Kobbie Mainoo should play in a cape. Having changed the mood around Gareth Southgate’s England with a regal display against Belgium, the 18-year-old veteran heads to Brentford on Saturday uniquely placed to rescue the reputation of another manager needing a narrative transfusion.
Erik ten Hag, or Erik ten Games if you prefer the cynical monicker bestowed by those who would have him out of Old Trafford, is the subject of daily career updates, usually in the shape of an alternative candidate to replace him when the new football regime becomes operational in the summer.
Gary O’Neil, the moderniser quietly making sense of Wolverhampton Wanderers, is the latest to be linked to the post, a list that invariably includes Southgate, Graham Potter, Brighton’s Roberto De Zerbi and Saturday’s opponent, Thomas Frank.
Whilst it seems ridiculous to think a Mainoo bounce might cloud the thinking of an incoming management structure premised on cold-eyed data analysis, we need only recall the look on Southgate’s face when Jude Bellingham struck the equaliser in the final minute of added time at Wembley.
That goal redeemed what was a much-improved performance by England, at the centre of which was the dynamic contribution of the Stockport supernova.
With Mainoo starting for the first time, just four months after making his first start for United, England enjoyed a degree of control in the middle of the park unattainable when Conor Gallagher stood between Bellingham and Declan Rice.
Mainoo’s ability to find space, take possession even when marked, then make an incisive, forward pass, gave England an immediate technical upgrade.
The pitch was no longer a cul-de-sac in which the ball was endlessly recycled sideways and backwards, but a canvas with a vibrant colour palette. Southgate was suddenly plausible again and England were restored to contenders at this summer’s Euro pageant in Germany.
It helped that Mainoo was linking with the likes of Bellingham, Rice, a Phil Foden rejuvenated by his liberation from right-sided duties in favour of a hybrid left-of-centre role and the understated laser Jarrod Bowen, who deputised for Bukayo Saka with menace on the right.
Mainoo is not surrounded by that species of player at United, but should he connect with Bruno Fernandes, Alejandro Garnacho, Marcus Rashford and Rasmus Hojlund across the last 10 league games, it might be enough to buy Ten Hag time during a period of upheaval and complex transfer window calculations.
Ten Hag is coming off a restorative victory over Liverpool in the FA Cup, the reward for which was a semi-final date with Coventry at Wembley. Before that he faces three games in nine days against Brentford, Chelsea and Liverpool again at Old Trafford, which could massively reduce the value of an FA Cup semi-final victory should United revert to the insipid soup on the menu against Fulham and Manchester City.
That Ten Hag is reliant on the magical properties of an 18-year-old is a measure of his plight. For a combination of reasons there is no future in Casemiro, Christian Eriksen and Scott McTominay. Each offers attributes that every team needs, but they are also deficient in important areas. In Mainoo the fundamental elements are all present, coupled with an innate inability to command the stage.
Assessing his selection for the Belgium game, Southgate, sought to explain Mainoo’s progression in romantic terms.
“Sometimes, with the really young ones, they are not even thinking about that (step up). It is all flowing and maybe then as you get a bit older you start to think about it a bit more. It is a beautiful, innocent moment when he is just in the flow and lapping up the opportunities as they come.”
Perhaps the capacity to “go with the flow” is not an accidental quality but a superpower available only to the few. The blessed see the stage as theirs. The ball is an extension of themselves. Fear and doubt do not muddy the synapses. Bellingham is clearly in this freakish sub-set with Mainoo. Wayne Rooney was, too, identifying himself as the best player at Everton at 15.
Saturday’s encounter against Brentford places Mainoo in opposition to another who made an impression at Wembley but one at the other end of the developmental spectrum. Ivan Toney was making his second England appearance against Belgium a year after his first.
He is 10 years Mainoo’s senior and just as captivated as the rest of us. “I think at 18 I was probably playing Xbox,” he said. “He’s out here being a man and playing for England. He carries himself very well. He glides with the ball and there’s a lot more to come from him. I’m sure he’ll go right to the top.”
Ten Hag does not have the luxury of waiting. The top for him is reeling in Spurs and Aston Villa to claim Champions League qualification. And for that he needs the Mainoo dividend to keep paying out.
from Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/k4I2OuN
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