Scott McTominay is just enjoying playing football for Manchester United and Scotland, no matter which position he’s deployed in – although he does think he needs to score more goals!
The 25-year-old has risen to the challenge of featuring as the ‘no.6’ in Ralf Rangnick’s 4-3-3 formation in recent weeks, anchoring the midfield and proving adept at winning the ball back to feed the roving ‘no.8s’ as well as our front three.
Scott feels like the adjustment came naturally, after a long spell as one of two holding players in the 4-2-3-1 system that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer tended to favour during his three-year tenure.
“Reasonably simply, to be fair,” he answered, when asked how he and his team-mates had adapted to their new roles and system. “It wasn’t like it was anything any of us hadn’t done before.
“He’s not asking us to play completely out of position or do different things that we’re not used to on the football pitch.
“A lot of it is the basics and the core values of football, which is what his [Ralf’s] principles are as a manager.”
Scott has often started on the right of a three-man defence for Scotland, most notably at Euro 2020 when he helped shackle eventual finalists England in a goalless group-stage draw at Wembley.
But what’s it like switching from playing as a midfielder for United to a defender for Steve Clarke’s side?“Yeah, it’s very, very similar,” Scott replied.
“Whenever you play as a two for Man United you drop out to either side of the centre-backs to get the ball.“That’s just like playing right side of a three for Scotland, so you’re there already.
There are so many similarities in terms of where you’re picking the ball up and where you can drive with the ball and really commit players, driving into the final third and playing your passes and scoring goals and creating assists.
“For me, I just enjoy football every day. That’s part and parcel of my life, I don’t do anything different to whenever I was a kid: I just play football.
All these different formations and tactics, it’s still about enjoying it and smiling as well.”