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2023-24 Performances


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6.2 Season Average Rating
Appearances
32
Goals
5
Assists
1
Yellow cards
4
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Let him develop at a natural pace. Expecting him come in right now and do a Roy Keane job will not help.

He was good in preseason, but as Garnacho has shown, preseason level and real competitive levels are quite different.
 
How many official games has he played? And has he been good in any of them? I see posters claiming he's a superior talent... Based on what? Friendlies?

Yes. Because then he got injured and hasnt played any first team games since. But what we do know is that our midfielders that have played, other than a few moments from Bruno and Eriksen and some goals from McTom are setting a very low bar. Even if he struggled to do the basics it would be no worse than our current options and at least people would give the excuse of him not being ready yet or that he needs a bunch of games at that age. The players currently struggling are in the primes of their career and still cant do it.
 
You see the likes of Balde, Pedri, Gavi, Lopez and Yamal all playing their role in Barcelona's recent resurgence. I see no reason why Mainoo can't be similar. He has the talent.
 
I feel for anyone coming into this team. That being said, I'd stick him in midfield alongside Amrabat.
 
Let him develop at a natural pace. Expecting him come in right now and do a Roy Keane job will not help.

He was good in preseason, but as Garnacho has shown, preseason level and real competitive levels are quite different.

What's that? Loaning him to the championship for a year?

There's only on way to find out if he's good enough and that's to put him on the pitch and see what he can do. If he can run and control and pass a football he really couldn't do much worse than what we've been looking at all season.
 
You see the likes of Balde, Pedri, Gavi, Lopez and Yamal all playing their role in Barcelona's recent resurgence. I see no reason why Mainoo can't be similar. He has the talent.

i’d actually love to see him, Pellestri, Garnacho, Amad, Hannibal play prominent roles for the rest of the season. I’m sure they will at the bare minimum put effort in and listen to instructions. Worst is they arent good enough but can earn a move somewhere else like Elanga and best case is they turn out to be good players to keep in the squad
 
What's that? Loaning him to the championship for a year?

There's only on way to find out if he's good enough and that's to put him on the pitch and see what he can do. If he can run and control and pass a football he really couldn't do much worse than what we've been looking at all season.

Sure, put him on the pitch for a few sub appearances here and there and give him that experience.

Don't start him every match for 90 minutes and expect him to carry the midfield though, it's not going to happen.
 
i’d actually love to see him, Pellestri, Garnacho, Amad, Hannibal play prominent roles for the rest of the season. I’m sure they will at the bare minimum put effort in and listen to instructions. Worst is they arent good enough but can earn a move somewhere else like Elanga and best case is they turn out to be good players to keep in the squad
Yep. I think this could only help out senior serial underperformers too. Show the likes of Rashford, Bruno et al that their places are under genuine threat.

If they can win them back, great. If not we'll at least have given promising youngsters a chance and likely added some value too.
 
Sure, put him on the pitch for a few sub appearances here and there and give him that experience.

Don't start him every match for 90 minutes and expect him to carry the midfield though, it's not going to happen.

Wouldn't advocate for him to play 90 mins, but he needs game time at this level to see if he can do it or needs more time to develop.
 
The same Mctominay that is one of our top goal scorers this season, outscoring every attacker we have in our squad?

In answer to your question, no his passing couldn't be a lot worse, Mainoo is very good on the ball, but then Mainoo has scored what 2 or 3 goals on his past twenty odd games in the youth set up, so what you gain with one hand you take with the other, and again one player won't make up for the lack of forward runs our attackers make.

Again, it's going around in circles, playing an unproven talent from the start would be a big gamble, that's not a controversial statement nor should it be. And changing one player probably won't make a huge difference on the grand scheme of things when there's so much going wrong anyhow.

I think you'd have a point if McTominay was a proven, consistent scorer. Yeah sure you wouldn't want to lose that from your team.

But it's more hope than knowledge that McTomimay will cary on scoring. There's no prior evidence to suggest he will. That's a gamble.

So you go with what you know for sure. Which Mainoo will receive and pass the ball better. That isn't a gamble.
 
I think you'd have a point if McTominay was a proven, consistent scorer. Yeah sure you wouldn't want to lose that from your team.

But it's more hope than knowledge that McTomimay will cary on scoring. There's no prior evidence to suggest he will. That's a gamble.

So you go with what you know for sure. Which Mainoo will receive and pass the ball better. That isn't a gamble.
Who else do you think can help score goals? McT at least offers some.
 
It usually takes 6 or 7 games after a major lay off to get the sharpness back. As a young player he needs to be given some time to get back to his best. He is about a month away from becoming available for selection. The PL is fast and physical. It's not an environment that is forgiving if you are off the pace. The current first team situation is for seasoned pros.
 
Who else do you think can help score goals? McT at least offers some.

I think passing the ball better will result in goals.

That seems a more sensible approach than just hoping McTominay makes it to double figures for the first time in his career.

If McTominay is on the pitch it should be as a rotation option to Hojlund.
 
I think passing the ball better will result in goals.

That seems a more sensible approach than just hoping McTominay makes it to double figures for the first time in his career.

If McTominay is on the pitch it should be as a rotation option to Hojlund.
Better in possession is definitely important when we have to attack a well drilled block, but it’s equally important to have more bodies with goal threat inside and around the box. We don’t think them mutually exclusive. In contrast, that’s what we did not do enough, imo.
 
Who else do you think can help score goals? McT at least offers some.

McTom may as well be our backup striker. Depressingly, he's a bigger goal threat than Martial, even from midfield.

But he offers nothing with regards to ball retention, ball progression, or ball winning. It seems he's only useful when moved further away from midfield and is no solution to any of our problems.

This forum expects a little too much from Mainoo, but anything is an upgrade on McTom.
 
Maybe because anyone playing in that team right now would underperform and look miles worse than what they are.
Last thing we need to do is throw a youngster under the bus, plus he really isn't ready yet.
Giving a young player minutes is not throwing him under the bus, plus you don’t really know whether he is ready or not until given a run if games.
 
Giving a young player minutes is not throwing him under the bus, plus you don’t really know whether he is ready or not until given a run if games.
I'm talking about starting him.

For sure he needs minutes, but a big ask to put him in from the start.
 
I think passing the ball better will result in goals.

That seems a more sensible approach than just hoping McTominay makes it to double figures for the first time in his career.

If McTominay is on the pitch it should be as a rotation option to Hojlund.
I think playing with the two of them up front could work, with 4 men in midfield
 
There is so much expectation of this kid. He is an immense talent no doubt, but he is not our saviour. He will ultimately be a number "6" but for now he needs to play as a defensive number "8" as our number 10's ( bruno, Mason or Christien) are uncapable of any defensive responsibility, wjhich place too much work on our "6". I would love to see him play alongside either Amrabat or Casemiro with Eriksen in front of them and after 60 mins replace Eriksen with Mount or Bruno. Next year play Kobbie as "6" and Gore/Mejbri as "8"
 
Let him develop at a natural pace. Expecting him come in right now and do a Roy Keane job will not help.

He was good in preseason, but as Garnacho has shown, preseason level and real competitive levels are quite different.

Who is seriously expecting him to do a Roy Keane?
His natural progression remains to be seen. Marcus made huge strides at 18 and he wasn't really a stand out of his age group
 
Considering how bad we are at the moment, throwing in a promising youngster (in a midfield position no less) is just setting him up for failure unless he is a Jude level of talent. Use him as a sub in games we are winning for now.

1. "Unless he is a Jude level of talent".

That's hindsight speaking. In order for Jude to have the kind of accelerated development to even become the kind of player he is now he had to play competitive football earlier than Mainoo is playing now, and that includes being played in games that (and I quote) "is just setting him up for failure". That's the point. Bellingham's learning curve was aided by being played in games that had stakes. Stakes bring out the best in players.

2. "Use him as a sub in games we are winning for now."

In my long experience of being on Redcafe, there's one thing I'm sure of, and it's that there is never any good time for a talented young player to get minutes according to this forum. If we play him when there's stakes on the line, we fret at the possibility that playing in a losing team might crush him irreparably, but also, fans also don't want to play players when we're winning because (and this has been said on so many times in this place) it's too much pressure to put a young player on to see out a game, afterall, what happens if the opposition scores? It'll crush his confidence.

There's always a reason for fans to want to not play a young player. Always. If we only play him in games we are winning, and it's comfortable enough to bring him on, how many minutes do you suspect he's going to get in a season? How many? It's not going to be a lot, is it? How many games do you personally think are going to be comfortably won given how we look? It can't be many, can it?

So, he either plays in challenging games (like Jude, like Pedri, like Gavi, like Yamel, like Fermin, etc) and gets important growth minutes in-game, or he waits, and waits, and waits for games where the fanbase deem comfortable enough to afford him then, and quite frankly, if you're waiting for that you're not going to find many
 
With Casemiro injured and Amrabat hardly pulling up any trees this kid will surely get plenty of opportunities in the coming weeks. Let’s hope he performs well and makes himself a fixture- God do we need a player like him desperately
 
Yeah was a weak pass for sure. Still think he could have challenged for it though but anyway that was a minor blip in an all round good performance.
Why make it the topic of your post then. Weird.
 
Fabregas was the best player in the pitch at 16

and more. Rooney, Bellingham, Greenwood, Gavi, Pedro off the top of my head. Many more i’m not thinking of.

I detest the notion that a player needs 7 loan spells to get ready to make a first team appearance at the age of 23. Stick them in, if not good enough let them to to a lower league etc is my attitude to it.
 
I'm talking about starting him.

For sure he needs minutes, but a big ask to put him in from the start.
There’s no pattern to how you bring them in. If the team needs him from the start than so be it, I am sure he wants it just as bad.
 
What's that? Loaning him to the championship for a year?

There's only on way to find out if he's good enough and that's to put him on the pitch and see what he can do. If he can run and control and pass a football he really couldn't do much worse than what we've been looking at all season.

This isnt lucky scratch lottery

The coaches that coach him knew If he's near ready. You don't need to play match to find out.

If he's close to ready then the match are to see his mentality not the other way around
 
Maybe because anyone playing in that team right now would underperform and look miles worse than what they are.
Last thing we need to do is throw a youngster under the bus, plus he really isn't ready yet.
There are currently 4 Barca youngsters who are playing regularly in La Liga at his age or younger.
 
This isnt lucky scratch lottery

The coaches that coach him knew If he's near ready. You don't need to play match to find out.

If he's close to ready then the match are to see his mentality not the other way around

Mentality plays a part. But, they might think he's ready. But you never really know until he actually gets onto the pitch if he is or not.
 
Is this a longest thread for a kid with potential, who had not started a competitive game?
 
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La Ligas a pretty easy league and the worst Barca can finish is 2nd or maybe 3rd even if they field a team full of youth players.
Well so is Premier League if you are good enough there are plenty of poor teams in here as well .
 
La Ligas a pretty easy league and the worst Barca can finish is 2nd or maybe 3rd even if they field a team full of youth players.
But seems La Liga teams have better results so far than PL teams in CL group stages.
 
There are currently 4 Barca youngsters who are playing regularly in La Liga at his age or younger.
Yeah, and the reason Barca can do that and not many other teams is due to the style and structure they play.

It never changes and is blooded through the players throughout the academy,
whereas United don't have that, certainly not currently, hence the reason any player walking into the first 11 currently underperforms.
 
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