This is spot on.
37
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He is what Erik ten hag wanted frenkie de jong for.
But have to keep in mind he is young will have his on and off days or patches.
But have to keep in mind he is young will have his on and off days or patches.
I've heard these words somewhere before.
It's clear as day tha ETH rates Mainoo very highly. I think he might view as an actual De Jong replacement since he can fulfill the same role me thinks.
I imagine a start is on the books for this lad.
Garnacho, Pelistri and now Mainoo. So much for ETH not trusting the youth.
What was his position in U18? Obviously i loved his display against Everton but i still don't understand what type of player he is. Is he creative DMC like De Jong, destroyer like Casemiro or box to box player?
Doesn't matter what he was u18 (he played both deep and more advanced), but Ten Hag sees him as a deep playmaker and I definitely agree. He's not a destroyer, he's not an attacking mid, he's a deep ball playing midfielder. First to pick up the ball from the CB's, handle the press, progress up the pitch through carrying or passing, control tempo, do his share of defensive work. Ideally you'd want a ball winning midfielder next to him I'd imagine. Mainoo next to Casemiro, on paper, should work very well. And it's a very tough role to play, very hard to find. Chelsea spent 100m on Enzo trying to find that player, Mainoo is hopefully going to be our version of Enzo.
Mainoo looks a better ball carrier to me but you're absolutely right, it's an extremely difficult position to play which makes Mainoo doing it so well on his debut at 18 so damn impressive.
He played further forward up the pitch, and was definitely not a 'defensive' midfielder.
There's no definitive answer to this question because he's an eclectic player who most are unsure what he'll eventually be defined as. He's a classy, classic midfielder in the sense of being able to do everything well in midfield with no deficiencies in his game. Deploying him in a position you're weak in makes a lot of sense - if you don't have anyone who can be the first receiver out of defence to turn away and face the play, he goes there; if you don't have a combination player to progress the ball up the pitch and link the defence to the attack, he goes there; if you want someone to run and progress the ball rapidly and then hit a vertical pass, he goes there. He exhibits all the facets that make people coo as routinely as you like, with nuance you rarely see in one player.
For England, he's the dream link between Rice at base and Bellingham in AM, imo. For us, my personal preference is him nominally positioned behind Casemiro as the first receiver, but essentially orbiting Casemiro to then go ahead of him as play builds.
This is a good video for you, bearing in mind it's before any of the current 'hype' and was giving an outline of what he's done to that point in time:
The most important thing is to get able midfielders in there with him who have the same intelligence and technical acumen, if they're athletically gifted, even better, but being on his wavelength and speed of thought is paramount as that's how you'll get rapid, seamless progressions and combination football that can turn the most innocuous opposition mistakes into literal goal-scoring opportunities for us out of nowhere. Think of how Carrick and Scholes would do that routinely for us and apply the same kind of rationale to Mainoo with a foil.
For my money, Mainoo should roam and float because his off the ball movement is incredible and due to that, he doesn't have to hit the most magical passes to have an equal affect because he's worked an angle nobody else has seen yet and created an easy, yet dangerous passing line, but not only that, the moment he releases the ball, he follows in, with constant movement into yet another probing and exploitative position, so you want that kind of constant thorn working 'openings' in a way only a select few can. Personally, think of it more like a Xavi, Scholes, Modric type of probing that is perpetual and absolutely annoying for the opposition because it is incessent - you want Mainoo to drive opposing players crazy to the point of distraction because that's when they'll make mistakes and lose their discipline, which in turn makes for spaces opening up to a degree others who might not be as sharp as a Mainoo can see and exploit.
Thanks. He is exactly what we needed. Cm strong on the ball and good in defence.
Love his reaction to Ganarcho's goal as well!
Oh god. The kid probably does not need the unnecessary stress for that.
Unecessary stress of playing next to a 5 time CL winner who was our best player last season, and one of the best DMs of his generation?
He's 31, not 35 FFS. Let's ease it with the disrespect. Casemiro next to Mainoo is the best partner he could ask for on paper.
Have you seen how Casemiro plays this season? What disrespect? They are as good as what they can do currently. Respect for those players is one of the reasons we are in this sh*t.
On paper means sod all.
He's started this season very poorly but I feel that stylistically Mainoo could bring out the best in him again.
Cas is still very decent if he holds his position and plays with a bit of discipline. He has not done it much this season and some in last season. On paper sounds good but what is the use in the field?
Which means the kid will have a lot of pressure to cover alone at times. It means unnecessary stress for him.
Yes because he's been given a shit system that asked too much of him. Just like everybody else played like shit. It wasn't down to just one player. We switched away from the lone DM and back to a 4231 for the most part and solidity has returned. The main thing Casemiro needed was someone next to him to help share that responsibility, as he didn't have the legs to cover for two #10s.
Form isn't permanent. It was also form largely brought out by asking him to do an impossible task.
I really hope he starts tomorrow and on the weekend. Is it too much to ask for him to play 3 games this week? We just look so much better with an actual functioning CDM.
The system was weird, I agree. But the problem was that he does not seem to play the lone DM with some discipline . At times, he was in line with the likes of Bruno up front. You hope it happened because of the instructions although I doubt that was the case.
Imagine if he plays like that with Mainoo. Eriksen, Bruno, Mctominay or Mount couldn't handle it.
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Plus the match time against Leicester City last season.
And the start in his actual debut in the League Cup last season.
But you're right in sentiment.
I definitely think it was instructions, it was drastically different to what he was asked to do last season. And with a lack of goalscorers, he was instructed to push forward in the box more, which McTominay was asked to also do when replacing him. Difference is Casemiro tended to start behind Bruno and Mount, which obviously was unbalanced, while McTominay had Eriksen and now Mainoo next to him. Those 2 are far more natural in deep areas and will actually get on the ball to build up, which Mount isn't that player.
Last season, only Fred was able to play decently with Cas due to his unlimited energy to cover him, and that's when we usually had good games. His form was bad (for his standard) overall toward the end of last season. It does not just seem to be temporary. It seems to be becoming a trend, which is a worry.
I like how he matured now that he is 28.
Casemiro will play when he comes back, but what is lacking at United is the link player. Last season it was Eriksen or Fred. Fred didn’t have the technical quality to consistently play as the 8, although when he played well, we usually played well. Eriksen just doesn’t have the legs, although is a very handy squad player.
Mount was signed to be that link player between Bruno and Cas, so we can have a more aggressive triangle, but he doesn’t have the positional sense to play as an 8. He can play very well as a defensively disciplined 10, but so far as an 8 the experiment hasn’t worked. I am not against his signing because I think once fit, he provides high quality rotation for AM and LW. Which is what top teams need.
Mainoo might be the missing piece in that he can definitely play as an 8. Defensively disciplined enough, adept at covering for Casemiro when he pushes forwards, and playmaking from deep. And also comfortable as he approaches the final third.
Once everyone is fit, I would expect our most effective midfield line up to be Casemiro, Mainoo and Bruno. Which on paper is by far the most balanced midfield we can put out. Mainoo has that quality of time on the ball, and a tremendous positional awareness for his age. He is also a very tidy and reliable passer, keeping things ticking over nicely. He has all the qualities to play that De Jong/Barrella role.
And no, im not saying he’s as good as them. Only time will tell how good he is. But he’s a big talent with all the right qualities to succeed in that role, a role which is coincidentally a gaping hole in our squad.
Mount was signed to be that link player between Bruno and Cas, so we can have a more aggressive triangle, but he doesn’t have the positional sense to play as an 8. He can play very well as a defensively disciplined 10, but so far as an 8 the experiment hasn’t worked. I am not against his signing because I think once fit, he provides high quality rotation for AM and LW. Which is what top teams need.
Mainoo might be the missing piece in that he can definitely play as an 8. Defensively disciplined enough, adept at covering for Casemiro when he pushes forwards, and playmaking from deep. And also comfortable as he approaches the final third.
Once everyone is fit, I would expect our most effective midfield line up to be Casemiro, Mainoo and Bruno. Which on paper is by far the most balanced midfield we can put out. Mainoo has that quality of time on the ball, and a tremendous positional awareness for his age. He is also a very tidy and reliable passer, keeping things ticking over nicely. He has all the qualities to play that De Jong/Barrella role.
And no, im not saying he’s as good as them. Only time will tell how good he is. But he’s a big talent with all the right qualities to succeed in that role, a role which is coincidentally a gaping hole in our squad.
I've heard these words somewhere before.
It's clear as day tha ETH rates Mainoo very highly. I think he might view as an actual De Jong replacement since he can fulfill the same role me thinks.
I imagine a start is on the books for this lad.
Garnacho, Pelistri and now Mainoo. So much for ETH not trusting the youth.
Pellistri hasn't quite won that level of trust yet
Not to go off topic but he was sensational that Spurs game. It was Keano esque! Couldn’t believe it.
He's one of those guys that "gets" football.
I think he'll start. He was brought off at 70 mins for rest in my opinion.
I definitely don't think he should be playing every game. I'd say two out of three should be fine (maybe coming off the bench in the third if needed, but preferably not), else I'd be worried about him burning out either mentally or physically. We've got a lot of the season still ahead of us.
In saying that, I reckon ETH probably will start him in all three. With the way things have gone this season he'll feel the pressure to get results in the short-term, so as long as Mainoo's performances warrant it it's likely he'll start just about every game at least until Casemiro is back (or we sign somebody else in January).
I agree with the points you’ve raised too. We do leave our midfielders isolated and this leads to poor possession and a lack of consistency and structure.
The single pivot is only meant for when we attack but poor performances in this area compound this issue. We have shown we can do it against Arsenal last season with a flexible double pivot and with more progressive players can improve in this area.
I can see the potential and the plan that Ten wants to put in place, it’s whether he has the opportunity.
With good reason.
It feels good to be this excited about an academy prospect - in just the position we needed as well! I haven't felt this way about an academy lad since 2019.
On pivot discussion and in relation to Mainoo and what he gives us from the base of midfield temporarily. This is about Barcelona, but all comes down to Dutch principles:
My wet dream is us bringing back Angel to play with Kobbie. They are different type of players but both have that level of awareness, composure, balance, first touch, vision etc that would make them a good duo, imo. We would of course lack some size and athleticism, but honestly think the good parts would overweigh the bad.
Single pivot doesn't work as a player that does everything by himself though, he can be the connector/last man shielding the defense but he still needs help from midfielders and attackers to drop and give him passing options. The reason Casemiro often goes for Hollywood pass is because there is NO EASY PASS for him, and dribbling out of trouble isn't really his thing. I swear this system requires elite ball playing defenders and elite DLP, and even then it will be difficult for them if the rest of the team just stands high up the pitch and nobody is showing to pick the ball deeper, do a lay off etc.
Just look at City or Brighton and see how many passing options has the player on the ball, and then see our players with all channels blocked and everyone far away. And that is the issue when we're in possession, what is the second biggest problem after how open we are out of possession (because obviously playing direct, high risk passess generates a lot of turnovers). We need players dropping deeper but moving Bruno there surely isn't the answer. Mount, maybe. But it doesn't seem to be the plan.
He will play pretty much every game he's fit for from now til the end of the season and we'll barely see Amrabat again if he stays fit.
Angel Gomes, while great technically, is too physically weak, small and slow to properly hold the midfield in the EPL.
I think a midfield of Casemiro, Mainoo and Mount would be as good as any in the PL
He did very well in his last match against Everton but I hope the media just leave him alone and not overhype him. He just started for his first senior game. With due respect to Everton, he didn't played against City, pool or arsenal's midfield. We don't want to have another Pogba who didn't reach the heights that we hope for and got distracted with other personal matters.
The lad is young and should be able to play all 3 games, he is calm and always in control unlike Rashford where he seems gas at the beginning of the season. Mainoo can start all 3 games and substituted if needed. I think ETH always manage the youngsters this way. Most coming off in the 70 mins. It is likely to be the same where Amabrat will come on in the 2nd half.
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