I'll reiterate, not good enough and never will be.
39
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 37
- Goals
- 5
- Assists
- 1
- Yellow cards
- 4
- Status
Think he actually was pretty good. Did what he can do.
this is probably the most sane point on the forum.
I’ve stayed away because I’m sure there was going to be a meltdown.
I thought he was very good. Made some important saves in the second half.
Agreed, though I do think he can be a d
decent squad player
Maybe at Burnley
I agree with this. They didnt get any change from our midfield and was press resistant for the majority of the game
He did what was expected of him. He's good at breaking things up and keeping the ball moving, but when we are expected to actually play he's not the right option.
He is shocking at passing. Again, he only got about 80% pass accuracy. His average in the Pl is 79%. How people can say he had a good game with that kind of passing is beyond me.
It is not like he is constantly trying to pick difficult passes. He gives away far too many simple passes.
It is not like he is constantly trying to pick difficult passes. He gives away far too many simple passes.
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Performed three different roles in the game.
1. Messy performances when he performed the B2B role earlier on. Bad attacking play but still good defensively, he and Bruno were the only ones trying to make things happen with riskier plays. His ability to win fouls is a useful skill to have that have element of football dark arts.
2. Then Pogba in, Fred out and he performed a more discipline holding role, much much better. I so much prefer this McT. Disciplined and more composed but knows the right timing when to be aggressive and adventurous. His passing are the best and more purposeful playing this role. Too short though for soon he was moved way to the back.
3. CB role later on is so bad, but that's not surprising. His positioning as CB is way off.
1. Messy performances when he performed the B2B role earlier on. Bad attacking play but still good defensively, he and Bruno were the only ones trying to make things happen with riskier plays. His ability to win fouls is a useful skill to have that have element of football dark arts.
2. Then Pogba in, Fred out and he performed a more discipline holding role, much much better. I so much prefer this McT. Disciplined and more composed but knows the right timing when to be aggressive and adventurous. His passing are the best and more purposeful playing this role. Too short though for soon he was moved way to the back.
3. CB role later on is so bad, but that's not surprising. His positioning as CB is way off.
I don’t think he was that bad, especially in the first half. Won the ball a bit, and put a lot of hard work in. Of course, as I’ve said loads of times - his quality is not his quality. But aside from that, he’s been good at everything else. He’s got a lot to offer.
Isn't this the issue? You diminish responsibility through your second sentence alone.
McTominay is a good battler who does some good things. It isn’t enough, though.
Again: see above. What are we expecting of him? He isn’t a defensive midfielder, no matter how much (some) people like to pretend that he is. His game is more varied than that. But I expect United midfielders to do more than what he did yesterday. So does Ole, I believe.
Would be correct if he was a pure defensive midfielder.
Are you saying he played like a pure defensive midfielder?
He was better than Fred. But yeah, a tough first game back and Ole didn't quite get his tactics right for me so not sure what conclusions can be drawn...
For me he's a decent all rounder who is good at breaking up play. He will do that consistently but it's only useful against teams that actually try to play against us, but arent too good to just run round him. Against teams like yesterday he does a lot of work without really impacting the game in any way.
Hes also only 23, that's young for a central midfielder.
No. The quoted poster said he did what was expected. I am saying that is wrong.
He contributed nothing going forward, even hampered us by giving the ball away.
Okay
He got 83%. His pass completion rate was higher than all of the Spurs midfield bar one I believe. He was also the highest rated on whoscored out of all the starting midfielders (bar the spurs scorer). I’ve rewatched the game and he was actually genuinely decent
By your judging criteria you must of thought Bruno was poor, because his passing was wayward?
Bar two 2 or 3 inaccurate passes Scott was decent. He was fouled more than anyone on the pitch and made key interceptions and tackles himself. For the first game back aftermonths he was very involved.
No, Bruno attempts difficult passes almost constantly throughout the match. McTominay attempts simple passes the vast majority of the time. There is a huge difference there. If Bruno was doing McTominay passes, he would be up near 90%.
This isn't based on just this time. His average pass completion over the entire Premier League season is 79.4%, which is a much better view of his passing ability than just one match. It is not good.
There is clearly something wrong with McTominay. His pass completion in the Europa League is 88.1%, which drops to 79.4% in the Premier League. That is a massive drop off. You expect a drop off due to the quality of opposition, but not that big.
Fred has 90.4% in the Europa League, which drops to 87.2%. Looking at other midfielders, this seems to be the most it drops. Fred also tries more long balls, makes more key passes, makes more passes in general, and even more crosses. McTominay clearly has an issue; I don't know how anyone can deny that he is not good enough in this aspect.
He also makes about 15 to 20 fewer passes per game than midfielders in other top teams in the Premier League; if this were to increase in line with other midfielders, he will likely give away 2 of these extra passes per match.
Passes given away per game based on 60 passes - pass completion %
Fabinho (given away - 9)
Fernandinho (given away - 7.5)
Jorginho (given away 7.2)
Fred (given away 7.68)
McTominay (given away 12.36) - Doesn't sound much more, but that adds up over a season (128 more times possession is lost per season on top of Fabinho's stats)
I disagree that he attempts simple passes most of the time. Two of the best passes I’ve seen this season came from him against Leicester with his touch line-to touch line diagonal to Dan James and his pass against Everton where he eliminated like 3 players... he has 100% been more adventurous this season, and that is statistically backed up by every other facet of hia game improving.
with that said, you’re right, he does need to improve his passing. But I think he is trying.
Lastly, the players you’re comparing him with are in their prime and three to four years older plus. He is doing great for a 23 year old.
Club has announced Scott has signed a new deal til 2025 with an option for a further year.
Get in.
Buzzing. Bet it was the easiest of negotiations. Top player.
Obvious decision by club and player. I was never a huge fan of him to start with but fair play to the lad, he has come on leaps and bounds and is now a key player in our squad. He still has a long way to go but looking forward to seeing him develop in the years to come as a united player.
Glad he's signed as he's definitely not the worst of the lot, but I honestly don't see anything special in him at all, I hope he proves me wrong in the long run.
He will never be good enough for the first team. People are kidding themselves if they think he is going to develop into a great player; he won't. By this age, a player would have shown his ability level; he is not going to suddenly become a good passer. I doubt he will improve much beyond what he is now. He really isn't all that promising; I really don't get the excitement around him.
Pogba, Carrick, Pirlo, Scholes, Keane, Xavi, Iniesta, Busquets, Lampard, Gerrard, Alonso, Kroos etc. were all better players at 23 and already showed their capabilities. Every single one of them had already shown what they were capable and just needed to gain consistency; it is not something that magically appeared like some are expecting of McTominay.
Pogba, Carrick, Pirlo, Scholes, Keane, Xavi, Iniesta, Busquets, Lampard, Gerrard, Alonso, Kroos etc. were all better players at 23 and already showed their capabilities. Every single one of them had already shown what they were capable and just needed to gain consistency; it is not something that magically appeared like some are expecting of McTominay.
Henderson?
We do forget how highly rated Henderson was at Sunderland. He then didn’t develop as quickly as expected so we thought Liverpool bought a dud, but now he’s a fantastic player.
He had very decent stats at Liverpool, at Scott's age. He too was a grafter but did show quality in a box-to-box role.
And the next year he kicked on in their title challenging season.
I don't know whether McTominay will improve and become key player but plenty of players have improved hugely at McTominay's age. Where was Kante at McTominay's age?
Salah was rated highly but no one would have imagined he would become Balon d'or contender when he was at Roma, same with Mane when he was at Southampton. (Yes both of them showed they were good but nowhere near Liverpool level).
Different players have different trajectories, it would be daft to write off or put a cap on any player just because they are 22-23 years old.
Salah was rated highly but no one would have imagined he would become Balon d'or contender when he was at Roma, same with Mane when he was at Southampton. (Yes both of them showed they were good but nowhere near Liverpool level).
Different players have different trajectories, it would be daft to write off or put a cap on any player just because they are 22-23 years old.
Is nothing special, even today.
Players like Kante and Vardy are usually the exception rather than the norm. And as for Mane, I think he followed a normal career trajectory, being the best player in each of the clubs he played at.
That's not to say anyone should be written off, but if we're expecting that kind of improvement from Scott we will most likely be disappointed.
Am I the only one who is f*cking annoyed by his excessive use of the word 'OBVIOUSLY'?
In the 4 minute interview he did today, he used it 15 times! It's just ridiculos! It's the only word I hear when he's talking.
In the 4 minute interview he did today, he used it 15 times! It's just ridiculos! It's the only word I hear when he's talking.
Obviously not.Am I the only one who is f*cking annoyed by his excessive use of the word 'OBVIOUSLY'?
In the 4 minute interview he did today, he used it 15 times! It's just ridiculos! It's the only word I hear when he's talking.
We don't have to expect that kind of imporvement, gradual improvement to hold his squad position will do. Anything more than that is a bonus. McTominay don't have to follow the rule either, he is sort of late bloomer considering he wasn't very highly rated at reserves level but did very well for first time with respect to expectations.
So did you think Mane was capable of hitting these heights when he was at Southampton? If so fair enough, you must be one of very few.
He marks opponents whilst we have the ball, that tells you all you need to know about his ability. He was absolutely useless. Why do people think Jose allowed him all the time on the ball? We're lucky we had someone the caliber of Pogba on the bench, because he certainly wasn't going to come up with anything for us. I shudder to think if he's now considered a starter for us.
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Ture, we should be fine as long as we're not elevating him to anything higher than what we should (like we did for countless others before him). Problem is the club is starting to have history doing that, so I hope they actually have your way of thinking behind the scenes.
And no I didn't think Mane would be a key player for a title winning Liverpool, but I did think he'd end up being very good if he developed well. But then again, Klopp has squeezed out that extra 10% which accounts for the over-performance IMO.
Kante signed for Leicester when he was 24 and was probably the best midfielder in the Premier League that season. McTominay has half a year on him, which is not much. At Caen, when he was 23, Kante recovered the ball more times than any other player in Europe the season before joining Leicester. I didn't watch him at Caen, but that shows he had something that stood out about him. Especially since that continued at Leicester and Chelsea.
I wouldn't say it is about fulfilling potential, but the ability to show that you have a high potential in the first place. I do not see that potential with McTominay at all. Players that improve to a great level have usually shown they always had that level of ability.
Salah, I'm not sure what he was like, but I am guessing he must have shown something very promising for Chelsea to have signed him. He was 21 then. He was 23 in the season at Roma before he joined Liverpool. 15 goals and 11 assists.
You have to ask yourself, based on displays, who would sign McTominay if he was available? I can't see any top team being interested in him; he had just not shown anything that would make you think he will be a great player. I think it a pretty solid basis that by 23, you can see their potential and they would have started to fulfil it by that time.
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