Kobbie Mainoo drove the early success of Michael Carrick at Man Utd, so it’s not a surprise that the team’s performance levels have gone down with him in the last few games.
The midfield looks like it’s being held together by Casemiro, while Kobbie Mainoo suffers a familiar problem at Man Utd.
He’s still far from the biggest problem at Old Trafford, but his ceiling is so high that when he is in rhythm, the team looks basically unstoppable.
Having seen Mainoo’s last four games, starting from the draw against West Ham, here are three things he can do to silence his doubters again –
Kobbie Mainoo is challenged by Taty Castellanos and Freddie Potts during the Premier League match between West Ham United and Manchester United at London Stadium in 2026 in London, England.
Photo by James Fearn/Getty Images
How worried are you about Kobbie Mainoo not yet signing a new contract?
Kobbie Mainoo of Manchester United during the Premier League match between Manchester United and Fulham at Old Trafford on February 1, 2026
Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images
Trust his ball-carrying in close spaces
The thing that immediately set Mainoo apart upon his senior debut was his Frenkie de Jong-like quality of basically dragging the ball to the opponent’s half single-handedly by skipping past challenges.
When Carrick restored him to the team against Man City for his first start of the season, he picked up from where he left off.
The likes of Bruno Fernandes and Casemiro had fun playing with him as he regained his role of being the pressure-release valve on the ball.
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Since the game against West Ham, it’s like the opponents have discovered a chink in his armour.
When Mainoo is physically made uncomfortable with duels, and the pace of the game gets stretched, he abandons his best talent and returns to being a safe ball circulator instead.
He needs to trust his ball-carrying in close spaces again because that’s what knits the defence with the attack in Carrick’s 4-2-3-1.
Cause central overloads with third-man runs
When you think of a defensive pivot of Casemiro and Mainoo, you don’t think of Mainoo as the defensive-minded one.
That’s what has transpired in the last few games as Casemiro has taken on the goalscoring and ball-progression mantle while Mainoo sits and circulates the ball.
Mainoo’s quality on the ball is so good that it’s often forgotten how lethal he can be in the final third.
The goal against Wolves in his debut season, or the one against Lyon in the Europa League, showed that Mainoo comes alive in the box when he senses even the slightest opportunity.
He has largely stopped breaking from midfield and causing central overloads under Carrick.
That could be a tactical instruction, or it could be Mainoo just wanting to do his thing in the midfield, but either way, it’s not the best use of his talents.
He could easily be hiding a Jude Bellingham-level of scoring knack if he backs himself to make those third-man runs into the box with regularity.
Instead, he simply plays one-two passes and sits deep to let the game happen in front of him. Especially against low-blocks, United can use his instinctive finishing and nifty dribbling in the final third.
Go for quality over quantity
The last suggestion is more about his overarching style of play rather than being focused on a game, but that just means it’s easier to implement regardless of the opposition.
Is Ruben Amorim not playing Kobbie Mainoo the worst decision you can remember from a recent Man Utd manager?
Seedorf/Mainoo
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It’s not a coincidence that Mainoo’s best game in a United shirt this season came against City, when he had just 51 touches of the ball.
In contrast, there were 87, 88, and 75 touches against West Ham, Everton, and Crystal Palace, respectively.
Newcastle let him touch the ball just 49 times, but that had more to do with the first suggestion in the piece rather than him making the difference with fewer touches.
The point is that Mainoo is at his best when he gets on the ball and immediately breaks lines, either by carrying it himself or by passing it to feet.
When he allows himself time to think, his first instinct is rarely to play the ball forward and make the risky pass, like Bruno Fernandes.
It’s why he thrives against teams who press, because he can skip past challenges and take advantage of the space he earns after beating the press.
The solution to improve in other games is to bother less about quantity and focus on the quality.
He needs to get into a “difference-maker” mode like Fernandes. He doesn’t need to play needless Hollywood passes in his deeper position, but racking up safe passes and touches doesn’t do anything but make the opponent comfortable.
On paper, his skill-set of dribbling with the ball, final-third threat, and probing passing is tailor-made to dominate modern football as a midfielder.
He just needs to back himself more and actually try to be the “hero”, for the lack of a better word.
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