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Kobbie Mainoo's return to form in the Manchester United line-up under Michael Carrick has proved many things, but most of all, that he was never the problem. In today's video, Matt looks at what the underlying issues were for the 20-year-old and how new boss Michael Carrick has fixed it!
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00:00In football, we love a saviour, but the problem with saviours is that we don't allow them to be
00:05human. 18 months ago, Kobimenu wasn't just a player. He was the blueprint. England and
00:10Manchester United's future. Then the manager changed, and with it, the system too. The results
00:15dipped, the performances dropped, and suddenly the 20-year-old was being talked about as a problem
00:19that needed to be solved. But here's the truth. Kobimenu was never the problem. He was a world-class
00:26engine being asked to run without any petrol. Today, we're looking at why the Amarim era
00:30initially failed him, why our expectations for a 20-year-old are statistically insane,
00:35and how a man who knows a thing or two about silent, understated midfield mastery in Michael
00:40Carrick is finally giving Kobbe his career back.
00:57In 2024, Mainu was the next in a long line of Man United youngsters who had taken to first-team
01:02football with ease, working his way into an England set-up for Euro 2024 that eventually
01:07saw him start the final. But later that year, when Ruben Amarim arrived at United with his
01:12trademark 3-4-3 formation, the narrative around the burgeoning talent immediately shifted to
01:18Mainu doesn't fit. People pointed to his lack of explosive recovery pace and suggested he
01:24couldn't survive in high-intensity matches. But to understand why he struggled, you have to look
01:29at the geometry of that formation. In the 3-4-3, the two central midfielders are often left on an
01:35island, isolated both offensively and defensively. The idea is, of course, that they create the base
01:41of a box formation, with the attackers either side of the striker coming more narrow, with overlapping
01:46wingbacks providing width, to create the top of the box, but rarely do such rigid tactics stick
01:52in the ebb and flow of a match. If their front three don't execute a perfect press or lose the
01:57ball, then two base players are tasked with covering the entire horizontal width of the pitch
02:02against three or sometimes even four opposition midfielders. Did that expose Mainu's perceived
02:07lack of pace, physicality and defensive understanding? Maybe. But he definitely wasn't the only one.
02:12I mean, let's look at Casemiro. Even a five-time Champions League winner, arguably the greatest
02:16pure defensive midfielder of this generation, looked completely lost and out of his depth in the first
02:21chapter of Amarim's tenure. Casemiro was facing radioactive levels of midfield exposure, and if
02:26a veteran with elite defensive positioning was getting bypassed, it proves the issue is in the
02:31system's demands, and not necessarily the individual quality. Mainu was being asked to either be a
02:36destroyer, or a creator, or both, none of which played to his strengths, all whilst being outnumbered
02:42in the engine room. If he was there alongside Casemiro, he had to be the creator and instigator of
02:47attacks with little movement in front of him. If he was alongside Bruno, he'd have to play the role of
02:51destroyer and cover the sort of gaps that at times seemed mathematically impossible for one human
02:56to cover. Unless, of course, you're N'Golo Kante. He wasn't failing, he was basically being sabotaged
03:02by a tactical mismatch that even legends couldn't navigate. Now, all of this isn't to say that Man
03:07United fans were expecting him to be perfect, nor should he be. That's unrealistic, not only because
03:12he's a human being, but secondly, because actually for his age and his position especially, his early
03:18career made him an outlier, the exceptional one in comparison to others. Because what actually does
03:23a normal career path look like for any 20-year-old in the Premier League? Currently, Kobe Menu has
03:29already clocked over 4,200 senior minutes for Manchester United, hence all the noise around
03:35his lack of action or downfall. For context, look at Newcastle's Louis Miley. He's a phenomenal talent,
03:41but Newcastle have been able to manage his load. He's managed just over 2,650 minutes. Not a word
03:48about him playing less or falling off. It's just what happens when you're a young player working
03:52away into the first team. Or how about Curtis Jones? By the time he was 20, he'd played 2,200
03:58minutes,
03:59a little less than even Miley. These are entirely different situations altogether that show careers are
04:05molded and take shape through so many different circumstances. And that Menu is effectively a victim
04:10of many things. Firstly, his early success. Let's call it the unrealistic baseline. Secondly, Man
04:17United's lack of a standout performer, leaving a saviour-shaped hole in need of filling, because it
04:21can't be Bruno every week. And thirdly, as we've discussed, the tactical setup failed him. But there
04:27is one more point I'd like to dig into, and I'll explain why. But is he the victim of his
04:33own style of
04:34play? Menu has been treated as a Finnish product pretty much since he first came into the team,
04:40and I think it's the way he moves, the way he manipulates the ball and controls it. His passing
04:45accuracy has remained remarkably high at 87.8%, even during the team's poorest runs of form. He
04:52plays with calm, precise measured movements. He's not particularly explosive, doesn't seem to be
04:57losing his head or making rash decisions. And his demeanour isn't that of a flair sort of player,
05:02but rather he plays in a metronomic style whereby teammates can trust him with the ball
05:06in every situation. A bounce pass here, and I switch to play there. All this to say his composure on
05:12and
05:12off the ball make him feel like he's been playing with extreme maturity, wise beyond his years. But
05:18you have to remember, he's still just 20 years old. It's not a crisis, it's a learning curve. There
05:24will be moments after this video comes out where he drops a stinker or has a nightmare run of form,
05:28but he's simply experiencing the natural fluctuations of a player who, compared to his peers, would still
05:35be in an in-and-out rotation phase by this point in their career. Of course, there are anomalies in
05:40the data. I seem to remember Steven Gerrard, Wayne Rooney, Cesc Fabregas just looking like they belonged
05:45at the top seconds after their first game ever began. But it can't be and isn't like that for
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06:07email.
06:07So why has this all changed now that Michael Carrick has come in? Because surely the former
06:12Man United midfielder, placed better than most to teach Maynew about the ins and outs of being a
06:16master in possession, couldn't have completely turned his career around in just a few weeks.
06:20No. But what he has done is finally placed the midfielder in the perfect system, where his
06:26strengths can thrive and his weaknesses can be covered. Since Michael Carrick has taken over
06:30as interim manager, Man United have won four consecutive Premier League matches, including
06:34landmark victories over City and Arsenal, where Maynew has started all of them. His switch to a 4-2-3
06:41-1
06:41has returned Maynew to a more protected role alongside Casemiro, but with Bruno in front as
06:46well. As former England and Man United midfielder Owen Hargreaves put it, Maynew is no longer forced
06:51to be the 6 or the 10, but the 8. He can control the play, pick and choose when he
06:56drops deep or
06:57when he pushes further up, without then carrying the full burden of being the deepest or most
07:01further forward midfielder. Tony Kroos pops into my mind a little. Not in the way that I'm comparing
07:06their ceiling. I don't think many players will ever be as good as Tony Kroos, but the style of play
07:11is
07:11there. Maynew has this gravity, or aura for want of a better word, because he is super
07:16press resistant. Opposition teams are forced to commit two players to close him down because he
07:21can turn in tight spaces with a single touch. When he draws those players in, he then creates the
07:26space that allows Bruno Fernandes to flourish. His game isn't just about safety, it's more about
07:31rhythm. Carrick has publicly praised Maynew's composure in big moments, specifically highlighting
07:37his assists from Bermos' goal against Spurs. He doesn't need to be a physical monster because
07:41his positioning and awareness on the ball prevent the chaos from starting in the first place.
07:46He is a control player, and under a coach that values control over chaos, he has immediately
07:51looked like the player that Manu fans fell in love with. So with all this being said, an apparent
07:55return to top form for Kobe is a place in England's World Cup squad now on the horizon. I must
08:01say at this
08:01point, I'm normally against a young player being pushed into the national team after what is
08:05ultimately a very short, as of February, run of form. Any player can hit a purple patch. It's consistency
08:11that separates the good from the great. But given his previous experience with England, is it so
08:16ridiculous to assume that he can't step back in fairly easily? After all, he started the Euros final,
08:21he's no stranger to big games, and he has more experience than those similar types of players to him.
08:26I'm talking about the backups to Rice, Anderson, and maybe Jordan Henderson. Adam Wharton has played
08:31three games for England. Lewis Marley and Alex Scott are yet to make their debut. I don't think
08:36it's unthinkable or unreasonable to say if he has a strong end to the season and helps United to a
08:41Champions League spot, that he couldn't be called up to the squad. Luka Modric was voted the worst
08:46signing in La Liga in his first season at Real Madrid. Paul Scholes was frequently moved out to
08:51the wing early in his career to protect him from the physical demands of the middle of the park.
08:56With 15 years of football ahead of him, most likely, the Amorim dip will be viewed as a footnote in
09:01Kobe Mainu's career. He was never the problem. A tactical minefield, unrealistic expectations,
09:06and the impatient thirst for a hero to save the day have all contributed to this blurred perception
09:11of how he should be contributing on the pitch and what he should have achieved by this point in his
09:16career. Kobe has been freed, and Manchester United will be reaping the rewards. If you've made it this
09:22far into the video, don't forget to smash the subscribe button for more content and even pick up
09:26a copy of our latest 442 magazine, a new issue every month, and it's in stores now. See you in
09:32the next one.
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