Scott McTominay reflects on his role as a midfielder at Manchester United | OneFootball

Manchester United’s Scott McTominay has revealed what it is like to play in midfield for both club and country in a written piece for a major online magazine.

The Scottish midfielder is currently taking part in the summer European Championships, which is his first major tournament.

In the article, published by The Athletic, McTominay opens up on what it’s like to play in the double pivot and explains what that means for him as a midfielder and how he operates in the modern game.

“Firstly, a small gripe. It seems these days like every player has to have a designated position,” he said.

“And yet what would people say Paul Pogba is, for instance? Can he do it all? Of course he can… You don’t always have to be wedded to a certain position.

“Just because you’re playing a double pivot, that doesn’t mean you can’t run forwards.

“No coach has ever said that. ‘Ah, they’re just anchored to sit deep.’”

The midfielder enjoyed a successful campaign last time out in which he scored seven times in all competitions for United while playing in the double pivot most of the time.

It also comes after fans have criticised McTominay for not setting the standards that they would like to see at United. However, with each season, the stats clearly show that he is not far away from reaching his full potential.

For Scotland, McTominay sometimes plays in central defence and in the article he mentioned how similar it is to that double pivot role, especially because for club, he sometimes drops backs and lets the other midfielders, such as Bruno Fernandes, do the attcking.

McTominay further went on to praise the coaching staff at United who have been supporting his development over the past couple of seasons and who have helped him improve significantly this season.

“[First-team coaches] Kieran McKenna and Michael Carrick at Manchester United are massive influences. [Technical director] Darren Fletcher as well.

“People don’t realise the level of detail these guys are going into.

“Sometimes when you’re viewing [a run through of a game] by yourself, you won’t notice half the things the coaches will.”

The 24-year-old is in action tonight in the European Championships as Scotland take on England at Wembley.

He is likely to be facing club teammates Marcus Rashford, Luke Shaw and Harry Maguire, who has recovered from the injury that forced him to miss the end of the 2020/21 season.