It is more than a season and a half since Paul Scholes watched another tame performance from Manchester United and took to social media to express his frustrations.
“Midfielders, when receiving the ball, the important thing is the shape of the body,” Scholes wrote.
‘Too many times they face their own goal and can only play one way.
“Turn around and bring your most talented players into the game.”
It seemed like sensible advice from someone who knows and, late into the 2023-24 season, it appears an answer to the question has emerged from the darkness to offer a solution to one problem at United and another for England.
Paul Scholes has asked that the midfielders play in the half turn so that the forwards can come into play
Kobbie Mainoo has shown he can do it and is exactly what England need in midfield.
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Kobbie Mainoo is only 18, but United’s need has been deep and, it seems, so has their talent. The teenager already sits front and center of everything remotely good at Old Trafford.
With England, it’s a little different. Manager Gareth Southgate has no shortage of technically gifted players.
When you look at your team, ballplayers lurk around every corner. What he really needs, however, is a player who can outperform last night’s captain, Declan Rice, in the center of midfield.
Kalvin Phillips has regressed at Manchester City and now West Ham, while Jordan Henderson was once the answer to the problem but is no longer.
So Mainoo’s shooting star trajectory has been welcome. He didn’t make his first Premier League start until late November and went scoreless until late January.
But he is now an England player (a 75th-minute substitute against Brazil at the weekend and a starter last night) and, it seems, a very likely inclusion for Southgate’s Euro party this summer in Germany.
Kalvin Phillips has regressed at West Ham to be left out of international competition
Jordan Henderson is no longer the solution as he moves into the latter stages of his career.
Mainoo’s rise has been rapid, but he continues to show that he is ready for the big occasion.
If all of this sounds like it happened pretty quickly, that’s because it did. But that doesn’t mean it happened too quickly. If Southgate is to choose form, talent and influence, rather than simply loyalty, then Mainoo will definitely come into the squad and in all likelihood into the squad when England play Serbia in Gelsenkirchen on June 16.
Here, he was perhaps their best player until he was substituted – probably under an agreement with Erik ten Hag at United – with 20 minutes remaining. He meets all the requirements so briefly described by Scholes in August 2022 and probably a few more.
In fact, his first real influence on the game was profound and he capitalized on Scholes’ point.
England had started badly and had conceded a terrible goal as their makeshift defense creaked and groaned under the pressure of some early Belgian cohesion.
So England needed something when the ball reached Mainoo in center field and a shoulder drop immediately gave him room to work. From then on everything was simple. Looking up, she saw Jude Bellingham running into the space ahead of him and the pass to meet him was simple. From there, the ball went five more yards to Ivan Toney and earned an important penalty which was later scored.
And this is what separates decent midfielders from very good ones. This is Scholes’ thesis. It is the ability to function in the most congested areas with a complete sense of time, space and consciousness.
Can it be taught? Maybe to some extent. All players can be encouraged to raise their heads more frequently.
But then there are those who seem to be able to do it. Seeing things almost in slow motion when in reality everything around them is quite frenetic. To see space, choose passes and movements and then execute them.
Mainoo was arguably England’s best player before being substituted and received a warm hug from Gareth Southgate.
This is what Mainoo does. Move the ball quickly, freely and accurately. He keeps the ball rolling and connects passages of play and, perhaps most importantly, moves possession forward more often than he doesn’t.
At this early stage, he looks like a good fit for Rice and all he seems to be missing at this stage is experience. It’s possible he can use that to his advantage. Experience of what? Failure, narrow squeaks and disappointment? How important is that anyway?
Rice, now with 50 caps, is a different type of central player. The Arsenal midfielder likes to play with space in front. He likes to be able to see how the game is developing, move with the ball and make longer passes into the space in front.
Mainoo, at this early stage in his career, is comfortable in difficult situations. He wants the ball and doesn’t like to waste it. In the 33rd minute he was sharp enough to anticipate a silly pass from Belgian goalkeeper Matz Sels to the feet of Amadou Onana on the edge of his own area.
Mainoo got to Onana in an instant, taking him out of possession with a strong challenge that presented Bellingham with an easy chance which he somehow lifted over the bar.
That was a rare misstep on the part of Bellingham, who was going to make amends for the death. In fact, at this stage he seems the most likely beneficiary of Mainoo’s rise.
Mainoo worked well with Declan Rice, who likes to play with space in front of him.
Mainoo also connected well with Jude Bellingham, and the Real Madrid star rescued a point for England with a goal in added time.
Bellingham loves to run into spaces behind and beyond a centre-forward. He can do it with the ball and did it on numerous occasions against a Belgian defense that didn’t look confident. Likewise, look for good service from those behind it and Mainoo already stands out as a reliable supply line.
As it stands, Mainoo’s international record is pretty unfair: Played 2, won 0. One imagines that will change before long.
England were better here than against Brazil. They were smoother, faster and created better angles. With all that came good opportunities.
Mainoo was watching from the bench when Bellingham scored. However, this had been another big step forward for a talented young player. With the Euros almost upon us, Southgate has been presented with another important layer of depth at just the right time.