Manchester United interim boss Michael Carrick hailed Kobbie Mainoo’s recent form as fantastic after his key role in the Red Devils’ 2–0 victory over Tottenham Hotspur, while insisting there is still much more to come from the young midfielder.
Mainoo, who has started all four matches under Carrick’s spell as head coach, played a crucial part in United’s opening goal against Spurs by delivering a clever flick back to the penalty spot for Bryan Mbeumo to score as part of a well-executed set-piece routine.
That followed the visitors being reduced to 10 men after Cristian Romero was sent off for a late challenge on Casemiro, and United sealed the win late in the second half when Bruno Fernandes finished from Diogo Dalot’s cross.
The victory extends Carrick’s winning start since returning to the club last month, and alongside praising Mainoo’s form, the boss discussed a range of topics in his post-match media debrief, including Fernandes’s Premier League status, his touchline demeanor, and how United broke down a 10-man opposition.
When asked about the Everton game earlier this season, where they couldn’t break a 10-man team down, and what pleased him about the way United kept pushing, creating chances, and securing the second goal to extend their winning run?
Carrick answered “Yeah, It’s a tricky one, we’ve seen all sorts of different things happen from playing against 10 men over the years. The first goal is normally vital to get ahead, but I think it was just encouraging the expression, the attacking play, and not so much the enjoyment where you can do what you want and it’s a playground with kind of tricks and flicks, but more playing with a purpose, but really the confidence. The first goal ends up coming from a realy well-worked corner”.
“There’s different ways to get that goal, but the boys pulled it off really well. Credit to Jonny Evans and Kaita [Hasegawa, first-team analyst] who kind of put that together and worked with the boys over the few days of having that day. So there’s different ways you can break teams down but fortunately for us today, we managed to pull it off”.
Regarding Bruno Fernandes, with him scoring and reflecting on his recent weeks, he was asked if it would be fair to say he is one of or even themost in-form players in the league right now ?
He said “Yeah, quite possibly. I think Bruno, his level of performances over quite a long period of time now have been so consistent. He’s always in and around big moments, he’s got his fingerprints on it most of the time”.
“He just cares so much, you can see that, he cares so much about the club and wanting the club to do well, the team to do well. He can play so much different positions, he ended up playing off the left and got his goal in the end from playing off the left”.
“He’s just got the quality in the big moments, that composure and can make the difference for us. It’s nothing new, hopefully it continues, I’m sure he’ll have big moments between now and the end of the season.”