Koby Mainu told not to follow manager Thomas Tuchel (Image: Getty)
Coby Mainoo was told by manager Nicky Butt to defy manager Thomas Tuchel by sitting out England’s World Cup third place match against France. The Manchester United midfielder has yet to play a single minute in this competition, with Saturday’s clash against Didier Deschamps’ side being his last chance to make his debut in the competition.
The 21-year-old finished the domestic season on a strong note after being reinstated into United’s starting line-up by manager Michael Carrick, but it wasn’t enough to warrant playing time in North America. Butt, 51, was furious at Mainu’s absence for the duration of the tournament and urged his fellow Manchenians to take drastic action against their national team coach.
Batt said: “I don’t know what’s going on there. Something’s wrong. Now they’re going to play the bomb squad in a stupid third-place game. If I were Koby Mainu, I’d refuse to play. I’d say he got hurt. It’s a nonsense game, especially when you’re being treated like that.”
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“He hasn’t played a minute of football yet and if he doesn’t start playing these meaningless jump-up friendlies now he could be injured for the whole season… No.” Beyond his anger at Tuchel’s treatment of Maynou, Butt believes the German should be sent off given England’s semi-final defeat.
He explained: “There’s no way he (Tuchel) can stay. After that there’s no chance at all. If he stays, John McDermott (FA technical director) will also have to be sacked. There’s no way to keep him now. He’s not the Sir Bobby Robson or Kevin Keegan that the people love.”
Koby Mainu has yet to play in a World Cup (Image: Getty)
“You’re talking about a coach who played negative football, crazy negative football, in the semi-finals against a winnable Argentina team. It doesn’t really matter, but people are going to be against him because he’s also German, so he’s going to have nightmares.”
“You can leave him alone because he’s an unbelievable club manager. He might not want to stay. He might say that, but deep down he’s thinking, ‘Pay me and I’m out of here.’ If it was nine months from now, I’d definitely choose Pep Guardiola. But Pep left Man City a month ago saying he needed a break from football and he can’t come back right away.”
“He can’t do that.” Butt also named Newcastle manager Eddie Howe and US national team manager Mauricio Pochettino as potential candidates to replace Tuchel.
He said: “Eddie Howe would be a great player. I’d love for him to come in, but it would be great. Mauricio Pochettino has an incredible relationship with John McDermott and he chose it. When McDermott was Tottenham’s academy manager, Pochettino was the manager and they had a really, really good relationship.”
“I was in Manchester United’s academy and had a training camp there so I saw it first hand. I wouldn’t be surprised if that happened and I wouldn’t be against it at all. He’s a very good manager.”
“He’s a likeable guy and he plays good football wherever he goes. But everyone said the same thing about Tuchel, and yet when England get going, they just change. It’s crazy. I don’t know why.”
