Former Manchester United midfielder Scott McTominay came under fire after his performance for Napoli
Scott McTominay has been called out by the Italian media following his most recent display for Napoli. The former Manchester United midfielder played the full 90 minutes of the 0-0 Serie A draw at Como on Saturday.
The ramifications of claiming a single point were that Antonio Conte’s side will almost certainly miss out on the title this season to rivals Inter Milan, having won the Scudetto last term. McTominay, 29, has notched 13 goals in all competitions for Napoli this campaign but was unable to get on the scoresheet on this occasion.
The Scotland international clearly lost the midfield battle to the highly promising Nico Paz. He was dispossessed by Como’s talisman in the middle of the park early on, which almost led to the home side breaking the deadlock.
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McTominay then rose up well for a header from a corner in the 18th minute but headed wide of the target. His brightest moment came in the 80th minute when he galloped beyond the defence only to slot his effort just wide.
Given the title repercussions, the Italian press were unsurprisingly unsympathetic to Napoli’s tepid display when everything was on the line. And several outlets were unconvinced by McTominay in particular, with Il Napolista most notably pointing out that the former United star looked lost.
They handed him a match rating of 6/10, adding: “Scott the Red becomes a marathon runner again, trying to figure out where to go and what to do. But his first real chance came only in the 80th minute.”
Eurosport Italy also gave McTominay a 6/10 for his display. The publication said: “He’s never lacking in dynamism, even if he struggles a bit more than usual in a technical midfield like Como’s. He even had a good chance towards the end but he arrived tired and shot poorly.”
La Repubblica were slightly more complimentary in their assessment, awarding him 6.5/10 on the day. The outlet commented: “McTominay started well and even managed to have attempts on goal on a couple of occasions. He moved forward in the second half and came close to scoring the winning goal.”
Sky Sport Italy deemed McTominay’s performance worthy of only a 5.5/10. But that paled in comparison to the criticism dished out by former Serie A star Radja Nainggolan, who branded him “average”.
He said: “I don’t like Scott McTominay. He scores a lot of goals but if he has to build play he doesn’t have the technique to operate between the lines. He’s an average player.
“McTominay didn’t even get regular playing time at Manchester United, because he is not a good passer of the ball, and not that good technically either. He suits Antonio Conte at Napoli. At my peak I was better than him.”
McTominay left his boyhood club United in the summer of 2024, joining Napoli in a £25.7million deal.
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