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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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His ability to pop up with a goal/assist despite playing poorly is really quite incredible.

His lack of physically really does limit him though. Surely he could bulk up a bit? (to coin a famous cafe phrase)
 
He was good but there were times where he looked off the pace during the game. Was he being played on the right side of the diamond with Herrera as the #10 for a while? Mata looked a lot better as the #10.
 
I can't help but think his goals/assists stats skew the fact that he really hasn't been that good for us, though. Obviously they're extremely important but I'd take a Silva (who doesn't have nearly the goals/assists output Mata does) who can influence and boss the game for 90 minutes over a Mata, who seems to play poor for large portions and pop up with the goods every now and again.
 
To anyone that still criticises him, I actually don't know what you are expecting from him. Most games he is the product of something positive whether it be a goal or an assist. He also keeps the ball ticking nicely. I think he has been excellent the last few weeks. He is a different player to the likes of Silva, that has always been obvious though, has it?
 
Love him, doesn't get enough credit. He always contributes.
 
He just is twice the player when moved higher up the pitch. He seems uncomfortable deeper in midfield, usually choses the simple pass.

I still prefer Herrera at the tip of the diamond.
 
Sam said:
I thought his all round game was pretty average. Got bullied off the ball way too much.
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Can't remember him losing it that much in the second. Might just be my view from the stand (though people next to me seemed in agreement)... he was the main reason we started the second half well, and why it continued until injury time. There was no space in the middle in that first half, yet in the second, with him in there he used his intelligence to find space and would then drive us forward. He used the ball very smartly and his quality particularly showed in tight spaces.
 
We all want him to succeed and create chances for the team but I think that leads to games where people see what they want to see rather than whats happening. He was average yesterday for the most part. Slightly better in the 2nd half but nothing out of the ordinary. Still wouldn't be in my first choice XI when everyone's fit but as that never happens he's a great player to have in the squad.
 
Don't think he was as poor as many think. I thought he had a good game and again, a direct impact on us getting a result. Such a clever player.
 
Is doing well on the left side of the midfield, another decent outing. It's easy to see that he excels when the game opens up.
 
Cina said:
I can't help but think his goals/assists stats skew the fact that he really hasn't been that good for us, though. Obviously they're extremely important but I'd take a Silva (who doesn't have nearly the goals/assists output Mata does) who can influence and boss the game for 90 minutes over a Mata, who seems to play poor for large portions and pop up with the goods every now and again.
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It's not a popular opinion but I feel the same, I'd personally replace him with a conductor like Pjanic/Gundogan or a blisteringly quick attacker like Reus if we can in the summer.
 
I thought he was the spark last night - he was very involved, rarely makes a bad pass and has been pretty creative in going forward. I think Mata is coming into form and he'll be a difference maker for us in the weeks to come.
 

That's the thing with Mata I guess. He can be invisible in first half, then improve his game in the second, and it seems to be enough to make him MotM. Well I don't get this, I thought there was quite a few players better than him overall. In first half Stoke was quite compact and all he did was play an easy pass back. In the second the game opened up a bit, and he loved it. He has fantastic ability to keep the ball in play, something we could use especially in the latter stages where we often lose shape and panic.
 
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Don't think he deserved to be MOTM but actually really pleased he got it. Will hopefully be a big confidence boost for him, which he really needs. I think he's playing within himself a bit, not taking enough risks. Hopefully this will put a bit of swagger back into his game.
 
Apart for the goal he didn't contribute anything meaningful which pretty much summarises his career in a United shirt. Did all the basics well but you don't pay 37m for a player just to do the basics.
 
Too weak and too slow for my liking. He has impressive numbers, but I don't see him in our best XI right now if everyone is fit.

Of yesterday's midfield, I think he would be my choice to drop out when Angel returns.
 
Rozay said:
Too weak and too slow for my liking. He has impressive numbers, but I don't see him in our best XI right now if everyone is fit.

Of yesterday's midfield, I think he would be my choice to drop out when Angel returns.
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Agree, would really like to see a Carrick, Fellaini, Di Maria and Herrera at the tip.
 
I can't believe some people aren't happy with him last night, I thought it was beautiful performance, his best one this year and one of our best midfield performances in general this season for me.
I wasn't pleased with him so far this season, but thought he was excellent last night, was involved in pretty much everything, showed some nice flicks, and was very good defensively too. Last night's game showed that people were going over the top saying that there is big difference defensively wise in the team when he starts over Rooney - Stoke had one shot in about 85 minutes or so while he was on the pitch, and they hardly created anything through his side.

I hope he keeps the place in the team.
 
Took pretty big part in the first goal, got the second goal, opened Wilson for his run when he fluffed it, generally been creating some chances for us despite not playing as the #10.

Really hard to understand what people expect from him, another player to get unwarranted criticism. Also finished the game with 63 passes with 94% accuracy.
 
I think people have some unfair/unrealistic expectations from Mata. On the one hand they want him to create and score a-plenty like he did for Chelsea, he did have 8 goals in 10 games at one point, but that wasn't enough. Then his defending is criticised (despite his size, speed and it not being natural to him) then when he does defend well, it goes unnoticed or is dismissed.

I think the price tag raises some expectations and some fans expect him to perform almost like Ronaldo or Messi on a weekly basis. He has been in and out of the side, hasn't really had a settled position (like many of our players this year) and is pretty much knocked whenever he plays. The fact is he is not playing for Chelsea, nor is he always in his favoured or best position, yet he still manages to score and set up goals and at the same time always has a smile on his face and something positive to say after games. He is not a complainer or trouble maker and he seems to be universally liked throughout the team.

Anyone else also notice that RvP seems to have his best games when Mata and Herrera are playing?

The lad is class both on and off the pitch and I think not only does he deserve his chance and his place in the team, he deserves a break from some of the more critical fans.
 
Cina said:
I can't help but think his goals/assists stats skew the fact that he really hasn't been that good for us, though. Obviously they're extremely important but I'd take a Silva (who doesn't have nearly the goals/assists output Mata does) who can influence and boss the game for 90 minutes over a Mata, who seems to play poor for large portions and pop up with the goods every now and again.
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I get your point and I love Silva as a player but in our case given we have other players who can influence the game (Rooney and Di Maria mainly, Carrick from lower on the field), I think productivity shouldn't be taken for granted. His goals against Palace and Stoke have effectively won us 4 points just recently.
 
langster said:
I think people have some unfair/unrealistic expectations from Mata. On the one hand they want him to create and score a-plenty like he did for Chelsea, he did have 8 goals in 10 games at one point, but that wasn't enough. Then his defending is criticised (despite his size, speed and it not being natural to him) then when he does defend well, it goes unnoticed or is dismissed.

I think the price tag raises some expectations and some fans expect him to perform almost like Ronaldo or Messi on a weekly basis. He has been in and out of the side, hasn't really had a settled position (like many of our players this year) and is pretty much knocked whenever he plays. The fact is he is not playing for Chelsea, nor is he always in his favoured or best position, yet he still manages to score and set up goals and at the same time always has a smile on his face and something positive to say after games. He is not a complainer or trouble maker and he seems to be universally liked throughout the team.

Anyone else also notice that RvP seems to have his best games when Mata and Herrera are playing?

The lad is class both on and off the pitch and I think not only does he deserve his chance and his place in the team, he deserves a break from some of the more critical fans.
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Nah, I think people just want to see him controlling the games more and providing creativity because we lack that aside from Di Maria. Mata doesn't offer that. Yes, he scores a lot of goals and can give an assist, but creativity? Since Moyes brought him, I seriously haven't seen more than 3 cutting passes from him.
 
Amar__ said:
I can't believe some people aren't happy with him last night, I thought it was beautiful performance, his best one this year and one of our best midfield performances in general this season for me.

I wasn't pleased with him so far this season, but thought he was excellent last night, was involved in pretty much everything, showed some nice flicks, and was very good defensively too. Last night's game showed that people were going over the top saying that there is big difference defensively wise in the team when he starts over Rooney - Stoke had one shot in about 85 minutes or so while he was on the pitch, and they hardly created anything through his side.

I hope he keeps the place in the team.
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Kostur said:
Took pretty big part in the first goal, got the second goal, opened Wilson for his run when he fluffed it, generally been creating some chances for us despite not playing as the #10.

Really hard to understand what people expect from him, another player to get unwarranted criticism.Also finished the game with 63 passes with 94% accuracy.
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I don’t think one game makes Mata good defensively. It’s just we have been much better in defense and with Fellaini our midfield is looking much stronger.

It’s not criticism towards him- the thing is, we have other players who will do what he does, only better. Di Maria is better at left midfield than Mata. Herrera is, in my opinion, better at the tip of the diamond than Mata. So is Rooney.

On the other hand, Juan is by far the best pure number 10 in our team. The thing is, we don’t play that way.

I am still of the opinion he is much better player than what he is showing for us, the problem IMO is that he is being praised for what he can do instead for what he actually does. But fair play to him, he scores a lot.
 
Rooney in Dublin said:
I get your point and I love Silva as a player but in our case given we have other players who can influence the game (Rooney and Di Maria mainly, Carrick from lower on the field), I think productivity shouldn't be taken for granted. His goals against Palace and Stoke have effectively won us 4 points just recently.
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I know, but like I said, I'm far more of an admirer of a #10 who can constantly influence games across the 90 minutes, someone like Silva or Iniesta, obviously they're extreme examples but even at the weekend I felt Herrera was far more influential overall as a #10 than Mata has ever been for us there. I do definitely think his stats are misguiding, you have to consider the amount of chances that would be created from the overall better level of play we'd have with someone of the Silva ilk in our team, too.
 
Dumat12 said:
Nah, I think people just want to see him controlling the games more and providing creativity because we lack that aside from Di Maria. Mata doesn't offer that. Yes, he scores a lot of goals and can give an assist, but creativity? Since Moyes brought him, I seriously haven't seen more than 3 cutting passes from him.
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When did he ever control a game at Chelsea? That's not the type of player he is. We all know that, it's unrealistic to expect him to do that here. If giving assists isn't creativity then i don't know what is. Unless you would much rather see Di Maria whip 100 crosses into the box and only a handful of them reach a United player. Di Maria offers pace and the ability to go past his man with ease, Mata is more intelligent on the ball and doesn't give it away very often. Play them both together and we would have a deadly combination.
 
IF only he had just a little bit better acceleration it could make him so much better. He is just so slow at a stand still that he finds it hard to beat a marker when closed down. When moving though he can twist and turn well and use the ball to get out of situations.

Don't think he was the MOM but he had a good/decent game.
 
PSingh said:
When did he ever control a game at Chelsea? That's not the type of player he is. We all know that, it's unrealistic to expect him to do that here. If giving assists isn't creativity then i don't know what is. Unless you would much rather see Di Maria whip 100 crosses into the box and only a handful of them reach a United player. Di Maria offers pace and the ability to go past his man with ease, Mata is more intelligent on the ball and doesn't give it away very often. Play them both together and we would have a deadly combination.
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Forget controlling the game like Silva then, he rarely does that "killer pass". Most of the times he simply plays it safe which is not what we want, do we? From a N10 player you expect creativity and the ability to split defences. Mata, unfortunately, hasn't offered any of that. Maybe it's just me though.
 
Rozay said:
Too weak and too slow for my liking. He has impressive numbers, but I don't see him in our best XI right now if everyone is fit.

Of yesterday's midfield, I think he would be my choice to drop out when Angel returns.
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Numbers are what win games. I don't understand. It's like saying - I don't care if he scores goals, he should be out of the team.. Well goals and assists win games. If he keeps providing them, why would you drop him?
 
The only midfielder we had yesterday who would drop deep to link up the play, especially in the second half. Some sublime balls to switch the play as well. Him and Herrera really do link up well.
 
Definitely his goal, no doubt about that. Rojo didn't even touch the ball.
 
Sean_RedDevil said:
10 goals in 26 matches is very good..........but i still expect he plays better in most matches (like against Hull)
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Yeah thats great stats, like striker quality 1 in 2 almost. And thats pretty much 20 a season which would be a phenomenal return. But there is something he doesnt offer. He's a luxury player as he's not always in the game and at times isnt doing much. But stats and productivity wise maybe he should start. He also definitely suits LVG's tactic of possession and links well with his pal Herrera.
 
Not one usually for hypotheticals, but say Sevilla came in for him in January with a £25m bid, would you take the £10m loss and accept? I'm not so sure I would.
 
Señor said:
Not one usually for hypotheticals, but say Sevilla came in for him in January with a £25m bid, would you take the £10m loss and accept? I'm not so sure I would.
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Of course not. Even if he's not automatic first choice he'll get more than enough games to keep him happy. And let's face it, half our players are injured at any given point in time, so he might as well be first choice.
 
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