We may have missed him on set pieces but he is a terrible footballer and we saw today that we play much better football without him. Hopefully his brief goal scoring spree will fool another club into buying him.
39
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 39
- Goals
- 10
- Assists
- 3
- Yellow cards
- 3
Solid performance. Less than 2 minutes after he comes on we score the winner on a corner. They wouldn’t have scored if we would have had McTominay in our box in the first half.
We misses him in the first half. In the second half he came on and saved our asses.
We misses him in the first half. In the second half he came on and saved our asses.
FTFY
Top WUM of a post
What a load of nonsense
The last 2 games he didn’t start we have drawn away against top of the league, and beat second in the league.
The last 3 games he started we lost all 3 without scoring a goal.
He is the problem, not the solution.
Sorry it was the implication that he is some how a regular goal threat. He’s bagged a couple of goals in 2 games which flatters him greatly. I guess it’s because I find his whole presence extremely frustrating and a very big symbol of our massive decline in playing standards. Fellani before him was the same, wouldn’t get a look in at any other top club yet both of them featured week after week.not sure why you’re over analysing that throwaway comment. But yeah, he’s scored a fair amount of goals this season - he’s our top scorer isn’t he? In the league I think anyway. But yeah, I’m nowhere near his biggest admirer anyway, so I don’t really disagree with what you’re saying. He shouldn’t be anywhere near the starting XI, debatably even the squad.
Wasn’t really over analysing it just pointing out the myth that he’s some kind of a regular scorer. He’s got a couple of
Wasn’t really over analysing it, was just the implication that he was our regular goal scorer.
That’s either complete delusional nonsense or top trolling.
No surprise we actually played football without him on the pitch. Long may it continue that he be just an impact sub.
Hope we sell him in Jan
Hannibal was poor when he came on. No composure, lack of defensive work and some attempt to dribble or whatever it was.
We know that there are haters in our fanbase against McTominay. This year, he has done well. When our team needed goals he produced that despite what everybody thinks. We might not be prime Barcelona when he is on the pitch. He wasn't on the pitch in first half when we were like we have been this year.
Did his role well today…sitting on the bench where he’s at his best. Hope we keep him there for the foreseeable!
Long may it continue
Hannibal wasnt poor when he came on. You're seeing what you want to see and that includes you're bias views on McTominay.
I like him but it's much nicer to have an actual midfielder that can pass the ball in Eriksen. Helps the team so much.
I'll forever die on the hill that he needs to convert to a striker if he wants to play for a top team. A midfielder / striker hybrid would only really work for the lower level teams.
I'll forever die on the hill that he needs to convert to a striker if he wants to play for a top team. A midfielder / striker hybrid would only really work for the lower level teams.
He reminds me a bit of Kevin Nolan (Nolan was better, to make it clear) - a midfielder good at scoring for mid/low table teams but not good enough for good teams
Yeah I think the difference in class between having him or Eriksen in that midfield is evident. Just a shame Eriksen isn’t 10 years younger! But I get the frustration. I think majority here do.
nice try, brown nose gave you away
Shame a young upgrade on Eriksen wasn't available for half the price of the vanishing mason Mount, a great deal for Spurs who still seem to be coping even after Maddison was injured. A player who would have improved us massively and we actually needed.
Sorry, your post is unclear. Are you referring to Maddison who was half the price of mount?
Err...what? Hannibal did quite well when he came on. Not amazing, but he was good.
We were much better in the first half than we have been for ages, other than that 5 minute period in the middle where we lost our heads after conceding the first goal. Before that it was mostly 50/50 with Villa maybe just shading it, and after the goals we were well on top. There was no way we 'deserved' to be going in at halftime 2-0 down on the basis of play. Then we just stepped it up even further in the second half.
The two main reasons for our improved performance was Rashford playing well and working hard, and having all three midfielders actually contributing to getting on the ball and controlling the team around. It was almost like playing with two more players than what we normally have been.
You see, it is this type of pettiness that has people willing to defend him. McT came on to push for the winner, we immediately scored, he then drops back to playing as a screen in front of the CB's, completed 2 passes, made 4 clearances, the same as Varane and Evans made combined in the match.
Hannibal came on, gave away fouls, lost the ball twice, attempted and misplaced 1 pass, but held the ball for a few seconds down on the left wing, more impact as a sub.
It is difficult to find things to give a guy credit for if you don't want to see them.,
This is problem with haters. When they don't like someone they will attack them with wierd and strange things.
He came in when we needed some presence in the box and at the same time give new energy to a midfield. He did well. He made some important clearances and it is no surprise we scored from corner when he came on. Not that he scored but one more big body for Aston Villa players to handle.
McTominay will never be Scholes or Zidane. He will be very useful player that does good job when needed. If you said before season that McTominay would be our main goalscorer by Christmas people would send you to psychiatri. Give guy a credit. As I said, he is no worse than 100+m midfielder signings in Premier League this year.
Go on datamb and compare McTominay to literally any other midfielder in the PL or top 5 leagues. As it turns out he's A LOT worse.
Start by comparing most goals by central midfielder in Premier League.
I believe the conclusion has mainly been him and Bruno can't be in the same starting 11.
If you conclude otherwise, I'd love to see the material you sit on.
Arguably, we had 2x really good performances this year, one vs palace and vs villa. (and perhaps vs pool)
The pair of them did not feature at the start of either of these games.
That mct does not play cm, we can all agree on, he is not equipped with the tools to do so either.
You are only talking about half a season here as it doesn’t apply to any other season. Last he got literally one goal. This season he’s bagged a couple in 2 games so it’s a tiny sample size. It’s like saying after someone gets a hat trick in a game look they were the most prolific scorer in the Premiership last weekend.
Conveniently ignoring the Chelsea performance, in which we dominated and had the joint highest xG of any other team this season.
Same with Galatasaray and Copenhagen, where we were fantastic until Rashford got sent off.
Bruno and McTominay played in all of those games and we pretty much dominated.
Now, I get that people don't rate McTominay. Completely up to them, but let's at least be objective when discussing something.
Surely you are only proving his point here.
In half a season where they have played a significant number of games together in midfield, the only 3 games you can think of where they supposedly played well together were all games where we either didn’t win, or conceded a significant number of chances.
Even the chelsea game, which I was at, we conceded 3 chances in the first half where they just waltzed through our none existent midfield and should have scored.
Name a game where we've played better than that all season. I'll wait...
Also, you talk about the conceding of chances. That happens regardless of whether McTominay is in there, as that's a structural problem that ten Hag needs to address.
I also want to point out that McTominay isn't in the team to solidify things. Sure, he will help defending set pieces, but his role in the team is to make runs in behind and score goals - the role Mason Mount was brought to the club for.
My response is to poster who said that McTominay is pretty much worst midfielder in league. Not just that, he said top 5 leagues. He said that we should compare him to anyone. I said, start with goals.
If it was that easy scoring goals, why don't every midfielder player score lot more? Because it is hard. Nobody is saying that McTominay is a superstar but to downgrade everything he does is just ignorant. You got to give credit where credit is due. We know what he brings to the team. By now everybody should know that. At least those who watch football at deeper level and not just name of club or those who follow some certain player. McTominay do have his strengths and we know his weaknesses. When he plays good he should get credit. When he plays poorly he should be criticized.
Villa. Against a better team. By miles.
We conceded 2 poor set piece goals, but it is the most control we have had in midfield all season, even in the first half.
Best exemplified by the disallowed Garnacho goal. The build up for that chance would have been impossible if it involved McT, as he simply isn’t technically up to that kind of quick one touch pass and move.
Now I agree that he has been deployed higher up the pitch by the manager. My point is he doesn’t justify his position in either role, and we look better when he isn’t playing. He has got a good eye for goal, and in a few games has timed his runs into the box well… but he brings nothing else to the table.
And in terms of Mount, 99% of fans would agree that it was the wrong type of signing… and it was a ball playing DLP to replace Eriksen we were crying out for. But the manager decided he wanted to play a system that he has been unable to make work.
We look so much better with 2 recognisable CM roles in the team. Especially as it allows us to get the best out of our most creative player (Bruno), and keep him out of deep areas where he is liable to turn over possession.
I'd have to disagree.
Don't get me wrong, I thought we were good against Villa, but we were two goals down and booed off in the first half. Whether they were set pieces or not, we still looked vulnerable, and actually, who's to say that McTominay wouldn't have helped us in that regard?
As for the most control statement you made, what are you basing that on?
Other than using this false agenda that united can't control games when McTominay is in the team, how are you measuring ''control''?
According to sofascore, during the first half against Villa, the possession was 50-50, where we made 213 passes to Villa's 205. In the second half, we had 41% to Villa's 59%, with 180 and 257 passes. That gave the two teams a total of 393 amd 462 passes, respectively.
Against Chelsea, with a mdifield of Palmer, Caicedo and Enzo, in the first half we had 235 to Chelsea's 260. In the second, we had 162 to Chelsea's 252. Total of 397 and 512, respectively. Possession finished 45% - 55%
Against West Ham, where ten Hag identified how we 'controlled' the game for 70 minutes, consisted of a midfield of Mainoo, Bruno and McTominay. We made a total of 626 passes to West Ham's 321.
Now, one would argue that every game is different, but I'm merely showing you that the statement you made about the lack of control with McTominay in the team is false, and an agenda that everyone has picked up and ran with for a long time - similar to Wan-Bissaka being poor in possession.
Is McTominay going to give us what Eriksen can give us? No, and vice versa, but his role when in the team is to play in between the lines, where the other two centre midfielders (Mainoo, Bruno, Eriksen, Amrabat) get on the ball.
We ''controlled'' games with Fellaini in the middle when we had Matic and Herrera as the more ball playing midfielders.
He’s just not good enough for United. He’s a bottom 10 premier league footballer at best and that’s me been generous. Midfield will be built around Mainoo now and Casemeiro isn’t too far away. I wouldn’t even keep him as a squad player. If an offer of 20 million came in he should be let go.
My conclusion has nothing to do with if McT and Bruno can play together. My conclusion is that the main problem this year has not been Scott McTominay, it has been the nonsensical decisions of Ten Hag around the structure of the midfield and that structure was already causing massive issues before he even came back into the team, leading to many making posts along the lines of McT had just saved Ten Hags job after Brentford.
I don't blame McT for the role Ten Hag has asked him to play, I don't like the role, I didn't like it with Mount, or anyone else who has been put into it. I am happy to criticize McT for the things he does poorly, there are many, or if he goes off script and doesn't follow instructions, but when he is doing exactly what the manager has asked him to do and it fails we need to look at the right target. I also think there has been a lot of incredibly lazy, rote bashing of him this season, with many commentators being unwilling to look at the role he has been playing and adjusting their criticism. For example, all the whining about how he only had 25 passes and Amrabat/Mainoo etc had 60, as if they were playing the same role or with the same instructions.
Ultimately it is absolutely fine to not a rate a player, I think McT is an average PL midfielder, with some strengths and weaknesses, but if a player you don't like does something good or has a performance that is impactful and people are unwilling to give credit it is a bit pathetic. He has done alright this year and has an average rating of 4.6 on this website.
All perfectly reasonable analysis… I think it’s just going to have to be an agree to disagree point.
The stats you shared don’t really differentiate the two games hugely.
But personally for me, from an eye test perspective, I simply rate McT as having a more limiting impact on the players around him, and is less technically capable than our other midfield options.
As such, I’d rather he not be in the team.
I remember years ago when I thought bringing in Nolan and Joey Barton would have been great business. They were both doing great for a while. Good job I‘m not a scout!
With all I was saying above, I’m glad McT isn’t playing in midfield….
But with Hojlund out… if we have a crap 1st half and are struggling to make the ball stick up top, and especially if Antony had a bad half, is it worth trying him at No 9 second half and getting Rashford left and Garnacho right?
But with Hojlund out… if we have a crap 1st half and are struggling to make the ball stick up top, and especially if Antony had a bad half, is it worth trying him at No 9 second half and getting Rashford left and Garnacho right?
Nottingham Forest 2:1 Man Utd
2 goals for Nottingham Forest, both from zone 14 where McTominay was nowhere to be seen. The loss is on Ten Hag who let him in in second half.
Maybe you can blame him for the first but the second either he leaves the LB 2 v1 or he stays middle were there are 3 other Utd players against 1.