Right, although if it was me I would give Gore a chance. At least 20 minutes off the bench tonight.Stop talking sense. Its better to pretend ETH and staff have a secret shrine erected to Scott Mctominay and give him games as an offering in reverence to his greatness like most people in here
39
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 43
- Goals
- 10
- Assists
- 3
- Yellow cards
- 4
- Status
He is really not a united level player and should be skipped for years ago. I have been a huge stay fan for ETH but I kind of tend to see why some players complain about him having his favourites....
He arrives late in the box and gets something on a second ball in the area, he does nothing else on the pitch. He's invisible, never available for a pass. Sick of seeing him start.
93 minute deep in our own half
can’t control a bouncing ball quickly and because his control is poor his pass is rushed and he concedes possession.
Almost immediately Mainoo retains possession, controlling a similarly bouncing ball…with absolute ease btw…and rolls a pass straight to McTs feet
for good measure, upon receiving the pass from Mainoo, he proceeded to smash it upfield aimlessly in a full panic and immediately conceded possesion back to Wigan
This snippet of the game just sums up exactly why he’s an absolute waste of a pair of underpants.
I can’t stand the guy
can’t control a bouncing ball quickly and because his control is poor his pass is rushed and he concedes possession.
Almost immediately Mainoo retains possession, controlling a similarly bouncing ball…with absolute ease btw…and rolls a pass straight to McTs feet
for good measure, upon receiving the pass from Mainoo, he proceeded to smash it upfield aimlessly in a full panic and immediately conceded possesion back to Wigan
This snippet of the game just sums up exactly why he’s an absolute waste of a pair of underpants.
I can’t stand the guy
It's fairly shambolic we've found ourselves in a position where he's still a mainstay in the squad. Obviously injuries have meant he's even managed to become a regular starter. I'm not a hater of his. He works hard enough and is handy as a physical presence at set pieces but today I forgot at one point he was playing and just specifically observed him to watch what he does. He wasn't mentioned for five minutes and he never made himself available for the ball. Pure and utter hiding. Even allowing him to stay as an impact sub is a negative for me. Let him move on.
I agree. I'd not be suprised if he was struck down with illness too. For I was surprised. He wasn't on the bench
I thought he played pretty well today. Had a big part in the first goal breaking through the midfield line and was a constant threat getting in the box. Should have scored a couple, same as one or two others.
He had 53 touches in total. Miscontrolled the ball 2 times. Dispossed none.
I think both McTominay and ETH both suck respectively if I’m honest. ETH for entertaining this horrid tactic and McTominay for being completely incapable of doing anything a midfielder should be able to do besides box crash as a pseudo 9
There was another one up near their box, where he received a ball from left to right, all he had rk do was open up and slip it down into the right sided player on the box, instead he takes a touch inside and into trouble and eventually scrambed a pass to someone.
As for the bolded, for me he just lacks agility and the fluidity in his body movements to be able to do such things quickly enough at this level. That's one of his biggest problems, the speed and quality which he's able to control and move the ball all stems from there.
Guy gets another 93 minutes of Football... You have to wonder for what? Playing him into form? Really hope Meijbri is gone as soon as possible to his loan, sitting on the bench watching McTominay playing every fecking game really must be heartbreaking
False. It is.
A side that sits back and hits on the counter successfully can be in control of the game even without dominating possession of the ball. Football 101.
But the trick is to be good at it.
You are making the common mistake of conflating control with possesion. If say a team has 30% of the ball 10 shots to 30. But has 9 on target and 3 goals while the opponent has 30 shots with 4 on target and 70% possesion, with the counter attacking team beating the possesion team in tackles, effective touches in the box, XG and defensive duels won, it's not hard to tell who controlled the match with underlying statistics. Dominating possesion is merely a tip of a big ice berg. It's very possible for example to control midfield (possession) without ever succesfully controlling a match. (Manchester united 0 AFC Bournmourth 3)
I can’t have a go at him. He’s what he is. That he’s a permanent fixture for us, is on the club.
Last edited:
That's exactly the mistake someone else is making. What I'm saying is that if Team A has 30% of the possession it may be in actual control of the game if that's the game plan. It may not, but it may. That Team A sits back, has a cigar for 27 of the 90 minutes and win the game 1-0, as planned. Boring as fekk for Team A supporters and the stench of injustice for Team B supporters who had that 70% possession, but if that's the plan and the plan is executed to perfection with a win then Team A was in control of the match even if Team B won the posession stats war.
On the other hand, if Team A is outdueled in midfield by Team B and Team B carries the day in possession and shots on goal but loses to Team A who fumbled their way though the match but emerged with inglorious victory with a smash-and-grab, then that's another story.
Stats can tell us a lot, but our eyes are a much better guide in telling the story of what really happened on the pitch than any stats sheet.
deep striker.
More shots than our striker! That shouldn't be happening. If we had prime Van Persie up front I don't think we would be happy with McTominay being in the strikers way. He constantly plays right on top of Rasmus which just clutters up the forward line.
I insist. Statistics NEVER lie. Its people who do all the time due to their personal biases. So they end up seeing what isn't there and interpreting data wrongly. So "the eye test" excuse is just a cop out for most folks to hide behind their ill conceived biases.
A proper look at statistics with in the context of a result will never have anyone confusing a smash and grab with a controlled counter attacking victory. Unless the intepteter has deep set biases.
Case in point the last 2 pages in this thread. If one went by "eye test" alone, they'd conclude not only did Mctominay NEVER touch the ball (a.k.a hid from it), every time he did he controlled it badly and ceeded possesion to the opposition (a.k.a footballing black hole) , contributed nothing ( no tackles, no interceptions, no key passes) apart from running forward to wantonly miss chances whilst simultaneously passing the ball once every 3 minutes (remember, the self same ball he hid from, couldn't control and passed out or to opponents EVERY time he touched it.)
We are all from time to time prone to such blatant biases
He got the taste of goals in a big flurry. It’s mostly all he offers a side for club and country — so now it’s pretty much all he does.
When he can’t stand out in midfield against a poor league one team, it just proves further what most of us have been saying for years. He’s the absolute drizzling shits
Abysmal
Do we need more words to describe him as a central midfielder? Not saying he's an abysmal player, but in our system playing as an 8, or simply as a CM in general, he really is atrocious - one of the worst midfielders in the league in that position. Put further forward, he's better, but then he lacks creativity, so he doesn't suit our system.
Do we need more words to describe him as a central midfielder? Not saying he's an abysmal player, but in our system playing as an 8, or simply as a CM in general, he really is atrocious - one of the worst midfielders in the league in that position. Put further forward, he's better, but then he lacks creativity, so he doesn't suit our system.
I want to like ETH, but can anyone explain why Mainoo was left to challenge headers from long clearances and McT was nowhere to be seen? I mean, isn't that one thing he's good at? So weird.
I've no idea anymore with McT. If I'm being charitable, he was forced to play due to injuries. But seriously, we know that's not true. As little that we've seen of him, if you play Mount with that kind of freedom (don't defend, don't track just kinda be around the box) he'd be racking up chances and assists. But we give it to McTominay, to fluff his 3 chances and offer nothing else.
I despair.
I've no idea anymore with McT. If I'm being charitable, he was forced to play due to injuries. But seriously, we know that's not true. As little that we've seen of him, if you play Mount with that kind of freedom (don't defend, don't track just kinda be around the box) he'd be racking up chances and assists. But we give it to McTominay, to fluff his 3 chances and offer nothing else.
I despair.
One thing is I believe it's only natural that a player just behind the striker gets a lot of chances. But second thing is McTominay definitely has a knack on being in the right place in the right time.
The bottom line is if it makes sense to play this system in the first place, as playing McTominay in #10 has a lot of consequences for the entire team (especially midfield and Bruno in particular). It's a problem with ETH, not McTominay. I'm pretty sure Scott is following managers instructions to a tee. Otherwise he wouldn't be the first name on a teem sheet.
ETH dropped him and likely he only played last night due to Eriksen being unavailable so idea he is the first name on the team sheet or that manager is happy with what he does is flawed.
I agree the issue is ETH picking him in a role he is completely unsuited to, it’s not Mctominay’s fault he isn’t good enough. It’s only really worth it if he scores as he offers very little else, where Mctominay lets himself down is being happy to drift through games, a bit more effort to make himself available for passes and some intensity to his efforts when opposition have the ball would make a big difference.
Unfortunately there is too much ball watching, half hearted defending (which contributed to Bayern’s goal and opening goals for West Ham and Forest). He needs to either work a lot harder or score a lot more goals.
For me it absolutely is. But that's not on McT. He is who he is. It's all on ETH for starting with him (although yesterday I realize he didn't have other options) and having him play this advanced no.8/10 position.
He started in 8 out of our 10 last games. He IS first name on the team sheet, for whatever reason (injuries, personality, whatever).
I don't agree with the bolded part. McTominay is very well suited to playing that role. The problem is this role should not exist in our team in the first place.
The think I dislike about him is that his body language feels too "casual' too me, "argh I lost the ball" and stood like a statute, it is like he is not playing with any adrenaline rush. Fans loved Keano, Vidic, Alan Smith, Rooney, Heinze (before Liverpool fiscao) and so on just because they were fully committed in every duel and challenge
I really wondering what he was thinking in that moment. Was he hoping for the ball to go through Mainoo? Or did he have tunnel vision because he was so focused on Garnacho in space that he didn't even see Mainoo? It's really amazing how he is still part of the team. Not his fault. Entirely on the club and EtH.
We expect him to be a central midfielder with defensive duties. So far this season he'd spent half his time as a second striker which is creating a huge void in midfield. Is this really his fault? This must be instructed from the manager as it happens every game. If he wasn't following instructions he would be pulled aside and told to stop going forward or he won't start. This is my biggest issue. McTominay has been shoehorned as a DM or CM, which he clearly cannot do. That's on the manager in my opinion (and previous managers as well). He does well for Scotland because he gets to play higher up the pitch with no defensive duties.
He'll come up with a goal here and there again this season but come summer we should sell him. British, PL proven, surely a midtable/lower PL team will be in for him.
I don't understand this comment. You said he's been played as second striker this season, then you said he's been shoehorned as a DM (how many times did that happen apart from Forest game?), and then you said that he does well for Scotland because he plays high up the pitch.
One thing I agree on, he must be following managers instructions otherwise he wouldn't be picked consistently. I'd go further and say that ETH system was designed for McTominay to play his second striker role.
We are overrun in midfield because we start Bruno as an AM. He doesn't have a fixed position. With Bruno starting we need two CM who stay central to stop counters and help with defensive duties if we loss possession. McTominay is meant to be playing CM but he's too far up the pitch as well. We can't play both Bruno and McTominay in midfield, otherwise we are left with Mainoo trying to defend against 2/3 midfielders. This is why we are constantly overrun in the Premier League. McTominay is never going to start ahead of Bruno so he shouldn't start at all.
These tactics are on the manager and that's why I think Ten Hag will never be successful at United. He wants to play Mount in McTominay's position and the exact same thing happened against Wolves in our first game. We could have lost that game 5/6 nil with them running straight through our midfield.
Shouldn't be anywhere near the team unless we are are trailing and there are like 10 minutes left. Not only that, but since he has scored a few this season he now constantly looks to shoot when passing is the better option.
Pass him the ball, and you're guaranteed to get it back 9 times of out 10.
What do you mean by "McTominay is meant to be playing CM"? You mean this is where you would have played him if I understand correctly? If that's the case then I agree, I just pointed out this system is designed FOR McTominay BY Ten Hag. It really doesn't suit ANY other player, ESPECIALLY Bruno. But this is the best position/role for McTominay, make no mistake about that. It's just at the same time detrimental for the team in general.
Now that his scoring miracle streak is over, he is back to offering absolutely nothing other than inviting defensive pressure.
On another day he scores 2 or 3 last night, and you can say that about him at least because on another day he probably would have scored 2 or 3.
But as he didn't score 2 or 3, it has to go down as a poor performance.
But as he didn't score 2 or 3, it has to go down as a poor performance.
He isn’t first name on the team sheet when he’s dropped, Bruno wasn’t dropped so he’s not even first name picked in midfield.
He clearly isn’t suited to the role he’s playing, it just helped him score a few goals, he got dropped because he’s been playing poorly and not scoring so no need for him.
Example how luck factor can define your career. He was last choice in packing order and on the verge of being sold but because of injuries he is playing every game.
He clearly is suited to that role, he consistently ends up in goal scoring positions what apparently is all that Ten Hag wants from him.
Ten Hag recognized he isn't really a midfielder, so pushed him higher up, what is a good tactic to use for the last 15-20', but terrible tactic to start the game. What do you think is McTominay most suited to if not this role he's playing for us these days?
- Status