[Baxquux]

He must be having some real dirt on Glazers…

Dirt, no. But favouritism from some senior people at the club as well as on the technical side, if whispers are to be credited.

He streaks a couple of goals, whilst huffing and puffing, and once we have an injury or two he basically gets leeway to play as idiotically as possible the rest of the season, hiding from the ball, miscontrolling passes, no sense of vision or 'pictures' and all the rest. Said before that I'd genuinely rather play our best u21s over him, including Gore, even if they're not as 'beefy'.

After all, what use is that physique when he gets bullied by the Newcastle midfield as though he was 5'7 and 110 pounds? At least we'd have a bit more control and nous as and when we actually get the ball back through a turnover elsewhere, including having the player show for the pass. Though it would also help for the manager to play that midfielder in a midfield position (which, again, isn't this lunk's forte)

 

[Dannn411]

When he starts playing every game, the end is near for the manager.

 

[#07]

I have been told for a past few days that McTominay adds physical presence to Man Utd's midfield: Is that what physicality looks like? Newcastle treated him like a ghost. He was not an obstacle for Newcastle and he was not a help for us playing out.

People have genuinely compared McTominay to Darren Fletcher. Short memories, clearly.

 

[elmo]

I don't even blame him. He is being given a responsibility he isn't equipped to handle. How can you expect a player who averages less than 50 touches a game to link midfield and attack??

Maybe he should stop hiding from the ball and actually make himself useful when we have possession.

 

[Stadjer]

I have never rated him. but it's not his fault that he played another 90mins. The manager constantly picks him for no reason.

The reason seems to be that two goal heroic game. Was about to be sold before that and became a 100% starter since.

 

[RuudTom83]

He does go missing far to often...but then who are the fantastic options in midfield that he is keeping on the bench.

Shows the problem the manager has. McTom isn't great or the answer, but the alternatives are no better.

 

[MadDogg]

Second, now Fred has left a host of new myth that he supposedly carried Mctominay statistically or Mctominay made him look worse has sprung up. Fred and Mctominay as a pair had similar statistics for ages. A reason they were our go to pair for big games before we signed a natural 6 like Casemiro because they offered reliable protetection. Infact of the pair Fred was more loose in possession and the original complaint about the pair was their side ways, unimaginative passing. Not emptying midfield, not positioning, not their defensive capability. All these new myths have sprung up since ETH arrived, broke up the pair and changed how they are tactically employed. Their detractors simply refuse to acknowledge the tactical instruction changes and go on pretending we are using the same traditional set up that previous bosses employed.

Fred was always a far better midfielder than McTominay, despite being the one who was more played out of position throughout the majority of their time together. He got on the ball and passed it about 40% more (with many games where he was double or even triple), passed it forwards far more often, had a higher successful pass percentage despite being the much more aggressive passer, won the ball back more often, and basically was comfortably better at every main attribute you want in a midfielder. Pretending that this is a new myth just because he's gone is a joke.

Once Rangnick and later ETH came in and swapped their roles, the gap between them became even greater. Fred was effectively playing in the same role that McTominay is now, and he was still in the 71st percentile of passes completed last season when compared to midfielders in the top five league. Meanwhile McTominay is in the 6th percentile.

 

[AdNani]

How many passes did he make? It’s laughable how bad he is at making himself available, Mainoo in his 3rd game for the first team shows so much more bravery in possession

 

[Catt]

McT isn't the solution

 

[Siorac]

People have genuinely compared McTominay to Darren Fletcher. Short memories, clearly.

Both Scottish, with similar complexions... and that's about where the similarities end.

 

[Siorac]

How many passes did he make? It’s laughable how bad he is at making himself available, Mainoo in his 3rd game for the first team shows so much more bravery in possession

24 passes in 99 minutes.

Amrabat made 11 passes. In 20 minutes.

 

[cj_sparky]

30 touches in 100 minutes compared to Amrabat's 17 in 19 minutes (10+ added time).

Offers pathetically little.

 

[edgecutter]

The reason seems to be that two goal heroic game. Was about to be sold before that and became a 100% starter since.

There's enough evidence to see that he is a liability. Even today, any person who knows even a little on football, nevermind a manager getting 100k a week to manage a football club can see that we have zero control in that midfield. It's totally on ETH that Scott McTominay is playing matches.

 

[luke511]

It was obvious under Solskjaer he hasn't got the ability to be a utd player yet he's still here as a regular starter. It's just a resounding failure from John Murtough.

 

[E-mal]

He is not good enough, not his fault that he is still a starting player for us.

 

[edgecutter]

Both Scottish, with similar complexions... and that's about where the similarities end.

Both are midfielders...well, one was.

 

[Insanity]

He is in the midfield but not played as a midfielder. The sole reason he is in the team is to manufacture a goal from somewhere, somehow. Which is baffling given that he has only scored 3 this season and two were in the last few minutes of a single game.

 

[Woodzy]

Can’t believe the pass he gets from the manager because he pops up with a goal now and again. Should be nowhere near the first 11.

 

[Ace of Spades]

Yeah he is crap, but that is the managers fault for playing this guy. We do have other options, but clearly ETH prefers him for whatever reason.

 

[MadDogg]

This isn't completly accurrate at all though.

In a 4-3-3 for example you don't need all 3 midfielders to be involved in build up to control midfield. Just the deepest and one of the side midfielders. Mourinho set up like that for years first at Porto then at Chelsea

Even in a 4-3-1-2 that Ancelotti famously employed a Milan. You can play one elite deep lying controller flanked by two dedicated ball carrying destroyers either side with a number 10 or two just ahead. You'd control it just the same. Milan proved this for years with Gatusso and Ambrosini flanking an elite deep playmaker like Pirlo

The 4-2-3-1 which we play is no different:

Mctominay is absolutely NOT needed to control midfield. Control can also be established by the starting DM, one of our fullbacks becoming a second pivot player and Bruno. Right now United's true issue is our utter absense of a player who can consistently run a game from deep in Casemiro and Mainoo's absence on pitch, who doesn't become an utter defensive liability in defensive transitions. Tactically it's blatantly obvious when we start Mctominay we purposely don't involve him in build up so it makes little sense people keep moaning about it. His brief is clearly to take up dangerous attacking positions, to maximize attacking transitions and to keep involved in the press to win back the ball. Not to start nor be heavily involved in passing sequences. Thus unless he is literally having pass accuracy and completion statistics below 70%, giving the ball away most time he tojches it, the ire directed consistently directed at him is way off side. Bordering on disingenous, even. Peoole literally pretend his strengths don't work with any other midfielders we have and just obssess over his weaknesses, over tactics we don't even employ.


Frankly right now Mctominay is holding that role in the team for Mount. Who when he finally gets fit, will be the one who can offer the passing all Mctominay's detractors crave whilst playing the same role.

Every player on the pitch has to contribute to gaining control and possession. Obviously it's a sliding scale where different players and positions contribute different amounts, but the position that McTominay is holding is still one of the more important. You don't just get to say that he's terrible at it so therefore it's not his job and he's not expected to help whatsoever. In a team that has many different issues in terms of gaining control and passing the ball around, Scott almost always stands out as comfortably the biggest issue. We do have a separate problem where somehow some of the players we've bought in have had a similar issue in that regard (VDB, Sabtizer and possibly Mount now), but that doesn't excuse Scott.

All the players you compare him to in this post (Lampard, Gattuso and Ambrosini) still got on the ball a hell of a lot more than what he does. None of them were the main man, but they all played their part in helping the shape and dynamic of the team. McTominay simply doesn't, which immediately makes it far more difficult on the players around him. We are all but playing with a man down.

When McTominay plays deeper, he doesn't get on the ball anywhere near as much as any remotely decent player in that role. When we play him further forward, he still doesn't get on the ball anywhere near as much as any remotely decent player in that role.

 

[T Red]

Mc Anonymous

 

[jem]

He isn’t, never has been, and never will be anywhere near good enough.

 

[In Rainbows]

He does go missing far to often...but then who are the fantastic options in midfield that he is keeping on the bench.

Shows the problem the manager has. McTom isn't great or the answer, but the alternatives are no better.

How about he changes the tactical setup and plays Amrabat next to Mainoo? The current one is basically a tactic that involves McTominay scoring a goal or else it fails. It gives the opposition superior numbers in the middle.

 

[TheRedDevil'sAdvocate]

Can’t believe the pass he gets from the manager because he pops up with a goal now and again. Should be nowhere near the first 11.

Agreed. Of all the hills do die on... Just take a look at the midfields of other top clubs and show me one player similar to McT.

 

[clarkydaz]

looking at this thread before the game apparentely its tactical why he is so shite and people are too dumb to see it. Safe to say Newcastle wont be pursuing their interest

 

[edgecutter]

He does go missing far to often...but then who are the fantastic options in midfield that he is keeping on the bench.

Shows the problem the manager has. McTom isn't great or the answer, but the alternatives are no better.

I'd honestly put Dan Gore on before him. At least you would have a young player that would try and get on the ball.

 

[Redstain]

He's not a midfielder, doesn't have confidence on the half turn, doesn't pivot to play the ball forward, will return a pass to a player who's at risk at being under immediate pressure. For all the arguments of Trent not being a right back, they are equally plausible for Scott not being a midfielder because he's not. He has his uses, but not in midfield.

 

[youngrell]

That must have been the most anonymous performance from him thus far, which says quite a lot.

 

[MadMike]

Can’t believe the pass he gets from the manager because he pops up with a goal now and again. Should be nowhere near the first 11.

Yeah he is crap, but that is the managers fault for playing this guy. We do have other options, but clearly ETH prefers him for whatever reason.

Exactly. Scott is limited but he can have his uses as squad player. The problem is clearly with Ten Hag, using him as a starting #10 game after game.

 

[AndyMUFC]

I'm not even joking, I'm starting to wish we lost that Brentford game.

 

[edgecutter]

Exactly. Scott is limited but he can have his uses as squad player. The problem is clearly with Ten Hag, using him as a starting #10 game after game.

He is not good enough to be a squad player, because squad players step up when there are injuries. He doesn't

 

[elmo]

Exactly. Scott is limited but he can have his uses as squad player. The problem is clearly with Ten Hag, using him as a starting #10 game after game.

He offers nothing apart from being a name on the sheet and a few lucky goals. Anyone in the academy can offer that. He’s shit and shouldn’t have gotten past 50 games for us, let alone having such a long stint in the starting lineup.

 

[FerociousCorgis]

Amazing how we have an even worse version of fellaini as a weekly starter

 

[RuudTom83]

How about he changes the tactical setup and plays Amrabat next to Mainoo? The current one is basically a tactic that involves McTominay scoring a goal or else it fails. It gives the opposition superior numbers in the middle.

That's kind of what I'm saying...Mainoo/McTom/Bruno vs Mainoo/Amrabat/Bruno

Both options don't particularly fill me with confidence.

 

[KeanoMagicHat]

Terrible, terrible player.

 

[edgecutter]

That's kind of what I'm saying...Mainoo/McTom/Bruno vs Mainoo/Amrabat/Bruno

Both options don't particularly fill me with confidence.

Amrabat had nearly the same amount of passes and touches as McTominay and played 80mins less. Don't tell me that any average midfielder doesn't make us better than playing McTominay

 

[RedStarUnited]

A false accusation. First, I haven't once used statistics as a basis for my argument. So I can't "put on an act" over what I not using. Second, now Fred has left a host of new myth that he supposedly carried Mctominay statistically or Mctominay made him look worse has sprung up. Fred and Mctominay as a pair had similar statistics for ages. A reason they were our go to pair for big games before we signed a natural 6 like Casemiro because they offered reliable protetection. Infact of the pair Fred was more loose in possession and the original complaint about the pair was their side ways, unimaginative passing. Not emptying midfield, not positioning, not their defensive capability. All these new myths have sprung up since ETH arrived, broke up the pair and changed how they are tactically employed. Their detractors simply refuse to acknowledge the tactical instruction changes and go on pretending we are using the same traditional set up that previous bosses employed.


First of all, this "recent times are different/better" doesn't fly. Tactically football has not changed very much from the era when Rinus Michel's showed up coaching the Cruyff's. Tactically there is nothing new Pep has implemented. False 9s were around since Puskas, inverted fullbacks from the time of Nilton Santos, advancing into midfield cbs from the time of Beckenbauer up to Baresi in the early 90s. The ONLY thing that improves are the fitness of the players and their understanding of tactics thanks to the improved coaching methods that allow better understanding of those timeless coaching principles. In addition every era has a group of coaches who implement those things the best.

This is a passionate defence of a very average player. Also, you are wrong in the bold part. Fred always had a MUCH higher defensive contribution than Scott and general play too.

Go and look for yourself here > https://www.squawka.com/en/comparison-matrix/

 

[NZT-One]

I have been told for a past few days that McTominay adds physical presence to Man Utd's midfield: Is that what physicality looks like? Newcastle treated him like a ghost. He was not an obstacle for Newcastle and he was not a help for us playing out.

People have genuinely compared McTominay to Darren Fletcher. Short memories, clearly.

Completely agree. The way Joelinton toyed with him was... well it wasn't suprising to me unfortunately.

 

[TempusFugit]

Useless at actual ball progression. Give him the ball while expecting him to move it forward and he returns it back to you in double quick time. Carrying him in a team that's not great in the first place is suicidal. Should only be used as an impact sub or in games against poor sides where we'll control possession. He doesn't defend well enough or even have good enough positioning to plug gaps in midfield. He always follows the action one move too late.

 

[Andersons Dietician]

I know joelington looks like he would take some shifting but the way he was throwing McT about was embarrassing. Wasn’t even just him, seemed to be getting physically dominated by everyone. Then there is just those times where he just isn’t where you want him to be.He does drive forward but never in to spaces where he can be found then when he gets the ball more often than not he picks the wrong option.