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2021-22 Performances


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Abraxas

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The problem is I think if you're going to hold him up as a player that "keeps things simple", that has to be about a bit more than playing 40 passes over 5 yards in a game. Anyone in the league could do that.

To me it implies that a midfielder fills a tactical function, usually protecting the defence but could also be in harrying the opposition, and is safe and reliable both as an option and in his passing. McTominay on the basis of this season has failed on most of those fronts. His positioning is a persistent weakness, and he's not been showing enough for the ball to be playing it simple often enough to keep us ticking over. No, his passing is not as horrendous as many make out, it's quite basic but none of that matters if you don't take the ball.

He's got to do much, much better in a few of these areas to even become a reliable squad man if ETH's tenure takes off and competition arrives.
 

NoPace

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You can dislike a player, want them moved on and still give an honest appraisal of their performance. He played alright last night, admitting that doesn't mean wanting him starting regularly.

Should we only ever point out the negatives once a consensus has been reached on a player?
Good without the ball last night , weakest player on it, and that's as a #8 which is just not good enough for a big team. He can't read danger as a DM and he's poor on the ball generally. I thought he'd develop into a decent backup #6 and playing CB for Scotland would help, but he's just not a defensive thinker and not worth investing the time in him for him to get there in 2-3 years, just to have him top out at Morgan Schneiderlin. Sell him if there's offers, loan him if not and hope he does well in the right system and can be sold.
 

NewYorkRed

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I didn't compare anyone. If I was comparing I would've said "McTominay Is like Busquets or Deschamps, etc". Or "McTominay is our Busquets or Deschamps, etc"

Are those players better than McTominay? Of course. Those players are better than the majority of anchorman today, let's be honest.

I didn't say that. I said "every successful team has to have a player that keeps things simple". Which Scott McTominay does, and yet he gets lambasted for that very thing.

I'm a Scotland fan, so I've seen him more than most United fans, so trust me, I know his shortcomings and I know where he should work on his game. Is there things that he can develop? Yes. Players can work on spacial awareness. That's the biggest flaw in his game. Apart from that, he's not nearly as bad as people claim.

Might seem otherwise, but I'm not defending him. I'm just not having him being the scapegoat while the majority of his teammates are giving equally as bad performances, or even worse.

I'm not going to criticise any player till we have a real manager on the training park.
So what was the point of listing those names? You need to understand what a comparison is. Also, why list them at all then? Why not list Joe Allen or someone who sucked but also “kept things simple”. Tom Cleverly kept things simple. Does every team need him? You clearly listed THOSE players for a reason haha. Come on, man.
 

amolbhatia50k

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Erm nobody praises Busquets for his great ability to play sideward and backward passes against average teams that sit back. It's his ability to play the right pass regardless of the situation/opponent and the intelligence and speed of thought to make things that aren't simple look simple. And of course screen the defence superbly.
 

Chripper

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So what was the point of listing those names? You need to understand what a comparison is. Also, why list them at all then? Why not list Joe Allen or someone who sucked but also “kept things simple”. Tom Cleverly kept things simple. Does every team need him? You clearly listed THOSE players for a reason haha. Come on, man.
Well, technically, I could just as well cite players from the Highland leagues or the lower leagues of Scottish football, but I don't think you'd get the references.

I mean, would you understand a Chic Charney reference? How about a Jim Sherry reference?

I wanted to keep things relatable. :)
 

roonster09

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Well, technically, I could just as well cite players from the Highland leagues or the lower leagues of Scottish football, but I don't think you'd get the references.

I mean, would you understand a Chic Charney reference? How about a Jim Sherry reference?

I wanted to keep things relatable. :)
Give the names at least who are close in ability. Busquets is the master of one touch passing and you should listen to what Barca players said about Busquets and how he communicates using his passing.

One of the most important attribute of a CM is off the ball movement to make himself available for passes, McTominay is probably the worst at it in our squad.

Safe passes alone isn't enough, you need to have the ability to play line breaking passes, passes with proper weight and most importantly picking the right pass. Don't think McT is good at any of those.

We can say he never had manager who put emphasis on possession so he never had the chance to play in that system, which is fair enough. Lot of players will have some reality check next season, you never know which player surprises you.
 

Chripper

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Give the names at least who are close in ability. Busquets is the master of one touch passing and you should listen to what Barca players said about Busquets and how he communicates using his passing.

One of the most important attribute of a CM is off the ball movement to make himself available for passes, McTominay is probably the worst at it in our squad.

Safe passes alone isn't enough, you need to have the ability to play line breaking passes, passes with proper weight and most importantly picking the right pass. Don't think McT is good at any of those.

We can say he never had manager who put emphasis on possession so he never had the chance to play in that system, which is fair enough. Lot of players will have some reality check next season, you never know which player surprises you.
Oh. Trust me, I'm far from sticking up for McTominay. The crux of my argument is (aside from DDG and Ronaldo) his teammates have been just as bad as him.

As a Scotland fan I feel more comfortable with McGregor and Gilmour and Jack playing in the double pivot. he's doing well at centerback, but i have kittens when he's in midfield.

I'm hoping that ETH can bring out the best in him. That's something that we should all want.
 

roonster09

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Oh. Trust me, I'm far from sticking up for McTominay. The crux of my argument is (aside from DDG and Ronaldo) his teammates have been just as bad as him.

As a Scotland fan I feel more comfortable with McGregor and Gilmour and Jack playing in the double pivot. he's doing well at centerback, but i have kittens when he's in midfield.

I'm hoping that ETH can bring out the best in him. That's something that we should all want.
Every player is getting rinsed too. Not a single player escaped criticism.

Even though Fred is much better, poor guy is clubbed with McT. He is called as worse than Garner. Our player of the season Ronaldo also got lot of criticism. In short there isn't a single player who escaped criticism, with most of the player futures at club already written off.
 

Chripper

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Every player is getting rinsed too. Not a single player escaped criticism.

Even though Fred is much better, poor guy is clubbed with McT. He is called as worse than Garner. Our player of the season Ronaldo also got lot of criticism. In short there isn't a single player who escaped criticism, with most of the player futures at club already written off.
Yeah. Fair enough. :)

I just think it should be an absolute reset. As far as I'm concerned, next season will be the season to judge our players.

Hopefully ETH can bring out the best in every one of them.... here's hoping.
 

RedRonaldo

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Give the names at least who are close in ability. Busquets is the master of one touch passing and you should listen to what Barca players said about Busquets and how he communicates using his passing.

One of the most important attribute of a CM is off the ball movement to make himself available for passes, McTominay is probably the worst at it in our squad.

Safe passes alone isn't enough, you need to have the ability to play line breaking passes, passes with proper weight and most importantly picking the right pass. Don't think McT is good at any of those.

We can say he never had manager who put emphasis on possession so he never had the chance to play in that system, which is fair enough. Lot of players will have some reality check next season, you never know which player surprises you.
Basically this. We need midfielders who could do those things right, if we are to execute ETH possession football next season. Mctominay is totally hopeless on that.
 

goalscholes

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I blame McTominay’s development trajectory on our awful coaching. We don’t make players better. He has all the raw attributes to be a decent back up defensive midfielder, but he isn’t adaptable, disciplined or accurate enough to have a consistent impact.

I think ten Hag might still be able to improve him into a Darren Fletcher type, but time is running out.
 

Sky1981

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I blame McTominay’s development trajectory on our awful coaching. We don’t make players better. He has all the raw attributes to be a decent back up defensive midfielder, but he isn’t adaptable, disciplined or accurate enough to have a consistent impact.

I think ten Hag might still be able to improve him into a Darren Fletcher type, but time is running out.
Too late for that. Coaches are not magician. These 3 lost years in his foundation years can't be coached back. I fear he's done at top level. Championship maybe.
 

SirReginald

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I dont really get the arguments on threads like this.
Pretty much everyone agrees McT is not the answer for Utd going forward but even though we all agree, we argue about how bad he is. People are trying score points by proving he is bang average instead of really crap.
Who cares. He is either good enough or he isnt and he honestly isnt. This from someone who is glad he is in the Scotland squad because he is good enough for us at the moment.
Everyone wants to believe players from the academy can make it, some to the point of sheer delusion. If he was 3-4 years younger then almost everyone would agree that he would be worth keeping and developing.

As it happens, he is 25. The ability and skill set should already have some kind of solid foundation to develop further as he approaches his peak - which is generally accepted to begin about 27-28 for midfielders.

While unfair, you could also compare him to players like Gerrard, Rooney and Fabregas, who at younger ages showed more than Scott has.

He could and should have a solid career, especially as a Scotland international but as time passes it’s increasingly likely that he just won’t ever reach an acceptable level for a club of your size. Thats nothing to be ashamed of, it’s only a truly small % that do reach that level but holding on to him will in turn hold you back too.
 

Wednesday at Stoke

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He’ll be fine if he plays a few yards further up the pitch, winning the ball high, starting counters and getting in and around the box. That’s where Solskjær had most success with him. When he is dropping deep and playing closer to the defense, all his limitations become magnified. I think he played as an attacker in youth teams.
 

Bebestation

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We have to have the most sentimental group of fans in the world. The same sentimentality that led to the past 10 years.
Utter bullshit.

Most of the fanbase are complaining about players 24/7.
 

roonster09

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We have to have the most sentimental group of fans in the world. The same sentimentality that led to the past 10 years.
Do we? Then why is every player written off and we see posts like we need entire new squad? Don't think there is a single player who doesn't have question mark on his squad status except maybe Varane. Not even Ronaldo was spared in this.
 

Bebestation

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Do we? Then why is every player written off and we see posts like we need entire new squad? Don't think there is a single player who doesn't have question mark on his squad status except maybe Varane. Not even Ronaldo was spared in this.
And fans don't have a sentimentality that led to the past 10 years either.

Even if we did or didnn’t - the club fails for reasons outside the fans control anyway.

Ronaldo, Varane, Maguire, McTominay, Lingard, Shaw, De Gea, Martial, Rashford, Bruno, Henderson, AWB, Ole as a legend, Rangnick, dalot, Bailly, Lindelof, Cavani, Elanga, Greenwood, Fred, Pogba and most recently Sancho have all been talked about negatively this season.
 

Glorio

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I dont really get the arguments on threads like this.
Pretty much everyone agrees McT is not the answer for Utd going forward but even though we all agree, we argue about how bad he is. People are trying score points by proving he is bang average instead of really crap.
Who cares. He is either good enough or he isnt and he honestly isnt. This from someone who is glad he is in the Scotland squad because he is good enough for us at the moment.
And at that, Scotland only considers Manchester United's key starting midfielder as good enough to shoehorn in central defence, and that's because they have much better midfielders from the likes of Villa, Celtic and Norwich and Bournemouth.
 

Carl

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Worst player on the pitch today, which is quite an achievement.
 

Roboc7

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I’m all fairness to him pretty much every week he’s up against players better than him. It’s just so baffling so much time and effort is being invested in someone who clearly isn’t even close to being good enough, even saying he’s a squad player is generous.
 
Brighton 4:0 Man Utd

Bobski

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Dude, that was stunningly awful, headless chicken stuff, couldn't get close to their players without fouling, out of position all the time.
 

AltiUn

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He's the perfect midfielder ... if your idea of a perfect midfielder was a talentless, feckless oaf who has all the grace of a donkey rolling around in cow dung.
 

dubplate warrior

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Can we agree he's one of the worst midfielders to play for Manchester United in Premier League history?

Genuinely rubbish.
 

Red the Bear

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0/10 performance, and I don't think I'm exaggerating.
Let's see what hag does with him.
 

Andersonson

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Had second most tackles won today, with 3
Varane had 4
Lindelof 0
Dalot 0
Telles 0
Matic 0
Fred 0

Is McTom fantastic? No.
Is he the sole problem? No
 

Relevated

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I hope he puts himself a bowl of grapes that he thinks are crunchy and he's looking forward to em, only for him to bite the first grape and its extremely soft.
 
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