Kind of helps that the defenders tend to be marking Hojlund when hes making the headers. Would be a different roll to put him up front.
39
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 39
- Goals
- 10
- Assists
- 3
- Yellow cards
- 3
Top goals, and a constant threat all game long. Look like a popular guy in dressing room. Teammates seemed genuinely happy for him.
Didn't watch the game but nice finish for both of his goals. His role makes more sense if we have fullbacks moving to midfield like Arsenal or City, but without it the tactic seems suicidal. It's hard to control the midfield if we want to play him like this with Bruno in a midfield 3.
He’ll win the balon d’or next season. Love mcsauce!
Still doesn't do enough with the ball in build up but it wasn't what was required tonight. Class performance from him.
I've even doubted his value as a squad player, but with this type of goal scoring he is absolutely that. Has been vital for us in a season where we're struggling for goals. Deserves plenty of credit.
A first XI player? No, not if we want to control matches and get back to the top domestically and in Europe. That hasn't changed, which is fine. It's been apparent for awhile the midfield isn't good enough, but he has thus far certainly made a case for himself to remain in the squad past this season.
A first XI player? No, not if we want to control matches and get back to the top domestically and in Europe. That hasn't changed, which is fine. It's been apparent for awhile the midfield isn't good enough, but he has thus far certainly made a case for himself to remain in the squad past this season.
McBoxCrasher
Good eye for goal and natural finisher, easy to see he was used as a forward at youth level. I'm still not convinced as midfielder especially defensively is what United's need going forward.
You do need players like that in the team, who will run his socks off and pop up with the occasional, and in McTom's case, quite frequently, goals.
Many years back people on this forum wonder why "limited" players like Fletcher and Park Ji-Sung were making the team, and now it's accepted that they were great in their own rights.
I don't know what to do with this guy. He's obviously not a midfielder but he's our best finisher. Is he actually a #9?
Great player! Obviously worked his socks off to get to this level. He's a keeper! Not goalkeeper though.
We're onto you, Ess Dub.
Could've genuinely had a hat trick yesterday. He could easily end this season with double digits in the league alone, golden boot charge? He's a useful player. Too bad we took so long to actually discover that he's great at attacking and wasted all those years playing him as a DM. Has better goal scoring instinct than some PL strikers.
Fletcher,Park Ji-Sung carried out their defensive duties for the team when selected in midfield and didn't let their direct opponent glide past them and not bother to chase back as McTom tends to do a lot.
He is the strangest player in our squad.
If it was not for the goals he should not even be on the bench, but he keep scoring them and wins us points.
If it was not for the goals he should not even be on the bench, but he keep scoring them and wins us points.
It's not like it's dumb luck with McTominay, he genuinely knows how to finish and he gets in the right positions to do so. Some of the goals he's scored this season have looked like typical striker's goals.
I think as a high eight offensively he is fine and he can score, but that's also Bruno's role. With the two of them there, there is never enough defensive cover for whoever's DM, whether it's Amrabat, Mainoo, etc.
I'd always hoped that McTom would be much better defensively but he offers very little.
For Ten Hag's system to work, one of those eights has to be doing something to help Amrabat by tucking in.
I think as a high eight offensively he is fine and he can score, but that's also Bruno's role. With the two of them there, there is never enough defensive cover for whoever's DM, whether it's Amrabat, Mainoo, etc.
I'd always hoped that McTom would be much better defensively but he offers very little.
For Ten Hag's system to work, one of those eights has to be doing something to help Amrabat by tucking in.
He’s remarkably good at timing runs into the box. Now if he could just perform decently at all other aspects of his job, he would be a good option.
Agreed.
I am not McTominay's biggest fan. I think, at some point, you have to choose between him and Bruno. It's too open playing both. At that point I am picking Bruno every time.
However, for now, McTominay is making the difference for us. Have to give the kid his credit.
His instinct in and around the box are on a completely different level to the rest of his game. If he could dribble and pass anywhere nearly as well we'd have a proper player.
Build the team around him. Absolute talisman who plays for the badge. Best English midfielder since Schools.
People need to start showing him some respect. Just imagine the hole we'd be in if we had sold him in the summer?
Good analysis. I think he lacks elite football intelligence. Galatasaray was a prime example. Post match he spoke about a need to kill games. His idea of killing the game was bursting forwards looking for a 4th when we were 3-1 up in a must win tricky away fixture in Europe. You can kill a game by controlling the tempo, sitting into a mid block and having possession.
Discussed at length on the Talk of the Devils podcast so not my organic analysis but something I agreed with.
To those suggesting him as a striker, it's a completely different role. It will nullify his absolute best quality, which is coming into the box in the second wave and find pockets of space.
Entirely different skillset required to lead the line, and spend much of the game with your back to the goal.
Good to see him rise to the occasion and do his part to turn the tide. And to all the moaners: Here's an academy product playing out of his skin, banging in goals and keeping our top four hopes alive. If you can't put concerns about the bigger picture aside and find joy in that I honestly struggle to see why you follow United.
Entirely different skillset required to lead the line, and spend much of the game with your back to the goal.
Good to see him rise to the occasion and do his part to turn the tide. And to all the moaners: Here's an academy product playing out of his skin, banging in goals and keeping our top four hopes alive. If you can't put concerns about the bigger picture aside and find joy in that I honestly struggle to see why you follow United.
Match winning performance again...captain material.
Go for Fifa Formation 4-2-2-2
Garnacho(LS) --- Hojlund (RS)
MCT (L CAM). ---- Bruno (R CAM)
Casemiro(CDM) --- Amrobat (CDM)
----------------Defense -----------------
Gives us enough cover in the mid this way
Garnacho(LS) --- Hojlund (RS)
MCT (L CAM). ---- Bruno (R CAM)
Casemiro(CDM) --- Amrobat (CDM)
----------------Defense -----------------
Gives us enough cover in the mid this way
He’s put another £25m on his price tag this season. I’d keep him though, not sure how you can justify selling any player who weighs in with such timely goals as he does.
A lot of our players have endured a lot of abuse here and I can single out a couple of moronic posts for all of them as well. The difference is that I don't see anyone looking for apologies in their threads so I guess the abuse is only embarrassing after the player has scored a few important goals.
Ten Hag himself on the tactical role he gives Mctominay:
"Talking about the dynamics, sometimes he is deep, sometimes he is lower, but in our tactics and planning, our game plan is often that we want him to be high. So the team has to make it happen that he can go high, that he can come into positions where he is around a striker and then he can make runs.
"He has a very good smell when to arrive and then he has also a very good finish and the team has to make sure we bring the ball with him.
"It's not hard, it's a matter of organisation, so we have to get the players in the right positions and that is our job to get him and it means other players have to play deeper and bring them in their best skills.
"And it's all about getting individuals in the right positions on the pitch and that you make use from their skills and attributes."
"Talking about the dynamics, sometimes he is deep, sometimes he is lower, but in our tactics and planning, our game plan is often that we want him to be high. So the team has to make it happen that he can go high, that he can come into positions where he is around a striker and then he can make runs.
"He has a very good smell when to arrive and then he has also a very good finish and the team has to make sure we bring the ball with him.
"It's not hard, it's a matter of organisation, so we have to get the players in the right positions and that is our job to get him and it means other players have to play deeper and bring them in their best skills.
"And it's all about getting individuals in the right positions on the pitch and that you make use from their skills and attributes."
This is what I meant when saying he is more useful than Fred. He is not starter midfield for us, but Christ show the guy some respect, he has popped up with important goals all season.
He’s definitely not a 6 or CM but he is an effective number 8/10 hybrid that clearly a good finisher. The most important part of the game is putting the ball in the net and he can do that. He has a higher ceiling this summer or next January where he could get £50-55m for him, right now he, like Maguire are not top of the exit list, but neither should the club looking to be building their mid or long term midfield plans around him!
Thought he was good again, how McSauce is our leading prem goal scorer is a pretty damning indictment of our forward line this year so far.
Yeah but it was interesting that It changed in the second half. Chelsea weren’t running through freely. Annoyingly I had two games on at once (couldn’t resist) so couldn’t quite pinpoint provide a tactical analysis as to why. Two things I did pick up on though were ambrabat and Maguire were far more aggressive and proactive in attacking the ball/player. Lindelof coming off also helped. But I’d be interested to see a tactical breakdown of what adjustments were made second half that stopped the chelsea attacks.
Weird player. A battler, destroyer who has a deft touch and can score. Can also make the easiest things look like the hardest.
My biggest gripe with McTom is that for a deep lying midfielder - he simply goes missing. He avoids the ball, he's a bit predictable when he has it and is always proactive rather then reactive in his defending. He's just not a good footballer in that regard, he cant control a game or dictate tempo and is never gunna run into space screaming for the ball off the CB's.
As an advanced midfield player he's nowhere near the level of Bruno, Eriksen so he'll never be a regular there.
Have to give it to Ten Hag for finding a way to make him useful.
He is proving a useful squad player though - that we cannot deny.
My biggest gripe with McTom is that for a deep lying midfielder - he simply goes missing. He avoids the ball, he's a bit predictable when he has it and is always proactive rather then reactive in his defending. He's just not a good footballer in that regard, he cant control a game or dictate tempo and is never gunna run into space screaming for the ball off the CB's.
As an advanced midfield player he's nowhere near the level of Bruno, Eriksen so he'll never be a regular there.
Have to give it to Ten Hag for finding a way to make him useful.
He is proving a useful squad player though - that we cannot deny.
What a bizzarre situation. We can't score without him, with him we don't have any sort of ball control in the mid field.
Maybe it's still a net gain overall.
Maybe it's still a net gain overall.
Yup. Welcome to ETH’s personal hell.
Mctominay is a very good player as well as being a true professional and having a good mentality. Credit where is due, he has been very prolific recently. However, i still believe he is not suitable for the style of play we are expecting man utd to play which is aggressive, on the front foot, dominating possession and controlling games. McTominay is an interesting case, he has been scoring the goals but has he been playing well in our midfield, i would beg to disagree. He has his strengths but for the type of football we want to evolve to, i believe he is not the answer. He is not someone i would associate the word control. Along with fernandes, there are two players in this midfield which is the complete opposite of what control is. His average passing stats of only 20-25 is not sufficient and does not contribute to much in the midfield. While he is adventurous and knows how to attack the box and seems to be a willing runner, he still is not good on the defensive part. His positioning is till suspect in the defensive part, lack the awareness to cover passing lanes and in possession lacks the ability to create or provide any efficient options. This leaves our midfield completely porous and against top agressive teams as we have seen before we are completely dominated in the middle of the park and even when we attack, we lack creativity and technicality from the middle as well as being completely porous and suceptible to counters. He is for me a player for a specific purpose, a squad player which you would bring when you need to go all out in attack searching for a goal and when the plan is to abandon defense. Since fernandes offers more overall in that midfield, i would keep fernandes. i believe ten haag bought Mason Mount which was suppose to possess similar attacking qualities as what McTominay offers but much more in terms of possession, creativity and defensive skills being the complete box to box. Unfortunately, Mount has yet to demonstrate that. But then again, credit where it is due, we are getting by with his goals and his dedication but i still believe that he is not the way forward.
He's kind of becoming our new Fellaini.
Neither a midfielder nor an attacker. Detrimental to our overall play. And yet... Very useful?
Neither a midfielder nor an attacker. Detrimental to our overall play. And yet... Very useful?
I’ve been slaughtering him all season but it’s hard not to warm to him. Greet to hear a local accent in the post match interview and you can tell how much it means for him to play for the club.
Hey! Look at my username.
Told my Wolves supporting bro-in-law at the weekend what I thought of McTominay and he was bewildered, assuming he was one of our best players.
He probably wonders what the feck I was on about even more now having seen the final score.
I still stand by it. Like Ronaldo when he came back, his goals are just solving problems his presence in the team creates.
All said though, his contribution beyond goals just from his personality and effort (similar to Maguire) is probably what we need right now.
He probably wonders what the feck I was on about even more now having seen the final score.
I still stand by it. Like Ronaldo when he came back, his goals are just solving problems his presence in the team creates.
All said though, his contribution beyond goals just from his personality and effort (similar to Maguire) is probably what we need right now.
I feel sad that a fully grown man is excited about this.