A goal and an assist. The first goal and assist of Kobbie Mainoo’s season, in fact, and all from a new-fangled position as one of Ruben Amorim’s No 10s. As far as experiments go, the 19-year-old’s man-of-the-match display against FCSB could hardly have gone better.
Except it could have.
Mainoo could have had a hat-trick. One brilliant touch and acrobatic take almost opened the scoring after a quarter of an hour. A shot blazed high over the bar after a cut-back from Rasmus Hojlund not long after really should have. And still, in this new role, he was the most effective player on the pitch.
“I enjoyed it,” Mainoo told TNT Sports. “I’m just happy to be on the pitch for Manchester United wherever the manager needs me to play.”
Amorim also liked what he saw. “I think Kobbie in that position played very well, with more freedom, with not so much responsibility running back all the time,” he told TNT.
Mainoo fires off a shot against FCSB (Andrei Pungovschi/AFP via Getty Images)
The role makes the most of Mainoo’s greatest ability: his close control, even when surrounded by opponents.
The 19-year-old can take the ball under pressure, manipulate it in tight spaces and play his way out from underneath those around him. That is useful when deployed deeper against high-pressing opponents, but it is just as important in the final third, where space is at an even greater premium.
And so it was interesting to hear Amorim in his post-match press conference make reference to not only this strength but also what he perceives as one of Mainoo’s weaknesses.
“He was struggling a lot defending as a midfielder,” Amorim said in his post-match press conference. “Now, more as a 10, you can feel that he was so free. Playing the ball near the box is really good, the small connections. We need time to work with the players and understand the best positions for them.”
It was a telling comment, suggesting that Amorim is not fully convinced that Mainoo’s future lies at the base of midfield, and his use of the teenager to date has hinted at such reservations.
Thursday was only the third time Mainoo has completed a full 90 minutes under Amorim. He has only started half of the United manager’s games in charge and, even if some of those benchings can be explained by his recovery from a muscular injury, he has often been one of those hooked when Amorim has sought to change things.
The youngster celebrates his goal in the 2-0 win (Vasile Mihai-Antonio/Getty Images)
Can he defend as a deeper-lying midfielder? Evaluating a player’s defensive ability by statistics alone is difficult given so much defending happens away from the ball. Comparing players against their counterparts across the league is more difficult still because some teams spend more time playing without the ball than others. A comparison can be made among different players at the same club, though.
In Premier League games this season, Mainoo has made 3.78 tackles and interceptions per 90 minutes. By contrast, Manuel Ugarte and Casemiro are way ahead on that metric, registering 6.00 and 5.05 per 90 minutes respectively. Toby Collyer’s tiny sample of minutes is not statistically significant, but he has shown a clear willingness to stick his foot in during his limited time on the pitch and is increasingly earning Amorim’s trust.
Last season, Mainoo made 3.22 tackles and interceptions per 90 minutes in his league appearances. Again, that was fewer than United’s other deeper midfield options, with Casemiro and Sofyan Amrabat making 4.59 and 3.22 respectively. If you want a ball-winner, there are and have been more effective options in the squad.
Pairing him with either Ugarte, Casemiro or Collyer would offer a degree of balance in that regard, but in Amorim’s system, the defensive demands of a midfielder are greater than when playing with a back four. United’s 3-4-2-1 set-up exposes midfielders more than a formation where there are two players on the wing as opposed to one.
It also demands that at least one of the two midfielders can help progress the ball up the pitch. That is not Mainoo’s greatest strength — his 3.63 progressive passes per 90 minutes in the league this season is among the bottom third of Premier League players in his position. It is not Ugarte’s strength either. The Uruguayan makes even fewer.
Both were excellent in the 2-2 draw at Anfield earlier this month, partly because United’s direct approach that day did not rely on either receiving the ball in deep areas and finding more advanced team-mates. On the other hand, when Mainoo and Ugarte have been tasked with exactly that — such as in the Boxing Day defeat at Wolves — they have at times struggled badly.
Mainoo, Garnacho and Rasmus Hojlund celebrate United’s second (Vasile Mihai-Antonio/Getty Images)
It is no coincidence that United have had as many problems with moving the ball up the pitch when Bruno Fernandes plays as one of Amorim’s two midfielders. The punts upfield for an out-of-sorts Rasmus Hojlund to battle for — seen multiple times during Sunday’s win at Fulham — are a direct result of United’s difficulties in building up from the back, but were nowhere near as pronounced on Thursday night.
That may point to more of Fernandes in midfield in future, which may in turn mean more of Mainoo further forward. But if that proves to be the case, he will be competing for a regular place in a crowded field when everyone is fit, available and under consideration for selection.
Alejandro Garnacho — who set up Mainoo’s goal and was bright once introduced as a half-time substitute — is beginning to understand what is required of a player in that role. Mason Mount is best suited to it when fit. It would also be Marcus Rashford’s most suitable position if he is ever welcomed back into the fold.
That is to say nothing of Fernandes and Amad, who have demonstrated they can be versatile and play elsewhere in this system, but are Amorim’s two best No 10s on form. Until Thursday night, at least.
Mainoo’s performance in Bucharest has potentially opened a new avenue for him under Amorim. It may be that his particular skillset is more suited towards playing as one of the two No 10s. But it is also a role where regular minutes may be harder to come by.
GO DEEPER
FCSB 0 Manchester United 2 – Has Mainoo found his role? Have United finally become boring?
(Top photo: Ash Donelon/Manchester United via Getty Images)
