England star Kobbie Mainoo reveals FOUR positions he can play in as Southgate tries to get the best out of midfield
KOBBIE MAINOO is such a confident and composed individual that you cannot imagine him losing his cool.
Asked by a potty-mouthed journalist from one of the posh papers to name ‘the last time you lost your s**t’, the Manchester United and England midfielder replied: “Maybe when we won the FA Cup.”
Mainoo, 19, scored what turned out to be the winner in his first Wembley showpiece — the 2-1 victory over Manchester City which kept Erik ten Hag in a job.
His career trajectory has been so steep over the past six months that most teenagers would struggle to deal with it.
Mainoo, though, seems unfazed by it all.
With great understatement, he said: “Things have been happening quite quickly.
“But just try to take it a game at a time, a day at a time. It’s just been working for me so far.”
The teenager only made his first Premier League start in November, when he was man of the match in a 3-0 win at Everton.
For several months he carried a shambolic United side on his young shoulders before he made his England debut against Brazil, scored belters against Wolves and Liverpool, and produced that memorable Wembley strike against champions City.
Now he is in Gareth Southgate’s squad for the Euros, arriving as a sub as England closed out a 1-0 victory over Serbia in Sunday’s opener — and hoping to feature against Denmark in Frankfurt on Thursday.
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Trent showed he's a central character for England... he deserves to keep spot, says Wilshere
THIS game felt a bit like an audition for Trent Alexander-Arnold in centre midfield, writes SunSport columnist Jack Wilshere.
I think he passed it and deserves another chance to show all the qualities that he can bring to the role.
I was pleased when I saw Trent in the starting line-up.
It’s a little bit braver than we have normally seen from Gareth Southgate and I like that.
It was: ‘Go on, go and play!’ It didn’t necessarily work out like that but that wasn’t Trent’s fault.
Southgate was experimenting with him in there, seeing if it worked.
If we get later in the tournament against the big teams, you will need someone who has played in there a few times and understands the position a bit.
The combination between Trent, Kyle Walker and Bukayo Saka is a promising one.
You see Trent naturally drift over to that right side and receive it almost like a full-back.
It’s interesting what happens then with Walker.
He was still getting involved in and around the outside, which was good to see, and it was Walker who got forward to help create the Jude Bellingham goal.
That link-up is something we need to exploit more. We should probably have used it more last night as well.
At the start, he was a little bit shaky. He gave the ball away a couple of times, and one of them led to that decent chance for Aleksandar Mitrovic.
When he plays for Liverpool he comes inside. But it’s different when you’re in there from the start. It’s 360 degree pressure, from all sides.
I always found international football that bit quicker. You’ll often receive it with your back to the game and you’ve scanned, but you need to get more on the half turn to see what’s coming.
But it was difficult for Trent, especially in the first half, for him to show his range of passing. When you’re playing against a back five, with four in front, and they’re stubborn and just waiting . . . it is very hard.
There’s no space in behind, they’re very tight and organised.
And when the ball is going over your head, your job then becomes jumping on second balls, disrupting and trying to shield the big two up front.
Trent’s positioning was good and he made some good interceptions. I think he can — and should — hold on to the ball a bit more, draw the pressure, and then play the ball forward.
If someone comes to him, that frees up space for someone else. And he and Declan Rice have the ability to find Bellingham and Phil Foden through the lines. I would like to have seen more of that. As the game opens up, Trent is a player who can pick the right pass.
Especially in transition, like he did with a lovely one down the side for Saka in the first half and another early in the second.
It was also good to see him get forward for a decent long-range shot.
But Trent was not helped by England’s performance in the second half. We weren’t aggressive enough, we didn’t press well enough.
Trent’s audition lasted just under 70 minutes in the end. I believe it is something Gareth should persist with.
He is more than intelligent enough to work it out. And as the tournament goes on, I’m sure he will be fine in there.
After such a stratospheric rise, it would be little surprise to see Mainoo popping up and scoring a crucial goal at the Euros. Despite playing as a deep-lying midfielder, Mainoo grew up as a striker — but grew bored of not seeing enough of the ball up front.
He said: “Whether you are in the squad or a kid at home watching, everyone dreams of scoring big goals for their country and it is always going to be the dream, isn’t it?
“If I get in the team or have chances to make an impact, if that comes in the way of scoring or defending I don’t mind. Anything to help the team.
“Being an attacker when I was younger, I always enjoyed scoring goals.
“It’s definitely up there as one of my favourite parts of the game but I like defending as well and anywhere on the pitch for England or United, I don’t mind where I play.
“I was a striker for most of my academy days. I love being on the ball and playing futsal, I was always comfortable playing in tight areas and like to turn with the ball.
“I was getting a bit frustrated playing as a striker. I wasn’t getting the ball a lot and I love time with the ball so it was more natural to move back, play ten a bit, then I played on the wing and then more recently played centre midfield.”
After his appearance as a sub against the Serbs, Mainoo is a serious contender to start at this tournament, should Southgate ditch his experiment with Trent Alexander-Arnold in central midfield. Mainoo was chuffed to hear that United’s all-time record scorer Wayne Rooney has been championing him as an England starter.
He said: “Growing up a United fan, Rooney was an idol.
“I used to watch Ronaldinho a lot on YouTube but it is mostly United players. So it was nice to hear what Wayne said.
“I appreciate good words from a legend of football — it is amazing to receive that.”
Mainoo does not seem in the slightest bit starstruck by rubbing shoulders with established England stars, so soon after emerging as a Premier League player.
He refers to Jude Bellingham as a ‘Ballon d’Or contender’ and Declan Rice as ‘worth every penny’ of his £105million Arsenal transfer fee.
Mainoo has also spent time chatting to City’s Phil Foden — a fellow Stockport lad — and Chelsea’s Cole Palmer, who grew up in neighbouring Wythenshawe.
He said: “The other day we were talking about where we grew up, we were naming all the local teams that we used to play against, Cole Palmer as well as Phil, because he is from a similar area. So we were talking about all our grassroot sides.
“It is nice to have someone who’s from near to where I lived.”
As for the City players he overcame in the Cup final, Mainoo said: “I might have spoken a couple of times on the first day we met up, with John Stones and Kyle Walker.
“They were having a laugh about it. But we’re on the same team now and put it to one side.”