Scott McTominay, Napoli's 29-year-old Scottish midfielder, scored twice against Roma on 24 October to give Allegri's side a share of the spoils in a 3-3 draw at home — four days after a brace against Bodo/Glimt in the Champions League had ended his goal drought following heart surgery. The Roma result was a chaotic one: Napoli led 2-0, Roma pulled level, Napoli went ahead again, and Roma equalised once more to split the points. McTominay's two goals were the foundation on which Allegri's side built their lead — twice.
The significance is not merely statistical. A midfielder who had been absent, then cautiously reintegrated, has now scored four goals across two competitions in the space of four days. That is not a return to form; it is a statement of intent, and it changes the terms of every conversation Napoli must have about their squad between now and January.
Allegri's Napoli sit ninth in Serie A after eight matches, with eleven points from three wins, two draws, and three losses. The 3-3 against Roma adds a draw to a record that still looks inconsistent, and Allegri himself was sent off during the match — a detail that speaks to the temperature of the occasion without requiring embellishment. But the team's attacking numbers, thirteen goals scored in eight league games, suggest the problem has not been creativity. It has been reliability. McTominay, when fit and sharp, is the kind of player who makes a midfield feel purposeful rather than merely busy.
His season numbers across five Serie A appearances read two goals and no assists, with an average rating of 7.20 — a figure that places him comfortably among Napoli's more consistent performers in the league. The Champions League brace against Bodo/Glimt sits outside those Serie A totals, but it matters contextually: those goals gave Napoli their first European win of the campaign and arrived with McTominay describing himself as "nearly there" after his recovery. The Roma double, four days later, suggests he has arrived.
An AI overall of 76 out of 100 positions McTominay as a dependable rather than elite operator by algorithmic measure — the kind of player whose value accumulates through presence and decisive moments rather than through volume. Four goals in four days is precisely that kind of moment, compressed into an unusually short window.
The question Napoli face is structural. A ninth-place side with a volatile defensive record and a coach who has already been dismissed from the touchline once this month needs its most influential midfielder available and consistent. McTominay is currently both. Whether the club moves to secure that continuity through a long-term commitment is the decision that now carries real urgency.