As a #10 I would expect more penetrating passes to runners. Instead, he seems to look to make sideways passes too often. Don't understand it.
8
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 35
- Goals
- 10
- Assists
- 4
- Yellow cards
- 2
- Status
Playing unusually deep today, wasn't he? Presumably under instructions.....
Exactly. Crosses are best used in teams like Real Madrid where they depend on fast counter-attacks that catch the opponent off-guard. It's absolutely useless to use crosses when the opposition team is sitting deep and waiting to counter you instead. Also, it's generally not advisable to use crosses in a possession-oriented system.
Pretty much sums up my concerns
Except with worse spelling
If we can use him as part of a swap-deal in January - jobs a goodun as far as i'm concerned..
A 6 year old kid could knock him off the ball & his general play is piss-poor. A shadow of the player he was at Chelsea!
A 6 year old kid could knock him off the ball & his general play is piss-poor. A shadow of the player he was at Chelsea!
Poor performance today. Chalk it down to a bad day at the office but its been a while since he has impressed.
Not really providing the magical through balls and possession domination that he was supposed to have when we signed him.
Not really providing the magical through balls and possession domination that he was supposed to have when we signed him.
Rooney or Mata! More like Mata or Kagawa!!
Individually i am most worried about RVP.
Anyway, yeah Mata is worrying now too. So soft.
When the chips are down he's about as useful as a chocolate teapot.
Playing like a man who thinks he's getting binned in less than 3 months time. He's probably right.
I'd bite your hand off if we could swap him with Vidal + cash
He looks a shadow of his former self. I don't understand what's going on with him, is it mentality issues or is he not suitable to LVG's tactical set-up. Always used to defend him but that was a really anonymous performance and it was probably right to take him off instead of RVP which is saying something. Disappointing...
Was he always such a big coward at Chelsea? I don't think he even tried to create anything today and hasn't done for most of this season. It's like Kagawa all over again.
It's so long since he's looked like a really class player I've almost forgotten what he does well? I mean, he's definitely a goal-poacher but what else? Seems to get on the ball and pass backwards or do little lofted balls to nobody in particular. And that's it. So dissapointing.
It was one of his criticisms that he wasn't helpful enough in defence and Oscar was preferred over him. Smart decision from Jose in the end.
Pretty much this. Even his fk was utter dross tonight.
@noodlehair had a long rant about him a few weeks back, and right now, he's spot on. He just doesn't even try anything anymore, he's become a coward.
Looking at him right now, I can't believe how excited I was when we signed him.
Looking at him right now, I can't believe how excited I was when we signed him.
I so wish we didn't make any purchases last year and we just saved that money all for a CB this year. We could have kept Kagawa and had a CB.
That's what he did at Chelsea.
Somehow everyone thought he was a dictator/number 10. Probably because he's small and Spanish, I guess.
He was always a second striker. He played best under Di Matteo who allowed his 'amigos' the freedom to not defend. It was a team that had poor shape in the league, and moved the the ball forward really quickly from front to back.
This minimised the physical side of the game. Most of his good work came as Chelsea broke. He'd receive it in his half, spin, pass it wide, sprint forward and score from a cut back. It was 4 on 4 counter attacking. Lots of space to run/pass into.
You put Mata in a part of the pitch where he's closely marked, and needs to hold the ball, ride challenges... and you'll get the Mata we see today.
He's just out of form. A few years ago, Mata was an even better player than Di Maria. Form is temporary and all that.... he'll come good.
His lack of defensive work does not bother me. That's not what we signed him for and now what I expect from him.
His lack of creativity is the main issue. He's basically provided the sum total of feck all creativity for us while playing like a total coward.
Also, apparently more than 50% of his assists were from from set pieces in his final season. Dare I say it, that sounds like Ashley Young.
...or Strootman, Hummels.. Basically anyone with top-class quality that will give us some feckin teeth again in CM & CB.
I'd said this before, but i'd play Carrick at CB & get Hummels or equivalent in, to play alongside him. Then one of Strootman or Vidal - personally, i'd probably prefer Strootman at this point in time.
Not convinced Vidal is ever gonna be the player he was before his knee problems (shouldnt have went to the WC), but Strootman has done everything right in his recovery to date & his age is a big bonus also..
Can we stop calling players cowards? It's one of the most puerile terms you could use. Just because he didn't take responsibility doesn't make him a coward.
Anyway, Mata's in danger of being sold come the end of the season. We paid £37.5m for a luxury player IMO, and his performances haven't been that great. He was probably our best player in the second half of last season, but that doesn't say much. When he plays in "demanding" systems, his weaknesses will be exposed and it's good to see our fans realise that he wasn't dropped at Chelsea because Oscar was better defensively.
In terms of balance, Rooney links midfield and attack and doesn't shy away from responsibility. I don't rate him as a great #10 because of his inconsistent touch, passing, and awareness in this position, but he's our best option at the moment. Mata, however, struggles in key areas. He struggles physically and looks uneasy when defending. His hold-up play is pretty poor which means he usually takes position to the right or left, neglecting the centre of the field which means one of our strikers has to drop causing us structural problems. He simply can't operate in tight areas and I feel that's key in this system. And even when he does have the ball, he doesn't take enough responsibility and will pass it sideways. He's at his best when he's awarded freedom IMO, and we're not going to give him that here.
Anyway, Mata's in danger of being sold come the end of the season. We paid £37.5m for a luxury player IMO, and his performances haven't been that great. He was probably our best player in the second half of last season, but that doesn't say much. When he plays in "demanding" systems, his weaknesses will be exposed and it's good to see our fans realise that he wasn't dropped at Chelsea because Oscar was better defensively.
In terms of balance, Rooney links midfield and attack and doesn't shy away from responsibility. I don't rate him as a great #10 because of his inconsistent touch, passing, and awareness in this position, but he's our best option at the moment. Mata, however, struggles in key areas. He struggles physically and looks uneasy when defending. His hold-up play is pretty poor which means he usually takes position to the right or left, neglecting the centre of the field which means one of our strikers has to drop causing us structural problems. He simply can't operate in tight areas and I feel that's key in this system. And even when he does have the ball, he doesn't take enough responsibility and will pass it sideways. He's at his best when he's awarded freedom IMO, and we're not going to give him that here.
Probably the wrong option in hindsight, would have preferred Fellaini start in those sort of games. He needs to turn his form around quickly though. Still behind RvP in my 'most concerned about' list, but the gap is closing.
He was best under Benitez IIRC.
Why? Rojo is playing well, just play Hummels alongside him and we would be killin' it.
Yeah, that's quite well put. Mata just doesn't look like creating something out of nothing these days.
I can't think of a single thing he offered today. He was an absolute passenger. It hurts to be down on him because he's such a likeable guy, but other than tidy finishing on the rare occasion he has no other option but to shoot, he does next to nothing for us. When Rooney's out I'd like to see Herrera pushed up and Carrick coming in alongside Blind. He's looking like a waste of money at the moment unfortunately, and if it carries on much longer we should think about recouping what we can.
Have a feeling this is going to end like Kagawa 
why don't we have any luck with #10's!
why don't we have any luck with #10's!You're probably right. I thought he was good under Di Matteo too.
Benitez is known for playing that style (back to front quickly) too.
Because there is just one #10 for United, his name goes by Wayne Rooney.Have a feeling this is going to end like Kagawa
We bought a CB - who's really a LB. Rojo isnt the answer to our CB problems, nor is Jones, Smalling, Evans..
How we only ended up with Rojo - when we all knew we needed world class CB's, is beyond me. Not to mention we were after Vermaelen aswell..
Its been a bittuva shambles recruiting CB's during the summer. Ron Vlarr, Vrij or both, would have been a massive improvement on our defence. They were excellent at the WC together & wouldnt have cost much more than £25m for both..
You do realise Rojo played the whole of last season in central defence?
Remember when 99% of all the football fans in this country (including many Chelsea fans) thought Mourinho had lost the plot for making it plainly obvious he didn't want 'twice player of the year' Juan Mata at Chelsea?, well Mourinho has made a lot of us look a little clueless over the last year or so.
We effectively started the match a man down and then you factor RVP's lethargic approach you could be forgiven for thinking we had nine men on the pitch. Both shouldn't be starting matches at the expense of more explosive or solid players, imo. We destroy Young/Valencia for being ineffectual in attack but when you look at the Mata-RVP axis you suddenly wish you had ine of them on the pitch because you know that off the ball they are a factor, at the very least.
I love Mata, and would like nothing more than him to become an integral part of our team, but he wasn't good at all today, and considering he was supposed to be the link between midfield and attack, he was probably one of the most culpable offenders for our poor performance. Just did virtually nothing.
If we'd just gone for Mourinho from the start, we wouldn't be in this mess either.
Rojo is a CB. He only played LB at the World Cup. In fact he looked horrible at LB for us and much better at CB.
Rojo does alright, but the jury's still out on him from my point of view.
The whole point of the summer was to replace Rio & Vida & Rojo is neither - same as the rest of our CB's..
Evan's is probably our best CB, but he's always injured & has been for far too many years. He misses half a season - every season, through injury - same as Jones & Smalling. LvG knew this too..
The snide cnut fecked us over alright. I'm beginning to think the whole "not good enough defensively" was just an excuse. That never stopped him from playing Ozil. He didn't rate Mata at all and got 37m for it
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