Kobbie Mainoo put down a midfield marker for years to come.. the Anfield cauldron didn’t faze Man Utd teen one but

THE old saying that you never ask a boy to do a man’s job can no longer apply to Kobbie Mainoo.

For if ever a boy grew up it was within the cauldron of Anfield.

EPAKobbie Mainoo grew into the game after he was booked[/caption]

The United academy product coped well against far more experienced opponents like Ryan Gravenberch as Liverpool poured on the pressureRex

The 18-year-old only started his season at the end of October thanks to injury.

He was part of a Manchester United Under-21 side that lost 4-3 to Salford in the Football League Trophy.

But here he was, less than seven weeks later, playing on the right side of midfield for an Erik ten Hag team in which most of the players are still  suffering nightmares from that 7-0 slaughter nine months ago.

His chance had come with Casemiro and Christian Eriksen injured, captain Bruno Fernandes suspended and Jadon Sancho ostracised.

But, even so, the Stockport–born kid had only a total of 194 first-team  minutes under his belt.

The first of those minutes was when he made his debut across Stanley Park in the 3–0 win over Everton.

Alejandro Garnacho made things easier for him and the rest that night at Goodison with his sensational early bird contender for goal of the decade.

But that was nothing like the Kop cathedral, now swelled to 57,000, most  of them worshipping Scousers baying for blood.

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They wanted seven goals again, they   wanted   Jurgen Klopp’s men to grind those other Reds into the turf again.

Welcome to the real world, Kobbie.

And yet he stood up to it all. Even after a long, long first-half period when neither he nor anyone else around him could even touch the ball.

It took almost ten minutes for United to put two passes together in the Liverpool half, another ten before Luke Shaw and Garnacho put together a move involving three.

Mainoo’s only major contribution to the action by the 27th minute was when he clattered into Wataru Endo and picked up his first Prem yellow card.

Not exactly the memory he would want to take with him back up the East Lancs Road.

But almost from that point he began to look more than  a virgin soldier.

There was a vital header to deflect what looked a goal-bound effort from Ryan Gravenberch.

After the break, Ten Hag’s side finally started to come alive and go forward in the 0-0 draw.  

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Garnacho, 19, another young star being burnished in the fire of the Red Devils’ season from hell,  tested Trent Alexander-Arnold.

By the time Hannibal Mejbri, a whole two years older, replaced Mainoo — who chose United over Manchester City just before his tenth birthday — looked like he had come of age.

There had been calmness about him, a focus that first attracted both clubs when he was not much more than a toddler playing with Failsworth Dynamos in the north east of Manchester.

England boss Gareth Southgate is bound to have taken note that he did not bottle it, either.

Not in terms of next summer’s Euros, but for the future. Here, maybe, is a budding Declan Rice Mk II.

Here, for certain, is part of United’s future. Just five first-team appearances  but someone who, along with Garnacho, represents real hope for  fans.

They saw the making of a man in what could so easily have turned into a recurring nightmare in the first half.

Liverpool got complacent,  lost their focus against opponents so desperate they were relying on an 18-year-old who may not even have started shaving yet.

Unlike most of Klopp’s players, he can be proud, having put down a midfield marker  for years to come.