Kobbie Mainoo was labelled "immense" by Michael Carrick after impressing on his first start of the season in Manchester United's 5-2 win over Ipswich at Old Trafford. While Bruno Fernandes stole the headlines with a hat-trick and an assist for Bryan Mbeumo, Mainoo was outstanding in midfield after a late return to pre-season.
Mainoo's all-action display
The 21-year-old did not feature for England during the World Cup but has been back at United for three weeks. He played as the deepest midfielder in his partnership with Youri Tielemans, excelling on and off the ball. Carrick was delighted with the academy graduate's performance and felt he delivered another all-action display in midfield.
With Carlos Baleba unveiled before kick-off after his £70million move from Brighton, there is now plenty of competition for places in that area of the pitch.
Carrick's praise for Mainoo and Fernandes
"I thought he was pretty much all-around very, very good for a first start back," said Carrick. "We kind of managed him a little bit, and we've got good midfielders, so it's about trying to make the best of the combinations."
"I thought Kobbie, I understand Bruno will get a lot of credit today and he deserves that as well, but I thought Kobbie was immense in the middle of the pitch for us and underpinned the performance of the team."
Fernandes won the PFA Player of the Year award for 2025/26 on Tuesday and looks in the mood to make this another memorable season after netting a hat-trick and registered his first assist of the campaign. Carrick is running out of superlatives to describe his inspirational captain.
Fernandes' leadership defended
"He's been here for a good number of years now," Carrick said. "He's experienced a whole load of different emotions and different things. He's got a lot of experience now to pass on to others and show them the way a little bit as well, and lead by example and help them in different moments."
"Times like today, when sometimes you're looking towards certain players to give us that little bit of something else, and he did that particularly well. He offers us a lot."
"What else can I say? We've said quite a lot about him already, and I've only been here six or seven months, so hopefully, there's a lot to come."
Fernandes still gets some criticism for his leadership, which was called into question after a disjointed display at Hull last week, but Carrick believes that comes with the territory at United.
"It doesn't surprise me, no. It's just the kind of things that get labelled when you lose games," he said. "I said it last week, just because you lose a game, it doesn't mean everything's wrong, or the wheels have come off, or they don't want to play, or they're not passionate, or they're not leaders."
"You lose games of football. The best teams lose games of football. I think again, talking about setbacks, the best teams bounce back. To be fair, since we've been here, together the boys have bounced back particularly well from different setbacks, and that will stand us in good stead moving forward."
