Graeme Souness has slammed Manchester United youngster Kobbie Mainoo for his performances at the European Championships.
Mainoo broke into England’s starting XI for the Euro 2024 knock-out stages, particularly impressing in England’s quarter-final and semi-final victories over Switzerland and the Netherlands.
However, having earned his place for the final after just eight international caps, the 19-year-old struggled to make an impact against Spain and was substituted for Cole Palmer mid-way through the second period.
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Despite admitting that Mainoo is “very talented on the ball”, Souness criticised the youngster for his “naivety” in England's 2-1 final defeat against La Roja, claiming that he "wanders" too far from his position in midfield.
“I think he's really good on the ball, he's very talented on the ball,” Souness told the Up Front podcast.
“But he doesn't fully understand the position. He wanders, he empties the middle of the field too readily.
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“I watched him against Iceland (during England's last Euro 2024 warm-up game) and he was getting thrown to the left and thrown to the right.
“He came on as a substitute when holding onto a 1-0 lead (during England's first Euro 2024 game against Serbia) and the first thing he did was chase down the goalkeeper and try to put him under pressure.
“It's naivety, he's still learning the game.”
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Souness was also critical of Mainoo’s midfield partner, Declan Rice, highlighting that the Arsenal star was too reluctant to play the ball forward.
“England were at their best when they went a goal behind,” he added. “All of a sudden they started taking risks. They had to be braver and risk making a mistake, risk passing it forward or trying to play someone in.
“Instead they were just going sideways or backwards and it was driving me mad in the final, as it had done the whole tournament.
“I did some research and found that Declan Rice only completed one forward pass against Spain. One completed forward pass in 90 minutes for a midfield player… that's impossible!”
Topics: Manchester United, England, Graeme Souness, Kobbie Mainoo, Declan Rice, Spain
Chris Byfield