Are you serious? Alcacer is a striker and Iturraspe is a defensive mid. Those selections have absolutely nothing to do with Mata. He's been here for what, 7 full months when our team has been at it's worst in years, and other key stars have been struggling to make an impact. Stop talking nonsense.
8
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 35
- Goals
- 10
- Assists
- 4
- Yellow cards
- 2
- Status
It'll be worse.
On his way to juve as a Pogba makeweight in the next 12 months with any luck.
So the only way to classify a player's performances are world class or average? I don't care about nominations and individual accolades, Valencia was club player of the year in 11/12, doubt that means anything to anyone at this point in time.
There is indeed no shame in being able to be good in just one position. I don't think it's is an attribute that a world class player should have. RVP can drop deep and be part of the build up, would it be as good as Mata, nope but would his level of play drop so drastically, no either. Ditto Ronaldo.
We are going to have to agree to disagree about how many good seasons he has had because even if i were to overlook the limitations of his game, I would need 3/4 seasons of 02/13 to call him world class.
Details, I clearly said not a good attribute for a world class attacker. If I was going to define every position based on that then there would be no world class keepers, defenders or central midfielders. Also, only 4 good seasons, seriously?
I thought so.
I don't know why people want Pogba here. He'll feck off to Madrid in two years.
The suggestion that Rooney has a brighter road ahead of him that Mata is a bit looney.
Roo may be undroppable for United (and England) for commercial reasons but he's clearly in decline, though a gradual one, and he simply hasn't been the equal of a Mata over the last three seasons. We'll see if Van Gaal has the balls to start Mata over Rooney, but in the day he does this United squad will be a revelation.
Roo may be undroppable for United (and England) for commercial reasons but he's clearly in decline, though a gradual one, and he simply hasn't been the equal of a Mata over the last three seasons. We'll see if Van Gaal has the balls to start Mata over Rooney, but in the day he does this United squad will be a revelation.
Reminds of Giggs losing his mojo in his late 20's and early 30's. Rooney 's going to have to reinvent his game to reach those heights again.
Rooney doesn't strike me as the sort of dedicated professional who would do that, tbh.
Fair point. Though, Rooney has changed a whole lot in the last couple of years. He's become a lot more mature and doesn't get into any antics like a spoilt brat. He may yet be a dedicated professional. You never know.
Rooney was, without question, much better than Mata last season.
Really, in United shirt?
Did Mata do something for us last season that I missed? I remember a few goals very late in the season.
Rooney had 19 goals in 40 starts (wiki) while Mata had 7 in 32. Assists probably similar.
Last edited:
Mata started playing for us in late January, that's why I asked are you comparing their performance just in United shirt, because since Mata's arrival Rooney has been in awful form.
So will De Gea and Adnan if they turn out world class...whats your point??
Which is more reason to sell Rooney.Jesus he wanted out due to our lack of ambition....
Mata looked like one of our best players when he came in last season. He was a creative player who could actually do something on the ball, unlike the majority of players who were playing some dire stuff. Unfortunately, it seems like he's almost been sucked into that poor football this season as he's not been anywhere near his best.
To be fair though, Rooney was one of our better players last season considering how poor we were. Admittedly, it wasn't very hard for him to probably be our best outfield player and it wasn't his best season, but he was still decent overall.
I said last season, which is what I meant. I was replying to someone else who suggested Mata has been better than Rooney for 3 straight seasons.
I'm keeping the faith but I haven't been much impressed by Mata yet, he seems to get dispossessed a lot by average defenders.
Mata has 7 goals and 4 assists for us in 17 premier league appearances. I found this stat surprising.
I sure wouldn't have guessed he's been that productive, good to hear, he's very likable.
Why? despite you and loads of people here moaning about him off he's hardly played badly.
'He's a second striker'
'Doesn't get involved much in the buildup'
'can't pass as well as x y z for man city, real madrid...'
'Buildup play is average'
He's barely played 20 games for us and already people's minds are made up, I fear for Di Maria and Falcao when they cross the ten game mark. Woe betide Falcao is he dares to go two matches without a goal.
I dont think he's put in many bad performances for us at all. He's a fine player, but yeah, he can improve on the first two points for sure. Stats are not everything as Rooney proves pretty often.
Juan Juan Mata
There's only Juan Juan Mata
Juan Juan Mata
There's only Juan Juan Mata
yo soy un hombre sincero
...
There's only Juan Juan Mata
Juan Juan Mata
There's only Juan Juan Mata
yo soy un hombre sincero
...
Sorry for not looking then, my bad, I thought you were comparing them in United shirt.
Playing Rooney, Falcao and Van Persie in the same side is the height of stupidity, let's not kid ourselves it's akin to playing Makalele, Gattuso and Sven Bender in the same side. Something has to give, egos bruised, players getting dropped and some getting offloaded. Mata at least lffers something different from any of our players, especially with Shinji gone, and if his form returns he should play. Adding Falcao to the Van Persie-Rooney-Mata head ache is not the brightest of ideas but since he is here LVG has got to stand firm and play the best team not the best collection of players.
The way Mata limped off from the last game, he might well make the decision easier for next week.
If we kept the 3-5-2, Rooney would simply play in front of Di Maria and Herrera, with Falcao and VP ahead.
Who knows how this will pan out going forward, I couldn't see VP playing wide in any true 4-3-3 if we changed formations, unless we're plotting more of a 4-1-2-1-2
which would be a
Blind
Herrera Di Maria
Rooney
VP Falcao
type feel.
Yeah noticed that too and it then feels like we are playing with three strikers, we need him on the ball more and orchestrating moves otherwise itls pointless to select him.
Not sure whether it is part of the system though? I've never seen Mata play this far forward and be so inactive in the play. Usually his best traits are exactly that, connecting midfield and attack perfectly.
He's not effective in the role/form he is in though that is for certain.
He's not effective in the role/form he is in though that is for certain.
Definitely Januzaj. He is still untapped potential and he doesn't warrant a starting place purely because of other established players being out of form. His time will come and I'm sure he will force himself into the starting team in the not-too-distant future, but not yet.
Then I would say van Persie out of the other four. We simply should not field Falcao, van Persie and Rooney in a starting eleven from the off, as that means Rooney playing deeper which would be to the detriment of the team. That would mean Mata's starting berth is secure, unless you want to be even more ruthless and bench three. Therefore, it's a toss-up between van Persie and Rooney. The latters captaincy status plays into his hands and quite frankly, RvP has been just as poor lately, so it isn't even farcical to drop him instead of Rooney. Our two new signings are untouchable, as they are our best players.
Front six: Blind; Herrera, di Maria; Mata; Falcao, Rooney
Not really.
It's beginning to sound like the Anderson thread in here....'He's not really made any impact but he's extremely likeable so for that reason alone he should stay a long time here'
Loveable guy, great player, but just smacks of somebody bought without any prior thinking. A statement/panic signing rather than a player who was going to fit into our tactical system in a position we were already full of great players. I can't help feel its gonna be another Veron.
Take the blinkers off.
Mata > Rooney
All you have to do is watch their play. I'll grant you lot that Rooney is a slightly better finisher, but Mata is clearly the better playmaker.
With so many clinical finishers on the squad now, we need Mata's ability to create scoring chances more than we do Rooney's "leadership".
Mata > Rooney
All you have to do is watch their play. I'll grant you lot that Rooney is a slightly better finisher, but Mata is clearly the better playmaker.
With so many clinical finishers on the squad now, we need Mata's ability to create scoring chances more than we do Rooney's "leadership".
I have to admit to getting a bit worried about Mata. I love the guy, but my god he is not an athlete at all. And that's why he needs a lot of movement and pace around him, because he's just not going to be able to create that by himself, he doesn't have the physical capabilities imo. Hopefully the new team we're building will change things, as the team he's played in so far has been so stale and slow, and he's still managed to rack up good stats, despite not hitting the heights we probably expected.
If we can get the right support, and it clicks, then I hope he could be special. We'll just have to wait and see I guess. I really hope he's not another of our expensive recent flops. I'd love the guy to succeed here.
If we can get the right support, and it clicks, then I hope he could be special. We'll just have to wait and see I guess. I really hope he's not another of our expensive recent flops. I'd love the guy to succeed here.
What he has done since he joined though is give us regular goals from midfield. Not done since Scholes left.
The inevitable rumors of him leaving in January are starting to pick up albeit from unreliable sources.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...-van-Gaal-looks-accommodate-Arturo-Vidal.html
http://www.theguardian.com/football...-rumours-juan-mata-manchester-united-juventus
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...-van-Gaal-looks-accommodate-Arturo-Vidal.html
http://www.theguardian.com/football...-rumours-juan-mata-manchester-united-juventus
He won't go anywhere. If LVG persists with the 352 then you need a proper number 10 type, and he's the only one we've got. Others can play there but it will be a makeshift position for them and they won't be as good.
Hope we keep hold of Mata, he really is quality when he's in form.
Also, as much as I rate Pogba, I wouldn't necessarily like to see him swapped for him. I doubt Pogba would come back here anyway.
Also, as much as I rate Pogba, I wouldn't necessarily like to see him swapped for him. I doubt Pogba would come back here anyway.
Mata is someone we have to fit into the squad, not someone who automatically fits into the squad.
Thanks Moyes
Thanks Moyes
- Status