I got a 20/21 United home shirt with Martial on the back out of the bargain bin at the Megastore for £10. Tempted to peel his name off.
Is it worth playing McTominay up front?
- Thread starter PoTMS
- Start date
We might as well play him up front, he's our top goal scorer.
If mctominay was played as a 9 it takes away those runs that are getting him his goals.
It’s weird how today highlighted how he lacks ability wise but also highlighted how hard he works and cares. Fair play.
It’s weird how today highlighted how he lacks ability wise but also highlighted how hard he works and cares. Fair play.
If he played as a striker he’d be caught offside all the time. Better coming from further back.
No
100% this.McT gets so much hate on here yet the guy just keeps trying and trying. People say that he has no ability but sorry 5 goals in the premier league and 6 in Euro qualifying for a guy who is not even a striker would certainly suggest otherwise. I mean 2 goals against Spain and the guy isn’t good enough for this dire team?
Sadly i truly believe we will end up selling him and we will see him truly flourish at another team.
-----------------------Højlund-----------------------------------
------------------------------------------McSauce--------------
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Garnacho---------------------------------------------Antony
---------------------Bruno-----Mainoo------------------------
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Reguilón--------------------------------------------------Dalot
---------------------Shaw-----Maguire-------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------Onana----------------------------------
Am I crazy?
------------------------------------------McSauce--------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Garnacho---------------------------------------------Antony
---------------------Bruno-----Mainoo------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reguilón--------------------------------------------------Dalot
---------------------Shaw-----Maguire-------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------Onana----------------------------------
Am I crazy?
yes or still on the drink. Far far far too exposed and our defence not good enough.
Due to United’s main CF being an inexperienced 20 year old the team does need a player who can slot in for 10-15 minutes most games.
There is a strong argument that player should be McTom. He would certainly be a better choice than Martial or Rashford on recent form.
There is a strong argument that player should be McTom. He would certainly be a better choice than Martial or Rashford on recent form.
Lets hope so. He seems like a good guy, may as well go somewhere where he is an undisputed starter. But not here.
Definitely.
I would have said same last 10-15 fire him up top like we did with fellaini but we don’t get the ball in the box enough so I feel better if mctominay is picking his runs for the minimal crosses he going to get
Finally we found a right position for him. Scotland found out how to use him most effectively first and we were slow to react. We used to play him CM or deeper midfield roles whereas he is more of an attacking midfield.
High return of goals for an attacking midfield in this low scoring team. have been excellent.
High return of goals for an attacking midfield in this low scoring team. have been excellent.
He scores the goals I'd like to see from Rasmus. Can't really pass or defend, so may as well stick him upfront when we have some midfielders fit.
This is my take as well. I don't particularly rate Ten Hag at the moment, but he's clearly in survival mode and there's hardly anything he can do. Our two #10s are delivering now (Bruno has been good recently), but we are going to be annihilated if we play like that against Liverpool (same thing that hapenned against Newcastle).
I was hoping we see more of a coherent football by this time of the season, even if that would've meant the results are not that good I would've taken that. But this is clearly 2nd string and key players missing / in and out of the team so eth gets some slack for this short term solutions over building a team. The questions will come when more midfielders became available again, I think McTominay should not be regarded as one of them anymore.
I would certainly be playing him at 9 instead of Martial, I would however rather we solidify our midfield rather than keep playing 2 10s, at times last night we were playing a 4-1-5 formation ridiculous
Push McTominay up top and give the box to box role to Mainoo and have Amrabat playing DM for now. Its not like we have a striker banging in anything close to middling level or doing the striker things to an acceptable standard. Bringing in Mainoo as an 8 should improve our ball circulation and retention.
McTominay and Bruno should be used as interchangeable false 9s. Reminiscent of the telepathic Yorke and Cole partnership, albeit in their evolved and modernised trequartista roles where every player is expected to take defensive responsibilities.
Employing these players as such transcends conventional positional constraints, demonstrating a fluid and dynamic attacking strategy akin to the concept of false 9s. The concept of an old school false 9 is in simple terms a forward who drops deep to confuse defenders. Interchangeable false 9s make it doubly difficult for the opposition to defend against.
This essentially means that using McT and Bruno in this way shows a flexible and ever-changing attacking plan allowing these two to constantly shift positions and create unpredictability. Their versatile movement resemble the intricate interplay of old school deadly forward duos, yet adapted to the contemporary demands of the trequartista role, showcasing their ability to seamlessly interchange positions, deceive opposition defences, and orchestrate the team's attacking movements with astute creativity and guile. Reflective of the modern game's tactical intricacies.
You might argue McT doesn't have the technical ability to play the trequartista role in terms of being a creative outlet who can bind the midfield and attack in an effective fashion. I don't necessarily disagree and in a traditional trequartista formation I would never play him in that position. But this isn't a traditional formation. The variable in this particular equation is Bruno. Bruno's natural instinct is to drop deeper towards the ball. When he does that from a false 9 position, one of the CBs will be forced to follow, allowing McT time and space to get in behind. With Mainoo circulating possession from a traditional #8 position, along with Bruno naturally dropping deeper, the onus isn't on McT to be the creative outlet. He can focus on making incisive runs and scoring goals.
What you get here is first and foremost attackers who will work their socks off. We won't get overrun in midfield because the two false 9s have an impeccable work rate. And then you get two interchangeable false 9s wrecking havoc with incisive passes, clever movements, and goal-scoring opportunities, mirroring the role of traditional playmakers while adapting to the modern game's demands for versatility and adaptability in the attacking third.
Employing these players as such transcends conventional positional constraints, demonstrating a fluid and dynamic attacking strategy akin to the concept of false 9s. The concept of an old school false 9 is in simple terms a forward who drops deep to confuse defenders. Interchangeable false 9s make it doubly difficult for the opposition to defend against.
This essentially means that using McT and Bruno in this way shows a flexible and ever-changing attacking plan allowing these two to constantly shift positions and create unpredictability. Their versatile movement resemble the intricate interplay of old school deadly forward duos, yet adapted to the contemporary demands of the trequartista role, showcasing their ability to seamlessly interchange positions, deceive opposition defences, and orchestrate the team's attacking movements with astute creativity and guile. Reflective of the modern game's tactical intricacies.
You might argue McT doesn't have the technical ability to play the trequartista role in terms of being a creative outlet who can bind the midfield and attack in an effective fashion. I don't necessarily disagree and in a traditional trequartista formation I would never play him in that position. But this isn't a traditional formation. The variable in this particular equation is Bruno. Bruno's natural instinct is to drop deeper towards the ball. When he does that from a false 9 position, one of the CBs will be forced to follow, allowing McT time and space to get in behind. With Mainoo circulating possession from a traditional #8 position, along with Bruno naturally dropping deeper, the onus isn't on McT to be the creative outlet. He can focus on making incisive runs and scoring goals.
What you get here is first and foremost attackers who will work their socks off. We won't get overrun in midfield because the two false 9s have an impeccable work rate. And then you get two interchangeable false 9s wrecking havoc with incisive passes, clever movements, and goal-scoring opportunities, mirroring the role of traditional playmakers while adapting to the modern game's demands for versatility and adaptability in the attacking third.
I wouldn’t mind seeing that
Why are people trying to create a weird new role for him - where he's playing is where he's most effective, basically as an attacking 8. It won't work against a better midfield in my opinion when we have longer periods under pressure but his strengths all revolve around fitness and outrunning/losing his opposite number, running the channels and arriving late in the box. Against the lightweight Chelsea CMs he had a field day.
Hojlund generally occupies 2 CBs for crosses, so having a 6ft 3 flying Scotsman being able to target a full back or even be free in the box for crosses/knock downs etc. is a great way to cause trouble for teams.
Hojlund generally occupies 2 CBs for crosses, so having a 6ft 3 flying Scotsman being able to target a full back or even be free in the box for crosses/knock downs etc. is a great way to cause trouble for teams.
We could just carry on doing what is working.
Should we swap mctominay and bruno round? I know mctominay is doing well with his scoring streak but something has to give because we are still getting walked through way to easily and mctominay is not a midfielder in the same way Fellaini was not a midfielder, we need to either go with a legit 3 man midfield or find mctominay another role as either an actual number 10 or used as a false 9
We sort of did last night. Bruno was dropping much deeper along with Amrabat, leaving McTominay further forward.
It’s the late runs from deep that are his strength. So no.
I’d be willing to give it a go. He’s our top scorer, can bring others into play, and isn’t a very good midfielder. If Hojlund needs a rest, why not? Surely beats the human vacuum that is Tony Marshall
No we should stick with the guys who score none.
I hope this is not similar situation with Fred. Play him deeper or Shakhtar way ?
Endless divagation resulting in chaotic performances across seasons.
Endless divagation resulting in chaotic performances across seasons.
Whatever he's doing right now is clearly working for him, don't feck with it.
He’s not a midfielder. He barely touches the ball and hides, doesn’t have the passing range. What he actually does have in abundance is the ability to get into the right positions at the right time and find the back of the net, which is a strikers instinct. That’s not something you can teach. He’s tall, athletic and scores goals, good in the air.. Why doesn’t it make sense to play him further forward?
Again… he’s not a midfielder…
Again… he’s not a midfielder…
McTominay can’t lead the line, his goals are scored by his movement from midfield and his bursting runs into the box.
That’s his strength, he’d be much less effective as a number 9.
That’s his strength, he’d be much less effective as a number 9.
Definitely not. He makes late runs into the box, where he rarely gets picked up, so playing him up front would negate that. He should have scored four last night.
For me it's more a question of who does the least amount of damage to the team playing up top when Hojlund is not fit or being rested. If it's against a team that works hard, which for United is pretty much all of the time, I'd start looking around for different options than Rashford and Martial. It's unfathomable that Rashford did not use those meagre 10 minutes to show some effort when the whole of Old Trafford was expecting him to level up. Martial is obviously finished. And if we play with a false nine we don't have that focal point to stretch play.
Having said all that, it's still a bit crazy to think of McTominay leading the line. We desperately need another striker next month. How far from ready is Hugill, anyone?
Except he is. He's played midfield for his whole career and never as a striker. That makes him a midfielder no matter how you slice and dice it so I'm not sure where you're going with that line of thinking.
The reason it doesn't make that much sense is that what he's doing now is working very well for the team, so that's an extremely good reason not to change it in itself. Taking something that's working and exchanging it for something you have zero clue about whether it will be effective.
Secondly just because goals are being scored doesn't translate to meaning he'd be a good forward any more than a centre back being good at passing means he'd be a wonderful midfielder. The way the opportunities are made are very different. One you are running onto the ball with space ahead of you, which means you see the game in front of you from a certain perspective, the other you spend a lot of the game back to goal and waiting for your team mates pass. The runs, the way you get the ball at feet and the positions you're taking up are all completely different things.
He has Lampard like instincts in the box it seems. Sadly he lacks everything else Fat Frank was good at.
I love how when people see something working their first thought is to change it.
Why change what's currently working for him as an attack minded number 8?
Play McTominay up front. I don't care if he's shite there, by default he'll be better than Martial. It also has the added benefit of meaning we don't have to ever see him in midfield.
He already is. He sure as shit isn’t doing a midfielders job.
Pretty much, it's more like 4-4-2 at times. I also think if Bruno was in the areas that McTominay was in more often he'd be more effective too. Given Martial's performance, might as well just keep McTominay up front and bring on Mainoo.
He’s so horrible on the ball
He doesn’t offer anything off the ball and we’re almost always struggling when the opposition counters.