Scott McTominay once again demonstrated his fantastic scoring ability to help Man United overcome Chelsea 2-1. McTominay has the potential to become Manchester United’s “new Frank Lampard” if he is used correctly.

McTominay scored seven goals for Manchester United

In a very difficult situation, Man United welcomed Chelsea. Two successive defeats to Galatasaray (3-3 draw) and Newcastle (0-1 loss) rendered coach Erik ten Hag’s job more precarious than ever.

Coach Ten Hag chose to leave Marcus Rashford on the bench against a Chelsea squad that is showing strong signs of resurgence. Instead, he launched an offensive that included Alejandro Ganarcho, Rasmus Hojlund, and Antony. Bruno Fernandes, Scott McTominay, and Sofyan Amrabat are their teammates.

Man United had a happy match thanks to this arrangement. Chelsea, as usual, continues to have the most ball control (55%). Man United, on the other hand, performed better both offensively and defensively.

Ten Hag’s team had 28 shots, which was 15 more than their opponents. Man United had 9 accurate shots, which was three times more than Chelsea. Meanwhile, the Red Devils’ defense blocked Chelsea’s shots 8 times, compared to 3 times for coach Pochettino’s team.

McTominay is Man United’s most visible player in this match. The Scottish midfielder scored twice in the 19th and 69th minutes to give Manchester United a 2-1 victory.

McTominay has scored five Premier League goals this season, more than any other Manchester United player. This number is still the highest on the team when calculated over all competitions.

In the 2023/24 season, McTominay had 13 goals for club and national team. He’s also has the most Premier League goals this season since joining Man United’s first squad.

Remember how, in late September and early October, when Man United had a string of dismal results and Ten Hag was on the verge of losing his job, McTominay kept shining to save Man United and his teacher? This is the same time as last. When Man United and Ten Hag were under strain due to internal strife, McTominay came up once more to save his teacher.

This season, Man United earned 7 points in the Premier League thanks to McTominay’s goals. Without those goals, the Red Devils would tumble to 13th in the standings.

Is it time to let go of the ‘goal scorer’?

McTominay’s characteristics in this match were also highly excellent, in addition to his two goals. As a result, he passed 95% of the time, had 41 touches of the ball, launched 5 shots on goal, and won two duels.

The above metrics demonstrate the worth of a box-to-box midfielder, or a player eager to enter the penalty area in order to score goals. That is also the image of Frank Lampard, a Chelsea icon himself.

Because of his tall stature and physical power, McTominay has been the default center midfielder and even defensive midfielder for Man United’s first squad since his debut. Many generations of Man United coaches have utilized him in this role, forgetting that he was once a… striker.

McTominay entered the Man United football academy in 2002 and initially played as a striker before being converted to a center midfielder by coach Warren Joyce.

McTominay hasn’t forgotten the scoring instinct of a “assassin” despite having to play deep for many years. McTominay scored five goals in all competitions during the 2019/20 and 2020/21 seasons under coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

However, when Solsa was sacked, McTominay no longer “fired” on a regular basis (scoring only 2 and 3 goals in the following two seasons). He didn’t detonate in front of the opposing goal in both club and national team jerseys until this season.

Should coach Ten Hag frequently push McTominay to play higher and take on the duty of scoring goals in the setting of Man United’s attack playing incredibly poorly while Rashford is in decline and Hojlund has not adapted?

Remember that Lampard did not score many goals in his early career. However, he was gradually pushed to play at a higher level throughout the years and demonstrated exceptional scoring ability (274 goals in club colors). So why don’t Man United fans have the right to wish for “a new Lampard” to join their team?