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
05:51everyone. Do you want more from 442? Then why not join our community with a completely free
05:57membership? There's loads of benefits, including extra content, quizzes, Q&As, fan discussions,
06:02plus plenty more. All you have to do is click the link in the description and sign up with your
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.
Comments