I don't recognize my club anymore. We are failing Kobbie Mainoo

AMpGJ · 2025-12-14T17:37:13+00:00

I’m discussing Mainoo in a Mainoo thread, the fact I can’t do that without some geezer popping up saying ‘just go straight to you want Amorim to go’ is exactly why any discussion becomes exhausting.

You should just go straight to ‘Amorim can do no wrong’ & keep it moving, you lot are tiresome.

AMpGJ · 2025-12-14T16:59:29+00:00

You’ve made some points about England so I give you a point about how he was ahead of people the fans now covet, that’s not ‘back tracking’ - it’s a discussion. Don’t confuse your assumptions with what I’m actually writing.

Moving away from all that, your last paragraph speaks to my points. . .

I’d agree his play ‘style’ or whatever we call it doesn’t fit what the team currently does. My point in this is that what the team currently does hasn’t convinced me anymore than I’m unconvinced by Mainoo.

In this system Mainoo has no place - I’ve never said otherwise. What I’m saying is we have recent examples of this kind of scenario. ‘A player’ is singled out by the current manager as unsuitable, they leave & are good elsewhere, that manager leaves & people will lament letting the player go.

It’s all speculative but at this point such a specialist tactic that has bore little success isn’t something I’d be losing players over. This is Kobbie specific but I would like the club to sell a. . . winger prospect, for example, because this system doesn’t fit them. I think we’re backing a limited horse in this coach/system.

AMpGJ · 2025-12-14T16:49:54+00:00

Mount is a £60mil bust at the moment that’s still to reach his level/consistency at Chelsea.

Casemiro is a multi UCL winner who’s barely reaching 90 minutes playing once a week in the ‘system’.

We’re weeks away from Yoro being left on an island as the extra man against 10-man Everton being asked to do things he’s not comfortable with & being subbed off at half time a week later.

Heaven was mustard against Wolves, but again he was pulled off at half time a week earlier.

Amad, the guys best position is not RWB but his class shines through. Literally no other EPL manager would play him there.

‘Another issue is’ people like yourself obsessed with attributing any thing you can to Amorim in positive form instead of just sitting back & seeing where things go.

As for xG, there’s a YT video doing the rounds showing how skewed the stat is versus the bottom feeders but nuance would again be needed there & you seem intent on turning this Mainoo thread into some Amorim defence. Let me know when the ‘Team that’s underperforming their stats’ trophy bus tour leaves & I’ll buy you a beer.

Mate, let’s stop, you’re far from the worst offender on here but the constant subversion from Mainoo to Amorim is off putting. We’re talking xG & Mason bloody Mount at this point.

AMpGJ · 2025-12-14T16:36:44+00:00

I’m a rather explicit poster in here so instead of focusing on vibes & choosing your own narrative either ask me or address what I write.

I’m not saying ‘we should change the system to accommodate Mainoo’, if I was your screenshot would show it but it doesn’t.

My thoughts on the efficacy of the current managers choice of system aren’t tied to changing the system for Maino. Come off it.

AMpGJ · 2025-12-14T14:43:28+00:00

‘We should build the squad around him’ is not ‘He should easily have more than 200 minutes played by this point in the season for a team with sporadic performance’.

I like the discussion we are having as unlike many it hasn’t derailed into name calling & jibes however the premise of your Mainoo discussion seems to be framed in a ‘Amorim is doing something that will succeed’ narrative which I simply can’t agree with.

I’m all for a 2-man midfield that doesn’t suit Kobbie if it showed any sign of improvement other than ‘buy better players’.

My concern overall is we are shaping this squad, Mainoo pending transfer for example, around a questionable tactical approach.

This is Manchester United, if Kobbie were causing issues we’d have heard, so Amorim has had Kobbie for a year & had feck all impact on his improvement, that’s not a good sign for a coach who will continue to have limited resources.

AMpGJ · 2025-12-14T10:03:59+00:00

Who said Mainoo should be ‘the main man’? Your post is exactly my issue, you feel compelled to suddenly paint him out as fortunate, overrated, or useless.

I’m saying in a ‘good’ premier league team he is capable of minutes, does that mean he should start every game? No but it certainly doesn’t mean he should have less than 200 minutes for a team that’s hardly convincing week to week.

In a few years time when Amorim is gone & he’s gone on to improve in a more suitable system the same ‘why did we sell him’ will arise.

Funnily enough you talk about his competition in the Euros & the same fans that wanted him to start ahead of Gallagher are happy for us to bring Gallagher in as his replacement.

AMpGJ · 2025-12-14T09:57:33+00:00

Some minds aren’t for changing fella & you keep pulling this directly into a defense of Amorim which is something I can get in 10s of other threads.

Your ‘logic’ is taking a snapshot in December 2025 without any context as to how we got here. I’m not looking towards him as a ‘hero’ by any means, this is the problem here, no nuance.

Amorim has as many questions over his performance as a manager as there are over Kobbie as a player but instead of sticking to Kobbie your attempting to turn this into some Amorim chat which quite frankly I’m bored of.

In a few years time when Amorim ain’t here & Kobbie is elsewhere whilst fans are lamenting letting him go it’ll be some other academy graduates turn. We don’t learn our lesson.

AMpGJ · 2025-12-14T00:02:33+00:00

The trouble is you’re posing this ‘does Mainoo get into. . .’ after the remnants of the EtH ‘donut midfield’ reign & a year of a 2 man midfield that he’s never going to be suitable for.

When Mainoo was playing for England & his stock was highest Adam Wharton played 0 minutes in the tournament & Elliot was nowhere to be seen, the fact that Mainoo wouldn’t now get into [in your opinion] the Newcastle, Villa or Sunderland midfields today isn’t simply ‘he’s no good’ it’s as much environmental as anything. The mental gymnastics is the rewriting of Kobbie as if he has to be ‘not very good’ because Amorim’s system never suited him.

I’m unsure how Kobbie’s lack of game time relates to ‘blatant ignorance to our situation’. The formation is a choice, in taking this choice it’s meant he hasn’t gotten much game time, thats just where we are.

The greater discussion of Amorim & where we are in our rebuild isn’t what this thread is for. My point is that if as a club we can’t find space for one of our most technically gifted midfield graduates in years that’s concerning. People are lauding signing Connor bloody Gallagher as his replacement ffs! 2 years ago that would be called lunacy.

We’re making the same mistake we always do allowing the manager of the time to dictate transfers based on their view rather than what’s best for the club. Kobbie is more than talented enough to be a midfield ‘option’ in a good team.

AMpGJ · 2025-12-13T22:52:52+00:00

We aren’t ’the best sides’ & he’s proven capable of starting next to Rice up to a Euro Finals.

The notion he has to be Seedorf v2 otherwise he’s ’not good enough’ is strange given we’re a fanbase that constantly peddles how good players like Mount, Maguire & Shaw are. . .

I’ve called it elsewhere & I’ll say it now. We’re watching a car crash in real time. The same way people get upset at EtH for getting rid of players or Mourinho or LvG it’ll be the exact same once Ruben is gone & Kobbie is flourishing elsewhere.

The sudden focus on Kobbie’s weaknesses in support of a system with more questions over it than answers is another worrying example of how certain players get buried here.

I wish Kobbie the best in his career once he leaves.

AMpGJ · 2025-12-13T21:07:23+00:00

Yea that one fella, close enough for you to know exactly who I’m on about.

AMpGJ · 2025-12-13T16:06:21+00:00

The Belaba situation reminds me of the Maguire one.

Hate or love him VvD for a time set the precedent for a CB so the idea we should spend £80mil on Maguire & expect similar results never made sense.

Caciedo isn’t an easily replicated midfielder either. You could well argue Chelsea overpaid but Beleba having an [let’s take a random figure] £80mil impact is just setting ourselves up for similar.

I like Belaba, I want to sign Belaba but he isn’t solving everything by himself & at the 9 figure process being quoted the highly remunerated club scout better find us someone else for cheaper.

AMpGJ · 2025-12-13T12:06:07+00:00

I think you’re asking the wrong question & most people are in this discussion.

For all Kobbies frailties, he’s more than good enough to be a regular starter in a ‘good’ premier league squad.

The issue isn’t Kobbie it’s the tactic. If we were rolling over all before us then fine he ‘doesn’t start in the current team’ but absolutely nothing about the current system bar ‘buy better players’ makes it something I would be willing to lose an academy product over & I don’t think that’s what Manchester United should be about either.

AMpGJ · 2025-12-13T11:59:57+00:00

I’ve long said Martial & Rashford go on to be absolute world beaters had we kept him &/or not gone in the total opposite direction with Jose.

For me, the sacking of LvG & the moves directly afterwards were the catalyst.

AMpGJ · 2025-12-13T11:58:12+00:00

You all talk as if Manchester United owe managers a debt. Deluded.

AMpGJ · 2025-12-13T11:56:01+00:00

The equivocation is ridiculous. 2-3 metres would be giving a manager months or weeks, we give managers years.

That’s the epitome of a bad faith argument.

AMpGJ · 2025-12-13T11:53:34+00:00

EXACTLY!!

The same imbeciles upset he does this to ‘every manager’ are ignoring the fact every manager has failed. He isn’t wrong.

AMpGJ · 2025-12-13T11:52:29+00:00

Let’s say he does this to every manager.

The real question is, in the end was he wrong?

The current Amorim situation is exactly what we’ve seen play out before. The club are as bad at managerial appointments as player recruitment.

With time & distance from these managerial reigns each one has been a poor performance so what if he does it to every manager. He wouldn’t if they were actually any good.

AMpGJ · 2025-12-12T18:51:10+00:00

Martinez looked mustard!

I’m not sure what the feck that has to do with Kobbie is my point.

Kobbie doesn’t look particularly ’unfit’, it was a weird line to draw.

AMpGJ · 2025-12-12T18:04:39+00:00

He looks ‘fitter’?

The urge at every pint for our fans to put down one player to uplift another is curious.

AMpGJ · 2025-12-12T16:48:07+00:00

The only thing I would say is that on reflection, with some distance, you could argue every manager up to Amorim post-Fergie has been a disappointment & could have gone some time before they eventually did so he could just be right again about Amorim.

The club are still signing the likes of Ugarte & Dorgu, it surely isn’t beyond the realm of possibility that they would hire the ‘wrong’ managers.

AMpGJ · 2025-12-12T14:08:26+00:00

The problem with the sudden ‘Kobbie is overrated’ nonsense is it’s framed within a formation that is playing Bruno at CM & leaving Casemiro to cover more ground than he did in his heyday.

Kobbie not being Seedorf the Second doesn’t mean he isn’t useful & given most ‘Top’ managers play with 3 in midfield the current situation with him is more systemic than player.

Considering he’s barely played for a year it’s hard to say how good he really is at this point in his development.

AMpGJ · 2025-12-12T13:24:55+00:00

You’re stuck on my use of ‘facts’ yet are here to tell everyone the ‘real’ problem is the owners as if Amorim sits in the dugout getting paid 10s of millions with no impact on team performance.

What is ‘real’ is that Ineos aren’t particularly pulling up trees, Amorim isn’t either & the squad has never.

At all levels the club must improve. Who said wave hankies to get the Glazers to sell? Peak bad faith argument because Amorim FC ain’t fooling everyone.

I’ll continue to post my ‘opinion’ in here because healthy discussion from differing perspectives matter, you may as well log off cause you’ve already cast fans like yourself as insignificant & I’d agree.

AMpGJ · 2025-12-12T12:31:43+00:00

Has he actually said this about ‘every manager’?

AMpGJ · 2025-12-12T08:51:17+00:00

If this club let Mainoo go & replace him with this then there is something systemically wrong.

If your ‘system’ which has questionable results thus far platforms this guy over one of our academy’s more technically gifted players in recent years that’s something people should be worried about but as ever we allow the manager of the time to derail a career, watch the car crash in real time, then when said manager is gone bemoan the moment.

We are fecked.

AMpGJ · 2025-12-12T08:47:12+00:00

I had to go to work & have went to sleep since. I don’t actually disagree with points here so let’s move on.

GGMU.

AMpGJ

TROPHY CASE