Can Mainoo live up to ‘perfect midfielder’ tag at United?

On Tuesday night, the great and the good of English football were crammed into the narrow reception room of Manchester’s 112-year-old opera house, which was hosting the annual Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) awards.
Erling Haaland was there, embracing his compatriot Martin Odegaard, and so were Mikel Arteta and Pep Guardiola.
As the guests sipped champagne on their way to their seats, they walked past four giant pillars adorned with the names on the six-player shortlists for the men’s and women’s senior and junior awards.
It was a celebratory night for Manchester City as Phil Foden won the men’s player of the year and Khadija “Bunny” Shaw took home the women’s award. Their former academy graduate Cole Palmer, now at Chelsea, won the young player of the year.
Grace Clinton, who was loaned to Tottenham Hotspur from Manchester United last year, won the women’s equivalent. She was United’s only winner, but the new chief executive Omar Berrada, and sporting director Dan Ashworth, who were also in the audience, no doubt took comfort in the fact that Kobbie Mainoo and Alejandro Garnacho finished in the top six in the young men’s award vote.
Erik ten Hag said on Thursday that Garnacho was a player of “high potential” who could “make the jump and become a world-class player… with very hard work.”
The Dutchman described Mainoo as “the perfect midfielder” who had gained confidence from being part of the England squad that reached the final of the European Championship.
“He collected such good experiences and they will help him become a better player, 100 per cent,” Ten Hag said.
It is no exaggeration to say that even though he is 19 years old and has only 2,034 minutes of Premier League experience in his legs, Mainoo is one of the most important players in Ten Hag’s team. That brings pressure, but mercifully for those who love to see young talent thrive, that seems to have zero impact on Mainoo.
After collecting the player-of-the-match award on his first Premier League start against Everton last season, staff reported that he was completely unfazed by the attention being shown to him. He was just as relaxed as he was after playing in youth-team games.
He brought that composure to the pitch, which was much needed because United’s midfield was chaotic last season. The midfield was far too open at times, although Ten Hag said that was because his attackers were not pressing the opposition defence, which allowed them to play through United.
Others put the vulnerability down to Casemiro’s sluggishness, particularly in the second half of the season, when his weary legs caught up with him. Partly because of injuries, Ten Hag used eight central midfielders last season in 16 different combinations. In the seven league matches between the defeat by Brighton & Hove Albion in September and the 1-0 win over Fulham in November, Ten Hag picked seven different midfields.
Ten Hag usually likes to use a three-man midfield containing a holding midfielder (the No6), a No8, who shuttles between both boxes, and a No10, usually Bruno Fernandes, who operates behind the striker.
He began the season with a midfield three of Casemiro, Mason Mount and Fernandes, but that experiment was halted two weeks into the campaign when Mount suffered the first of two injuries that would disrupt his season greatly.
Casemiro did not live up to his standards of the previous season, but Mount’s injury left Ten Hag with a problem in the No8 position too. He used Christian Eriksen, Scott McTominay and Sofyan Amrabat there with mixed results. McTominay was the best of the trio, ending the campaign with ten goals.
Mainoo’s recovery in November from an ankle injury that he suffered in pre-season gave Ten Hag that composed and dynamic presence that was previously lacking in the midfield.
Mainoo is often described as a defensive midfielder, a player who snuffs out attacks and plays tidy, square passes — and he did play as a No6 occasionally last term — but he is far more attack-minded than people think and he is arguably at his most dangerous in or around the opposition box. That comes from his days in the United academy, where he started off as a striker and then moved into the No10 position, with the odd spell on the wing too.
His best performances last season came when he was allowed to venture forward. All five of his goals — against Wolverhampton Wanderers, Newcastle United, Liverpool, Newport County and Manchester City — came from attacking runs into the box. It is no coincidence that he played as a No8 in all those matches, with either Casemiro or Amrabat playing behind him.
He is an adventurous player. Mainoo attempted 2.5 dribbles per match last season, which is more than any of his midfield team-mates. He also averaged 5.2 progressive ball carries — a stat bettered only by Fernandes (6.3) and Eriksen (6.6), who have been around for much longer than he has.
Interestingly, Ten Hag said on Thursday that Mainoo is so tactically flexible that he can operate as a holding midfielder or an attacking midfielder.
“Where do I see him? The perfect midfielder is one who is very good in attacking, very good in defending. He as a player can do that,” Ten Hag said.
“We have to see from situation to situation and occasion to occasion who is available, we have to look at the opponents, and see where we can hurt the opponents before deciding how we use our players. With Kobbie, we can use him as an attacking midfielder or a holding midfielder. We will approach the game with what is needed.”
Casemiro, 32, does not offer the same protection as he used to do, which is why United are pushing to sign Manuel Ugarte, the combative 23-year-old Paris Saint-Germain midfielder.
If Ugarte arrives and hits the ground running, or Casemiro returns to his best form, there should be a defensive base there that allows Mainoo to embark on even more of those dangerous runs. More goals will surely come as a result and maybe Mainoo will be back in the running for individual awards at the end of this season.
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