I thought he was good overall and a decent penalty. He will remain our penalty taker until he misses, it's how LvG does it.
8
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 35
- Goals
- 10
- Assists
- 4
- Yellow cards
- 2
- Status
Thought the same. He was able to link up with Blind and Herrera more and get in behind their midfield. I know Fellaini got the goal but there a times like today and last week where I think he should be switched to a No10 position which of course means sacrificing Afroman. He's been getting increasingly isolated over the last few games and our play suffers for it.
Interesting little stat from the BBC - Before today, Mata had missed his last three penalties in English football.
He also missed one in Chelsea's CL final shootout.
I thought he played well compared to the average performance of the rest of the team. Rarely misplaced any passes and was probably the leading player dictating our tempo during the periods of possession we did have.
Tbh i think we would have suffered more losing Fellaini than mata. They were kind of scary on set pieces.
I think the ozil comparison is a decent one, a bit of pace around him could do wonders and its hard to argue with 9 goals in a season like this.
I think he'll get games next season but wont be a nailed on starter ever.
Fellaini will play against a lot of league sides i'd think, maybe mata will play more in europe.
I kind of hope we get 2 wingers and a bit more pace on the pitch more often next season though.
On Sky Sports they flashed up a graphic of where he placed his last four pens. The three red dots scared the crap out of me!
Certainly wasn't his best game but the combination of his technical and finishing ability at least mean he can contribute something even when he isn't playing amazingly well. Proper footballer.
The set piece thing is a good point. Could really do with adding extra height to the team in the summer to aide that situation.
Depending on who we buy in the summer I can actually see Fellaini dropping to the bench in a lot of games and being used mainly for tactical reasons, against teams that are good at set pieces and have a lot of height or teams where he can just absolutely bully them. Agree on Mata though, think he'll feature most heavily in Europe next season.
You and me both!
The false winger role is a difficult one for him if Herrera is not getting close, and without the Carrick safety net Herrera is playing deeper, this leaves Mata isolated as you say and without the ability to play one twos he can't hurt a team from out wide as he doesn't have the pace to run at defenses. It will be interesting to see how LvG uses him next season, I feel unless we move to a 4-2-3-1 he'll struggle to get games as a #10.
I was surprised he took the penalty considering he doesn't have a great record. Glad he put that away.
Was on a different level when central towards the end of the game
Very strange his penalty statistics being such a clinical finisher from open play and free kicks.
A better game today. Good penalty.
He really should have it written into his contract that he is never, under any circumstances, allowed to shave his beard.
Ever.
Ever.
Shat myself when he took the ball for the pen. Two reasons, I was so excited but also that I only ever saw him miss two penalties for Chelsea. Showed good nerves though.
Overall, a decent performance especially considering the way the game played out. Showed some great glimpse in the 2nd half when he came into a central area and was able to turn. That's where he should be playing.
Overall, a decent performance especially considering the way the game played out. Showed some great glimpse in the 2nd half when he came into a central area and was able to turn. That's where he should be playing.
He's been good, but we were having trouble controlling the tempo when Palace were on top. None of our midfield today knew how to slow the game down. You saw Herrera and Mata playing lovely one-twos around the centre circle and Fellaini taking a quick free-kick in our half when we really needed to just hold onto the ball for a while.
Unacceptable, a disgrace to the shirt! What was he thinking?
How could he shave that magnificent beard?
How could he shave that magnificent beard?
Double figures for a midfielder though. Fantastic effort that, think Ronaldo was the last time that happened and he almost shouldn't count as he was freakishly good.
Did very well i thought, think Valencia should of made better use of the space made by mata. His first touch is as good as it gets!
Put very little disguise on his pen. Was obvious were he was putting it. Great little player. Needs pace around him
Could Mata be a first choice starter in Fellaini's position next season? Some say he's the type of attack midfielder LVG likes.
Depends on which midfielders arrive.
Apparently he missed 3 of his last 4 before that one, thank feck he scored it. Was pretty good today, far from his best but was like a standard 7/10 performance. Only thing was that we were on the back foot a lot more then normal so he didn't have enough time on the ball to make as big of an impact as he would've otherwise... Probably should have scored that one chance in the second half as well but he did well none the less. His touch is ridiculous though, always perfect.
Petulant little tosser today.
How he wasn't booked is beyond me....Very unusual for him. He's not like that
How he wasn't booked is beyond me....Very unusual for him. He's not like that
Not a very good penalty imo Gk guess the correct direction and almost saved it.
Would you also say RVN's penalties weren't very good as he almost always went the same way and keepers always knew where he was going to place it? Mata's penalty was excellent.
He couldn't have hit it better - not his fault the keeper guessed it right, after all it's most likely a guess. In such circumstances, the best you can do is put it in the corner and keep it out of GK's reach as much as you can, which he did to perfection. I'm not convinced that he should be our penalty taker, though!
huh?
Hook.Line.Sinker.
I agree though, disappointed to see the beard go. Should be back to something appropriate for Arsenal.
It wasn't well disguised but very well placed. So the keeper had little chance even if he guessed the right way. I still don't feel comfortable with Mata taking the pens. He'd be the one player id bet my house on to score from a chance in open play though.
I like the idea of Mata as a No. 10 with Depay and Di Maria providing pace and dribbling ability on the wings, but he seemed to get crowded out of the game too easily when he's played centrally for us before. It could leave us very lightweight in central midfield too. I think his current position on the right side of atack is a good fit for his skill set and our style of play, but we really need a better attacking right back than Valencia to provide width on that side.
Yeh me too ! You didn't really want someone that's missed there last 3 taking that pen but fair play to him for having the balls .
Unless LVG told him he was taking them
Wonder if he is going to be a first team regular next season, what with LVG stating that he would like another creative player. Disappointing how he can be instrumental in some matches and completely vanish in others, if only he could be more consistent. Still believe he could be a key player for us if he is deployed as a no.10 with 2 midfield players to create the space he needs to operate. Playing as a false winger merely limits our attacks to come from the left, and teams that park the bus can more easily contain us. We've got no attacking prowess on the right as Mata cannot take on the defender and Valencia's crossing is abysmal. However even if not first team regular Mata is a great asset to the squad- he provides depth, he is a free kick specialist and he really seems to like playing for United.
According to our Facebook, he's been nominated for Content of the Year at the Facebook Football Awards! Almost as good as the Ballon D'Or.
https://www.facebook.com/football/app_370670299785157
https://www.facebook.com/football/app_370670299785157
Get voting people.
Done.
He's scored 10 goals in 26 starts... that's a pretty impressive return for a "wide-man"
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