{"id":288484,"date":"2023-09-12T18:06:07","date_gmt":"2023-09-12T18:06:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/?p=288484"},"modified":"2023-09-12T18:06:07","modified_gmt":"2023-09-12T18:06:07","slug":"harry-maguire-blamed-for-man-utd-misusing-scott-mctominay-in-wrong-position","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/harry-maguire-blamed-for-man-utd-misusing-scott-mctominay-in-wrong-position\/","title":{"rendered":"Harry Maguire blamed for Man Utd \u2018misusing\u2019 Scott McTominay in wrong position"},"content":{"rendered":"
Scott McTominay's \u201cmisuse\u201d at Manchester United has been put down to Harry Maguire\u2019s limitations.<\/p>\n
McTominay has played just nine minutes of football across United\u2019s opening four Premier League fixtures this season. He was left out of the squad entirely by Erik ten Hag for the trip to Arsenal before the international break, all but confirming the Dutchman's preference for his other midfield options.<\/p>\n
It sums up just how much the 26-year-old\u2019s stock at Old Trafford has fallen since Ole Gunnar Solskjaer\u2019s sacking. But the Scot appears to be a different player entirely when turning out for his national team.<\/p>\n
He notched a goal and an assist for Scotland in the 3-0 Euro 2024 qualifier win against Cyprus on Friday while playing in a notably more advanced midfield role.<\/p>\n
READ MORE:<\/b> Man Utd fans convinced Erik ten Hag is conducting a 'social experiment' with transfers<\/b> <\/p>\n
The marked difference in both his performance and position has been attributed to a decision made by former Red Devils manager Solskjaer. According to The Telegraph, Solskjaer\u2019s main concern while in charge was centred around his central-defensive duo \u2013 Maguire and Victor Lindelof.<\/p>\n
As such, the Norwegian chose to deploy a double-pivot in order to screen the pair and cover for their limitations. That gave way to the well-known midfield partnership of McTominay and Fred as two No6s, despite both players naturally enjoying their football further up the pitch.<\/p>\n
Do you think Man Utd should give McTominay a run as a box-to-box midfielder? Let us know in the comments section.<\/u><\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
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Part of the reason why both were used further back was also due to United lacking a world class defensive midfielder to handle the bulk of the defensive work, something which they have since addressed by adding Casemiro. <\/p>\n
But it would undoubtedly hinder the progress of McTominay long-term, as well as how he was perceived at club level. The \u2018McFred\u2019 combination became a target of fan criticism, being judged a safe yet uninspiring midfield set-up.<\/p>\n
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Ten Hag immediately sought to break the midfield pairing up upon arrival in the summer of 2022. The additions of Casemiro, Christian Eriksen and more recently Mason Mount and Sofyan Amrabat have gone some way in doing just that.<\/p>\n
Fred was finally shipped off to Galatasaray this summer. Meanwhile, McTominay received interest from a number of clubs, including West Ham, Newcastle, Fulham, Inter Milan and Bayern Munich but was not relieved of his United shackles.<\/p>\n
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Prime Video is available as part of the Amazon Prime membership, which costs \u00a38.99 per month or \u00a395 annually for an individual.<\/p>\n
The membership gives access to all the perks of Amazon Prime (including free Premium and Same- Day Delivery in selected residential postcodes, and other benefits) plus the full library of content available through Prime Video. <\/span><\/p>\n Prime also offers a discounted membership, <\/span>Prime Student for higher education students.<\/span><\/p>\n You can also sign-up for Prime Video on its own for \u00a35.99 per month, however, you won\u2019t get the other benefits that come with Prime \u2014 like free One-Day Delivery and Same-Day Delivery on eligible orders and fast grocery delivery and pickup.<\/p>\n \u00a35.99 per month for Prime Video only, or \u00a38.99 per month for Amazon Prime membership<\/p>\n The midfielder, who will remain at the club until at least January, indicated his desire to play further forward at club level following his display against Cyprus.<\/p>\n He said: "The [Scotland] manager [Steve Clarke] gives me a lot of freedom to get into the box and potentially make things happen. Obviously he has shown a lot of faith in me and I just want to make things happen."<\/p>\n Source: Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Scott McTominay's \u201cmisuse\u201d at Manchester United has been put down to Harry Maguire\u2019s limitations. McTominay has played just nine minutes of football across United\u2019s opening […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":288483,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n