The Tartan Army is looking for a villain in the wrong corner

Let’s get one thing straight. If you were sitting in a Glasgow pub expecting Scott McTominay to suddenly transform into prime Zinedine Zidane just because he put on a blue shirt for the World Cup, you’ve been huffing too much tartan-tinted paint. Is he underperforming? Maybe to the casual observer who tracks fantasy points instead of tactical responsibilities. But let’s look at what is actually happening on the pitch.

McTominay is being treated like a finished project, but he’s essentially a luxury heavy-duty appliance stuck in a kitchen that can’t handle his voltage. Since moving to Napoli, his role has shifted, and expecting him to be a box-to-box engine, a defensive anchor, and a creative hub all at once is like asking a steak knife to do the job of a blender. It just doesn’t work that way.

The math doesn't lie, even if the fans do

Look at the tactical setup. When your entire national identity relies on the hope that one midfielder can somehow bridge a massive gap between a shaky defensive line and a blunt attack, the system is already broken. McTominay isn’t the architect of this mess; he’s the guy they sent out with a butter knife to cut through a steel door. As recent reporting on his World Cup impact has highlighted, the noise surrounding his output is ignoring the constraints placed on him by the coaching staff.

He is operating with instructions that essentially chain him to segments of the pitch where he is least effective. It’s a textbook case of bad booking. Putting him in situations where he is constantly outnumbered isn’t a strategy, it’s a punishment. If he looks quiet, it’s because the space he needs to operate is being clogged up by his own teammates running into his lanes like headless chickens.

The reality check for the Tartan Army

Let’s be honest about the flaws here. McTominay isn’t immune to criticism, and his decision-making in the final third has been questionable at best. There are moments where he holds onto the ball for an extra beat too long or attempts a Hollywood pass when a simple layout would suffice. It’s frustrating to watch a guy with his physical gifts get caught in possession like a deer in headlights, especially when the stakes are this high.

However, pinning the failure of an entire Scottish campaign on his back is a lazy cop-out. It’s easier to blame the guy who plays in Serie A than to admit the rest of the squad is punching well above its actual talent level. Fans see a £30m valuation or whatever metric they cling to, and they expect miracles. Soccer doesn’t care about your expectations. It cares about discipline and tactical cohesion, two things that have been glaringly absent in these opening group stage matches.

We need to stop evaluating him on whether he satisfies the collective delusions of a nation that hasn't seen a knockout stage in its lifetime. If Scotland wants to go anywhere, they need to stop staring at the midfielder and start looking at the management. They are currently playing 11 players who look like they’ve never had a conversation in the locker room, let alone practiced a cohesive set-piece variation. Until they fix that black hole in their tactical plan, McTominay is just going to keep taking the heat for a problem he can’t fix alone.