My post was intended for @Lyng
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Why compare him to Bellingham? There are loads of other absolutely fantastic players who didn’t have anything like as much first team football under their belt as Bellingham did at the same age. It’s ok if Mainoo’s development is paced somewhere in between those extremes.
He had a great game. But please lets not hype him up just yet. let him enjoy the moment and continue to develop
Indeed. I remember there was a time when only 10s played like this. Now they are everywhere. Players like Zola came to the PL and stood out a mile, and these players generally were the white boots, rolled down socks 10s who played like Thiago did in that video. At the very top level now, you can have up to 7 or 8 players on the pitch with this skillset. It’s something we have resisted for years, instead seemingly preferring some sort of ‘United Way’, and the hiring of an Ajax coach filled me with so much hope that we would finally transition. I must say that thus far, I have been disappointed with what I feel is a lack of emphasis on high technical levels and press resistance across the field, but perhaps it is something he is about to increase as his team continues to take shape.
He reminds me of a young Cesc. Would be a shame if he gets benched when the injured players return.
He was a lot better than I've ever seen Lavia play and there were plenty of posters who wanted us to spend lots of money signing him in the summer
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Who is hyping him? We are analyzing his performance and compare it to other squad members
Those would be unbelievably stupid things to say, surely nobody has said that?
Pressing/counter pressing has been one of the dominant tactical themes of the last 7 or 8 years, its not a surprise people are coming up with words related to it. Being comfortable on the ball is not really the same thing.
I’ve no idea. He probably does need to start but it’s a massive ask to make your premier league debut on a Sunday and then champions league debut the Wednesday after in possibly the most hostile ground in Europe, at 18 years old as well. I think he should start though, he can do things our other midfielders simply can’t and he seems to have the attitude and calmness needed. Whether he will start or not is another matter though.
I suspect he has a better temperament for that than our other midfielders and certainly other players who will be playing in other positions
I'd imagine he'll get the Garnacho treatment of last season. Will probably get a few starts in the next few weeks while we still have an injury crisis and then get used more sparingly. Unless of course he performs too well to get dropped.
All these "Don't hype him, don't hype him" comments are getting tiresome, let people get excited about young prospects ffs.
Rewatching all his touches from the game, it's so refreshing to have a midfielder willing to turn with the ball around the center circle to move it forward.
Looks average to me.
Injuries might force him to start again in the CL, but I would be tempted to ignore the noise/hype and only play him once a week.
Really? How, I feel like Cesc is a completely different profile of midfielder.
The answer as usual is somewhere in the middle no? There's numerous comments declaring it's a no brainer he's our best midfield talent for ten years.
It may be right - but right now that's nuts, just enjoy his start.
Omg! Haven't been this excited for a young player since Messi. Wow.
One popped up in my feed this morning have a search on YouTube
The state of this place... understandable after 10 years of disappointment, but still
One kid has a good game and everyone else sets the bar comparing him to cesc or bellingham? Then after a couple of bad games the same folks will be shouting at him and blaming him for our failures
This is worst than rawk circa 2010
One kid has a good game and everyone else sets the bar comparing him to cesc or bellingham? Then after a couple of bad games the same folks will be shouting at him and blaming him for our failures
This is worst than rawk circa 2010
Lovely mature performance I thought.
Creating space and making delicate, subtle faints to give yourself time on the ball is one the key characteristics that only the best midfielders have, and you've either got a knack for that at the highest level or you don't.
Scholes and Pirlo come to mind. I'm obviously not putting him in that bracket but that style of play is quite unique in the game.
I'd suspect that the opposition will pay a bit more attention to his name on the team sheet going forward. Really looking forward to seeing this kid grow
Creating space and making delicate, subtle faints to give yourself time on the ball is one the key characteristics that only the best midfielders have, and you've either got a knack for that at the highest level or you don't.
Scholes and Pirlo come to mind. I'm obviously not putting him in that bracket but that style of play is quite unique in the game.
I'd suspect that the opposition will pay a bit more attention to his name on the team sheet going forward. Really looking forward to seeing this kid grow
How much does it bother me, exactly?
I'm just taking the piss mate
However, I disagree. Being good on the ball and good under pressure aren't necessarily the same thing.
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And maybe that's just it. I go by the old saying of "if you're good enough, you're old enough". So I don't give extra points just because someone is young. I judge the performance on the field and everyone is held to the same expectations. So while he was good, I have a hard time giving him higher than a 6/10. Perhaps that's because his teammates let him down as Everton dominated us in the middle of the park and created more chances...
To be fair in my own humble opinion as an unknown it’s easier get on the end of things and tuck in some nice goals and let hype take over. It’s very rare to see a young fella come in and run a game of football. Wilshere, Cesc, Gilmour. The last one for us was Possebon and he didn’t run it, he just looked silky in that pocket of space and he had better players around him. Mainoo is a much better prospect.
I like McTominay but for me, he should be a player coming off the bench if we are chasing a game. Let's face it, he puts away his chances. But with all the hard work he puts in, he's just not very good or confident with the ball at his feet. All he kept doing yesterday was passing it back when a defender or Onana passed it to him in the midfield. No peek over his shoulder. No turn. Not even a pass to the wing. Just straight back to where it came. I liked that Mainoo was looking to turn and dribble a bit. I just found that he got himself into double and triple teams a few times when he should have passed it off sooner. I liked what a saw for the most part though. I just think that with how good he looked in preseason, we were all excited to see him back in the team and perhaps over rated his performance a little bit. It was good, but Onana was by far the man of the match...
I think we have a real gem on our hands, he looks really comfortable with the ball, great pace and plays like an experienced player.
He had a great game against Everton, he must keep his place in the XI.
He had a great game against Everton, he must keep his place in the XI.
I mean I think it's fair to call someone a "top talent". He absolutely is the best midfield talent we've had come through since Pogba, that isn't exactly a high bar to cross. No one is saying "he's the best midfielder we've had since Scholes" or something stupid like that, but people also aren't blind and are a day removed from watching an 18 year old put in the best midfield performance of the season on his debut playing next to 2 senior international players who mostly looked like headless chickens in the first half.
A bloke did literally say this. Anyway no drama, onwards and upwards for him.
What does he have to do with this?Jesus Christ
Agree. Any random youth attacker could get a bit of luck and have chances fall to him and he puts them away to be called the next star. Watching an 18 year old in the PL confidently take on the entire burden of starting attacks nearly on his own and carrying the ball out of pressure (something not a single one of our players do well) is much more rare to see.
Perhaps? If you’d averaged out both their contributions over 90 minutes McTominay would have touched and passed the ball almost exactly half as many times as Mainoo. So stands to reason that our midfield as a unit won’t function when the contributions are so uneven. It also makes the fact that Mainoo looked so competent and assured, despite playing alongside the invisible man, even more impressive.
Agree. It’s the only thing that’s consistently positive, even in our shittest seasons we’ve had players like Rashford, he who shall not be named, Williams, Lingard etc come through. They might not go on to be the best in the world but it’s always great to see them do well in the PL.
Is the number 8 spot his normal position? Or is he a CM generally?
Meh. People can use whatever words they want. Everyone knows what qualities a good central midfielder has when he’s on the ball so it doesn’t matter what words they use. We can all see that they seem to have more space and time than lesser players. And that’s what matters.
Apart from my general begrudgery about football hipsters and their buzz words I was only objecting to the idea that Mainoo’s performance somehow validated press resistance as a concept, which only the redcafe intelligentsia were capable of recognising before yesterday’s game.
#6, #8 anything in-between.
In academy matches his most impressive abilities were his contribution to the attack. Dribbling and passing the ball. The goal line clearances and last ditch blocks weren’t a feature of his game. Not that I remember anyway. Looks like he’s getting more well rounded as he matures. Which is great. On MOTD they even mentioned how well he was tracking runs into our box (something the rest of our CMs have been crap at for ages)
He's always been pretty well-rounded, even in the academy. Still think he'll end up an #8 though personally, same with Gore if he breaks through.
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