Why Ruben Amorim sees Kobbie Mainoo as a ‘liability’ in moments | OneFootball

Watch closely and you will see why Kobbie Mainoo might infuriate his Manchester United manager.

United dominate the Mailbox but you can fix that; send your mails on this wonderful season to theeditor@football365.com

Kobbie Mainoo actually a liability

It is really interesting to be reminded in the mailbox and on other social media platforms how people view football through this aesthetics prism of reels and compilations that is fed to us.

Obviously, they are generally the moments that we like to celebrate and last night’s match was indeed an incredible game with top quality attacking players showcasing some excellent moments. More of that, please.

On the note of pleasing things, I was happy to see Kobbie Mainoo’s introduction onto the pitch and the subsequent increase in Manchester United’s tempo. He really knits the play together well at times.

However, it was another example of how we have been trained to view football as an ‘on the ball’ game. Enjoy the exciting actions but overlook ‘invisible moments’ that often define matches. It is very easy to miss the subtle actions that allow attacking players to prosper. Cole Palmer failed to cut off the passing lane that supplied Fabian Ruiz in the build up to Spain’s knockout blow in the Euro 2024 final, yet I heard little mention of this in any pundit’s analysis.

Mainoo’s below the radar defining actions last night were another perfect example. His moments on the ball were as sound as usual and his interplay with teammates advanced the ball well on a couple of occasions. But hands up who noticed Mainoo dive into a failed tackle on the left side of the pitch near the halfway line, resulting in Bournemouth’s fourth goal? His abandonment of position allowed the ball to reach Jimenez and for Kluviert to bomb forward, creating an overload. There was then space for the pass to Kroupi and he equalised. Rewatch it and see for yourselves.

Further on in the game, an unnecessary Mainoo handball led to a clear chance for Brooks and a smart stop from Lammens. A few moments later, Dorgu and Mainoo both collided when going for a header, leading to another chance for Bournemouth at the death. I was deliberately watching Mainoo, to try to garner an understanding of why a player who featured for half of a dismal England Slovakia wash out and was subbed at 0-1 against each of Slovenia, Switzerland and Spain could be held in such high regard.

Yes, he played a lot of successful short passes. Yes, he played relatively well against the Netherlands. Yes, he wasn’t Trent Alexander-Arnold or Connor Gallagher. But, overall, the ball wasn’t moved with speed to our forwards and resulted in a dearth of opportunities, as reflected in England’s attacking data. There were many others to blame here, of course.

Compilations on Twitter/X can paint anyone in any light. That Liverpool game in the cup comes to mind. I certainly see the talent that Kobbie Mainoo has, but a more expansive passing range and a more diligent approach to defending are required to succeed in today’s game. His invisible moments were costly and almost fatal yesterday and I gained an understanding of why Amorim might view him as a liability who doubles up as a smooth operator.

Ultimately, I wonder what position would be most suitable for him. An advanced 8 in a 4-3-3 set up? Perhaps alongside a hypothetical carbon copy of Rice and Zubimendi, we would see more of his full potential. Mainoo seems to be a model professional, so good luck to him. AC in Milan

What about a team of Mainoos?

This silly old phrase of “if we had 11 ” then things would be great gets knocked around now and then.

A BTL commented joked about having 11 Brunos. Obviously that would make for a catastrophic defence.

But it raises the question of who the mailbox and BTL would pick if they had to play 11 duplicates as their team.

For me, my first thought goes to Rooney. Happy to put a tackle in, probably decent in goal, and obviously good in attack and support.

Second is a wild card: Dalot. Yes I know, but hear me out. He’s actually ok with shooting, he *can* tackle although often you do wonder about that, and he can run a lot which is always nice.

Third, to keep it topical, I’ll say Mainoo. Since he used to be a forward anyway, that’s covered and defensively he would probably do fine although it would definitely need to be a fluid formation as we couldn’t have 9 players all hovering around the edge of the box.

More Manchester United v Bournemouth thoughts

Just catching up on last night’s game at home to Ballmouth.

Spoken to dad before bed, he predicted a 1-0 win for United. I said no chance we’re winning this if top 5 is up for grabs, they don’t have it in them. See Everton, Spurs and West Ham games for proof. Bang average teams and poor results.

We’re playing last on Mondays and Tuesdays, everyone else has played so we know there’s a chance to keep poking up in the top echelons of the table and we keep ballsing it up.

The game is bonkers (currently watching it with my 7 y.o as I write this it’s HT but know the result).)

Saw the line up with Shaw alongside 2 x 12 year olds (Yoro and Heaven) and thought that looked shaky. Why Heaven doesn’t get across for Semenyo’s goal is a mystery, Yoro was marking Evanilson he didn’t have to stay central he needed get across. Poor.

This team is lacking in many ways but we’ve clearly prioritised younger players to play this specific system so as long as there are steps forwards we can excuse drawing at home with the Cherries, considering they pantsed us 3-0 here last year it’s progress.

Be interesting to see how we go without Amad and Mbuemo and who comes in while they’re gone, I’d love to see Mainoo get some minutes it’s a travesty the gaffer doesn’t rate him! Also, we’re only playing once a week so there’s no excuses for fatigue or lack of fight we need to have good results over Xmas while others have congested fixtures and may drop points it’s a vital few weeks coming up.

We’ll lose to Villa. Gibbo (MUFC – down under)

Ruben Amorim formation was always fluid

Badwolf (were you not supposed to be on a long-term hiatus?) opines in the morning mailbox “If Amorim shows bottle and sticks with a 442/433 then things will start to look better”. Already today I have read reports that we were playing a 3-4-3, a 4-4-2, a 4-3-3, a 3-4-2-1, a 4-2-4. This is why I said before that in my opinion the formation is a red herring and it is senseless being fixated on it.

Watching the game, off the ball at times we had 4 at the back as Yoro shifted across right and Dalot dropped in, with Amad staying higher. But there were also times we had 5 at the back when Yoro stayed more compact and Amad dropped back. On the ball the shape was more familiar looking as we maintained 3 at the back and the wingbacks bombed forward. Even when Mainoo came on we kept the 2 in MF, and at one stage we did play 4-2-4 chasing the 4th goal.

Point being that the shape is flexible, and has been all season. It all depends on the phase of play and opposition. Players will interchange, cover certain areas, track certain players and also sometimes there will be chaos and everyone gets swept up in it (like last night).

The manager is still learning and hasn’t found the right balance yet (we are definitely too open at times) but he has shown he can be flexible, he has a few tricks up his sleeve and I have faith he will get it right. At the very least it is entertaining attacking football. Garey Vance, MUFC

Actually, Amorim is infuriating

What motivates a man, so angle minded in his approach, to just, throw it all away?

As a Manchester United fan, I was happy to see something resembling a back four against Bournemouth. But I’m also feeling a little sad for Ruben,

Whilst I really dislike the Amorim 3-4-3, I could begrudgingly admire the commitment to the bit. For over a year, an incredibly disappointing year, where it seemed half the squad didn’t fit, many being driven Amorim, often in a very public manner, Ruben held fast to his principles. And just like that he p***ed it all away.

Feels like a waste really. because if he’s just going to give up now, it makes the last year feel even more infuriating.

It’s been obvious to anyone paying attention that the Amorim style did not suit the squad. And while the money spent over summer was nothing to sneeze at, it was nowhere near enough to give Amorim the squad he wanted any time soon.yet he still persisted.

So what made Amorim decide that a Monday night against Bournemouth, was the night to give up on the one thing that defined his managerial career?

It’s baffling, But most things that happen at United are baffling. it’s really not a fun club to support anymore. Cliff Anderson

On xG and Arsenal

First xG does seem to split opinion, I’m a fan of it but realise its limitations. It’s not perfect but it’s better than almost any other stat at showing chance creation and threat in a game. Shots on target and possession are far worse.

Morgan Rogers’ goal being ranked 0.02xG isn’t saying Rodgers has a 2% chance of scoring, it’s an average of all professional players who have previously taken a shot from there. Yes not an exact science because how close were the defenders, who was in goal, was it windy etc, but a league 2 CB with a nosebleed shooting from there would be far lower xG just as the very best players (which given the wide sample Rogers would certainly class in) would be far higher.

xG is not a prediction, it’s an average number of goals scored from very similar shots. When looking at a teams’ xG you can get a better idea of the game than just the score. Stats in football are always best used alongside watching the game, they can confirm or debunk your eye test.

There is a phrase that you can’t outrun your xG. In the opening 5 or so games Liverpool had 5 wins but their xG for and against showed thy were fortunate – I understand you could also see that by watching all the games, but their xG showed they ‘should’ be more like 8th, and it caught up with them. For a short period Chelsea were the same then they dropped points in 3 straight games. Spurs earlier in the season were similar.

Right now Villa are drastically out performing their xG. Perhaps we’ll see their results turn as it has for others….perhaps not after all it’s unlikely we finish with a table where every team finishes exactly where their xG says they should.

Finally a quick one on Arsenal. No club is judged on their last result or performance more than Arsenal. As someone yesterday said, it’s like every result is treated as do or die. Now perhaps that is partly down to the Arsenal fans and our desperation for the title and knowing (to our cost) that one bad result, or one goal can be the difference between 1st and 2nd given the high standards at the top of the league. But I think there needs to be some reframing of expectations and rational analysis of results in context.

I don’t think you can have only 1 team who is expected to win the league, and if they do then all other top teams are given a pass for not winning. This season all 3 of Arsenal, Liverpool and City should be expected to win the league, and 2nd is a failure.

Given the amount of money they’ve spent I’d be tempted to include Chelsea there but most give them a pass because they haven’t challenged for a while forgetting what has been spent. But currently it seems like Arsenal are the only team expected to win the league, a reminder that whilst Arsenal have spent a lot of money assembling this very good squad, it’s no more money than most top teams and Spurs, Arsenal are not reigning champions, they haven’t won 6 of the last 8 titles, they weren’t favourites before the season started, they have no experience of winning, they don’t have a goal a game striker, they don’t have arguably the best manager ever in the game etc etc. it’s a strange dichotomy where all the things people use to bash Arsenal are the very reasons why it’s hard for Arsenal to win the league, but those same people will call it a huge failure if they don’t win it.

This isn’t some way of trying to paint Arsenal as plucky underdogs, we’re 2 points clear and doing ok, and have built a depth of squad that should have every chance of winning it, and it will be a disappointment if we don’t, just as it should be for City and Liverpool.

If Arsenal need a title/squad boost in January we could always sell our women’s team to ourselves for £80m, or sell Highbury house real estate to ourselves for another boost, perhaps even pay our staff off the books and get Kronke Sports empire to sponsor Win the dog’s collar for £200m. I’m sure no one would take issue with that. Rich, AFC

Swallowed a fly…

While it perhaps obviously wasn’t aimed at them – I’d be interested if any of your under 30yo readers caught the struck-through reference of “swallowed a fly” in the great “Ten daft reasons why this Premier League season is already great and could be the best ever” article. Magic stuff!

And even better if one of them could give the next, or even final line!

Warm regards. Dene McLeod

Lowest-scoring campiones

Nick Wilde, in ’93-’94 AC Milan won Serie A by scoring only 36 goals in a 34-game season, thanks in no small part to their miserly defence, which conceded only 15 goals, a defensive masterclass that became the definition of modern-day catennacio. This puts Mourinho’s Chelsea ’04-’05 season record of 15 goals conceded in a 38-game season into even more perspective.

Despite being known more for their defense than offense, this same Milan team then completed the Double, going undefeated in the Champions League, crushing Johan Cruyff’s heavily-favoured Barcelona ‘Dream Team’ – made up of Romario, Stoichkov, Laudrup, Koeman and Guardiola – 4-0 in the finals. Maybe sometimes a good offense is a good defense instead. Sanjit (now if only United knew how to defend) Randhawa, Kuala Lumpur

The cash-grab World Cup is here

I write this in jest but please, nobody tell Gianni and friends.

It seems as though FIFA has decided find ways to make everything about the game better..

So here are some ideas for them to consider

One 3 minute advert break per half… we can do better than that, nine 10 minute periods with 8 ‘water’ breaks per game.. its all for the players and definitely not the advertising.

Var reviews on goals and corners… we can do better than that, throw ins, free kicks, goal kicks lets review them all and find a little more time for some lovely adverts.

Dynamic pricing on seat tickets…. We can do better than that, how about a stadium entry fee as well, dynamic of course.. charge extra to be there early, or late, this is all about the fan experience.

Sponsors around the pitch… we can do better than that, how about sponsors on the pitch, on the players and definitely the ball.. just think #Visa Ronaldo stepping up to the Budweiser Light penalty spot to place the gazprom ball under the McDonalds bar, all on the lovely Kia green pitch Paul, BRFC