Roy Keane moved to praise Scott McTominay for something he did in Sunday’s Manchester derby.
Manchester United fell to a deserved 3-1 defeat to Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium in their 11th loss of the season.
But there were some promising signs from Erik ten Hag’s side at least, who took a surprise lead early on through a wonder strike from Marcus Rashford.
City held all of the ball, however, and their dominance eventually paid off with a Phil Foden brace and a late Erling Haaland strike earning them the three points.
Rashford got plenty of plaudits for his fine goal but Roy Keane moved to praise Scott McTominay for his involvement in it.
Roy Keane praises Scott McTominay
When analysing the goal for Sky Sports at half-time, Keane said: “A brilliant goal and I think it’s been a brilliant first half.
“It’s flown by. Chances everywhere. Again, City will be disappointed with this.
“Kick down the pitch from the goalkeeper. Great run from McTominay, Bruno obviously as well, knocks it back to Rashford.
“Again, straightforward, you can’t get any more simple than this really.
“McTominay makes a great run in terms of taking people away. Marcus, he’s done that before, no problem with his body language today.”
Keane wasn’t the only one to praise McTominay’s forward play, as Wes Brown said on MUTV: “Scott played up top the first 10-15 minutes, that threw them off, they didn’t know where to go.”
Scott McTominay should play up front
Ten Hag finally caved and played Rashford on the left even when Rasmus Hojlund and Anthony Martial were unavailable.
The No.10 has struggled when tasked with playing through the middle in recent games but looked much more comfortable back on his favoured flank.
Instead, Bruno Fernandes played up front and he worked hard in an unfamiliar position. It was his hold-up play that directly led to the opener.
However, McTominay continued to show his credentials to get the spot.
The 27-year-old was a handful for the City defence early on in the match and his intelligent run helped make the goal.
Given he is United’s second-highest scorer with eight, McTominay should get a chance up front while Hojlund remains sidelined.
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