Part 1 : Scott McTominay, Manchester United and Environment In Football

The important of Environment is constantly overlooked. In my analysis of elite sport, I see that we often fall into a tendency to view a football player’s talent as a static, internal attribute contained within their skin. We look at a player’s “stats” and “potential” as if they exist in a vacuum. However, contemporary sports ecology suggests a more complex reality: a player’s performance is an emergent property of their relationship with the environment. To understand why world-class talents suddenly “flop” or why “unrefined” players become MVPs in a new league, we must look at the the specific possibilities for action that a club, a tactical system, and even a climate provide.

The fundamental concept I want to establish is the distinction between knowledge about and knowledge of the performance environment.

In my view, many scouting departments operate primarily with knowledge about players. They rely on second hand statistics, curated video clips, and abstract tactical diagrams. These tools provide useful information, but they remain detached from the reality in which football actually happens. They describe a player from a distance rather than understanding how that player interacts with the living environment of a match.

Elite performance, however, requires something deeper. It requires knowledge of the environment, the direct, perceptual understanding that develops when players constantly adapt to a game that unfolds in real time.

When a player operates inside a stable football culture, certain opportunities naturally become more important than others. These opportunities, often called “affordances,” are simply the actions the environment invites a player to take. At Barcelona during the Xavi and Iniesta era, the entire structure of the team placed enormous value on the five meter passing lane. Every player instinctively recognized it, because the environment itself rewarded that decision again and again.
But when the environment becomes unstable, those signals disappear.

Players begin to hesitate. They stop recognizing the actions that once felt automatic. Coaches and supporters often interpret this as a loss of confidence or a decline in talent. In reality, the player has simply lost clarity about which actions the environment is asking for. This is what I mean when I say elite football is also ecological. Performance emerges from the relationship between the player and the environment surrounding him.

Few recent careers illustrate this dynamic more clearly than Scott McTominay.

At Manchester United, he was fundamentally misprofiled. He was regularly framed as a defensive midfielder, a tireless runner, or a dependable squad player who embodied the club’s spirit during difficult periods. His strengths were usually described in vague terms, leadership, effort, commitment, rather than in precise tactical language. Yet the deeper truth was simple. McTominay was rarely placed in roles that reflected his natural instincts.

He was frequently stationed deeper in midfield, asked to screen the defense or initiate build up play. These responsibilities demanded positional patience and passing rhythm. But McTominay’s natural tendency has always been forward movement. His real weapon is timing late runs into attacking spaces.
When he moved to Napoli, that instinct finally became the focal point of his role.

Antonio Conte recognized that McTominay was not a defensive anchor but an attacking weapon. Rather than restricting him to deeper areas, Conte deployed him as a high arriving midfielder, almost a hybrid between a number eight and a number ten. In many attacking phases he even operated beyond the striker, crashing into the penalty area from midfield. The results were dramatic. McTominay became one of the most productive central midfielders in Serie A, eventually earning the league’s Most Valuable Player award while helping drive Napoli’s title winning campaign.

What I find most revealing about this transformation is the change in perception. At Manchester United he was often described as technically limited. In Italy he is praised for elegance, composure, and intelligent movement in tight spaces. The player did not suddenly learn new skills. The environment simply began asking him to perform the actions he already understood.

To understand why this transformation occurred, we need to look at the broader institutional context.

Since the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson in 2013, Manchester United has struggled to maintain a coherent football identity. Over the past decade the club has cycled through multiple managers, each arriving with a different tactical blueprint. Every managerial era leaves traces behind. Recruitment decisions reflect past systems rather than future ones. Players who fit one coach suddenly become misfits for the next. Over time the squad becomes a collection of incompatible ideas.
This produces what I call a tactical sediment. Layers of strategies accumulate without ever forming a stable foundation.

Inside such an environment, players are constantly adjusting to new expectations. One season they are told to dominate possession. The next season they are asked to defend deep and counterattack. Then another manager arrives demanding high pressing and positional rotation. Clarity disappears.

In practical terms, this instability creates a workplace where players never fully know what the long term plan is. Training sessions shift direction. Tactical priorities change. Confidence becomes fragile because performance is judged against constantly moving standards. It is within this unstable environment that several high profile Manchester United careers have struggled to reach their potential.

Marcus Rashford represents perhaps the most emotionally complex case. As an academy graduate, Rashford carries symbolic weight inside the club. He is both a local hero and a cultural figure, expected to embody the identity of Manchester United itself. But that identity has been in constant flux.

Under Louis van Gaal, Rashford burst into the first team during a system that emphasized patient possession. His debut was electric, but the structure surrounding him remained rigid and controlled. Under Jose Mourinho, the environment shifted dramatically. Mourinho favored defensive discipline and experienced players. Young attackers who thrived on instinctive creativity often struggled to express themselves within this structure, and Rashford was no exception.