Kobbie Mainoo



Kent Boy 2 said:
People were dissing me a fortnight ago, but I don’t think our starting 11 by the summer will be much different to Pickford; Walker, Gomes, Stones, Shaw; Bellingham, Rice; Saka, Palmer, Foden; Kane. There aren’t many better options out there - as the past week has shown.
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Good side but Palmer won’t be starting. Not a chance. Decent option off the bench…
 
Kent Boy 2 said:
Yes I did. Like you, I think Shaw will miss out but I put him in as he’d be my choice if fit. I’m also 90% sure that Southgate will put Maguire in rather than Gomes (despite Gomes being the better player), and he’ll play someone further back alongside Rice rather than putting Palmer in at 10, so it could be Mainoo. I just wish we had a manager who was more interested in getting our better players on the pitch in their best positions and letting the opposition worry about us, rather than set up to try and stop the opposition. Left back is interesting. The best LB’s are injured - Shaw and Rico Henry. Gomes has played there this season for Liverpool, but it’s Chilwell’s spot to lose at the moment really isn’t it.
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How can you have watched England fail for all these years - the years of Eriksen, Capello, McLaren etc - and say “I just wish we had a manager more interested in getting our best players on the pitch”.

Doing that, rather than pick a balanced and cohesive TEAM is the absolute 101 England failing. It’s why we always underperform.

Blows my mind.
 
Shame Shaw is so injury prone, he's our best left back by far. By contrast there's probably 3 quality right backs we can pick from when fit.

The two issues for me is centre back and then the formation of the midfield. Kane will play no doubt, he's gonna need Bellingham to essentially become the 9 in many a situation, for him dropping off to succeed.

I always felt Rashford was the man to get the best out of Kane for England, but maybe its Jude.

Then you've got Mainoo, who I'm hoping will be an ideal partner for Rice.

I hope I'm wrong but don't get the feeling Foden fits in this England team with Bellingham there, especially with who the manager is.

Centre back, there's plenty of options but Maguire seems Southgate's fav and Dunk's just played himself out of contention.
 
FootballFan said:
A kid who is a future superstar
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Maybe he will, maybe he won’t. Time will tell. Part of the reason he was picked in a squad so early was so that he couldn’t end up playing for Ghana.
Comeback_Kenwyne said:
How can you have watched England fail for all these years - the years of Eriksen, Capello, McLaren etc - and say “I just wish we had a manager more interested in getting our best players on the pitch”.

Doing that, rather than pick a balanced and cohesive TEAM is the absolute 101 England failing. It’s why we always underperform.

Blows my mind.
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Very different. These days our best players play in different positions for their club sides. Southgate moves them around so that he can continue his obsession with a second CDM. Kane plays CF for BM but for some reason Southgate lets him play 10 for England, Rice plays CDM for Arsenal, Bellingham plays box to box for RM, Saka plays RAM for Arsenal, Foden plays LAM for City, Palmer plays 10 for Chelsea, Pickford in goal for Everton, Walker RB for City, Stones & Gomes play CB for their clubs, and Shaw plays LB for United. Our best players could all play their natural positions in the same team.

Blows my mind that people can’t see 4-1-4-1 (or 4-2-3-1) as our best formation and allows all our best players to play their natural positions on the pitch together.

In the eras you mention, we tried to shoehorn 3 AM’s (Scholes, Lampard and Gerrard) into the same team. We don’t need to do that anymore - our best players play different positions!
 
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Kent Boy 2 said:
Maybe he will, maybe he won’t. Time will tell. Part of the reason he was picked in a squad so early was so that he couldn’t end up playing for Ghana.
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You know that Declan Rice was capped 3 times at Senior level in International friendlies for Ireland right?

I'm not sure where you get your info.
 
FootballFan said:
You know that Declan Rice was capped 3 times at Senior level in International friendlies for Ireland right?

I'm not sure where you get your info.
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Yes, I know. And you know the rules were tightened in 2020 and 2021 by FIFA (I.e. a few years after Rice switched), right? So you would know exactly why the Rice and Mainoo situations are different? Oh hang on, if you did have that info then you wouldn’t have brought it up would you….
 
Kent Boy 2 said:
Yes, I know. And you know the rules were tightened in 2020 and 2021 by FIFA (I.e. a few years after Rice switched), right? So you would know exactly why the Rice and Mainoo situations are different? Oh hang on, if you did have that info then you wouldn’t have brought it up would you….
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fair play then, if you're right, I'd still like to know your source for suggesting Mainoo was selected so he wouldnt play for Ghana
 
FootballFan said:
fair play then, if you're right, I'd still like to know your source for suggesting Mainoo was selected so he wouldnt play for Ghana
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It was very widely publicised during February and early March that the Ghanaian FA had approached him and his family several times. Then he’s in the next England squad and plays. It’s not rocket science.
 
Kent Boy 2 said:
It was very widely publicised during February and early March that the Ghanaian FA had approached him and his family several times. Then he’s in the next England squad and plays. It’s not rocket science.
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So pure conjecture then, Mainoo is the player we need in midfield. Absurd to suggest he was selected just so as not to play for Ghana
 
FootballFan said:
So pure conjecture then, Mainoo is the player we need in midfield. Absurd to suggest he was selected just so as not to play for Ghana
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It was widely publicised in the southern media last week as being part of the reason he was fast tracked - to help him make his decision faster was the way it was regularly described. And I said “part of the reason”, I did not say “just so as not to play for Ghana”. Absurd to be naive enough to suggest it had nothing to do with it.
 
Generational talent, we’ve got a few, just a shame we’re managed by a proper anti football manager who’s more arsed about not conceding than scoring.
 
Kent Boy 2 said:
It was widely publicised in the southern media last week as being part of the reason he was fast tracked - to help him make his decision faster was the way it was regularly described. And I said “part of the reason”, I did not say “just so as not to play for Ghana”. Absurd to be naive enough to suggest it had nothing to do with it.
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publicised in the southern media, ah must be true then :)

If you saw the match you'd see he fully merited his cap and was probably the best player on the pitch
 

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