Kobbie Mainoo must improve the defensive side of his game if he is to succeed in Ruben Amorim’s Manchester United team.
That is the opinion of Liverpool legend Graeme Souness who claims the box-to-box midfielder has ‘not got any sense of danger yet’.
It’s been a difficult season for all of United’s players, with the club languishing in 13th in the Premier League having lost seven of their last 11 games.
Among the strugglers is Mainoo, a surprise following the 19-year-old’s remarkable breakthrough season in 2023/24, which saw him play a key role in United’s FA Cup triumph and England’s run to the Euro 2024 final.
He’s failed to really get going in this campaign, with Amorim recently admitting the teenager was ‘struggling a lot defending’.
This lead to the head coach deploying him in a more advanced role – an experiment that has so far not paid off.
As a striker he was ineffective in the 2-0 defeat to Crystal Palace last week, and was a poor again as an attacking midfielder in the FA Cup win over Leicester on Friday night.
‘It didn’t surprise me to hear Ruben Amorim say that he felt Kobbie Mainoo was not ‘comfortable’ with the defensive side of his midfield game,’ Souness wrote in his Daily Mail column.
‘I said last June that of the young crop of England midfield players, Crystal Palace’s Adam Wharton had a far better understanding of the defensive duties in that role than Mainoo.
‘Mainoo catches the eye because he’s so good on the ball, drifts around, pops up on the left and the right, but he’s not got any sense of danger yet, and empties the midfield area too readily.
‘Mainoo doesn’t yet understand all the disciplines of the position but he’s only 19. He can develop, with the proper guidance and instruction.’
Improving Mainoo is just one of many tasks Amorim faces at Old Trafford, with United next in action next Sunday when they travel to fellow strugglers Tottenham.
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