Let’s be honest, this season has been a bit of a hit and miss for Mctominay. After randomly breaking into one of the league’s best midfield combinations in the latter part of last season (Matic, Pogba, Bruno) the Scottsman has got his fair share of criticism. He looked lackluster in the games at the start of the season, most notably in the 3-1 shock loss on the opening day to Crystal Palace. He was slow, ran past far too often, and with a defensive duo of Lindelof and Maguire behind him getting run past would often lead to a conceded goal. Additionally, with a poor passing range, United struggled to progress the ball during games.
However, is all the criticism fair? Should we blame Mctominay for his poor performances in games? To put it bluntly no. The one to blame here is Ole. Mctominay’s poor performances are at their peak when Mctominay is played at CDM. This is because Mctominay lacks the skill set that is required for the job. Especially with 2 slow center backs behind, Ole needs his CDM to be tenacious, ball-winning, and a capable defender. However, all of these are Mctominay weaknesses. Mctominay isn’t a tenacious, ball-winning midfielder and he is not a capable defender. Rather, Mctominay is skilled in the air, able to calmly finish chances, shoot on target from the edge of the box to win corners and score screamers, and dictate the midfield from a box to box role.
We have seen at times this season that Mctominay is a very skilled box to box. He has scored 3 in his last 3 games for Man United in Pogba’s absence. The first goal against Southampton showcased his ability to shoot on target from a distance as he scored a lovely goal from a long way out, the second goal was against Everton and showcased his skill in the air as he beat physically dominant Everton defenders to get his header on target, and finally, the goal against West Ham showed off his ability to calmly finish chances as he scored from inside the box after a lovely team move from United to win them the game. When playing in a box-to-box role, Mctominay has the potential to be and could even already be one of the world’s best.
So what’s next for Mctominay? How can he establish himself in this United team? Well, with Pogba injured and able to play on the left-wing, and Donny Van De Beek finding himself way out of the pecking order, the time for action is now. Mctominay needs to impress in a box to box role in the upcoming games, to try and reclaim his spot of a hungry Donny and talented Pogba. When Pogba is back fit, it’s up to Ole to fit his star men in the same team, whether that is through playing Pogba on the left-wing, a diamond in midfield, or even switching up his tactics entirely to support more ball-playing and attacking midfield players. But let’s be honest, with the way things have gone this season, it would be a bigger challenge to get dropped than it would to get in the team for Mctominay. And on that note, this is Jacob King, and I’ll see you at full time.