Bruno Fernandes had scored three goals and made a fourth. He almost added an outrageous goal from the half-way line. He turned a possible defeat into an emphatic victory. And so it was that Luke Shaw named his outstanding player in Manchester United’s 5-2 win over Ipswich.
“I would like to speak about Kobbie [Mainoo],” the United left-back said. “I think today he was world class: so, so good, the way he controlled the game and the way he drove us forward, I know Bruno scored the hat-trick but I would put Mainoo down for man of the match. He is so young and it is such a joy to see him growing. For me, he was phenomenal today. A real leader in that middle.”
His manager seemed to share Shaw’s inability to say anything new or effusive about Fernandes. And if that was a tribute in itself, his extraordinary exploits so familiar that two who have been on the books at Old Trafford for almost three decades between them sounded nonplussed, perhaps the more instructive element was Mainoo’s excellence.
It came in the context of being twice overlooked. Ruben Amorim did not give the Mancunian a single start in the Premier League last season. Thomas Tuchel did not give him a single minute in the World Cup. Michael Carrick has been a rehabilitative force in Mainoo’s career before. After a summer of frustration, he may be again.
But perhaps the telling part of Carrick’s praise was that he implied a 21 year old was nearly the finished article. Is there room for improvement? “On today’s performance, not much, really,” said a midfielder who played 464 times for United. “I thought he was pretty much all-round very, very good for a first start back. I thought Kobbie was immense in the middle of the pitch for us and underpinned the performance of the team.”
As Carrick referenced, Mainoo had not begun a game for a while: for almost three months, since England’s World Cup warm-up against New Zealand. Since then, the United midfield has been transformed. Mainoo’s revival came as Casemiro’s sidekick but the Brazilian has swapped Manchester for Miami. Enter Andrey Santos, Youri Tielemans and Carlos Baleba. The man bought from Brighton was paraded on the pitch before kick-off. The other two newcomers were twinned in the defeat at Hull, with a conspicuous lack of success. United were overpowered.
Part of Carrick’s task is to find the right pair. “We’ve got good midfielders, so it’s trying to make the best of the combinations,” he said.
Against Ipswich, he opted for Mainoo and Tielemans. They are arguably the two best passers of the quartet. A reason to doubt the signing of the Belgian lay in the question if he and Mainoo could play together, if they both needed to be allied with a more defensive presence.
Perhaps, though, Mainoo is maturing into a No 6. It was notable, during his second spell in the side, that a taller figure has greater physicality. Harry Maguire is attuned to the kind of protection defenders want. He was impressed by Mainoo’s destructive work.
“He was magnificent,” said the centre-back. “He put a great shift in and I think his work without the ball has improved so much since Michael’s been in. That’s probably credit to Michael and his staff. But I think without the ball now, he’s becoming a real monster in there, and I think he wins a lot of second balls. He wins a lot of duels. You won’t want to play against him in there and that’s the biggest compliment I can give to him from playing and watching him behind.”
The talent on the ball was always apparent. An issue in Erik ten Hag’s at times dysfunctional midfield, however, was that Mainoo was not a defensive midfielder. An issue in Amorim’s team was that Mainoo was not a midfielder at all: he used the local as a false nine or a No 10, but often not at all. If Mainoo can be trusted to shield the back four, it may mean that, in a window when they have bought three other midfielders, he could actually be described as Casemiro’s replacement. Certainly, it offers the possibility he could partner any of the three newcomers. Maybe the eventual conclusion will be that, after a summer when United spent £150m on three other midfielders, the trio will be competing to accompany Mainoo in the centre of the pitch.
It will take more than one win against Ipswich to fully prove any part of that. But when United’s manager, longest-serving player and former captain were keen to eulogise about Mainoo, it felt revealing. Although the man of the match was still, and obviously, Fernandes.
