{"id":453327,"date":"2026-03-02T08:55:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T08:55:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/453327\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T08:55:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T08:55:11","slug":"kobbie-mainoo-strengthened-grip-on-man-utd-starting-spot-by-producing-his-best-defensive-performance-this-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/453327\/","title":{"rendered":"Kobbie Mainoo strengthened grip on Man Utd starting spot by producing his best defensive performance this season"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>   <a class=\"fw\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=unitedinfocus.com \" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\"> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"28\" height=\"28\" src=\"https:\/\/www.unitedinfocus.com\/wp-content\/themes\/grv-media\/img\/google-discover.svg\" alt=\"\"\/> Add as preferred source on Google <\/a>  <\/p>\n<p>Kobbie Mainoo is now firmly settled back in as a Manchester United starter, and continues to offer balance to the team.<\/p>\n<p>Young talent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.unitedinfocus.com\/tag\/kobbie-mainoo\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Kobbie Mainoo<\/a> has spent 2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.unitedinfocus.com\/news\/kobbie-mainoo-sets-man-utd-season-record-to-prove-ruben-amorim-embarrassingly-wrong-four-players-set-new-highs\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">making Ruben Amorim look foolish<\/a> for deciding to barely play him over the first half of the season.<\/p>\n<p>Mainoo only needed one game in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.unitedinfocus.com\/news\/patrick-dorgu-sends-brilliant-response-to-patrice-evra-after-spectacular-manchester-derby-win\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Manchester Derby<\/a> to really prove his former manager wrong.<\/p>\n<p>His latest performance in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.unitedinfocus.com\/match-coverage\/four-biggest-winners-and-one-loser-as-man-utd-beat-crystal-palace-2-1\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">United\u2019s 2-1 victory over Crystal Palace<\/a> was a gritty display where he got another 90 minutes under his belt, and had a strong defensive impact.<\/p>\n<p> Our top rated Man Utd players vs Palace \u2013 What would YOU change? <\/p>\n<p>    <img decoding=\"async\" width=\"819\" height=\"1024\" loading=\"lazy\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/UIF-2026-03-01T203636.841-819x1024.png\" alt=\"Match ratings graphic\" class=\"wp-image-334080\" \/>Getty Images       <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2263704047-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Kobbie Mainoo competes for ball with Palace's Ismaila Sarr\" \/>Photo by Richard Sellers\/Sportsphoto\/Allstar via Getty ImagesKobbie Mainoo\u2019s performance vs Palace<\/p>\n<p>It was not the flashiest performance from Kobbie Mainoo <a href=\"https:\/\/www.unitedinfocus.com\/match-coverage\/four-biggest-winners-and-one-loser-as-man-utd-beat-crystal-palace-2-1\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">against Crystal Palace<\/a>, he was not one of our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.unitedinfocus.com\/match-coverage\/man-utd-player-ratings-vs-crystal-palace-maverick-bruno-fernandes-but-8-10-ace-was-key-to-victory\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">top rated players<\/a>. But he did his job very effectively.<\/p>\n<p>Mainoo completed 90 per cent of his passes, 63 of 70. He managed 85 touches in total during the game.<\/p>\n<p>Most impressively, Kobbie Mainoo managed 10 defensive contributions against Palace. These included four tackles and six ball recoveries.<\/p>\n<p>Data shows this is the highest defensive total Mainoo has posted in a single match during the 2025\/26 season, topping the nine he managed against City.<\/p>\n<p>   Rank Opponent Date Defensive Contributions Match Result     1 Crystal Palace (H) Mar 1, 2026 10 W 2-1   2 Manchester City (H) Jan 17, 2026 9 W 2-0   3 Fulham (H) Feb 1, 2026 7 W 3-2   4 Arsenal (A) Jan 25, 2026 6 W 3-2   5 West Ham (A) Feb 10, 2026 5 D 1-1  <\/p>\n<p>Mainoo\u2019s game was not faultless. He posted only a 50 per cent success rate with his duels, winning six of 12.<\/p>\n<p>His one shot at goal missed the target.<\/p>\n<p>But he was persistent and managed to create two goal scoring chances during the game.<\/p>\n<p> What is YOUR verdict on Kobbie Mainoo\u2019s performance for Man Utd vs Palace? <\/p>\n<p>    <img decoding=\"async\" width=\"819\" height=\"1024\" loading=\"lazy\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/UIF-2026-03-01T204340.497-819x1024.png\" alt=\"Kobbie Mainoo stats vs Palace\" class=\"wp-image-334087\" \/>Getty Images       Mainoo locking down midfield role<\/p>\n<p>In addition to starting every single game under <a href=\"https:\/\/www.unitedinfocus.com\/tag\/michael-carrick\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Michael Carrick<\/a>, Kobbie Mainoo is completing almost all of them.<\/p>\n<p>This was his third 90 minutes in a row, and sixth out of seven under Carrick.<\/p>\n<p>The one exception was the win over Tottenham, when he played 89 minutes instead of 90.<\/p>\n<p>It is clear that he is part of Michael Carrick\u2019s first choice set up, due to the way he offers balance to the team. His performance against Palace was a demonstration of that.<\/p>\n<p>          Prove us wrong\u2026 Casemiro, Kobbie Mainoo and Bruno Fernandes are the best midfield trio in the Premier League <\/p>\n<p class=\"grv-talking-point__subtitle\">There is not another trio we would swap them for!<\/p>\n<p>     <img decoding=\"async\" width=\"819\" height=\"1024\" loading=\"lazy\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Best-3-819x1024.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-329469\" \/>Getty Images       Join Our Newsletter<\/p>\n<p>Receive a digest of our best United content each week direct to your mailbox<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Add as preferred source on Google Kobbie Mainoo is now firmly settled back in as a Manchester United&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":453328,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[218,3212,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-453327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-football","tag-kobbie-mainoo","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=453327"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453327\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/453328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=453327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=453327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=453327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}