Ruben Amorim doesn’t have much to show for his time at Man Utd, and Harry Maguire has taken another credit away from him.
The vibes are back to being good at Man Utd after they beat Ipswich 5-2 for their first Premier League points of the season.
Harry Maguire was at the centre of proceedings, forcing a questionable own goal that had Mark Clattenburg intervening to explain what happened.
After the game, Maguire was in the headlines again, as he refused to credit Ruben Amorim for the creation of a “real monster” at Old Trafford.
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Bruno Fernandes contributed four goals to United’s 5-2 victory, but it was not a coincidence that the team looked better once Kobbie Mainoo was back in the starting lineup.
Mainoo is an undroppable under Michael Carrick, and has looked like a complete midfielder now that he has answered questions about his physicality.
All of these traits were on display against Ipswich in a maverick performance that even had Carrick purring, who is usually measured in his praise.
Maguire joined in on the plaudits after the game, calling Mainoo a “real monster”.
He said: “His work without the ball has improved so much since Michael [Carrick]’s been in. He’s becoming a real monster in there, wins a lot of second balls and a lot of duels.
“The thing is he’s so young. If we want him to play for this club for another 10 years, there’s going to be times where he’s going to go through a patch like I spoke about with Rashy and myself.
“But that’s part and parcel. He’s really level-headed, really composed and has great belief in his ability. He’s going to be a magnificent player for this club for many years.”
Maguire’s comments are interesting because they go against the popular theory of crediting Amorim for this change in Mainoo.
It has been widely said that Amorim challenged Mainoo to become better off the ball, and he did, which is what Carrick is benefiting from now.
It’s another matter entirely that Amorim still didn’t give him a chance despite that change, but it was his challenge to the player which sparked the transformation.
As Maguire said, even this change has come under Carrick, taking credit away from Amorim in shaping Mainoo into what he is today.
In fact, this theory was disrespectful to Mainoo in the first place, since it presumed Mainoo is a lax worker who would not have improved without this treatment.
The way he has added to his game meant this evolution was always coming. If anything, Carrick empowering him has accelerated this change.
There is no need to credit Amorim’s misguided treatment of Mainoo for the “real monster” he has become under Carrick.
