It was interesting hearing about the frustrations Paul Scholes has when looking at this era’s midfielders (Via BBC’s Football Daily).

A particular criticism the Manchester United legend had was that middle-men didn’t take enough risks. He feels midfielders should be winning the ball, playing passes and also charging forward to help out attacking teammates.

His former team, United, might just have a player of that ilk though.

I think Scott McTominay could be a midfielder that likes to do it all.

Now I don’t think the Scottish internationalist is quite of the standard of a Paul Scholes but Scott’s shown us this season that there’s more to his game than just sitting back and winning tackles.

I think we all misjudged McTominay when he was first given a regular chance in Red Devils jersey under Jose Mourinho.

The Portuguese boss would use Scott as a disciplined holding midfielder. At times the youngster looked to be a bit of a boring robot. As United’s performances started to become stale, Man United fans were concerned that McTominay wasn’t good enough to keep a place in the team.

The Man Utd hierarchy would then dump Jose and United legend Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was brought in to bring success back to Old Trafford.

The Norwegian has had mixed success thus far but things have started to look a bit brighter (before lockdown). Yet McTominay has probably been the most consistent and brightest star in the last twelve months.

As well as being disciplined in his defensive approach, when called upon, the twenty three year old has impressed with his passing and he’s also started venturing forward.

In big games, McTominay is fast becoming the United star that galvanises the rest of his teammates. He will gee up his fellow United players with his constant shouting and he will lead by example by covering every blade of grass.

He has started winning balls in higher positions too, which allows United to break in more dangerous positions. In terms of possession, Scott had a passing success rate of 79% when the coronavirus struck, which isn’t bad and as Scholes says it’s ok to forget about that stat if you are trying to get the ball forward more often.

Only forwards Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial and Mason Greenwood have scored more than McTominay’s four Premier League for United this term. In the four goals he grabbed in the league, his team managed to win in three of them. Scott also again showed he’s a big game player by scoring against rivals Manchester City and Arsenal.

French maestro Paul Pogba has missed most of this term due to injury but McTominay has stepped up to become a leader and a strong all-rounder in the engine room.

United boss Solskjaer was quick to praise the young midfielder and realise that he could potentially be a star for his team:

“Scott has never ever let us down and he never disappoints when he plays,”

“He is so athletic, he can play in different positions. Today we feel that’s his best position, like a high midfielder, but he can play in that defensive role easily, like he has done against PSG and Liverpool. So I was very, very pleased with him.”

Via Manutd.com

This should just be the start for Scott McTominay and he should look to make even greater strides when he’s allowed to play football once again.

I hope he remains disciplined, takes more risks going forward and add to his goals and assists tally. I believe he can do that and remain one of his side’s best players.

Posted on April 11th, 2020 by scott
Filed under: Article