’s captain-for-the-day has been slammed for his role in ’s winning goal at Old Trafford, with scorer simply ‘wanting it more’.
The two sides played out a thrilling and end-to-end match on Wednesday night with the Red Devils creating a horde of excellent chances early on, including a Bruno Fernandes penalty that was saved by Robert Sanchez.
United got the breakthrough their good attacking play merited in the 19th minute when McTominay caressed the ball into the bottom corner, but they were pegged back against the run of play just before half-time.
A dangerous transition from Chelsea – one of many in the game – presented Cole Palmer with a chance on the edge of the box and he brilliantly rolled the ball into the far corner from the edge of the box.
Undeterred, United continued where they left off in the second half and McTominay grabbed his second in the 69th minute, with the goal briefly checked by VAR.
The Scotland international had tussled with Colwill at the back post, with the defender falling to the floor, but there was minimal contact and the goal was allowed to stand.
In truth, United could have scored a lot more goals but in the end they had to settle for a 2-1 victory that, despite their struggles this season, leaves them just three points behind reigning champions Manchester City in the table.
Ultimately the game was decided by McTominay’s second goal and Alan Shearer was hugely critical of Colwill’s defending, feeling the former Brighton loanee gave up too easily.
Speaking on Amazon Prime Video, Shearer said: ‘It’s really weak defending there from Colwill. You can see the both of them were at it, they’ve both got their arms on each other there.
‘It went to VAR but it was never a foul, it was never going to be enough to be turned over. The defender should be dealing with it there.
‘But great credit to McTominay, he wanted it more than the defender and he gets it – and it wins the game for them.’
Fellow pundit Patrice Evra agreed, saying: ‘The left-back, he went down really softly there. He was too soft.’
Chelsea legend Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink added: ‘It’s a goal. You need to defend your box, you need to be strong there. It doesn’t matter how big or how tall you are, or how small you are, you cannot lose a ball at the second post.’
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