but losing the midfield battle doesn’t mean much
Possession is obviously part of it, but I didn't say "60%" nor did I say "all the time".
You need to look at the space control, how far up the pitch the midfield is able to get. How easily our opponents attack past our midfield, how much creativity comes from our midfield.
It's no good that our midfielders rarely support our attackers, or that our opponents breeze past our midfield so often, or that we get pinned back so often.
You can get amazing defensive stats when sat right in front of our defence in our own half.
The midfield will be impacted by the defensive line that Maguire takes. That our forwards aren’t pressing monsters. That our team doesn’t press effectively. That Bruno perhaps whilst being a goat in his position is a different profile from many teams 3rd midfielder.
All the while Kobie continues to impress
Basically all you listed has much more to do with how the team is setup rather than Mainoo’s individual qualities.
Sure, his qualities and shortcomings influence the way we are setup, but he’s clearly having a very good second half of the season. Dismissing his performance because of the way we play is quite unfair imo
Well we have had that excuse for a long time now.
The worst part of our pressing is the midfield though.
Maybe because there’s too big a gap between the back four and the front three, rather than Mainoo causing the problem.
And we’re essentially deploying him and Case as a double 6 without the ball for 2/3 of most matches. None of this is rocket science but here we are.
Possibly, and I never said that mainoo was the only problem, but for years with many different players around him there is always an excuse.
Man what the actual hell are you talking about he’s only been in the first team for 2 and a half years and he was 18 when he broke in?! This club has been a hot mess during that time and this is your conclusion?
I have not written a conclusion, not that I can remember.
Then write down “I was wrong about Kobbie Mainoo” and let’s move on.
I'm not sure what you are talking about.
How many partners has he had in his time here? Ugarte, Cas and? I'm obviously missing someone but the list isn't that long and I'd argue anyone paired with Ugarte would struggle.
Amrabat
McTominay too iirc and Eriksen. In his first start against Everton he was the deepest of the 3 behind Case and Bruno and he had an excellent showing. It's only under Carrick that he's been part of a settled midfield with good players on the ball. He's never played with a mobile box to box ball winner off the ball, which is imo the ideal fit next to him.
This is ridiculous when you look at the context - two failed managers who were generally happy to bypass the midfield, using systems which consistently left our CMs stretched and exposed.
Definitely a lot of truth to Eth doing this, but not Amorim. I look forward to having a new midfield.
Amorim was different because he wouldn’t even play Kobbie - which contradicts your insinuation that he was the constant in that particular failing. But Amorim’s general build up play very often neglected the midfield - we’d pass it about between our centre backs for a while and then knock it long up to one of the tens and look for second balls. Then out of possession our midfield two of Bruno and Casemiro was incredibly vulnerable to transitions and every time our press was bypassed.
In many of our games under Amorim it was our three CBs getting the most touches. More recently under Carrivk it’s been our CMs getting more touches, exemplified by Kobbie’s recent peformances.
Case, Bruno, Ugarte, McTominay, Eriksen. Also think Mount partnered him in a game.
Casemiro and Bruno aside, grim list for a midfield 2.
Is a bit longer than I first thought but you're right not exactly a strong list. This summers midfield buys have to be spot on, sick of saying "once we fix the midfield" feels like we've been saying it for the better part of the last decade. Just fix the midfield and i'd happily take the trade off of having to watch Shaw and Dalot for one more season if it means we finally get a solid, cohesive midfield.
Yeah longer than I thought too but its probably our brains trying to forget about some of those pairings. Midfield seems to be the never ending conundrum. Fred & McTominay starting in a midfield 2 for 126 games still gives me nightmares, videos of them could be used as a some sort of torture technique. Hopefully can be sorted this summer once and for all.
Yeah, I think it's more a case of Amorim unwilling to change his system rather than him not rating Mainoo. He was basically competing with Bruno.
I love Pakistan I will sacrifice my life for Pakistan
Ruben Amorin deserves a good kick in the bloody shins.
He is going to be army pilot GRAAAAPE
What a hit for the derby winner from the 5-a-side player.
Some of the comments on here from December make for grim reading. Amorim really gaslit a lot of United fans into hating our academy lads.
Same lot seemingly offer a much shorter leash to someone like Carrick over less than half the time that Scamorim got somehow
He really could become a politician with how easily he could sway people with words rather than results
Love how effortless he looks when avoiding challenges.
He'll be a beast I'm a few years.
He'll be a beast I'm a few years.
I was very critical the last 12mths or so of his performances and general suitability playing in the PL. He’s started to really kick on and stamp his quality on games again. There’s still parts of his game he needs to improve on and his lack of mobility/pace needs covering next season.
Do we think he can start to get some 3rd man runs into the box? He’s shown he has the composure to find the back of the net and has good feet on him. We’ve lacked midfield runs into the box for a while now.
Do we think he can start to get some 3rd man runs into the box? He’s shown he has the composure to find the back of the net and has good feet on him. We’ve lacked midfield runs into the box for a while now.
Plenty of United fans wanted him gone after his brother made that post....
He's a fantastic player.