Alan Shearer shared he felt sorry for Manchester United midfielder Scott McTominay despite the 21-year-old being on the winning side against Newcastle United on Saturday.
The BBC pundit shared that he thought United were all over the place and that McTominay clearly struggled at being asked to play centre-half before being brought off.
“United were all over the place (first-half), Eric Bailly coming off after only 16/17 minutes putting midfielder McTominay at centre-half, I felt sorry for him,” said Shearer on BBC One’s Match of the Day repeat (Sunday October 7, 8:42am).
“Cause at times he really really struggled, he takes him off at half-time, he has to change something and it was a different Manchester United side and they were much much better.”
The Magpies lost 3-2 to Man United at Old Trafford on Saturday despite taking a 2-0 lead in the game due to goals from Yoshinori Muto and Kenedy.
OPINION
It’s easy to see why Shearer has some sympathy for Man United’s McTominay even though he had to witness the Magpies suffer another defeat courtesy of Jose Mourinho’s side. The 21-year-old is going through a hard time at Man United and it’s easy to see that his manager is playing a part in his struggles. McTominay shouldn’t be playing as a centre-half and didn’t have a chance of coping with the Magpies’ attack. While Rafa Benitez’s front line have been far from impressive this season even they could flourish against an inexperienced 21-year-old being asked to play out of position. In fact Ayoze Perez looked the best he has looked in a while due to being able to bypass the Man United midfielder with ease and probably would of got on the scoresheet if the youngster had remained on the field. While the Magpies have their own problems to worry about, supporters of Benitez’s team will no doubt feel the same way as Shearer and feel sympathetic for their rivals’ promising young midfielder who is getting an avoidable rough ride at the moment.
