A LITTLE less than a fortnight after they departed the Scotland international camp wearing broad smiles, Scott McTominay and Andy Robertson would have returned to their respective clubs – Manchester United and Liverpool – with contrasting emotions.

For Robertson, the upward trajectory enjoyed as part of a resurgent Scotland team that stands on the brink of a World Cup play-off berth would have been matched by the belief that Liverpool – following an unbeaten start to the season – are primed for another title challenge. It's a bid that would certainly be franked by victory over their fierce rivals when Robertson's side travel to face McTominay's at Old Trafford tomorrow evening.

In McTominay's case, the contrast in his fortunes for club and country is more marked. For one, there is no guarantee that he will even start against Liverpool; for two, uncertainty exists over the status of his manager, Ole Gunnar Solskjar; for another, there is the small matter of the vortex that serves as United's central midfield this season. Forget the endless debates about which is the best combination of gilded attackers for Solskjaer to crowbar into his line-up, holding midfield is the area of the pitch that is causing most cause for concern and the one that seemed most chronically neglected as United paid £120m on upgrades over the summer – and that's before you start counting the £27m spent on keeping Cristiano Ronaldo in Lamborghinis.

As ever with United, the club is never short of former players wanting to chip in with their solution.

In midweek Paul Scholes noted that McTominay was a 'limited footballer', who in tandem with midfield partner Fred prevented United from being expressive and that Paul Pogba should be redeployed exclusively as a holding midfielder (with a little extra-curricular help from Michael Carrick), while another United legend Bryan Robson said recently that the Scot was being curtailed and held to a prescriptive role that did not get the best out of him. There swiftly followed a story which reported that McTominay was being groomed to play a more rigidly defensive midfield role and that it is, in fact, he not Pogba who has been working extensively with Carrick and first-team coach Kieran McKenna, himself a former holding midfielder during his youth career at Tottenham.

It seems a tad unfair and a remarkable volte face for a box-to-box midfielder who scored seven goals for United last season. With such a swirl of ideas, praise and criticism floating around it is understandable that McTominay has not always appeared at his brightest this season but his stationing alongside Fred in the double-pivot represents his manager's go-to option, the comfy blanket he reaches for in times of duress.

The 25-year-old's muck-and-brass partnership with the Brazilian last season was often credited with giving United a more stable platform but for all of its utilitarian qualities there came a price: a lack of creativity which manifested itself most clearly in seven 0-0 draws. Since the beginning of this campaign, the partnership has been seen five times in Premier and Champions League matches with mixed success – three wins, a draw and a defeat – and not a clean sheet in sight. Indeed, it took McTominay's removal and Pogba's introduction against Atalanta in midweek for United to establish a foothold in the game.

The manner in which they fell behind against the Italians provided another example of United's fragility this season – a porousness that explains the mounting pressure on Solskjaer and his side's propensity for leaking almost as many goals as they score.

Maybe Scholes is correct and the resolution to United's problems revolves around a transformed Pogba but, at 28, it does not much feel as if the French international is for changing. So perhaps McTominay really is the answer in a deeper role. He could hardly have a better mentor than Carrick and McTominay shares many similar traits – press resistant dribbling and progressive passing – if not quite the same elan, speed of thought or polish for the role that prime Carrick possessed. He is a victim of his own flexibility, too, as his stationing at centre-half for Scotland demonstrates. He is competent in the role but no more than that and he could be in danger of learning the harsh truth that too often a player who can play multiple positions becomes a player without a position. McTominay, it must be remembered, came through the academy as a No.10.

Yet, a cursory inspection of his statistics show that he is equipped for the modern holding midfield role: thus far his passing accuracy sits at a laudable 88.6% slightly up on last season's average of 88.4% while he is averaging slightly more than two successful dribbles per game and four interceptions. Those are numbers that compare favourably with those of N'Golo Kante and Jorginho and while no-one is suggesting McTominay is at their level, it demonstrates that, perhaps, United are not getting the best out of him in the pivot – especially with his success rate in defensive duels sitting at under 50%. His form between now and January will no doubt shape whether United stick or twist in the transfer window with a host of names such as AC Milan's Franck Kessie linked as potential reinforcements.

With all of that time invested with Carrick on the training pitch and in the video room, tangible evidence that McTominay could save them another foray into the market will need to come soon, however, and preferably starting against Liverpool tomorrow. For his own sake, as much as United's and Solskjaer's.