[lex talionis]

A squad player who fills in nicely, a footballer who should never be compared to Keane or Pirlo. He is who he is, and most top clubs need someone like Scotty who puts in a shift. Our problems today started with poor defending and ended with poor work in the final third, neither of which the Scot is primarily responsible for.

 

[Hugh Jass]

I would keep him, but he should only be coming on either if we want to protect a lead in the last 15 minutes or perhaps we are winning by 4 nil.

He worked harder than Pogba though, i will give him that.

 

[11101]

Big part of the reason for that performance. He wasnt covering the other midfielders in attack, meaning they were chasing into positions they shouldnt be in, and he wasnt filling gaps in the defence. We couldn't keep the ball with him there and we cant afford to carry players in that position.

 

[Godfather]

By far not the worst out there today. At least he played to his level.

 

[mu4c_20le]

Defensively he was good, even made a goal saving tackle in the end. But this pissed me off

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[-Supreme-]

He is a box to box player, he struggles when he is played deepest as he is not good at building up play.

He should not be played as the deepest player, just does not have the abiliy to pass from deep, nor good positioning to play that position.

Go with Fred or Matic.

This.

Ole persists with McT in the CDM role is a major concern.

 

[Godfather]

Defensively he was good, even made a goal saving tackle in the end. But this pissed me off

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That was brutal

 

[Dan_F]

The balance of the midfield was all over the place. I don’t think he played as bad as some, but I don’t think he offers what we need from the deepest of the midfield three.

 

[Valencia Shin Crosses]

The stuff he does at surface level is alright. Good energy, can make some nice tackles, good goalscorer for a midfielder. But everything offf the ball is terrible. There’s no nuance or cleverness in anything he does. He reads the game like shit and is brutal positionally, which is a huge problem when he’s the deepest midfielder shielding our slow ass back line. It’s okay when we play him and Fred together because they can buzz around and cover for each other’s feck ups, but it’s terrible in a team where we are dominating the ball.

 

[Robbie Boy]

As a B2B he's acceptable as a squaddie. As a DM, he's a travesty.

 

[Paul_Scholes18]

Thought he was our best outfield starter. Although still far from great as everyone was pretty shit.

 

[He'sRaldo]

A lot of these players were playing well in the international games. Even James was looking good. So I dont buy fitness issues. And I dont blame the players. Its simply down to putting players in the wrong positions. Its football 101. James love him hate him is not a right winger. If you are going to play him then play him on the left. McTominay is not a defensive midfielder. He is a box to box. Pogba is a box to box but needs a defensive midfielder (or two) next to him. If we are going to play with a ten in Fernandes then we cant play 2 midfielders in their incorrect roles behind him. If we simply played Matic and Mata or Matic and Greenwood. Or Fred and Mc Tominay in midfield. Or Pogba, Mctominay and VDB. There are lots of combinations that will work and would have won us the game.

Aptly put.

 

[TsuWave]

He’s pretty bad

 

[izec]

He will never be a DM. Just buy one and end the experiment

 

[youmeletsfly]

I think people expect too much from him. He is the type of player you bring in the 75th minute too keep a result.

 

[FrankDrebin]

He will never be a DM. Just buy one and end the experiment

Pretty much this. He's a solid CM and that's it.

Heck, he'd probably perform better as a target man than a defensive midfielder.

 

[Blood Mage]

He's not a DM in the slightest, the club are just trying to convince themselves that he is because they don't want to spend money replacing Matic. McTominay is a box-to-box player all day long and should not be playing alongside Pogba and Fernandes.

Fred would be a better makeshift DM but he too is a box-to-box midfielder who has no business playing that role, just fork out for a new DM you cnuts.

 

[ti vu]

He has the presence, but his ball winning ability is not good enough to be burdened as our sole defensive midfielder. He is not consistent passer of the ball to warrant a sacrifice a creative player to have industrious midfielder to babysit him. He shouldn't be a guaranteed starter but rotation option, when we need to secure our midfield with defensive presence, and a bit part to get out.

Tactical trainwreck to use him like this to cover the whole team.

 

[AFC NimbleThumb]

So what’s he good at?

 

[bond19821982]

Well, he is being groomed to replace Matic but unfortunately that negates his biggest strength. We could actually get a peak Fletcher in couple of years but we are trying to get a Carrick .

If he is our DM , we are doomed for now. The way he was beaten by Ayew to take that shot was way too amateurish.

 

[AFC NimbleThumb]

Well, he is being groomed to replace Matic but unfortunately that negates his biggest strength. We could actually get a peak Fletcher in couple of years but we are trying to get a Carrick .

If he is our DM , we are doomed for now. The way he was beaten by Ayew to take that shot was way too amateurish.

He can’t tie Fletcher’s boot laces.

 

[bond19821982]

He can’t tie Fletcher’s boot laces.

Fletcher was worse than Scott at this age. We got a peak Fletcher when he was 26-27

 

[Bebestation]

A lot of these players were playing well in the international games. Even James was looking good. So I dont buy fitness issues. And I dont blame the players. Its simply down to putting players in the wrong positions. Its football 101. James love him hate him is not a right winger. If you are going to play him then play him on the left. McTominay is not a defensive midfielder. He is a box to box. Pogba is a box to box but needs a defensive midfielder (or two) next to him. If we are going to play with a ten in Fernandes then we cant play 2 midfielders in their incorrect roles behind him. If we simply played Matic and Mata or Matic and Greenwood. Or Fred and Mc Tominay in midfield. Or Pogba, Mctominay and VDB. There are lots of combinations that will work and would have won us the game.

This is perfect.

Its Ole's inability to use any other formation than the 4231 that holds us back because he will constant misuse players.

 

[AFC NimbleThumb]

Fletcher was worse than Scott at this age. We got a peak Fletcher when he was 26-27

Peak Fletcher was keeping media darlings like Cesc Fabregas in his back pocket for 90 minutes on a regular basis.

Whilst McAverage may one day reach the heights we saw with Fletcher [vastly underrated imo] from what I’ve seen he’s just as likely to miss those levels by some margin.

It’s up to Scott to forge a career of his own but saying he could be the next [insert name here] isn’t really much appraisal of his current CV.

We’re nowhere near getting a Carrick or a Fletcher currently.

 

[starman]

Yup, he's not a specialist DM, but we've known that for a while, only Matic should really be playing with Pogba & Bruno, otherwise it should be:

Matic &/or Fred &/or MCT
Bruno or Pogba​

 

[Andersonson]

Fred should have played then.

You think Fred instead of Scott would've made a difference? Thats just ignorant

 

[bond19821982]

Peak Fletcher was keeping media darlings like Cesc Fabregas in his back pocket for 90 minutes on a regular basis.

Whilst McAverage may one day reach the heights we saw with Fletcher [vastly underrated imo] from what I’ve seen he’s just as likely to miss those levels by some margin.

It’s up to Scott to forge a career of his own but saying he could be the next [insert name here] isn’t really much appraisal of his current CV.

We’re nowhere near getting a Carrick or a Fletcher currently.

You either completely missed my point or didn't read it. I never said we are closer to getting a Fletcher. Fletcher at the same age was worse.

 

[Santoryo]

This.

Ole persists with McT in the CDM role is a major concern.

God only know why he does this. Ole tried to force it last season again to spectacular failure which prompted him to instead tried Fred and it worked. Comes new season Ole is back trying to make McTominay in that deeper role happen again when it has so far proven futile. I hope Fred didn't start due to him not being fit and ready enough to start(He missed the Aston Villa friendly) otherwise this sort of stubbornness on Ole reflect badly on him.

Ole trying to give McTominay every chance to replace Matic, he ants it to happen so bad but it simply isn't in neither the player nor the club interest to try and force it. McTominay simply can't play in that deeper role, maybe it's time for Ole to stop trying to make it happen.

 

[Nep77]

Defensive Midfield should have been among the two priority position in this window but here we are trying to shoe horn someone who doesn't have a tactical nor technical ability to play that position.

 

[RedRonaldo]

His passing and positioning is just not good enough to play DM role. He is decent option to play backup CM box to box role though.

 

[Bobcat]

Disagree with all these "Hes not a [insert position]" regarding our midfield players. Playing as a DM is not radically different from playing as a CM, it just means you wont push as high up when attacking.

If you passing, vision, awareness and tactical nous is not good enough for DM its not good enough for CM either. You cant tailor positions for each and every player, most of all because you play new teams every week so you have to be able to adapt.

 

[Joseunited]

He's bang average and shouldn't warrant a place in the squad because he's an academy player.

 

[BlahRules]

Disagree with all these "Hes not a [insert position]" regarding our midfield players. Playing as a DM is not radically different from playing as a CM, it just means you wont push as high up when attacking.

If you passing, vision, awareness and tactical nous is not good enough for DM its not good enough for CM either. You cant tailor positions for each and every player, most of all because you play new teams every week so you have to be able to adapt.

Agreed! I dont why we are persisting with him as a DM. This notion that he can become this powerhouse midfielder that can drive us in midfield is ridiculous.

I and everyone else loves a player that shows a lot of passion but honestly he is shit. He has no positional sense or can pass properly. McTominay is playing in an area where he must have high football IQ which he lacks massively. Matic and Fred can only play DM. OGS needs to stop this experiment NOW.p

 

[FootyGirl88]

We need to stop playing him against teams that sit deep, I don’t know how many times it needs to be said.

 

[red4ever 79]

We need to stop playing him against teams that sit deep, I don’t know how many times it needs to be said.

Stop right there

 

[Andersons Dietician]

For some reason I just watched the game again and after watching his display he might actually have been worse than Lindelof. The worst defensive midfield display I think I’ve ever seen. He was absolute garbage.
I just don’t know about this guy. Has his uses as a squadie and being a B2B but never good enough to be a DM.

 

[Harry190]

Thought he was decent. Brought more to the table to Pogba who had run out of juice very quickly.

 

[bond19821982]

Disagree with all these "Hes not a [insert position]" regarding our midfield players. Playing as a DM is not radically different from playing as a CM, it just means you wont push as high up when attacking.

If you passing, vision, awareness and tactical nous is not good enough for DM its not good enough for CM either. You cant tailor positions for each and every player, most of all because you play new teams every week so you have to be able to adapt.

Really? Can't believe what I am reading.

Passing , Vision, Awareness, Tactical nouse doesn't always come together. Infact how many players can you mention with all of the those skills?

 

[IrishRedDevil]

Cart horse.

Allergic to assists.

 

[Bebestation]

I like Mctomminay when he plays at a tempo.

When he is up and down the pitch like a bulldozer of a player and usually another player has to play next to him as energetic and add some defensive ability to that as well because they both are able to add that defensive and energetic play like Fred & Mctomminay together.

Asking him to play still, re- position, tackle & recycle possession doesnt seem anything like the sort of player he is.

Shame because unless Ole did this to show Woodward that we need a CDM (which is good) then going with Mctomminay as our CDM alongside Matic & Fred isnt the best.