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2014-15 Performances

View full 2014-15 profile

6.0 Season Average Rating
Appearances
35
Goals
10
Assists
4
Yellow cards
2
Status
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Rooney will walk back into the team no problem when he's back... We're too lightweight in the middle with mata there. He didn't do badly really, he got an assist for di Maria but he didn't really do much overall.
 
He was quite average today. He wasn't awful, but was just kind of anonymous at certain points and didn't have much of a presence on the pitch. If he wants to keep a first team place then he'll have to improve massively in his next couple of games.
 
Matches like these is why you start to see where LVG is coming from when he drops Mata for Rooney.
 
bosnian_red said:
Rooney will walk back into the team no problem when he's back... We're too lightweight in the middle with mata there. He didn't do badly really, he got an assist for di Maria but he didn't really do much overall.
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Agreed. He does have the excuse of not having games but Rooney offers more.
 
Not player to turn the tide, goes with the flow, if you are struggling he does absolutely nothing to stem the tide.
 
Too weak, gets shrugged off quite easily. Lacks some pace too, and at this moment, I'd take Rooney over him TBH.
 
I thought he was decent enough. Better than the two forwards anyway imo. His issue though is his strength. He gets shrugged off the ball quite easily at times which is frustrating. Certainly something that wouldn't happen to Rooney. Though I'd rather both Rooney and Mata play anyway.
 
There was a number of occasions where if he turned towards the opposition goal a couple of our players were in good positions. Instead, he just passed it back first time, under no pressure.
 
Mata has become a bit average really. Really strange, he was so good for Chelsea... where has that player gone. Now he is as inspiring with his footballing solutions as Antonio Valencia.
 
He's low on confidence now. No idea what the feck happened to him. He used to be one of our best players.
 
Had an ok game, but beyond the assist never really got going. Shame as it would have been good to see him really stake a claim with Rooney out.
 
Fed up with Mata. V quiet again, no pace, slowed down all of our attacks. Adnan should get a chance
 
He was average. Don't think he was poor or anything, was just not overly impressive. Don't expect him to hold his spot from Rooney.
 
Mata didn't have a brilliant game today, it happens, not such a big deal. However, it was the type of game that he had that concerned me. It wasn't so much that he had a heavy touch, or misplaced passes, or anything like that. What worried me was just how much the game passed him by. Mata's main problems have always been his lack of defensive workrate and lack of pace, but today we saw something else, we saw him be a passenger even on attack.

Still, I'm willing to bet that it's nothing more than a quiet game. For the amount of talent he clearly has and the number of good games he's had for us, some people are writing him off way too easily.
 
He's so far off his best it's a shame.

He needs to waken up, he's sleep walking through games and looks very labored!
 
Very quiet game, this was his chance to show why he should be starting ahead of Rooney - but his presence was almost non-existent during the second half.
Good assist for the first goal, should've at least hit his shot on target when AdM crossed to him, other than that not many good memorable moments.
 
I agree with the general comments on today's performance. Despite his assist, he didn't do much. I'd like to see him commanding the ball off players.
 
Assist, fair enough but besides that he was terrible. Worst performance since joining but he's been consistent until now so I'm not worried at all.
 
Thought he was poor today. Would still have him over Rooney at #10 every time though.
 
He's like the complete opposite to the player I thought we were buying. I thought he'd be the type of player that would help us control games, keep possession, and create plenty of chances. In actual fact, its the opposite. Its like playing with 10 men at times, he constantly loses the ball, doesn't get involved much, but consistently pops up with goals, and assists. Its really strange.

Could any Chelsea lads shed any light on this? @duffer
 
I was disappointed with him today, nothing really seemed to come off for him. Hope he puts this behind him because we have 2 important games coming up with him nailed to start in the hole.
 
Too slow. He wants 25 yards of space on the ball in the final third where in the BPL you are lucky to get 25 inches in those positions. He usually produces one or two good moments a match, like the assist to ADM today, but for most of teh match he just slows us down. Won't hold his place when Rooney is back. Of course, with RVP looking so bad, we can either play Roo as a striker alongside Falcao, in which case Mata probably plays, or we bench our two dead weights in RVP and Mata and give Januzaj a fair run of games.
 
NoWinNoFee said:
The commentator was saying that, i thought he was decent, always involved in all our build up play.
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This, although he needs to grow a pair of testicles. The volley in particular is a situation any offensive player has to swing a leg at.

Conversely his assist is a situation a Rooney shoots straight at the first man and we potentially get hit on the counter.

A mixed bag really although I do think his build up work is underrated (several occasions where most players lose the ball with a poor first touch, he kills it dead and drops it off).

6.5 out of 10
 
Sam said:
He's like the complete opposite to the player I thought we were buying. I thought he'd be the type of player that would help us control games, keep possession, and create plenty of chances. In actual fact, its the opposite. Its like playing with 10 men at times, he constantly loses the ball, doesn't get involved much, but consistently pops up with goals, and assists. Its really strange.

Could any Chelsea lads shed any light on this? @duffer
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The thing is, he kind of was this player when he first arrived. He was arguably the best footballer we had outfield in the second half of last season, being one of the only players to offer any creativity or imagination on the ball. Recently though, he's really not been doing that and hasn't stood out at all.
 
I thought he was very poor today. Pretty much a passenger a lot of the time and doesn't have the athleticism to pull his weight defensively or in 50/50 situations when he is having an off day. He still has all the technical ability in the locker though and will have some great performances in the future I'm sure.
 
Cheesy said:
He was quite average today. He wasn't awful, but was just kind of anonymous at certain points and didn't have much of a presence on the pitch. If he wants to keep a first team place then he'll have to improve massively in his next couple of games.
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Imo, it's like the Hernandez situation. Has lost a bit of confidence and is too anxious.

Makes sense to me that if you know you're going to get regular games, you can perform more naturally. If you're fighting for your place, knowing that even if you do perform well, there's no guarantee - well, it has to affect you.
 
Honestly wasn't impressed by Mata today. He needs to be doing much better.
 
He has found himself in a very difficult situation.

If we continue with the diamond, I don’t see him in the first eleven. Rooney looks better at the tip of the diamond for me, plus he offers so much more defensively. He won’t play as a striker ahead of RVP/Falcao. We also have two youngsters waiting for the chance.

If we switch to 4-3-3 there is no place for Mata either. I can only see him excelling in 4-2-3-1 as a proper number 10 (although he looks more of a false nine to me), but that means we play only one striker, and I don’t see that happening for now. It's not like we have a lot of games to rotate too.

Today he was quite poor, didn’t offer much bar good positioning in the box. What worries me is that he doesn’t try to control the game at all, just gives the ball back.
 
Livvie said:
Imo, it's like the Hernandez situation. Has lost a bit of confidence and is too anxious.

Makes sense to me that if you know you're going to get regular games, you can perform more naturally. If you're fighting for your place, knowing that even if you do perform well, there's no guarantee - well, it has to affect you.
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I'm not sure. You could argue it's the case, but then shouldn't all top players have to fight for their places? I think Hernandez was more of a case of a player who struggled to find top form because he was only getting glimpses in the team, but Mata is still getting a decent amount of football, even if he's not starting all the time. It's not just today he's performed poorly - he wasn't all that great against Burnley a few weeks ago, or in the early games of the season. Conversely, his best performance came against QPR, around a time when his place was expected to be under threat because Falcao had arrived.
 
I'd rather buy Barkley for that position at the tip of the diamond.. Mata was piss poor today, adds no drive to the game and keeps it far too simple.. you need to be probing and creating havoc.. that position is basically a free role, go cause havoc!?
 
He needs to be doing much better than he has been. Did well for the first goal but that aside he was largely invisible, slow and ponderous on the ball.
 
I dont know if Juan was playing to instructions or not but he hardly dropped deep to drop to collect the ball. He does that regularly. Apart from the assist,so so really.
 
Was expecting more from him today. Just dawdled on the ball too much today and his passing wasn't it's usual quickness.
 
Yorkeontop said:
I dont know if Juan was playing to instructions or not but he hardly dropped deep to drop to collect the ball. He does that regularly. Apart from the assist,so so really.
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Yeah that was annoying. Rooney's been doing it really well this season, coming deep and making it almost a midfield 4, Mata did the total opposite today. Kept getting the ball passing it wide, then running into the box.
 
Clearly has a lot of skill and ability, but needs more tenacity and urgency. With Carrick coming back, Herrera's good start and Rooney after his ban competing for places in the diamond he might have to settle for knowing he's not first choice. I would actually prefer Herrera right behind the strikers with Rooney/RVP and Falcao up front.
 
The one thing that stands out for me is his lack of athleticism or athletic presence. I mean he can't run, jump, and has no height or weight. He's really good with the ball but without it he's just not very good. It really holds him back I think.
 
ZDwyr said:
The one thing that stands out for me is his lack of athleticism or athletic presence. I mean he can't run, jump, and has no height or weight. He's really good with the ball but without it he's just not very good. It really holds him back I think.
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His lack of athleticism really does hold him back, sadly.
 
Sam said:
His lack of athleticism really does hold him back, sadly.
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Yes. Irrespective of whether we actually needed to buy him, I think we seriously overpaid, as I think will be borne out when we offload him for somewhere in the £18-22 million range.
 
Had OK game but it also showed why Rooney is more valuable in that role. Rooney gives the required goals and assists and also offers more in tracking back. I will hate to lose Mata and if we get back in Europe, we will need him, add to the fact that with him there is chance to tweak with formations for certain games but Rooney absolutely has to start over him in no. 10 role in current formation.
 
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