Excellent understanding of space in the final third when we had possession today. He knew that it would be difficult to get involved if he stayed wide, especially after the box to box midfielder on his side, Herrera, was forced to stay deeper and help Carrick get the ball forward. There was a stat at half time showing that we had used the left wing to build 57% of our attacks. A creative/attacking player who flourishes when he has the ball at his feet in the final third usually struggles under these circumstances but Mata found a way to make the difference today.
Many people don't notice this on the TV but a wide player moving out of position and all the way to the other wing in order to overload that side is a bold decision cause if the ball is lost the opposition has lots of free space to exploit. And City is a team that knows how to get the ball forward with pace. But Mata's off the ball movement in our third goal was fantastic. He knew that Rooney would drop deeper and try to link with Fellaini and he spotted the huge gap in the center of City's defense.
He found the opportunity to overload the right flank three or four more times and he managed to get something out of each one of these opportunities, including a foul in a very dangerous position. Fine performance and proof that when a player has the intelligence, the skills and the personality to deliver the goods, LvG has no problem giving him freedom of movement on the pitch.
