He's gonna turn 25 in a couple of months and we're still teaching him how to pass the ball from deeper? Under a new manager he won't last IMO, unless that manager is big Sam.
McTominay's biggest problem, imo, was - and is - coming through in a team with no mentors to teach and monitor his game and force corrections on a game-by-game basis in the first team in the real time so many have had throughout the years here. Fletcher is gushing in his praise of Keane for this, and that kind of in-game coaching is invaluable to younger players. It's something that happens all over the world in top teams, but as we haven't been one of those for a long while, nor have we had many truly world class players for the younger ones to learn from, we've been out of this loop for a while, and I think it shows with a number of our younger players, the likes of: Wan Bissaka, Rashford and Lingard (not a youngster, but has gone through the same thing) who have had to figure things out by themselves with no real constructive criticism coming from team-mates in-game. You can put Martial in that grouping along with anyone who came or started young, actually.
Contrast someone like Wan Bissaka with the governance Rafael got with Rio on his inside and Scholes telling him where to go once he broke from defence. It's a world of difference.
I often feel McTominay looks lost out there and doesn't really know what he's supposed to be doing; when he's wandering around the pitch in no real position to affect the play, he has no-one out there telling him to take up a more useful position; when we're in the thick of a counter-attack, where everyone is scrambling around headlessly, there's nobody demanding X, Y, Z stand here or there or cover wide open spaces - contrast that to a team with: VDS (demanding better shape from his CB's), Rio and Vidic (telling their FB's and midfielders where to go), Scholes guiding Carrick and so on and so forth and the chain runs right through the team, and, more importantly, through the spine of the side. You watch us when dealing with a counter now and you barely see communication and organisation, which is why so many goals we concede look comical and have you ask
how has that happened even when the odds are in our favour?
McTominay has lost a lot of his formative years of development to this and been thrust out there as a first-team starter with half an education under his belt. He's having to figure out the most difficult position on the pitch by himself, in-game, in a team that is extremely disorganised and prone to panicking in the first instance and compounding on that as the pressure rises. He quickly goes down with the ship and disappears, essentially, always out of sync with the play around him and failing to support someone or other in the chain. Coaching is one thing, even with excellent coaches, theory is removed from practical, which is why even top coaches ensure they have mentors for younger players even when well drilled in the coaching theory. Implementation under fire is a whole other ball game and highly likely to crumble and after the first few attempts at resilience look like they're not working - players immediately revert to type at that juncture and start their scrambling in what they know best. I'd say, the more the pressure is on, the further forward McTominay goes... instinctively reckoning he can affect the game in an offensive capacity and not a defensive one irrespective of whatever instruction he has been issued. I think you see in games that get away from us, the moments when best laid plains evaporate and we go off script.
I feel McTominay was always a worthy understudy whose best role would have been coming off the bench and contributing in a better controlled environment. He's not a starter, but he may have gotten there, Fletcher-style, with the right mentoring at the right times, but that's no longer possible and he'll probably never fulfill the potential he once had, unfortunately. I wouldn't have a problem with him sticking around as a bench option, but raising the bar from what he is to what is needed to be a bona fide starter who can ward off expensive midfield purchases is just not there for him anymore, in my opinion.
It's no surprise that in a dysfunctional team, he looks worse than we've seen in the past - he had a very simple, yet essential role in seasons gone by: simply sweeping up behind Fred with aggression and gusto and then either passing the ball on or driving back up the pitch with it. Fred's form has collapsed and holes that haven't been there in the past are now gaping and McTominay has to think more, read the play quicker and better and be more independent with his game than ever to compensate, which, we've no evidence he's capable of. I personally feel he's also not fit and has been rushed back into the team prematurely, which obviously compounds matters.
Ultimately, McTominay probably isn't good enough for special considerations and nurturing, but he could still have a role here even with two proper midfielders coming him and him coming into the fold from the bench. At his age, he mightn't want to see his playing time reduce from starter to sporadic sub, but it's about the best he can hope for in a proper United xi.
.Shameless