[lost7]

He was honestly awful in the first half, but in the second half he got better tbf. Still, he's so painfully average that it makes me question how he gets so many minutes

 

[Eternitiy]

As a central midfielder for Manchester United, I fear he doesn't have the skillset required. I wonder if he can play a Fellaini-like role, further up the pitch.

 

[Silas]

He's clearly low on confidence, takes way too many touches, avoiding the risk, playing it simple. Both him and Fred are looking poor.

He usually plays like this.

 

[Rozay]

Such an average player. He and Fred are such a poor combo in all but 3 or so games a season, and more often than not - I watch games feeling like Fred is playing in midfield on his own.

Some people seem to look at the fact he’s scored 7 goals and concluded that he’s had a brilliant season. He has more poor games than good ones, yet others seem to claim that while he is not as ‘talented’ as others, he should play every game because we apparently know that he can be relied upon every week to perform well. Which just smacks of narrative nonsense and not watching actual football matches.

 

[12OunceEpilogue]

I thought he was ok in the second half without the ball but nothing happened for any of our players in possession, least of all for Scott who was very conservative today.

 

[Irwin99]

Criticism is too harsh. I'm not exactly a fan of having two defensive midfielders but he and Fred get through a ridiculous amount of work in that midfield.

He's doing exactly what the team set-up needs him to do which is covering a lot of ground, protecting the defence and offering a bit of steel in the midfield. It ain't pretty but it does a job.

 

[Borys]

He usually plays like this.

I noticed this recently, but in first half of the season he was moving the ball quickly. I don't think that's his usual mode. But it's clearly a problem.

 

[Red Devil 26]

Such an average player. He and Fred are such a poor combo in all but 3 or so games a season, and more often than not - I watch games feeling like Fred is playing in midfield on his own.

Some people seem to look at the fact he’s scored 7 goals and concluded that he’s had a brilliant season. He has more poor games than good ones, yet others seem to claim that while he is not as ‘talented’ as others, he should play every game because we apparently know that he can be relied upon every week to perform well. Which just smacks of narrative nonsense and not watching actual football matches.

Agree with every word of this.

 

[tjb]

Criticism is too harsh. I'm not exactly a fan of having two defensive midfielders but he and Fred get through a ridiculous amount of work in that midfield.

He's doing exactly what the team set-up needs him to do which is covering a lot of ground, protecting the defence and offering a bit of steel in the midfield. It ain't pretty but it does a job.

I actually don't believe this. I think our defence as a unit are much better than advertised. Fred and Mctominay seem like they are busy, but in reality, they only really do one thing a little bit well. Watch any top side, a good midfield is able to protect the defence, win the ball back quickly, keep hold of the ball and make progressive plays ( dribbling or passing directly to attackers). In most games, Fred and Mctominay aren't really tasked with protecting the defence and therefore literally offer nothing to our team. They don't win the ball back quickly, Fred is the only one that even tries to do this. Neither can keep hold of the ball by holding off oncoming pressers, playing quick one twos or even playing the ball quickly. Both are also terrible at consistently progressing the ball. Mctominay with space can drive, but he rarely even wants the ball, Fred literally provides nothing there. What that means is Maguire and Lindelof are forced to be our ball progressors from deep, which a. increases the likelihood for poor delivery as they have a harder task of delivering possession to the attack from deeper or through long busting runs b. they are caught out of position of a turnover happens.

 

[jesperjaap]

He does though. Scott Mctomminay is a perfectly decent player. As is Rice. Mctomminay definitely has more strings to his bow too.

Our fans always rate players from lesser clubs. Remember when I was told how amazing Morgan Schneiderlin was. Turned out he wasn't that great.

No way would I spend 70m or 80m on a player who is at best slightly better than what we have.

I agree with your earler comments that Rice is a similar player to what we already have in McTominay and Fred.

I never rated Schneiderlin personally at all, didnt get the fuss whatsoever and no surprise to me he flopped.

I do however rate Rice. The arguments against signing him are the price and does he add anything to our side with similar players already in the side as for me we dotn even need McTominay and Fred, let alone a third.

I personally would sell Fred as though I like the effort he puts in, he has simply never been good enough let alone justifying what looks an awful fee paid in retrospect. His workrate and attitude seems great and his positioning is pretty good.....so basically everything that doesnt involve the ball at his feet.

I wouldnt be disappointed signing Rice, personal opinion but I think he is a far better player than McTominay personally. His positioning, reading of the game, weight of the short pass are all really good and I think he is an intelligent player. He has elements of both Keane and Carrick in his game in these respects and also something I think is important, he has leadership abilities, something our side lacks. I think he is definately better than what we already have and also inproving at a quicker rate than McTominay with two years on him, he is certainly a far better player than McTominay was two years ago, I would think that is indesputable..........................but saying all this, I dont think I would sign him for the simple reason we need 4 signings this summer and two of those at least will probably be expensive so we have to balance the signings. I think there are plenty of very good defensive midfielders, box to box midfielders that have a lot of talent too that would be half the price of Rice, especially in the French leagues, thats the only reason I wouldnt sign him. I get your thoughts of over rating players at lesser clubs, there are several often linke dwith us I dont rate much as signings but I do think you are under estimating Rice like so many under rated Grealish this time last season

 

[Devil may care]

Both him and Fred looked poor opposite Phillips, gave a few fouls away but drifted around the periphery of the game again.

 

[PlayerOne]

Overall I just don't get it with Mctominay. Ole rates him, Carrick rates him, Fergie raves about him and Jose liked him. Either he's amazing in training or there's something I'm missing here.

I get why the manager would like him in certain games, he works hard, is tidy on the ball most of the time, but he's a bit average. His passing is limited, tackling is miss and hit and doesn't offer much if you want to win league or CL.

 

[MadDogg]

Our first game against Leeds was Scott's best ever game for us (at least in an offensive sense), but unfortunately he didn't repeat it today. He was quite average at best in most aspects, and according to whoscored he only made 31 passes despite playing the entire match.

I actually don't believe this. I think our defence as a unit are much better than advertised. Fred and Mctominay seem like they are busy, but in reality, they only really do one thing a little bit well. Watch any top side, a good midfield is able to protect the defence, win the ball back quickly, keep hold of the ball and make progressive plays ( dribbling or passing directly to attackers). In most games, Fred and Mctominay aren't really tasked with protecting the defence and therefore literally offer nothing to our team. They don't win the ball back quickly, Fred is the only one that even tries to do this. Neither can keep hold of the ball by holding off oncoming pressers, playing quick one twos or even playing the ball quickly. Both are also terrible at consistently progressing the ball. Mctominay with space can drive, but he rarely even wants the ball, Fred literally provides nothing there. What that means is Maguire and Lindelof are forced to be our ball progressors from deep, which a. increases the likelihood for poor delivery as they have a harder task of delivering possession to the attack from deeper or through long busting runs b. they are caught out of position of a turnover happens.

That's something Fred actually does try to do, but normally nobody bar Bruno and VDB (the few times they've played together) tend to give it back to him. I remember the only game I think Fred and VDB played in a two man midfield they actually played quite a few 1-2's to break into space.

 

[tjb]

Our first game against Leeds was Scott's best ever game for us (at least in an offensive sense), but unfortunately he didn't repeat it today. He was quite average at best in most aspects, and according to whoscored he only made 31 passes despite playing the entire match.


That's something Fred actually does try to do, but normally nobody bar Bruno and VDB (the few times they've played together) tend to give it back to him. I remember the only game I think Fred and VDB played in a two man midfield they actually played quite a few 1-2's to break into space.

Fred may try to do this, but his first touch is so bad that usually he ends up having to use two or three touches to recover his poor touch. His own off the ball movement is also not so great to achieve this.

Mctominay hides from the ball, 31 passes isn't low for him. Unfortunately at United, we need someone willing to keep hold of the ball if we need him to. Right now we are asking a lot of Maguire in this respect.

 

[Augustus Gloop]

Was extremely poor in the first half, better in the second. He couldn’t really shake the shackles of being man-marked. Really needs to impose himself more on Thursday if he’s selected.

 

[Brophs]

As one of my mates texted me during the match:

“Watching McTominay dribble is like watching a big tired CB in Pro Ev dribbling while holding R1”

 

[Foxbatt]

As a central midfielder for Manchester United, I fear he doesn't have the skillset required. I wonder if he can play a Fellaini-like role, further up the pitch.

I don't think so. Get the ball in the air and Fellaini is almost unbeatable. Fellaini is not a bad player in a decent setup. McTominay is not on the same level as Fellaini.
We need an huge upgrade on him and Fred.

 

[lex talionis]

Like Fred, McTominay is a hard worker, but he needs to develop useful skills in the final third other than ghosting in for the distance shot.

Solid squad man, but we definitely need a DM who can do the job.

 

[Aouer-United]

I never understand Ole's obsession with Mctominay but his defensive duties are not really that good as everyone makes him out to be, he looks so awfully average CM who belong to PL bottom or midtable team, as long as he's starting for them, they probably would think about getting better CM over him.

 

[DWelbz19]

I think the thing with McTominay is on paper he has everything you need to be very good — he’s tall, pretty fast, respectable first touch, and his shot for a central midfielder is actually quite good. It’s like you expect it all to come together and for him to burst into a top player but it hasn’t ever happened yet. He’s obviously missing the vision and passing in his game, but he’d never be that type of midfielder.

I think his peak could be Sami Khedira type beat — bit brainless in terms of holding a position, but gets in and amongst the goals in the final third at times all throughout the season.

 

[Eddy_JukeZ]

He hides from the ball too much for a central midfielder at Manchester United.

 

[Ekeke]

When he gets a goal on top of his performance he looks pretty good. Without the goal on top he doesnt offer enough with the ball.

 

[Raven]

He should be Pogba's back up, nothing more than that for now.

 

[3vra]

Very limited player, his goals involvement makes him better player, but as a defensive midfielders goals should be only a bonus not the main thing. If you look at his game without those (very imported) goals It is not good enough. Him and Fred are both avarage in passing so they need each other to help get the ball back when the other one give It away so neither can play with more creative player like Pogba who should play a little closer to opponents goal because each time either one of them would lose a ball there is no one to help....

This is our main problem with creating chances our midfield is not creative enough thats why yesterday Lindelof and Maguire made like 6 or 7 long balls to our forwards because It still was more dangerous then playing it with McFred. Getting good DLP or killer defensive midfielder is more important then any other position.
I like him, his attitude, his love for the club and the fact he is made here but we need more for starting midfielder and if he is not to grab It and proves as wrong like Shaw and AWB are doing then we need to do sth.

 

[Rozay]

When he gets a goal on top of his performance he looks pretty good. Without the goal on top he doesnt offer enough with the ball.

This is football in the current era in general tbh. On one hand, you can say the game is about scoring goals - but obviously different players still have different primary function.

 

[Roboc7]

Had a shocker, no idea how he stayed on the pitch but thankfully it didn’t matter.

 

[Alemar]

Not the best of games, so to speak.

 

[charlenefan]

Had a shocker, no idea how he stayed on the pitch but thankfully it didn’t matter.

yep had a shocker, occasion got to him summed up by the OG he could have scored

 

[Devil may care]

The Viola Davis of the side.

 

[Aouer-United]

Poor games from Scott except for the nice tackle he made.

 

[Idxomer]

I don't get it, What does he actually do on the pitch?

Positionally awful, can't pass to save his life. His physicality isn't really a plus because he's often very clumsy.

He isn't much different than Dan James for me, a player everyone agrees on not being good enough for Manchester United.

It would be very easy to upgrade him but there's this silly notion he will turn into Roy Keane any day now.

 

[ClaytonBlackmoorLeftPeg]

yep had a shocker, occasion got to him summed up by the OG he could have scored

he didn’t play well. But to say the occasion got to him is bollocks. He’s a player who raises his game against the better teams and occasions. Players can have off games, it doesn’t mean the situation got to him, or that they bottled it.

 

[AltiUn]

He and Fred looked all over the shop tonight.

 

[Skills]

The most easily upgradeable player in our first XI

 

[RedIan]

Bang average at best tonight. has a couple of decent games this season but far to many poor to average games. squad player..

 

[jamesjimmybyrondean]

I don't know what he adds apart from energy. I don't see him make tackles or interceptions. He just chases the man on the ball without success. Too slow to react on the ball too. I love his energy but he's the easiest to replace

 

[Red Devil 26]

I don't get it, What does he actually do on the pitch?

Positionally awful, can't pass to save his life. His physicality isn't really a plus because he's often very clumsy.

He isn't much different than Dan James for me, a player everyone agrees on not being good enough for Manchester United.

It would be very easy to upgrade him but there's this silly notion he will turn into Roy Keane any day now.

The clamour for him, from some, to be our future captain is just freakin' insane. Sounds harsh, but he's a bit of a nothing player for me. I don't really see any part of the game he really excels at. Most games appear to just drift him by. I hope Ole sees how important it is to improve our central midfield this summer.

 

[Desert Eagle]

The most easily upgradeable player in our first XI

amen

 

[Foxbatt]

Just follow him to see what he does when we have the ball. Most of the time, he is trying to mark or hide behind an opposing player. Unlike Fred who is available for a pass, McTominay always hides. It is not today. I have said in the match threads of most of the matches.

 

[AgentSmith]

Not the game for McTominay but Liverpool on the weekend probably will be.

Great squad option to have with a fantastic attitude but we really need to transition away from a midfield of him and Fred against teams where we’re able to impose ourselves. It’s too limited and one dimensional without actually really producing the defensive stability it ostensibly should.