[EtH]

I thought he actually did better than usual. Tidy on the ball, kept it moving.

His defensive positioning was still poor and he still didn't make himself available enough - Villarreal had two midfielders with 20+ more attempted passes than him.

He was better after Matic came on. But he was really bad in the first half.

The lack of involvement we discussed previously has been highlighted massively the past two matches, particularly against Villa. He is far too content being a passenger.

 

[RussellWilson]

Literally avoids being a passing option. It's hilarious.

 

[Dante]

Literally avoids being a passing option. It's hilarious.

Any examples? I'm planning to rewatch the match tomorrow.

 

[RussellWilson]

Any examples? I'm planning to rewatch the match tomorrow.

All game pretty much. Instead of standing in between players he stands behind the them.

He has games in midfield where he has like 20 touches. That doesn't happen unless you basically have no intention to get on the ball.

He's a bit better when pushed forward but as a 6 he's clueless.

 

[CloneMC16]

McTominay did nothing for the second game in a row. He can't play CDM. His positioning is so poor. He put himself behind Villarreal's strikers so many times when we were playing out from the back. He gives our CB's no option to pass to him. Pogba did this job in the EL final, but was seemingly told to play much closer to Bruno tonight. It seemed like it was Scott's job and he did a very poor job of it. The guy is a box to box player. I hope Ole isn't going to attempt to play him as a #6 more often.

 

[stevoc]

Thought he was alright 2nd half but pretty much anonymous first half.

Honestly not sure what people expect from him he's a decent box to box midfielder that's being asked to play as a DM. He's not amazing there even with Fred beside him, and obviously he never will be great as a DM. But I think he could be a decent stop gap there until January/June when we hopefully get someone else in.

 

[VivaObertan]

I don't think McTominay did anything wrong tonight and was a victim of our poor tactical setup, especially in the first half. We didn't utilise his pressing ability without the ball and we seemed intent on not using him in the build up.

 

[United in sin]

I don't think McTominay did anything wrong tonight and was a victim of our poor tactical setup, especially in the first half. We didn't utilise his pressing ability without the ball and we seemed intent on not using him in the build up.

McTominay seemed intent on not making himself available for the ball. It's a feature of his game that Solskjaer has failed to address it seems

 

[Ali Dia]

My banker bet in the big games used to be McT to get a yellow but he’s not running around doing the McTerminator any more. More kind of jogging around and tipping the ball onto the nearest player if he shows for it at all. I don’t think he’s a great player but he’s still getting back up to speed. Hopefully he’ll be kicking people and attempting to break up play again at some point soon.

 

[Based Adnan]

My banker bet in the big games used to be McT to get a yellow but he’s not running around doing the McTerminator any more. More kind of jogging around and tipping the ball onto the nearest player if he shows for it at all. I don’t think he’s a great player but he’s still getting back up to speed. Hopefully he’ll be kicking people and attempting to break up play again at some point soon.

He's been rushed back big time. Came back from a fairly lengthy layoff and has played 90, 80 and 90 minutes in 10 days which is a big ask from a fit player let alone one coming back from injury.

 

[Dante]

If it was true that McTominay was really hiding, Ole would have dropped him ages ago. He's benched and sold players for far less.

 

[KennyBurner]

If it was true that McTominay was really hiding, Ole would have dropped him ages ago. He's benched and sold players for far less.

If Ole knows that Pogba can’t play in midfield because he is clumsy he wouldnt play him there. Do you see were I am going with this?

 

[Dante]

If Ole knows that Pogba can’t play in midfield because he is clumsy he wouldnt play him there. Do you see were I am going with this?

He generally doesn't play Pogba in midfield. Over the course of the season, Pogba is third choice in that part of the field.

 

[Ali Dia]

He's been rushed back big time. Came back from a fairly lengthy layoff and has played 90, 80 and 90 minutes in 10 days which is a big ask from a fit player let alone one coming back from injury.

agreed, he’ll get better too. Hopefully rested for Donny the invisible this weekend. A man can dream…

 

[Dante]

McTominay doesn't hide from the ball. It's nonsense to think that any United player would ever get game time if he did that. All the quotes you hear from people behind the scenes at Old Trafford talk about him being a man who's always ready to take responsibility.

People on here like to say that United lack patterns of play. But they're actually pretty obvious to see. The basic ways of playing out of the back are:

• If the opposition is pressing high in central areas, a United DM drops between the CBs whilst the FBs push up to give us options out wide
• If the opposition don't press high in central areas, one of United's competent long passers tries to switch the play through the middle. This could be any one out of Maguire, Varane, Lindelof, Pogba, Fred or Matic

What McTominay seriously lacks is long passing ability. His CBs ignore him during defensive transitions because they know they're better than him at playing it long. He gets less of the ball because his teammates don't look for him in those situations. It's not because he's hiding. It's because he lacks the ability to exploit that space when we push out.

This clip shows it well, imo:


At no point does he hide. But nor is he part of our buildup.

You can definitely criticise McTominay for lacking long range passing ability. If that's what people were complaining about, it would make sense. But there's no way a manager like Ole (who loves to talk about passion, character and bravery) would ever let a regular starter get away with hiding.

The fact he's happy to freeze out his own £40m, technically superior signing (VdB) is proof enough of how much Solksjaer prioritises those kinds of intangibles on the pitch. Same goes for Mourinho before him.

 

[EtH]

McTominay doesn't hide from the ball. It's nonsense to think that any United player would ever get game time if he did that. All the quotes you hear from people behind the scenes at Old Trafford talk about him being a man who always ready to take responsibility.

People on here like to say that United lack patterns of play. But they're actually pretty obvious to see. The basic ways of playing out of the back are:

• If the opposition is pressing high in central areas, a United DM drops between the CB whilst the FBs push up to give us options out wide
• If the opposition don't press high in central areas, one of United's competent long passers tries to switch the play through the middle. This could be any one out of Maguire, Varane, Lindelof, Pogba, Fred or Matic

What McTominay seriously lacks is long passing ability. His CBs ignore him during defensive transitions because they know they're better than him at playing it long. He gets less of the ball because his teammates don't look for him in those situations. It's not because he's hiding. It's because he lacks the ability to exploit that space when we push out.

This clip shows it well, imo:


At no point does he hide. But nor is he part of our buildup.

You can definitely criticise McTominay for lacking long range passing ability. If that's what people were complaining about, it would make sense. But there's no way a manager like Ole (who loves to talk about passion, character and bravery) would ever let a regular starter get away with hiding.

The fact he's happy to freeze out his own £40m, technically superior signing (VdB) is proof enough of how much Solksjaer prioritises those kinds of intangibles on the pitch. Same goes for Mourinho before him.

He attempted 42 passes tonight which is extremely poor. But he only attempted 22 against Villa at the weekend. Whatever the tactics that is shocking.

How is it that Fred and Matic attempt so many more passes in the same role ? Matic attempted 20 passes in 15 minutes tonight.

 

[Dante]

He attempted 42 passes tonight which is extremely poor. But he only attempted 22 against Villa at the weekend. Whatever the tactics that is shocking.

How is it that Fred and Matic attempt so many more passes in the same role ? Matic attempted 20 passes in 15 minutes tonight.

If his teammates miss him out during transitions, he doesn't have the ball to pass it.

To paraphrase Ole, people are looking at the outcome rather than the process. McTominay gets ignored in the buildup in the same way that Fred gets ignored at freekicks when Bruno is nearby, or AWB gets ignored on the flanks when Pogba is nearby.

 

[EtH]

If his teammates miss him out during transitions, he doesn't have the ball to pass it.

Well again Fred and especially Matic attempt many more passes than he does playing with those same teammates. So the the only variable in the equation is McTominay.

 

[Dante]

Well again Fred and especially Matic attempt many more passes than he does playing with those same teammates. So the the only variable in the equation is McTominay.

Yes. McTominay is not as good as them at his long passing. That's what I said.

McTominay gets ignored in the buildup in the same way that Fred gets ignored at freekicks when Bruno is nearby, or AWB gets ignored on the flanks when Pogba is nearby.

 

[Ole's screen]

Well again Fred and especially Matic attempt many more passes than he does playing with those same teammates. So the the only variable in the equation is McTominay.

I think part of that is his positioning when trying to receive a pass. If you look at the clip posted above he seems to want to receive the ball on a half turn so he can turn and carry the ball up the field rather than like Fred or Matic where they want to receive the ball to their feet in space so they can look up and try to find a forward pass.

 

[Dante]

I think part of that is his positioning when trying to receive a pass. If you look at the clip posted above he seems to want to receive the ball on a half turn so he can turn and carry the ball up the field rather than like Fred or Matic where they want to receive the ball to their feet in space so they can look up and try to find a forward pass.

That's fair. His ball carrying is definitely something he's good at. It wouldn't surprise me if Ole has told his teammates to look for McTominay when there's space for him to run into; but to only use him as a distraction when they can switch the play for themselves.

 

[EtH]

Yes. McTominay is not as good as them at his long passing. That's what I said.

McTominay gets ignored in the buildup in the same way that Fred gets ignored at freekicks when Bruno is nearby, or AWB gets ignored on the flanks when Pogba is nearby.

That's fair. His ball carrying is definitely something he's good at. It wouldn't surprise me if Ole has told his teammates to look for McTominay when there's space for him to run into; but to only use him as a distraction when they can switch the play for themselves.

I hope none of that is the case as that would be a serious indictment of McTominay’s ability as a midfielder as well as Ole’s ability as a manager. But I think it is just poor movement on McTominay’s part.

I think part of that is his positioning when trying to receive a pass. If you look at the clip posted above he seems to want to receive the ball on a half turn so he can turn and carry the ball up the field rather than like Fred or Matic where they want to receive the ball to their feet in space so they can look up and try to find a forward pass.

Either way it’s his movement that’s the problem. Especially tonight in the first half when he was the deepest midfielder.

 

[lloyd2wayne]

He attempted 42 passes tonight which is extremely poor. But he only attempted 22 against Villa at the weekend. Whatever the tactics that is shocking.

How is it that Fred and Matic attempt so many more passes in the same role ? Matic attempted 20 passes in 15 minutes tonight.

Maybe because the team trusts Fred and Matic with the ball at their feet to dictate play. Not a slight on Mctominay he’s just good at being a box to box .

 

[Ole's screen]

I hope none of that is the case as that would be a serious indictment of McTominay’s ability as a midfielder as well as Ole’s ability as a manager. But I think it is just poor movement on McTominay’s part.



Either way it’s his movement that’s the problem. Especially tonight in the first half when he was the deepest midfielder.

Depends really. Obviously someone who prefers to carry the ball out would not have as many passes as someone who's looking to get the ball into his feet just to pass. And McT's passing isn't his strength so it seems foolhardy to try to improve his positioning to get him to do something he isn't good at. Maybe its a combination of better positioning and also getting Varane to just pass it to him even if there's some pressure on his back because he's quite good at shrugging it off and carrying it out or winning a foul. There were times in the first half where I thought Varane kept forcing it to the wings when there was an open option 10 yards in front of him.

 

[Dante]

I hope none of that is the case as that would be a serious indictment of McTominay’s ability as a midfielder as well as Ole’s ability as a manager. But I think it is just poor movement on McTominay’s part.



Either way it’s his movement that’s the problem. Especially tonight in the first half when he was the deepest midfielder.

As a part of United's current transition tactic? Yes.

Player	Attempted long passes per 90
Paul Pogba	8.7​
Raphaël Varane	7.3​
Victor Lindelöf	6.6​
Bruno Fernandes	5.1​
Harry Maguire	5​
David de Gea	4.8​
Fred	4.2​
Nemanja Matic	4.1​
Aaron Wan-Bissaka	2.4​
Luke Shaw	2.3​
Mason Greenwood	2.1​
Scott McTominay	2.1​

But he obviously offers other qualities, especially defensively.

If Ole were to turn around tomorrow and tell his team to stop looking to switch the play so often and instead start carrying the ball with marauding runs, McTominay would become the go-to man.

It's horse for courses. McTominay has some very obvious shortcomings. I don't get why people have to make up a new one about him hiding.

 

[EtH]

Depends really. Obviously someone who prefers to carry the ball out would not have as many passes as someone who's looking to get the ball into his feet just to pass. And McT's passing isn't his strength so it seems foolhardy to try to improve his positioning to get him to do something he isn't good at. Maybe its a combination of better positioning and also getting Varane to just pass it to him even if there's some pressure on his back because he's quite good at shrugging it off and carrying it out or winning a foul. There were times in the first half where I thought Varane kept forcing it to the wings when there was an open option 10 yards in front of him.

I can see some of the logic there. Just seems bizarre that he would ever be run out as a #6 if that is the case. Never mind relying on our backup fullbacks to advance the ball.

 

[EtH]

As a part of United's current transition tactic? Yes.

Player	Attempted long passes per 90
Paul Pogba	8.7​
Raphaël Varane	7.3​
Victor Lindelöf	6.6​
Bruno Fernandes	5.1​
Harry Maguire	5​
David de Gea	4.8​
Fred	4.2​
Nemanja Matic	4.1​
Aaron Wan-Bissaka	2.4​
Luke Shaw	2.3​
Mason Greenwood	2.1​
Scott McTominay	2.1​

But he obviously offers other qualities, especially defensively.

If Ole were to turn around tomorrow and tell his team to stop looking to switch the play so often and instead start carrying the ball with marauding runs, McTominay would become the go-to man.

It's horse for courses. McTominay has some very obvious shortcomings. I don't get why people have to make up a new one about him hiding.

Well that’s really no surprise is it considering his overall number of passes attempted is so low comparatively.

But I think we just need to agree to disagree here.

 

[Real Name]

If Ole knows that Pogba can’t play in midfield because he is clumsy he wouldnt play him there. Do you see were I am going with this?

Well that's why he generally plays as a left winger sort of. But then we hear he's not that also.

Scott was poor in the 1st, a bit better in the 2nd. But he never hides, that's a silly notion.

 

[Godfather]

He sadly doesn't offer enough to control games for us

 

[Red Indian Chief Torn Rubber]

How was it not? Neither he nor Pogba wanted to take the ball off the defenders and we had a huge gap in the middle.

Our actually hole was the left channel of our defensive phase. Exploited time and again because dalot was inexistent defensively.

 

[NK86]

He sadly doesn't offer enough to control games for us

Doesn't have the skills to do so. Works best when we are able to win the ball back higher up or during a quick vertical transition when he can run late into the penalty box.

Controlling the tempo or locking down our midfield is a step too far for him. His positioning is all over the place. One simple pass from the opposing midfield and their attackers were through on goal all through the game. It really should never be this easy.

Ideally a good squad option, but we really need to upgrade on him if we want to control games better.

 

[Trequarista10]

Yes. McTominay is not as good as them at his long passing. That's what I said.

McTominay gets ignored in the buildup in the same way that Fred gets ignored at freekicks when Bruno is nearby, or AWB gets ignored on the flanks when Pogba is nearby.

He gets ignored sometimes because both he and his team mates don't trust him on the ball in that position. Sometimes he makes himself available and is ignored, other times he makes a half hearted attempt to be available, other times he makes no attempt. Last season to counter his inability to receive the ball on the turn in front of the defence, he'd instead drop into a RCB position in a back 3, where he's more comfortable recieving the ball.

A DM who is skilled in that role demands the ball, its not just making themselves available in case the defender needs a passing option, it's showing the willingness to get on the ball with their positioning, their body shape, eagerness. And the more they demand the ball and use it well the more their teammates trust them and give them the ball even when it's tight and they're under pressure because they know they can deal with it.

 

[NK86]

McTominay doesn't hide from the ball. It's nonsense to think that any United player would ever get game time if he did that. All the quotes you hear from people behind the scenes at Old Trafford talk about him being a man who's always ready to take responsibility.

People on here like to say that United lack patterns of play. But they're actually pretty obvious to see. The basic ways of playing out of the back are:

• If the opposition is pressing high in central areas, a United DM drops between the CBs whilst the FBs push up to give us options out wide
• If the opposition don't press high in central areas, one of United's competent long passers tries to switch the play through the middle. This could be any one out of Maguire, Varane, Lindelof, Pogba, Fred or Matic

What McTominay seriously lacks is long passing ability. His CBs ignore him during defensive transitions because they know they're better than him at playing it long. He gets less of the ball because his teammates don't look for him in those situations. It's not because he's hiding. It's because he lacks the ability to exploit that space when we push out.

This clip shows it well, imo:


At no point does he hide. But nor is he part of our buildup.

You can definitely criticise McTominay for lacking long range passing ability. If that's what people were complaining about, it would make sense. But there's no way a manager like Ole (who loves to talk about passion, character and bravery) would ever let a regular starter get away with hiding.

The fact he's happy to freeze out his own £40m, technically superior signing (VdB) is proof enough of how much Solksjaer prioritises those kinds of intangibles on the pitch. Same goes for Mourinho before him.

Won't say he hides, but his positioning is very poor. So many times he was so close to the opposing midfield players that the CBs could not pass to him. It's got nought to do with his long range passing. These are things which any competent midfielder should have - to move to find space to receive the ball. He seriously lacks that.

 

[afatzp]

I see many posts talking about McT hiding from the balls or did not have long-pass ranges. These are all not true. He is always moving and tries to receive balls , and able to pin accurate ball 40 yards away if no one around him.
The true weakness for him is the ball controlling skills. He can't receive and control the balls well when he is moving in speed. Instead, he has to slow down and head down to watch the ball, control it, then head back up to watch and take the next step. That would mean he is a easy target for high pressing: he is either standing static to receive the ball , or moving in speed and could not fine touch it for the next step. So we basically can't expect him to act any playmaker role. In his age, it does not have much room to improve as how you control the balls has been built in your muscle memory.
Actually Rice has similar limitation but have more explosive legs to cover ground and block space . So I quite doubt if Rice could improve our midfield at all.

 

[Fredo]

All game pretty much. Instead of standing in between players he stands behind the them.

He has games in midfield where he has like 20 touches. That doesn't happen unless you basically have no intention to get on the ball.

He's a bit better when pushed forward but as a 6 he's clueless.

Million times this. He doesn't put himself in a position to receive the ball from the defenders. At times, Dalot has the ball, Scott is in a shit position that he can't receive the ball, Dalot pings it back to Lindelof, Lindelof to Varane and so on. He should always be in a triangle with the defender and our other midfielders I mean this is basic positioning we're not asking him to be Busquets. He made it very difficult for the defenders to get the ball out at times and he was mainly following the play with no focus on his positioning to support, he was just too painful to watch yesterday.

 

[arnie_ni]

I don't think McTominay did anything wrong tonight and was a victim of our poor tactical setup, especially in the first half. We didn't utilise his pressing ability without the ball and we seemed intent on not using him in the build up.

We don't use him in build up because he doesn't find space to receive a pass.

We wouldn't use his pressing ability because he was playing a lone DM role

 

[Kostov]

I am not even mad about how the game passes him by and him being such an average passer, the thing that makes me furious is how lacking his defensive instincts are. And you have clowns on here saying we have Scotty we don't need Rice, like feck we do. He has no fecking idea how to shield or cover his teammates, absolute dogshit performance and it's nothing new. Unless he is the rampaging box to box midfielder that he is once in 25 games he has very little use as a CDM.

 

[Litch]

Like Fred, I don't blame him. It's like playing Harry at LB and then saying he shite and clueless. Playing CDM is a specialist position, Matic is best at it cause that's where he played for most of his career in the PL. Not something you can adapt to easy.
Scott is a 8 like Pogs, Fred and Donny.

 

[Classical Mechanic]

He's a box to box passion merchant, playing him in such a positionally technical role which he has pretty much none of the attributes for was the big folly from Ole last night. It was the central reason why we were so open and vulnerable.

 

[Bebestation]

I will never get the Rice is Mctominay thing.

Either they have not watched Mctominay or they have not watched Rice.

Mctominay is a solid box to box midfielder who is good enough as a squad player.

The guy is not positional in his awareness so can't make interceptions. That's why he isn't a CDM.

That's why he has been played with Fred and not with Pogba like Matic has mostly.