McTominay hails ‘brilliant’ Fred but urges ‘baby steps’ as Man Utd finally get a Premier League away win | OneFootball

Manchester United goalscorer Scott McTominay urged his side to not get carried away after they finally claimed an away win in the league while also taking time to praise his ‘brilliant’ teammate, Fred.

Manchester United‘s last away win in the Premier League came all the way back in February when they dispatched of Crystal Palace 3-1 at Selhurst Park, and exactly eight months to the date, they repeated the scoreline to beat newly-promoted Norwich City.

Having opted for a 3-4-3 system in their last two outings, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer reverted to a more familiar 4-2-3-1 against the Canaries, with McTominay and much-maligned midfielder Fred playing in a double pivot in the centre of the pitch.

While it was McTominay who opened the scoring for the Red Devils, his Brazilian teammate put in an industrious performance alongside him, and the Scotland international was full of praise for his midfield partner.

“Fred was brilliant today,” he told BBC Sport. “We are working as a pair and getting more and more understanding as a midfield two. So I thought he was great and he should get credit it for his performance.”

McTominay’s 21st minute strike was the 2000th goal that United had scored in the Premier League era, and the 22-year-old admitted his pride in the achievement, with the Red Devils the first side to reach the milestone

“That’s an incredible feeling and one all my family and friends will be proud of as well,” he admitted. “It’s an amazing achievement to have under your belt. It was an important goal to get us up and running and after that we followed it up well so that was pleasing.”

Having missed a penalty each, Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial did eventually get on the scoresheet to round off the scoring, and alongside the rapid Dan James, the attacking triumvirate looked a threat all afternoon as United claimed just their third league win of the season to move from 15th up to seventh.

However, McTominay added that his side needs to ‘take baby steps’ as they continue their rebuilding job under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

“If you are a defender you don’t want to come up against three players like that, but we need that from the whole team,” he added.

“We are not going to get carried away with three points away from home, we need to carry it on. We need to take baby steps, keep the positive energy. We trust our team, our manager, the coaching staff and the principals they are teaching us.”

Read: Solskjaer impressed with Martial, Rashford and McTominay as Man Utd beat Norwich 3-1

See also: The eight biggest winning margins in Premier League history