“For the record i was always his biggest fan and even during the Cleverson era (think it lasted around 8 games) i fought his corner.”
You weren’t even the biggest fan of his on the United board
I think Mainoo likes to take a touch and he’s a great little dribbler, he also likes to get into wide spaces and that’s where some of his best work is. For me he’s the more advanced of a midfield 2 of the pivot in a 3.
Perhaps with the right coaching he can change some of those instincts but I wouldn’t bank on it.
comment by Joshua The King Of Kings Zirkzee (U10026)
posted 59 minutes ago
I miss Carrick.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Yeah! He could snuff out an attack, then play a world class pass out!
He was a classic example of how wrong the less understanding of the game (and sport in general) that, too many, football fans can be.
His signing was ridiculed (not 'glamorous' enough), he was rarely appreciated, often maligned/blamed and generally under-supported. And then, when he left, not sufficiently replaced.
That was all bad enough but the ridiculous was made even more so by the relative level of (unwarranted and undeserved) eulogies and hyperbole heaped on some of the inadequates around him in the squad - although granted there were a lot less of them then than there is now.
SAF did make the odd mistake, but he invariably managed to get the club to bring in players that knew how to do the job they were hired for, and also were responsible enough to work within a team.
That lack of understanding by so many is certainly not reducing, indeed it seems to have become ever more accepted, present and even applauded. We live in weird times ...
comment by IAmMe (U18491)
posted 2 minutes ago
He was a classic example of how wrong the less understanding of the game (and sport in general) that, too many, football fans can be.
His signing was ridiculed (not 'glamorous' enough), he was rarely appreciated, often maligned/blamed and generally under-supported. And then, when he left, not sufficiently replaced.
That was all bad enough but the ridiculous was made even more so by the relative level of (unwarranted and undeserved) eulogies and hyperbole heaped on some of the inadequates around him in the squad - although granted there were a lot less of them then than there is now.
SAF did make the odd mistake, but he invariably managed to get the club to bring in players that knew how to do the job they were hired for, and also were responsible enough to work within a team.
That lack of understanding by so many is certainly not reducing, indeed it seems to have become ever more accepted, present and even applauded. We live in weird times ...
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Yeah so many clueless fans when it came to Carrick!
posted 4 weeks, 1 day ago
Mainoo reminds me of pogba.
Great on the ball, better further up the field but the game just passes him by if we are struggling.
He is young though so let's see.
posted 4 weeks, 1 day ago
I know they’re not exaaaactly the same type of player but the closest one to him we could have bought was Declan Rice and that was a transfer failure that will haunt us for a while to come. I watched an interview with him a few months ago where he insinuated we could have bought him a year before he went to Arsenal but for some reason we didn’t pull the trigger.
posted 4 weeks, 1 day ago
Mainoo, like any other teenage talent like him, needs careful and special management, (like Busby and Fergie famously did for thier favourites) and shouldnt be overplayed or over depended on and should be mentored and able to learn his craft playing along side senior players in the the squad who lead n=by example. He isn't going to get any of that at this current Man United setup.
posted 4 weeks, 1 day ago
As everyone on this thread seems to love Carrick (myself included)... What happened to all the carrick the crab posters? Name and shame them Robb!
posted 4 weeks, 1 day ago
comment by Ji Sung Park's Cousin (U2958)
posted 5 minutes ago
As everyone on this thread seems to love Carrick (myself included)... What happened to all the carrick the crab posters? Name and shame them Robb!
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Yep; a heavy amount of revisionism going on here I would warrant.
posted 4 weeks, 1 day ago
I feel that Mainoo is suddenly becoming such an easy target for some. He is still learning the ropes, has been somewhat thrown in at the deep end by both Utd and Eng, and that's a hell of a lot of expectation on such young shoulders.
This of course could affect his development. No player is immune to criticism, but it saddens me when there is ill-informed comment along the lines of Mainoo is rubbish, or he'll never be this or that etc. In the right environment he could really shine, there is a feeling of class about him, but we need to surround him with the right players and the right coach.
That also means giving him the odd break, but not sure we are strong enough to do that right now. Even if he turns out not to be a 'superstar', he should still be a very good player who can do a good job for us over the next 10 years
posted 4 weeks, 1 day ago
I know Redastomatoes was one. And Dunc was another.
posted 4 weeks, 1 day ago
And it’s a common misconception that I was Carrickature. I was simply known as ‘funrob’. Did Carrickature ever come over to JA? I remember someone called Very Cleverly Done who filtered the entire site at one point.
posted 4 weeks, 1 day ago
comment by BerbaKing11 (U6256)
posted 11 hours, 50 minutes ago
comment by Baz tard - Ineos your face (U19119)
posted 28 minutes ago
I’m not yet convinced mainoo does . He’s a great little player, and I really hope he does find that, but he’s not been convincing in that regard. His ability to get out of a tight spot certainly won’t hold him back there, but I haven’t seen much from him that suggests he coukd anchor a team. He strikes me as a good support player, who might benefit from playing slightly forward, but even then does not seem to have a great deal of vision
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I think I disagree with just about every single word of that.
He turned 19 just a few months ago. He's absolutely miles ahead in his development compared to some of the illustrious names mentioned here by the same age. He has the potential to be able to play any midfield role. Where he will end up is guesswork at this stage, but he very clearly has that football brain and picture in his head when he plays. It's obvious. To say he doesn't have a great deal of vision is baffling to me.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
It's hard to guess what kind of player Mainoo turns into. With every young player there will be abilities they haven't yet unlocked - things they can do but haven't figured out how to apply in senior football. Then there's also an element of decision making and coaching. Rashford could have been developed as a centre forward. He could have been developed as a different sort of winger, e.g. a cog in a positionist attacking machine with a good understanding of pressing. But his formative years in the senior team were spent under Mourinho/Solskjaer who largely played reactive football and largely asked him to drive forward directly, and therefore accepted that he would have to 'cheat' when out of possession. That's now who he is as a footballer and an athlete.
So I hope Mainoo's coaches are thinking carefully about what kind of player he should develop into, not just what they need from him today. Personally, I don't see a lot of Carrick in him, which doesn't mean he isn't able to develop better long distribution or understand better how to control the tempo of the game. His USP is his ball carrying, which wasn't the most prominent feature of Carrick's game. Carrick was technically reliable receiving the ball and efficiently recycling under pressure, but he wasn't a dribbler. Mainoo's superiority in that area opens up the possibilities of developing into a more attacking midfielder, or a midfielder with more licence to get forward, which makes it less likely he performs the Carrick/Busquets role.
posted 4 weeks, 1 day ago
Underappreciating Carrick always reminds me of the transcendentally wrong article published by (decent journalist and United fan) Rob Smyth on the eve of the 2006-7 season, entitled 'Shredding his legacy at every turn'. I re-read it for an emotional lift every three years or so.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2006/jul/31/sport.comment
posted 4 weeks, 1 day ago
comment by Red Russian (U4715)
posted 21 minutes ago
Underappreciating Carrick always reminds me of the transcendentally wrong article published by (decent journalist and United fan) Rob Smyth on the eve of the 2006-7 season, entitled 'Shredding his legacy at every turn'. I re-read it for an emotional lift every three years or so.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2006/jul/31/sport.comment
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Beautiful
posted 4 weeks, 1 day ago
comment by Red Russian (U4715)
posted 24 minutes ago
Underappreciating Carrick always reminds me of the transcendentally wrong article published by (decent journalist and United fan) Rob Smyth on the eve of the 2006-7 season, entitled 'Shredding his legacy at every turn'. I re-read it for an emotional lift every three years or so.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2006/jul/31/sport.comment
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Ahhhh that article.
It's still a unrivalled masterpiece of it's genre.
posted 4 weeks, 1 day ago
comment by RB&W - He kicked lumps out of them (U21434)
posted 25 minutes ago
comment by Red Russian (U4715)
posted 24 minutes ago
Underappreciating Carrick always reminds me of the transcendentally wrong article published by (decent journalist and United fan) Rob Smyth on the eve of the 2006-7 season, entitled 'Shredding his legacy at every turn'. I re-read it for an emotional lift every three years or so.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2006/jul/31/sport.comment
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Ahhhh that article.
It's still a unrivalled masterpiece of it's genre.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I can't think of another piece of journalism that has brought me so much joy over the years. In fact, I'd struggle to remember a single piece of journalism from that decade,
posted 4 weeks, 1 day ago
'A Pirlo when a Gattuso was needed'
'Damien Duff, was allowed to slip into the arms of Newcastle for less than United paid for Patrice Evra. You couldn't make it up. You don't have to.'
posted 4 weeks, 1 day ago
comment by Ali - 🇪🇦 🏴 (U1192)
posted 3 hours, 48 minutes ago
Mainoo reminds me of pogba.
Great on the ball, better further up the field but the game just passes him by if we are struggling.
He is young though so let's see.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Mainoo’s passing isn’t close to Pogba’s.
posted 4 weeks, 1 day ago
comment by Red Russian (U4715)
posted 2 hours, 10 minutes ago
comment by BerbaKing11 (U6256)
posted 11 hours, 50 minutes ago
comment by Baz tard - Ineos your face (U19119)
posted 28 minutes ago
I’m not yet convinced mainoo does . He’s a great little player, and I really hope he does find that, but he’s not been convincing in that regard. His ability to get out of a tight spot certainly won’t hold him back there, but I haven’t seen much from him that suggests he coukd anchor a team. He strikes me as a good support player, who might benefit from playing slightly forward, but even then does not seem to have a great deal of vision
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I think I disagree with just about every single word of that.
He turned 19 just a few months ago. He's absolutely miles ahead in his development compared to some of the illustrious names mentioned here by the same age. He has the potential to be able to play any midfield role. Where he will end up is guesswork at this stage, but he very clearly has that football brain and picture in his head when he plays. It's obvious. To say he doesn't have a great deal of vision is baffling to me.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
It's hard to guess what kind of player Mainoo turns into. With every young player there will be abilities they haven't yet unlocked - things they can do but haven't figured out how to apply in senior football. Then there's also an element of decision making and coaching. Rashford could have been developed as a centre forward. He could have been developed as a different sort of winger, e.g. a cog in a positionist attacking machine with a good understanding of pressing. But his formative years in the senior team were spent under Mourinho/Solskjaer who largely played reactive football and largely asked him to drive forward directly, and therefore accepted that he would have to 'cheat' when out of possession. That's now who he is as a footballer and an athlete.
So I hope Mainoo's coaches are thinking carefully about what kind of player he should develop into, not just what they need from him today. Personally, I don't see a lot of Carrick in him, which doesn't mean he isn't able to develop better long distribution or understand better how to control the tempo of the game. His USP is his ball carrying, which wasn't the most prominent feature of Carrick's game. Carrick was technically reliable receiving the ball and efficiently recycling under pressure, but he wasn't a dribbler. Mainoo's superiority in that area opens up the possibilities of developing into a more attacking midfielder, or a midfielder with more licence to get forward, which makes it less likely he performs the Carrick/Busquets role.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
It’s always unfair comparing a 19 year old to players that have finisher their careers. Carrick at 19 wouldn’t have been the Carrick we know. In fact, Carrick at 25 wasn’t even the Carrick we came to know, he was much less of a holding player at Spurs than he was for us.
Just watched a couple of clips of Mainoo in attacking situations last season, including his goals vs Liverpool and Wolves. Obviously, we wait to see how he develops (quality wise and, as Dazza says above, in terms of profile). But at the moment, I'd say the coolness around the box in both passing and shooting look like far more tangible qualities to build into an attacking-minded midfielder than the more theoretical possibility that the qualities of a metronomic passer might emerge.
Depends how his final ball develops, and he wouldn’t need to necessarily be a metronomic passer to be a top cm. Think of how Dembele lacked the final ball to be a top attacker, however, his understanding of space, dribbling and ball retention meant for a couple of years he was one of the top cms in the prem.
comment by Joshua The King Of Kings Zirkzee (U10026)
posted 27 seconds ago
Depends how his final ball develops, and he wouldn’t need to necessarily be a metronomic passer to be a top cm. Think of how Dembele lacked the final ball to be a top attacker, however, his understanding of space, dribbling and ball retention meant for a couple of years he was one of the top cms in the prem.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I'm not suggesting he can't be a top CM. Just that at the moment he looks more likely to be an 8 (who contributes in all phases) than a deep-lying conductor like Carrick.
I suppose at this stage it’s hard to talk about future roles when you also need to consider tactical changes as well.
People thought the number 10 was dead but attacking mids with huge output are very important to teams right now. That may change in five years, when you’d expect Mainoo to be a lot more established.
Sign in if you want to comment
Carrick appreciation thread
Page 2 of 3
posted 1 month ago
“For the record i was always his biggest fan and even during the Cleverson era (think it lasted around 8 games) i fought his corner.”
You weren’t even the biggest fan of his on the United board
posted 1 month ago
I think Mainoo likes to take a touch and he’s a great little dribbler, he also likes to get into wide spaces and that’s where some of his best work is. For me he’s the more advanced of a midfield 2 of the pivot in a 3.
Perhaps with the right coaching he can change some of those instincts but I wouldn’t bank on it.
posted 1 month ago
comment by Joshua The King Of Kings Zirkzee (U10026)
posted 59 minutes ago
I miss Carrick.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Yeah! He could snuff out an attack, then play a world class pass out!
posted 1 month ago
He was a classic example of how wrong the less understanding of the game (and sport in general) that, too many, football fans can be.
His signing was ridiculed (not 'glamorous' enough), he was rarely appreciated, often maligned/blamed and generally under-supported. And then, when he left, not sufficiently replaced.
That was all bad enough but the ridiculous was made even more so by the relative level of (unwarranted and undeserved) eulogies and hyperbole heaped on some of the inadequates around him in the squad - although granted there were a lot less of them then than there is now.
SAF did make the odd mistake, but he invariably managed to get the club to bring in players that knew how to do the job they were hired for, and also were responsible enough to work within a team.
That lack of understanding by so many is certainly not reducing, indeed it seems to have become ever more accepted, present and even applauded. We live in weird times ...
posted 1 month ago
comment by IAmMe (U18491)
posted 2 minutes ago
He was a classic example of how wrong the less understanding of the game (and sport in general) that, too many, football fans can be.
His signing was ridiculed (not 'glamorous' enough), he was rarely appreciated, often maligned/blamed and generally under-supported. And then, when he left, not sufficiently replaced.
That was all bad enough but the ridiculous was made even more so by the relative level of (unwarranted and undeserved) eulogies and hyperbole heaped on some of the inadequates around him in the squad - although granted there were a lot less of them then than there is now.
SAF did make the odd mistake, but he invariably managed to get the club to bring in players that knew how to do the job they were hired for, and also were responsible enough to work within a team.
That lack of understanding by so many is certainly not reducing, indeed it seems to have become ever more accepted, present and even applauded. We live in weird times ...
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Yeah so many clueless fans when it came to Carrick!
posted 4 weeks, 1 day ago
Mainoo reminds me of pogba.
Great on the ball, better further up the field but the game just passes him by if we are struggling.
He is young though so let's see.
posted 4 weeks, 1 day ago
I know they’re not exaaaactly the same type of player but the closest one to him we could have bought was Declan Rice and that was a transfer failure that will haunt us for a while to come. I watched an interview with him a few months ago where he insinuated we could have bought him a year before he went to Arsenal but for some reason we didn’t pull the trigger.
posted 4 weeks, 1 day ago
Mainoo, like any other teenage talent like him, needs careful and special management, (like Busby and Fergie famously did for thier favourites) and shouldnt be overplayed or over depended on and should be mentored and able to learn his craft playing along side senior players in the the squad who lead n=by example. He isn't going to get any of that at this current Man United setup.
posted 4 weeks, 1 day ago
As everyone on this thread seems to love Carrick (myself included)... What happened to all the carrick the crab posters? Name and shame them Robb!
posted 4 weeks, 1 day ago
comment by Ji Sung Park's Cousin (U2958)
posted 5 minutes ago
As everyone on this thread seems to love Carrick (myself included)... What happened to all the carrick the crab posters? Name and shame them Robb!
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Yep; a heavy amount of revisionism going on here I would warrant.
posted 4 weeks, 1 day ago
I feel that Mainoo is suddenly becoming such an easy target for some. He is still learning the ropes, has been somewhat thrown in at the deep end by both Utd and Eng, and that's a hell of a lot of expectation on such young shoulders.
This of course could affect his development. No player is immune to criticism, but it saddens me when there is ill-informed comment along the lines of Mainoo is rubbish, or he'll never be this or that etc. In the right environment he could really shine, there is a feeling of class about him, but we need to surround him with the right players and the right coach.
That also means giving him the odd break, but not sure we are strong enough to do that right now. Even if he turns out not to be a 'superstar', he should still be a very good player who can do a good job for us over the next 10 years
posted 4 weeks, 1 day ago
I know Redastomatoes was one. And Dunc was another.
posted 4 weeks, 1 day ago
And it’s a common misconception that I was Carrickature. I was simply known as ‘funrob’. Did Carrickature ever come over to JA? I remember someone called Very Cleverly Done who filtered the entire site at one point.
posted 4 weeks, 1 day ago
comment by BerbaKing11 (U6256)
posted 11 hours, 50 minutes ago
comment by Baz tard - Ineos your face (U19119)
posted 28 minutes ago
I’m not yet convinced mainoo does . He’s a great little player, and I really hope he does find that, but he’s not been convincing in that regard. His ability to get out of a tight spot certainly won’t hold him back there, but I haven’t seen much from him that suggests he coukd anchor a team. He strikes me as a good support player, who might benefit from playing slightly forward, but even then does not seem to have a great deal of vision
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I think I disagree with just about every single word of that.
He turned 19 just a few months ago. He's absolutely miles ahead in his development compared to some of the illustrious names mentioned here by the same age. He has the potential to be able to play any midfield role. Where he will end up is guesswork at this stage, but he very clearly has that football brain and picture in his head when he plays. It's obvious. To say he doesn't have a great deal of vision is baffling to me.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
It's hard to guess what kind of player Mainoo turns into. With every young player there will be abilities they haven't yet unlocked - things they can do but haven't figured out how to apply in senior football. Then there's also an element of decision making and coaching. Rashford could have been developed as a centre forward. He could have been developed as a different sort of winger, e.g. a cog in a positionist attacking machine with a good understanding of pressing. But his formative years in the senior team were spent under Mourinho/Solskjaer who largely played reactive football and largely asked him to drive forward directly, and therefore accepted that he would have to 'cheat' when out of possession. That's now who he is as a footballer and an athlete.
So I hope Mainoo's coaches are thinking carefully about what kind of player he should develop into, not just what they need from him today. Personally, I don't see a lot of Carrick in him, which doesn't mean he isn't able to develop better long distribution or understand better how to control the tempo of the game. His USP is his ball carrying, which wasn't the most prominent feature of Carrick's game. Carrick was technically reliable receiving the ball and efficiently recycling under pressure, but he wasn't a dribbler. Mainoo's superiority in that area opens up the possibilities of developing into a more attacking midfielder, or a midfielder with more licence to get forward, which makes it less likely he performs the Carrick/Busquets role.
posted 4 weeks, 1 day ago
Underappreciating Carrick always reminds me of the transcendentally wrong article published by (decent journalist and United fan) Rob Smyth on the eve of the 2006-7 season, entitled 'Shredding his legacy at every turn'. I re-read it for an emotional lift every three years or so.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2006/jul/31/sport.comment
posted 4 weeks, 1 day ago
comment by Red Russian (U4715)
posted 21 minutes ago
Underappreciating Carrick always reminds me of the transcendentally wrong article published by (decent journalist and United fan) Rob Smyth on the eve of the 2006-7 season, entitled 'Shredding his legacy at every turn'. I re-read it for an emotional lift every three years or so.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2006/jul/31/sport.comment
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Beautiful
posted 4 weeks, 1 day ago
comment by Red Russian (U4715)
posted 24 minutes ago
Underappreciating Carrick always reminds me of the transcendentally wrong article published by (decent journalist and United fan) Rob Smyth on the eve of the 2006-7 season, entitled 'Shredding his legacy at every turn'. I re-read it for an emotional lift every three years or so.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2006/jul/31/sport.comment
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Ahhhh that article.
It's still a unrivalled masterpiece of it's genre.
posted 4 weeks, 1 day ago
comment by RB&W - He kicked lumps out of them (U21434)
posted 25 minutes ago
comment by Red Russian (U4715)
posted 24 minutes ago
Underappreciating Carrick always reminds me of the transcendentally wrong article published by (decent journalist and United fan) Rob Smyth on the eve of the 2006-7 season, entitled 'Shredding his legacy at every turn'. I re-read it for an emotional lift every three years or so.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2006/jul/31/sport.comment
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Ahhhh that article.
It's still a unrivalled masterpiece of it's genre.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I can't think of another piece of journalism that has brought me so much joy over the years. In fact, I'd struggle to remember a single piece of journalism from that decade,
posted 4 weeks, 1 day ago
'A Pirlo when a Gattuso was needed'
'Damien Duff, was allowed to slip into the arms of Newcastle for less than United paid for Patrice Evra. You couldn't make it up. You don't have to.'
posted 4 weeks, 1 day ago
comment by Ali - 🇪🇦 🏴 (U1192)
posted 3 hours, 48 minutes ago
Mainoo reminds me of pogba.
Great on the ball, better further up the field but the game just passes him by if we are struggling.
He is young though so let's see.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Mainoo’s passing isn’t close to Pogba’s.
posted 4 weeks, 1 day ago
comment by Red Russian (U4715)
posted 2 hours, 10 minutes ago
comment by BerbaKing11 (U6256)
posted 11 hours, 50 minutes ago
comment by Baz tard - Ineos your face (U19119)
posted 28 minutes ago
I’m not yet convinced mainoo does . He’s a great little player, and I really hope he does find that, but he’s not been convincing in that regard. His ability to get out of a tight spot certainly won’t hold him back there, but I haven’t seen much from him that suggests he coukd anchor a team. He strikes me as a good support player, who might benefit from playing slightly forward, but even then does not seem to have a great deal of vision
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I think I disagree with just about every single word of that.
He turned 19 just a few months ago. He's absolutely miles ahead in his development compared to some of the illustrious names mentioned here by the same age. He has the potential to be able to play any midfield role. Where he will end up is guesswork at this stage, but he very clearly has that football brain and picture in his head when he plays. It's obvious. To say he doesn't have a great deal of vision is baffling to me.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
It's hard to guess what kind of player Mainoo turns into. With every young player there will be abilities they haven't yet unlocked - things they can do but haven't figured out how to apply in senior football. Then there's also an element of decision making and coaching. Rashford could have been developed as a centre forward. He could have been developed as a different sort of winger, e.g. a cog in a positionist attacking machine with a good understanding of pressing. But his formative years in the senior team were spent under Mourinho/Solskjaer who largely played reactive football and largely asked him to drive forward directly, and therefore accepted that he would have to 'cheat' when out of possession. That's now who he is as a footballer and an athlete.
So I hope Mainoo's coaches are thinking carefully about what kind of player he should develop into, not just what they need from him today. Personally, I don't see a lot of Carrick in him, which doesn't mean he isn't able to develop better long distribution or understand better how to control the tempo of the game. His USP is his ball carrying, which wasn't the most prominent feature of Carrick's game. Carrick was technically reliable receiving the ball and efficiently recycling under pressure, but he wasn't a dribbler. Mainoo's superiority in that area opens up the possibilities of developing into a more attacking midfielder, or a midfielder with more licence to get forward, which makes it less likely he performs the Carrick/Busquets role.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
It’s always unfair comparing a 19 year old to players that have finisher their careers. Carrick at 19 wouldn’t have been the Carrick we know. In fact, Carrick at 25 wasn’t even the Carrick we came to know, he was much less of a holding player at Spurs than he was for us.
posted 4 weeks ago
Just watched a couple of clips of Mainoo in attacking situations last season, including his goals vs Liverpool and Wolves. Obviously, we wait to see how he develops (quality wise and, as Dazza says above, in terms of profile). But at the moment, I'd say the coolness around the box in both passing and shooting look like far more tangible qualities to build into an attacking-minded midfielder than the more theoretical possibility that the qualities of a metronomic passer might emerge.
posted 4 weeks ago
Depends how his final ball develops, and he wouldn’t need to necessarily be a metronomic passer to be a top cm. Think of how Dembele lacked the final ball to be a top attacker, however, his understanding of space, dribbling and ball retention meant for a couple of years he was one of the top cms in the prem.
posted 4 weeks ago
comment by Joshua The King Of Kings Zirkzee (U10026)
posted 27 seconds ago
Depends how his final ball develops, and he wouldn’t need to necessarily be a metronomic passer to be a top cm. Think of how Dembele lacked the final ball to be a top attacker, however, his understanding of space, dribbling and ball retention meant for a couple of years he was one of the top cms in the prem.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I'm not suggesting he can't be a top CM. Just that at the moment he looks more likely to be an 8 (who contributes in all phases) than a deep-lying conductor like Carrick.
posted 4 weeks ago
I suppose at this stage it’s hard to talk about future roles when you also need to consider tactical changes as well.
People thought the number 10 was dead but attacking mids with huge output are very important to teams right now. That may change in five years, when you’d expect Mainoo to be a lot more established.
Page 2 of 3