With Cas in the team his touch frequency bares a suspicious similarity to the others who have played the non Bruno/DM role this season. Is anyone going to accuse him of hiding from the ball or have we reached the point were the idea that Ten Hag's set up is causing this might be accepted.
37
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 27
- Goals
- 3
- Assists
- 1
- Yellow cards
- 3
Played centre mid in a standard home game where we won 3-0 and kept a clean sheet, without standing out for making too many bad mistakes.
Good enough for me. You can't be outstanding every game. Did the job, now onto the next one.
Good enough for me. You can't be outstanding every game. Did the job, now onto the next one.
You realize 2 things can be true at the same time? Since I assume this is a Scott McTominay post
Our wonder-boys <3
His backtracking still worries me.
Absolutely, Scott has sub optimal ability to make himself available as a passing option, no-one will deny that, but it has been frustrating how few people have been willing to entertain that his low touch output this year has been influenced by the role and tactics chosen by Ten Hag and is not just down to the players failings. It just became a rote, lazy criticism parroted out as a quick and easy attack on a player.
Maybe it's just me but I still prefer him when he's a bit deeper and gets on the ball more even though he scored that lovely goal. You see his technical ability more, whereas in this more advanced positioning he drifts out of the game. But overall, just getting football into him is the main priority so I agree with what the manager is doing considering he is much more flexible than Casimero.
He’s obviously asked to push forward and create a void for the likes of Dalot and then an overload. Even saying that his understanding of the game was outstanding and two moments utterly world class of holding the ball and moving past players. Opening up the pitch for others and releasing the right ball at the right time. Anyone criticising needs to swallow their ego.
Yes you are right. Probably switch with Casemiro.
I agree, I think his top strengths so far are picking up the ball off the back line, creating time/space on the ball, and making smart passes that keep possession ticking over and move us up through the thirds.
Also I don't think he's the quickest at tracking back - in which case sitting a little deeper would help him defensively. But I'm not totally certain about this yet, curious if anyone else has had the same observation?
Agreed. He looks incredibly slow which becomes a serious issue when paired with an equally slow player in Casemiro. I’m not sure he will improve much in this department so we need to buy someone more flexible to be his partner.
Yeah definitely. His best qualities are being press resistant and a deep buildup source while being a very good all rounder to help keep the team tight defensively.
It’s vital for him to develop versatility at such a young age. It would help him tremendously further down the road to be able to play both 6 and 8
he looks so much more comfortable when he comes deep and we look a better team for it
feck knows why ten hag keeps insisting he pushes forward, he’s not getting on the ball as much and he isn’t suited to it
feck knows why ten hag keeps insisting he pushes forward, he’s not getting on the ball as much and he isn’t suited to it
Feck knows? Probably because Casemiro is the 6
He should be played deeper than today to get him more involved and with a more mobile player next to him to make up for his lack of pace.
We need to be able to get him on the ball more, he’s one of the few players we have who don’t shit themselves when on the ball, press resistant and actually progresses the ball.
One thing that surprised me looking at his profile on Fbref was just how low his progressive passing stats are, bottom 3 percentile. From the small amount of his youth career I saw that would not be typical of the player he was at that level, suggests that for as good as he has been there is still so much of his game we have not really seen as yet.
A few have mentioned it but at times when running back you can see he doesn't consistently have the running power yet to cope in certain situations, he is exceptional already defensively in a set shape but when it goes end to end he can struggle a bit. A proper pre season, hopefully some physical development and we could see a leap next year.
A few have mentioned it but at times when running back you can see he doesn't consistently have the running power yet to cope in certain situations, he is exceptional already defensively in a set shape but when it goes end to end he can struggle a bit. A proper pre season, hopefully some physical development and we could see a leap next year.
I think Ten Hag got it right today in taking him out of the game. Not that he was bad by any means, but you could tell that he'd played a lot of football lately and wasn't nearly as impactful.
Absolutely. Mental and/or physical burnout are no joke.
Yeh agree. Need to watch that. But he will learn.
Indeed. The lad is 18, and overplaying him at this stage of his career could be very detrimental.
I would rather rest him from games, playing Amrabat and Casemiro together in certain matches.
For me, the FA cup is the only chance of success this year, I don't think we'll get top four, so I would certainly save him for those matches.
I don't think he needs resting from the start, we mainly have 1 game a week which is fine for his age. Just when we have a midweek game it makes sense to manage his minutes, in those specific games.
+1
Every player that plays alongside Bruno (McTominay, Mount, now Mainoo) plays the same way. There is some variation that comes from the player themselves, but 80% is just following ETH instructions. I don't like this setup but it's clear the manager sees that it can be more effective if it clicks. I would've gone with a more traditional setup for a few reasons, but you can clearly see there is a "plan".
Can’t be expecting miracles every game but still a decent performance .
Absolutely right to take him off for a breather - and get a standing ovation from the fans - Fergie used to do that sort of thing all the time.
Absolutely right to take him off for a breather - and get a standing ovation from the fans - Fergie used to do that sort of thing all the time.
In 64 mins he played 30 passes and had 36 touches.
McTom averages 30.9 passes in and 42.9 touches in 90 mins
So Mainoo almost touched and passed the ball against a team who were above us in the league as much as McTom in 90 mins when he was only on the pitch 2/3 of the time with 64 minutes.
So big miss with your point. McTom who came on after 64 mins had 10 passes and 15 touches so even if we just add that to Mainoo to make up the 90 he would have had 10 more passes and 9 more touches than McTom averages. Not even close
There was a moment in the game yesterday when he was in left back position and getting pressed from 3 sides. He done a little body feint, hardly touched the ball, and released Bruno up the wing. Top quality and makes it look so simple.
Didn't really get involved enough yesterday, but that's bound to happen. Not every perfomance will be an 8/10.
I'm wondering if his lack of pace is just his natural way of playing, eg improving his defensive intelligence whilst conserving energy. I say this because 3-4 games ago he made a last ditch tackle in the box on someone who was clean through. Can't remember the game or the player, but Mainoo defintely showed some decent speed to catch him.
If he has the pace but chooses not to use it, then I trust he will develop that in time. If he doesn't, then the manager will have to figure out a way to negate that.
If he has the pace but chooses not to use it, then I trust he will develop that in time. If he doesn't, then the manager will have to figure out a way to negate that.
Most growth spurts stop at 18-19, in some situations it can be 21 but he will gain muscle mass until he’s early 20’s but not so much in height. My guess is he looks 5’11/6’0 right now that’s it but he’ll fill out in the next 4 years to be an absolute beast maybe more like Michael Essien frame ?
https://www.healthline.com/health/do-guys-keep-growing-until-age-25
He’s 18 playing PL football, he had an abundance of pace in youth football but this is the most intense league in world football and he’s not developed into his man’s frame yet.
I say we look at this next season where he will come back from summer in a completely different physically as his growth spurt should have finished, we don’t know if he has shin splints or is struggling to move freely as he’s still growing. He looks like he could mature into a physical
Specimen by the time he’s 22?
I think EtH sees McTominay more as a ball carrier and attacker than midfielder who builds the game from deep. His passes per 90 mins was around 47-51 before EtH took over, under EtH it's around 30-32.
I don't mind McTominay playing higher up the pitch as he isn't good enough as a deeper midfielder. Mainoo has the skillset and all the attributes to be a 6 who can dictate the game, will be interesting to see how his game develops.
I fully agree. Personally I would be OK with McTominay in the role he's playing now.
Mainoo should play deeper IMO, I am not sure if that makes a lot of sense (although he did score some goals recently, I think we would have been better off in different shape).
Does he really lack pace can anyone confirm?
He's definitely quick and agile over short distances but is he slower over long distance sprints?
I honestly can't tell.
Yeah, McTominay as a sub and can carry bit of threat in the attack. He will be a liability as a deeper midfielder as one of the channel would be completely off with him.
Also yeah agree on the Mainoo role. He should play deeper if we have any plan to build a good attacking team that wants to keep the ball on the ground and build from the back. He can always pick his moments to attack the box and also if we build a stable team that relies on movement and possession, he will end up playing at higher level as the whole team pushes higher up the pitch when in possession.
The thing is, he CAN have a bit more attacking role, it's a matter of his starting position in the buildup, which is quite high. This is what I don't like in ETH setup, I can understand this with McTominay, but Mainoo or Mount should be coming deeper and building/progressing the ball from deeper areas. They can do it, but if they are playing high it effectively takes them out of the game.
Another point to that discussion is why on earth would we want Bruno to be dropping deeper but that's another story.
What I don't like about the positions is that every game we seem to start off with Casemiro deep and Mainoo and Fernandes pushing up, and every game it doesn't work all that well until Mainoo starts dropping a bit deeper. It seems to me we should be clearer that it is a two with Fernandes ahead.
So he stops exactly on his birthday?
I was being a little pedantic, I’m sorry.His low touches has always been there even during under Ole...
Every game? It’s been 2 hasn’t it? Plus the performance for one of them is as the best performance of the season up until Casemiro gassed