Kobbie Mainoo has spoken candidly about a difficult spell on the fringes of the Manchester United team under Ruben Amorim. The midfielder described the challenge of going from regular appearances to being largely omitted from matchday action when Amorim adopted a 3-4-2-1 formation that, in the manager\u2019s view, left him outside the system.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen there\u2019s new managers, they have their way that they want to play and if they think you don\u2019t fit that, then you don\u2019t fit that,\u201d Mainoo told Sky Sports. \u201cGoing from playing nearly every game to not playing as often is always going to be a difficult adjustment.\u201d He added: \u201cIt\u2019s difficult when you don\u2019t even come on as a sub of course. But I\u2019d say my family and my friends helped me see the light at the end of the tunnel. They knew it would swing back my way at some point, so I just had to be patient.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rather than react publicly, Mainoo used the period on the sidelines to focus on his routine and preparation. \u201cAll I can do is try and work and train to maybe see it in a different light,\u201d he said, crediting teammates Casemiro and Joshua Zirkzee for support. \u201cIt was good for me in terms of learning [about] myself, the game and patience. How to schedule my life and how I train and how I work and getting into routines.\u201d<\/p>\n
He admitted he considered a move last summer but that the club turned down the request. \u201cWhen you\u2019re not playing many games, or any games, you consider all things,\u201d Mainoo said. \u201cBut at the forefront of my mind was always to play for Manchester United and continue to play for this club that I\u2019ve grown up at.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Michael Carrick became interim manager in January he reinstated Mainoo into a 4-2-3-1 alongside Casemiro, and the midfielder\u2019s form returned. That resurgence led to a new contract running to 2031 with a reported increase to \u00a3150,000 ($202,000) per week. Mainoo\u2019s return contributed to United securing a place in next season\u2019s Champions League while Liverpool and Chelsea flounder below them. Carrick is reportedly in talks to become the permanent manager, and Mainoo has spoken highly of him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Mainoo discusses exile under Amorim, patience, comeback under Carrick and a new deal to 2031. \u00a3150k.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13850,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[179,969],"tags":[1081,1304,1012],"class_list":["post-13851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-manchester-united","category-premier-league","tag-adaptation","tag-benching","tag-burnley-style"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13851"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13851\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}