Oh no doubt, anybody who’s watched us this year knows bringing in McTominay would make us more fragile at the back, that’s why I said it was a gamble.
Mctominay for Mainoo at HT
- Thread starter Desert Eagle
- Start date
I’d say the odds of having nothing in midfield and Forest cutting through us due to it was far more likely than McTominay popping up with a last minute winner. He’s not a DM, he came in alongside Eriksen who is also not a DM and who is also in his twilight years and looks gassed after an hour of play. This was a massive tactical feck up by Ten Hag, and he’s run out of goodwill to get away with it. These aren’t hail mary tactical decisions he’s making, they’re just basic, routine football stuff that he keeps getting wrong. No wonder we’re tearing our hair out game after game.
We probably don’t lose this game if Mainoo stays on, or at least we can be more assured that Mainoo would’ve tracked the runners better. He’s basically destroyed our midfield to give more minutes to a player whose only attribute is scoring once every two months. Make it make sense.
I came to the Caf to ask this question - surely Mainoo was injured? There’s just no way that was tactical.
He confirmed it was tactical.
Gosh. That’s shocking.
We've seen Mainoo being overrun when he's out of energy but why McT as a DM FFS.
Be fair, he didn't say it was tactical, what he said was, that he thought that Mainoos energy levels weren't good after having played so much in the last days. Thats not a great statement as well but lets not fabricate stuff. The original quote is posted one page before.
So I didn’t watch the game but at half time - many people were saying on this that the game was passing by Mainoo and that he should be subbed.
Because Ten Hagg did it, and we subsequently lost - suddenly it’s as if the decision was completely unthinkable.
Check the match day thread and see the amount of people who were saying Mainoo was invisible.
Because Ten Hagg did it, and we subsequently lost - suddenly it’s as if the decision was completely unthinkable.
Check the match day thread and see the amount of people who were saying Mainoo was invisible.
But it’s also fair to say that Garnacho stretching the play wider on the right and going on the outside, spread their defence apart, thus creating space for others to run into. Today, with Antony cutting in and never going behind, it compressed the play and made us predictable.
For 1 minute at the end of the first half today, we switched to Rashford left, Antony through the middle and Garnacho wide right, and immediately Garnacho got in behind. Then we abandoned it for the rest of the game.
Whether or not the high line was the reason it worked is moot, because we didn’t even try it again.
That's a tactical change. Eriksen was the player who should have came off.
There’s an element of damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
if he kept things as they were, creating F all, he’d be accused of not forcing the issue enough and having no ideas
if he kept things as they were, creating F all, he’d be accused of not forcing the issue enough and having no ideas
That is not the point. He already knew the outcome of the change. Either with Mainoo not being in the game but playing or MCT playing it was going to be the same shit anyway.
I think he gambled that MCT was going to score one of the lucky ones and save his ass, but it was a very daft decision. A very good decision would have been going 3 at the back and adding an extra man in midfield.
What a shit decision, playing him in the middle means we will always lose the midfield battle, he always hides from the ball and never takes up good positions to receive the ball. During defensive transitions, he is also unable to pick up runners.
It doesn’t take much hindsight to know that replacing Mainoo with McTominay was going to give the defence less protection and make us more likely to concede, and therefore lose. It happens pretty much every time he selects McTominay to play there. If you insist on putting McTominay in because our attack is so pathetic he’s our best chance of a goal (a damning indictment in itself), then at least put him in a position that is primarily attacking, with fewer defensive responsibilities. If half our fan base can see this, why can’t Ten Hag!?
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Get rid, He thinks he is a lot cleverer than he really is.
No one is saying he shouldn’t have made a change…
But who in their right mind thought that was the change to make? Me and my mates all had the same reaction, as I’m sure you and yours did. As did every pundit post match.
“That looks risky Erik. It’s up top where aren’t making anything stick, change something up that end…. Chuck him up top through the middle and get rashford on the left.”
It looked a stupid decision, and it was a stupid decision. Again.
How many more times are we gonna be saying that at full time this season. My guess is plenty more.
Somebody give him a tactical slap and if he questions it then say don’t regret it.
All his decisions pay off for the worse.
I don't care if he regrets his decisions, but at least learn from them... just once.
In hindsight it was an awful decision…compounded by the fact that it was entirely predictable. So not even hindsight.
To be fair, you could sort of see the logic behind the substitution. The game was stalemated in the first half, neither team were getting much done. So you put on McT, hoping that his box presence will make a difference.
Which it did. Just in the wrong box and in the wrong way. Two goals from an unmarked late runner, while McTominay was ball-watching in the right channel.
Which it did. Just in the wrong box and in the wrong way. Two goals from an unmarked late runner, while McTominay was ball-watching in the right channel.
He might have no regrets. We have plenty of regrets that he got the job though.
Well out of his depth. Compared to him Moyes is a genius.
ETH didn’t actually say it was for tactical reasons, he said it was because Mainoo had low energy levels.
You overlook that Bruno was the only one who got anything done among our attackers. Antony, literally nothing. Garnacho, goal aside, didn't accomplish anything whatsoever either. Rashford, almost as little, beautiful goal aside. Bruno at least had about ten good, creative passes that actually meant something. Which is roughly ten more than anyone else. He's the last one who should have been taken off.
I'd imagine it was "tactical" in the sense that his fitness staff had advised him that Mainoo, at 18 and a mere handful of starts, could only play a half after Tuesdays exertions.
His positional sense would probably have snuffed out the opportunities that they scored from, but it's encouraging that he put the players welfare over his own personal short term career needs.
His positional sense would probably have snuffed out the opportunities that they scored from, but it's encouraging that he put the players welfare over his own personal short term career needs.
He’s an absolute clown.
And the worst part is…people still support his bullshit.
Not what he said.
Overrun because he’s a young lad with Eriksen and Bruno for company
He’d be a monster with a partner who wasn’t either passed it or playing for himself
Ah that’s nice. He lets the lads relax,
Don’t worry about not qualifying for europe next year, wouldn’t want the team to work out of their comfort zone
He's 18! The kid's welfare is the most important thing.
Let's not kill the golden goose ffs.
Is this continuation of the "What stupid change will ETH make today?" thread?
And how about putting our "leading goalscorer" in DM position (that he hasn't played for us in like 15 games)?
Yeah exactly. He gave away a bad goal the other day late in the game. If we overplay him then we destroy an amazing long term asset. He's not a Rooney type that's built like a brick outhouse at 16. He has a bit of growing to do still.
Watching the highlights and I think McT definitely could have done better for the first goal, got drawn on to Danilo, out of defending the danger area, and with Eriksen and Bruno with him he needed to be much more conservative. For the second I don't have any issues with his decision to support Dalot against Elanga and a 2 v 1 on a counter. Evans, Varane and AWB have to do much better at picking up the danger inside instead of dropping so deep.
We are moments FC again and Scott gives moments. We just need to accept We are a mid table team now, they days of glory are far behind us.
It didn't work well. The timing for this change was probably wrong.
But we do need to look out for Mainoo generally. The cut and thrust of the PL is a big ask for such a young player in the centre of midfield, and he has already had an injury this season.
But we do need to look out for Mainoo generally. The cut and thrust of the PL is a big ask for such a young player in the centre of midfield, and he has already had an injury this season.
It was all really stupid. For a manager that has no room for stupid mistakes too.
We can give him some time when casemiro is back not before.
In the past month he has been without a doubt our best player. He should be first on the team sheet.
If you wanted McT on, bring him on for Anthony, let him play centre forward or false 9 and put Rashford and Garnacho back to their Villa positions.
The definition of insanity is repeatedly doing the same thing and expecting a different result. This 4-1-4-1 madness has to stop. Either ETH is blind, stubborn, stupid or he's had enough and baiting them to sack him.
Not the first time, not the last time
Every time he played McT in midfield with Bruno for any extended time we got trashed. But all he ever remembers is two freak goals McT scored for him in overtime once
He also added that he had no regrets, too.
I will have no regrets when I see the back of his stubborn bald head when he is shown the door
It costed us 2 conceded goals. Diabolical DCM performance from McTominay, one of his all time worst.
The only positive from this game was the fact, that we saw Amad - he is significantly better than Antony by all accounts.
The only positive from this game was the fact, that we saw Amad - he is significantly better than Antony by all accounts.