Scott McTominay: Manchester United will fight for trophies again under Erik ten Hag

Scott McTominay believes the determination to make amends for the past season associated with Eric ten Hag‘s fresh approach can help turn Manchester United back to the trophy contenders.

The Old Trafford giants have not won a silver since 2017 and recorded a new one last term First League Score low, stumbled home sixth and qualified for the Europa League.

It’s been a season to forget for all connected with United and Ten Hag has been tasked with turning the tide of the club.

The Dutchman has made a positive first impression on players keen not only to impress the new manager but to prove they are better than the pathetic way 2021-22 ended.

Asked if he felt a determination in the dressing room to make things right, hometown midfielder McTominay said: “Yes, 100 per cent. It’s obviously difficult to talk about last year.

“Obviously it struck a chord when we started talking about it again as a group.

“It’s not nice and that has to be the motivation to get everything back to normal now and of course to bet on trophies again under the new boss because I know this team is more than capable of that.”

Those poor performances led to widespread criticism and scrutiny across United’s departments – something McTominay said players noticed.

“You play for Man United, you will be criticized,” he said.

“If you think you’re going to come and play for Man United and you don’t get a bit of criticism here and there then you’ve got the wrong job because that’s just not how football works at this club.

“Maybe you need to look in the mirror a bit, because that’s just part of it.

“Everyone gets criticism, this is the world we live in, criticism on social media.

“You only see it as much as you want to see it. That is also part of it.”

As McTominay embraces the pain of last season, he’s enjoying this ‘fresh start’ under new United boss Ten Hag.

“I didn’t really know what to expect when I came back, but I’m definitely happy with what I saw,” he said. “I’m excited to see where it takes us in the future.

“For us as a group we just have to keep pushing and keep learning from the new coach because … he reads the football game and the amount of knowledge he has about a football game, we can take so much from him.

“I am sure that we will benefit from this in the future.”

According to McTominay, Ten Hag has brought many different ideas and variations to a group that he clearly outlines his expectations in this demanding preseason in both meetings and training sessions.

“Yeah, it was tough,” McTominay said with a smile.

“Of course we had some difficult pre-seasons, but this is one of the most difficult.

“But it’s an accumulation, it takes miles and it gets everyone used to the volume of work we’re trying to get done.

“That’s probably the most important thing for the start of the season that we have a team that’s fit and flying, and I may say a young team.

“The oldest man on the team I think might be Alex Telles, I could be wrong, but that just goes to show we have a young team, so there’s a lot to learn too.”

Telles, 29, is the oldest outfield player on the pre-season tour of Thailand and Australia that Cristiano Ronaldo, 37, missed due to a family issue.

There is widespread speculation about the frustrated Portuguese’s future, as is much talk of the United midfield arrival.

Ten Hag has spoken publicly about the need for additions in this area and the club continue to pursue Barcelona’s Frenkie de Jong but such talks do not concern McTominay.

“I have no comments on new players coming in,” said the midfielder, who struck a deflected shot in Friday’s 4-1 friendly win over Melbourne Victory.

“There’ll be maybe four, five, six other guys coming into the football club so I can’t say who’s coming in or what staff is coming in. It’s none of my business to do that.

“I know that whatever guys come in, we’re going to absolutely do our best to make sure they feel welcome and obviously that will help us become a better team, which I’m sure they will.”