I don’t even think that this is up for discussion anymore if we’re talking about a 3-man midfield this season. As Pogba and Bruno are rightly untouchable at the moment, Matic is the only player who can simultaneously provide balance, quality and specialisation as a pure DM. Of course though, he is getting on and I do see McTominay being able to drop back into this sitting role in the future from his current B2B one as he continues his development. However, I would rather buy Ndidi as Matic’s long-term replacement and keep Scott as a rotation option.
However, if we’re looking at a midfield 4, then were talking. In that case, Scott would start behind Pogba and in front of Matic as a B2B to release Pogba and Bruno to attack freely without too much defensive duties. However, taking our current RW, Greenwood out of the side for Scott just to play this diamond will cause congestion in our plays. To solve it, we’ll genuinely have to remove Shaw and AWB for Williams and James as Shaw just cannot attack and AWB is developing that part of his game. I really cannot see Ole doing that, and I certainly wouldn’t either.