Kobbie Mainoo ‘exactly what this team needs’ (but not with Bruno) | OneFootball

Kobbie Mainoo impressed for Manchester United; does Ruben Amorim have the bottle to stick with that plan?

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The Mainoo man?

Well, that was entertaining. If Amorim shows bottle and sticks with a 442/433 then things will start to look better. There’s lots to take away from the game, although I hear the kids are being blamed (continuing his attack on the academy in the last 24h). But attack wise, things looked infinitely better.

And well done Amorim on securing the 44th draw from a winning position at Old Trafford, from the (IIRC) 394th game since 1984 and just missing being the first loss, against mighty 13th placed Bournemouth.

I just wanted to highlight Mainoo’s performance from his cameo. He made good passes, broke lines, retained possession under pressure and turned defence into attack in two touches, made tackles and clearances, and – quite critically IMO – kept pace with Semenyo to dispel this BS narrative that he’s not fast enough.

He’s still not a DM, but alongside an equal partner who can also do a bit of both (Anderson, Wharton, Baleba) rather than Bruno who absolutely is not suited to a double pivot, he’s exactly what the team needs.

I’m *sure* this cameo will have secured his place now. Badwolf

…Think I poked fate a little too hard and it got angry. Kind of feel bad for Amorim. He set the team up really well, put Kobbie in to effect the game and it worked, the players were nearly all very good, and fate was just like ‘fuck that guy, he can’t have nice things’. Dave, Manchester

Manchester United: Man by man

Deserves a run through man by man that match.

Lammens is bang average. Exactly what we need right now.

There’s a player in Yoro but might be a few years before we see him.

There’s a player in Heaven and we can see him already. Needs some fine-tuning but he’ll be special in a few years.

With Shaw, I’m just amazed he’s not injured yet. Maybe it’s because he’s not playing that great anymore.

Amad is a superstar.

Dalot finally managed a decent final ball for our opener. Shocked I was.

Casemiro is class. Old, slow class. But class.

We have high expectations for Fernandes so he has to be special to get praise but he deserves it for that free kick. Plus, he ran around a lot too which is appreciated.

Mbeumo was off the boil totally. His head was probably in Africa already and, according to Cameroon, that’s probably where his body should’ve been too.

Mount can be great but he can also sort of disappear. More of the later in this game.

Cunha is a bit of a legend. Supremely talented, hard working, and showing his love for the club. He’s not a clinical striker but he’s a great player.

Sesko did well for Cunha’s goal and showed confidence taking the ball from Mbeumo.

Not sure Mainoo did much.

Martinez can be glad Amorom insists on changing a centre back every game.

Not a lot of point in Zirkzee right now

Did Dorgu come on? Can’t remember.

Tremendous fun all round. Damian, Dublin

What happens now?

Just watched the crazy 4-4 draw on MNF.

Here’s a question for you:

What happens when a team that have become quite good at scoring goals but also concedes a lot, then loses it’s best two brightest and nimble attacking threats to Afcon for 4 weeks?

Answer: we’re about to find out. Andy H, Swansea

Why does it matter how Arsenal win?

I don’t get why there is an issue how Arsenal win games.

We come from an Era of beautiful football under Wenger and still lost games. Next was Emery with confused tactics(Plans),until he got fired. We got Arteta who started bad and until he got us going, that first season where we came second, we played good football and still did not make it. Currently, we are solid and there is no way we will play well in 38 league games. We bound to be poor just like the Wolves game but what matter is that we got the 3 points.

Back to Gyokeres, I do hope he does well enough but I doubt it.. he will be luck to get 15 goals.

My hope is that Kai and Jesus stays fit from now till end of the season, because we seem to be playing better with them or there is an understanding with other players and how we play. I can see Kai coming back and score more goals than Gyokeres. Lwazi (South Africa)

…Not sure why everyone is feeling so dour about Arsenal’s recent results. Top of the Premier League, Top of the Champions League… This makes them the best team in the world on today’s date, and they’re still on for the Quad. Jdb

Who doesn’t want to be a Viking?

In what world is “viking” an insult? It sounds f*cking mega to me. Ben, AFC (see also “the red cartel”, who wouldn’t want to be in a cartel, seems class)

Mansplaining the Harvey Elliott situation

Aston Villa have to pay £35m for Harvey Elliott if he plays over 10 games for the club. We are under transfer restrictions and the manager clearly sees the funds better spent elsewhere so isn’t pushing to play him with the obligation hanging over him.

Awful for Elliott but he was signed by the now departed Sporting Director in a panic. Best that he goes back to Liverpool rather Villa sign a player the manager quite clearly doesn’t want.

If Liverpool decided to do away with the obligation to buy, I bet he would be used a little more as part of squad rotation, get his minutes and provide up and maybe add value to Liverpool, but that hasn’t happened. Paul

The Gamble

Weird one this, it’s neither topical nor irrelevant, managing to be arguably quite an inflammatory mail while also being a moment of genuine human honesty however in a world where Stewie can do Stewie things, I thought someone out there might appreciate a different tale away from the entitlement of elite Football supporter-ship.

TL;DR – This weekend I fell off the wagon.

That’s not a set up for a pun/gag around being addicted to Western genre cinema, I very literally fell off the wagon as a recovering gambling addict this weekend.

Many BTL regular interactors are aware of my history with the bookies because despite sensibly hiding behind a pseudonym/nom de plume, BTL, I am relatively open and honest about my life and travails and so when discussion of gambling addiction is raised around here, I often put my tuppence-worth/lived-experience into the discussion and often-times this appears to be appreciated by my fellow moaners and shakers.

Now I love my game, our game, the beautiful game, very much, but honestly the older I get (and, trust me, that’s old) the more I see just how corrupted the sport is by the gambling industry and how, as someone who has thankfully survived to tell the tale of living through an addiction, we are constantly being talked at by loud voices telling us to “play responsibly” like such a thing truly exists.

For a recovering addict, those adverts are a minefield, and no amount of Gamstop, responsibility tools, “when the funeth stopeth, stopeth” slogans, will ever remove the Pavlovian call and response that builds in an addict/ex-addict’s gut when being reminded of gambling and it’s methods. This weekend, I found myself in a position of perfect storm, where I could stumble and (thankfully) get back on my feet again with no damage caused and so, I stand here, with a pill that nobody is required to swallow, but some may benefit from heeding.

Be careful.

Sounds silly right? and hey, who is Harold Hooler to tell you what to do, you’re a winner and you deserve to do what you like, and that my friend is true and I wouldn’t judge you for it. I only speak as someone who once lost 35k in a weekend, and got no contact from the bookie, “won” 20k six months later and had my account frozen before I could withdraw my winnings for “my own good” to protect me from myself. (An action the gambling ombudsman themselves described as “deplorable” and “predatory” – yes, I needed to bring the gambling ombudsman in to get hold of that balance)

Believe it or not, I’m not actually advocating to never gamble. Gambling is arguably a better waste of money than other age-protected activities say, fireworks, alcohol, or smoking, because there is a chance you end up net even or net positive. I’m only heeding caution because 2 weeks ago I hadn’t gambled in a very long time, and had remained a relatively positive advocate for safety – this weekend I gambled, and the desire to was 100% generated by outside forces. Outside forces which vocally make themselves known through every single advertising-funded broadcast.

Just, be careful.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk, it’s been a blast.