Once again McTominay scored and helped Man United win. The formula for the Scottish midfielder to come on as a substitute and shine is becoming a powerful weapon for Ten Hag.
McTominay’s late goal helped Man United win 3 very important points at Villa Park, thereby continuing to raise hopes of finishing in the Top 4 Premier League. Since the beginning of the season, the Scottish midfielder’s goals have brought The Red Devils 12 points, more than any other player can do in the tournament. Without this score, Man United is currently only 12th after round 24.
The 27-year-old star’s most impressive performance since the beginning of the season was the match against Brenford in October 2023. He scored 2 goals after the 90th minute to regain 3 points for the home team. Later that month, McTominay scored again in a 2-1 victory for Man United against Sheffield. In December 2023, this midfielder scored twice against Chelsea in a 2-1 victory of the “Red Devils”.
Putting McTominay on as a substitute is becoming one of the winning formulas for Ten Hag. 10 days before the trip to Villa Park, at Molineux, McTominay was also brought on as a substitute and scored in a dramatic match with a 4-3 victory for the away team.
If they only draw with Aston Villa in the match in round 24, Man United will still be 8 points behind this opponent in the rankings with 14 rounds left in the Premier League. The gap is now 5 points and the motivation of Ten Hag and his students is naturally greater.
17 minutes running on the Villa Park grass, Scott McTominay had 17 touches and 1 shot but that was a goal. Marcus Rashford had a relatively good match but was replaced to make room for his teammate. When Rashford left the field, he left a pretty good position for M.U with the fatigue of Villa’s defense. From there, when he put the prolific McTominay on the field, Ten Hag got what he needed. The midfielder’s powerful high jump and header completely eliminated the home team’s defense.
Since the beginning of the season, McTominay has only made 12 appearances in the Premier League and 9 of them were as a substitute. However, McTominay is the player with more goals than the rest of his teammates (7). M.U’s two key strikers, Rashford and Hojlund, have only scored 5 times so far.
“He is an example for many other players, always bringing such a burning source of energy. McTominay is always ready for 90 minutes, no matter the time. It’s great that we own a player like that ” – Ten Hag shared after the match.
In the context of building a team based on control play, having a player who is out of tune with this strategy like McTominay once posed a difficult problem for Ten Hag. However, with McTominay’s personal efforts and the current fate of making goals, that problem for the Dutch strategist has been solved. McTominay doesn’t need to start to be the main character.