We are so weak mentally and physically
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Pick out any star central midfielder you'd like to compare Mainoo to, and they probably started looking like one of their club's best players a year or two older than Mainoo is right now. Steven Gerrard debut at 18, made the leap at 20. Xavi debut at 18, made the leap at 21. Luka Modric debut at 19, arguably didn't properly make the leap until 22.
And yet, Manchester United have put themselves in a situation where their success is predicated on Mainoo making that leap right now, at age 19, with 2500 minutes of pro experience. I think he's talented enough that this is possible, but we have a lot of history to suggest he likely needs one more year, even if he's on a Ballon d'Or-type trajectory.
Go watch highlights of Rashford from a few years ago. He's light years slower and less agile. My suspicion along with others is that he is a player that relied on blinding speed to overwhelm his opponents. That speed has abandoned him, and he really does not know what to do.Showstopper said:
Actually I went and found the chart. The only players covering the back left were Martinez and Dalot; Casemiro was shaded to the right; it's crazy how exposed we were on the left against one of the best right wingers in the world. Maybe we were thinking we could torture them with Marcus as much as they did with Salah, but… that didn't happen. (Again, I want to emphasize that I think people are being unfair to Rashford).
Showstopper said:
Be that as it may, he created more chances than Amad and Garnacho combined. Both played better before Liverpool, so I think they should have started ahead of Marcus, but they didn't do much. Amad was energetic, I suppose.
In a dominating 3-0 loss, no one has a ton of highlights.
yea, i didn't really pay attention to the schedule. shaking my head that we have a break already. just so dumb.Showstopper said:
Well, it's the international break. When the schedule came out, I thought, "Great, Liverpool before the international break, if it goes bad, we get to stew on it for basically two weeks."
I'm not sure why this international break even exists. The Euros and the Copa America barely finished. I wish they'd revamp the international scheduling to have fewer interruptions even if the breaks were like a week longer or something. I know, I'm just yelling at clouds.