Though his performance was poor, he was deployed far too deep today.
8
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 35
- Goals
- 10
- Assists
- 4
- Yellow cards
- 2
- Status
Now I know how Arsenal fans feel about Ozil
We need to accept that the Mata that performed at Chelsea is not going to be able to do so here. He cannot be shoehorned into this team any longer. Take the hit and sell him.
anonymous.
Either him or RVP or even both need to be dropped for next game, he just isn't contributing, would prefer to see di Maria given more freedom instead of mata.
He really isn't the player I imagined he would be. Looks scared when put under pressure and even when he has space, he isn't particularly creative. Most of the time, he will play a simple pass. I do think he worked harder tonight than usual so I'll give him that.
Was shite today tbh.
Good shout..
He needs to man the feck up and take some responsibility. Pretty sideways passes are nice and all, but he's in the team to try and create some goals.
I'm sorry but at least if Rooney played as ineffectively he would of still had some effect on the game with his closing down and demand for the ball.
A complete passenger today. We can't play people like him against Chelsea and Berties. If it isn't going for him he does nothing.
A complete passenger today. We can't play people like him against Chelsea and Berties. If it isn't going for him he does nothing.
Was missing all game. People on here (rightly/wrongly whatever) slating Januzaj and Van Persie but Mata was actually the worst player thinking about it. I considered Blind our worst till the goal but that's only cos I forgot all about Mata
Anonymous today. Still think he should have stayed on instead of leaving Januzaj on. Despite an average performance I think we operate better with him in the team. Or Rooney for that matter. I think RVP should be dropped really, apart from one good effort, he's not done enough. Falcao at least looked sharp when he came on I thought.
Nothing from last season has gone right, not even this player.
Simply can't dictate play or hold the ball where you want him to. Added to his lack of defensive nous, it's hard to see where he'll fit in.
Too lightweight and nowhere near involved enough. Not good enough
He was poor, didnt make anything happen. At this rate he's not going to convince LVG and I could see him moving on in one of the next windows
He looks like his confidence is completely shot. There's only one way this all ends, as far as I can tell. He'll be moved on within the next 12-18 months.
Mata was getting as much criticism as Van Persie and Januzaj to be fair. I agree that Mata was worse, though. RVP was actually okay I felt personally, and Januzaj at least can use the excuse that he's not had a lot of first team football this season.
We're back to United 2011-2012. We have no penetration in the attacking third down the center. Neither Rooney nor Mata seems to be doing their job now.
In 2012-2013 we weren't brilliant down the center, but at least we had a taste of what it felt like. Mainly because Carrick had his best season yet, and the trio of Rooney, RVP and Kagawa combined really well. Then came Moyes and we became worse than ever in this aspect. Now Van Gaal is here, and things doesn't look much better.
Cohesion is the key, really. Without cohesion and confidence, it's impossible to attack down the center. It doesn't matter who you play.
In 2012-2013 we weren't brilliant down the center, but at least we had a taste of what it felt like. Mainly because Carrick had his best season yet, and the trio of Rooney, RVP and Kagawa combined really well. Then came Moyes and we became worse than ever in this aspect. Now Van Gaal is here, and things doesn't look much better.
Cohesion is the key, really. Without cohesion and confidence, it's impossible to attack down the center. It doesn't matter who you play.
For me, our worse player tonight. His touch, control and passing are poor. He just does not look the classy player on the ball that he was.
There was a time when I expected his free kicks to be as sure a thing as penalties when he was that close to the box.
Completely anonymous again. At this point I might start thinking Fellaini should play ahead of him.
Rooney's had a couple of good games thus far when he's played, while Di Maria could arguably make more of a central impact if he played in a more central role. With LVG, we undoubtedly look a lot better in this regard than last season.
Passive.
Didnt see the whole game but from what I saw he was poor..
He was poor, like Mata as a guy, but he has been very poor, pass him on and get us a solid midfielder. Not the Mata of 2012/13.. Not even 30% of him.
I don't think Januzaj pulled anything off. Poor decision making, several sloppy touches. He was dreadful, sure he's not played much football but absolutely nothing was happening for him and I think he should have been taken off.
Jose's sold us a dud. The wanker.
Absolute shite from him. Can't stand him out there atm. Pushed off the ball way too easy. As likeable as he is but if Rooney is back, Mata will be back on the bench and I for one can't wait for that.
Not upto it in my opinion,
What's happened to him?
Spot on... though I don't know how he puts up the stats. Nonetheless, he is a complete passenger in this side. Jose got a fantastic deal for £40m... imagine what we could have done with that money
He put in a few good crosses and that one nice pass to Rafael. Not saying he was great but he was more likely to do something than Mata was.
He is just too lightweight, constantly getting bullied off the ball and losing it. To top it off, he doesn't demand the ball enough and doesn't involve himself in matches that much. If Rooney has a bad game, you could at least expect some kind of product from him or something. Bad or not, Rooney has some kind of an effect on the game while Mata is completely anonymous. F*ck sake, can't control the tempo, can't hold the ball, isn't creative enough and it seems like for those 40 million we got ourselves another Cleverley.
Jose ripped us off.
Jose ripped us off.
We sell him in January and we might get a decent fee. We'll inevitably wait far too long to shift him though and get a freddo bar in exchange for him.
Better, but not by much. We still play too many long-balls and crosses against established defenses, and we rely heavily on rare moments of individual brilliance, mainly by Di Maria.
His confidence look shot. Just what in the world happened to him?
The thing is at Chelsea he was my favorite non United player and at Chelsea I'd say he was in the top 5 players in the league (arguably the best in 12/13)
But you can't deny he's been garbage in play for us.
But you can't deny he's been garbage in play for us.
With Di Maria, those crosses are undoubtedly a massive improvement.
We do largely rely on Di Maria's brilliance, but in all fairness to him, there's worse players out there to be relying upon.
Oh our crosses are definitely better than before. But there are still too many of them. I don't mind crosses, as long as they are the result of outplaying the opponent and catching them off-guard. But when we keep hitting crosses and long-balls to the striker(s) from 40 yards out, praying for the ball to bounce awkwardly so that we get an actual goal-scoring opportunity out of it, it just speaks volumes of how much we lack cohesion.
Di Maria is world class, but he can't carry the team on his own game after game. We need to win as a team.
- Status