His best position was always the #6/#8 hybrid role at Monaco where he dropped deep as the first receiver in possession. But at United he was utilised further forward due to who we already had occupying the deeper midfield positions at the time.
I think with the way the game went it was sensible to introduce him in a more advanced central attacking role. And having watched him for a long time I didn't expect him to shoot from where he scored from, due to him normally looking for the pass instead of shooting. And that is something I always felt he should add to his game because being unselfish has it's merits but sometimes taking a shot on goal after making space for yourself is the best course of action.
I think there's potential there to work with and he has the qualities that could lead to him being a good midfielder for us. And on top of that we still haven't seen Amrabat and Mainoo together yet at the heart of the midfield, which has the potential to raise the level further as far as evading the press and progressing the ball is concerned. It's pretty obvious to me that Amrabat is going to play the connector role with Mainoo also a option for thar role.
With both Amrabat and Mainoo missing we don't have a midfielder who is comfortable at evading the press on the half turn in the first phase of the build up. Both Casemiro and Eriksen are good players but they're players who are comfortable receiving and playing the pass when the game is in-front of them. We're badly missing both Amrabat and Mainoo, who imo have the potential to make a difference in the build up phase. The tactics/strategy was fine but we need better execution against teams who press well in central areas. And if you have players who have the ability to resist evade/pressure centrally then the space will open up and even make the opposition head coach rethink his strategy.
With Brighton the strategy is very simple and it started with Graham Potter in 2019. And he's a head coach who places heavy emphasis on playing the ball out from the back. And Brighton have been coached to keep the ball under pressure in the build up phase for several years. Roberto De Zerbi took over a Brighton team that was already aligned with his vision.
That's why I keep saying that we should give chances to players who fit the profile of a player that will help us evade/resist pressure and get us up the pitch in a more controlled and efficient way. Mctominay and Fred were never those players in possession and hence we didn't progress as a more proactive attacking team. Now ten Hag is trying to get the team to play in a more dominant way but there's a few other issues that have reared their head because some players are unavailable and some players don't fancy doing off the ball work.
Players like Hannibal, Mainoo, Gore and in the future Fitzgerald, Moorhouse and McAllister may not be good enough. But they're players who have aforementioned attributes and could be developed into good players.