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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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Ringo 07 said:
It's rare that you'll see Mata put in a shift against a top 6 teams as he simply isn't dynamic enough for the top teams but he still will pop up with a few lovely touches in a game like this but the game mostly passed him by
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I agree. But it is strange, two/three seasons ago he was a real big game player for Chelsea. I guess his lack of confidence just dropped his level down a whole tier.
 
I really like Mata but his he was completely anonymous today.
 
I think some of the reactions to him and his future are slightly knee jerk but I do tend to agree in that he does appear invisible in some games, away games in particular for some reason. Also I just for the life of me cannot remember him being as slow on the ball for Chelsea as he is for us, granted he was never the quickest but cannot remember him being this slow. Going to be interesting to see how the next few months pan out for him that's for sure.
 
In the first 30 minutes I didn't see him at all. He's a great guy and has some nice touches and he does bag his fair share of goals, but I'd love to get a player with real pace that can carry the ball in his role, Sanchez would have been perfect.
 
DWelbz19 said:
I agree. But it is strange, two/three seasons ago he was a real big game player for Chelsea. I guess his lack of confidence just dropped his level down a whole tier.
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Mata was the main man at Chelsea a few seasons ago especially when Benitez came in and built the team around him. Mata is a fine player, but is a luxury at the moment as we don't have a strong enough midfield to let him do whatever he likes.
 
He's not anything close to the dangerous little menace we seen at Chelsea. It's very disappointing, as he was lethal.
 
I love the guy but he's absolutely useless in games like this. He makes a few nice touches and passes but his lack of pace and mobility is ridiculous. He's a good player to have when you've got most of the ball but a waste of time when your pegged back as much as we were.
 
Have some cojones Juan please. The amount of back passes when a little turn or even sideways pass was better really infuriated me. He's way way too secure with his passing. To be honest, I just wonder if it's not a LVG's order to do so because it made no sense at times.
 
Ringo 07 said:
It's rare that you'll see Mata put in a shift against a top 6 teams as he simply isn't dynamic enough for the top teams but he still will pop up with a few lovely touches in a game like this but the game mostly passed him by
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Did you not watch him at Chelsea? Scored match winners vs us, Arsenal and Spurs that I recall.

I just feel with that lineup he was always going to struggle. He needs Herrera and Di Maria next to him. And I don't think he's been effective for us in away games.
 
Love him but I think he'll be gone in the summer. He just doesn't fit any part of Van Gaal's formation.
 
Mata was completely invisible. Problem is we are making him run for the ball. It's always the same problem with the many of our players. We are making Mata work hard when he should be continuously be getting service from the defensive mids. I do not agree with him not helping out in winning the ball back. He does work hard and puts in a shift. But his quality is wasted. He's improved his defensive side since last year. He will only shine when we have majority of the possession. Once we start struggling in keeping the ball, mata's performances go down. This is the main problem whenever Fellaini starts.Put Daley Blind/Carrick along with Herrera and Mata will start playing better. Carrick was shunted to CB and our midfield quality reduced. To make matters worse, Young and Valencia just dont provide enough support from the flanks. He's a fecking great player and we need to put some better players alongside him. He will get into good positions when we have a fully fit starting XI (if that's ever possible)
 
blitz133w said:
Mata was completely invisible. Problem is we are making him run for the ball. It's always the same problem with the many of our players. We are making Mata work hard when he should be continuously be getting service from the defensive mids. I do not agree with him not helping out in winning the ball back. He does work hard and puts in a shift. But his quality is wasted. He's improved his defensive side since last year. He will only shine when we have majority of the possession. Once we start struggling in keeping the ball, mata's performances go down. This is the main problem whenever Fellaini starts.Put Daley Blind/Carrick along with Herrera and Mata will start playing better. Carrick was shunted to CB and our midfield quality reduced. To make matters worse, Young and Valencia just dont provide enough support from the flanks. He's a fecking great player and we need to put some better players alongside him. He will get into good positions when we have a fully fit starting XI (if that's ever possible)
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Agree totally about Mata but a tad harsh on Fellaini. Our centre backs were shocking at playing out from the back last night. McNair and Evans looked a bag of nerves.
 
Should play as a number ten or not at all imo. Shouldn't be anywhere near a midfield three for us.
 
He's just so slow, how can a little feller like Mata look so cumbersome ? He's got little to no acceleration and turns like the titanic, when he's pressed he's just not got that little turn of pace to wriggle out of a situation, we're much better with Herrera at the point of the midfield.
Sadly I also see him being sacrificed in the Summer, if we are to play the diamond we need everybody able to press, that's one of the reasons I think we see the 3-5-2 against teams with pacey wide players.
 
It's just a shame how we shit our pants against good pressing sides and in tight spaces. The 3 at the back system, the contagious nerviness of the defense spilling over to the entire team and our best passer, Carrick, playing in defense didn't help tbf.

Still we had more than enough players with good ball control and passing skills to do better at least on paper but we didn't in reality. This is an aspect which LVG really needs the team to improve and I'm sure he will make them better in this department in the future be it new personnel or developing the current players.
 
Mata has a place at United - his excellent goalscoring and assist rate since joining the club proves this. But he's physically limited, which means we have to help him and ourselves out by picking him in the right positions and for the right games.

He was pretty anonymous yesterday, but CM away to Southampton was never going to be his fixture. Bemused as to why Hererra didn't start.
 
I want to say that he is a player who would only excel only when the the team is playing well, but that is not true as he looked good for a very medicore Chelsea side. I don't think we are using him right. He needs to spend majority of his time in the final third to excel. Not strong enough in the central midfield areas that he has been asked to occupy. More so, against teams with stronger midfielders like Wanyama last night.
 
The more time passes, the more it seems like Jose knew exactly what he was doing in terms of selling Mata at the right time for the right price. I can see him going back to Spain next summer for about £20m
 
That was a normal Mata performance minus the customary goal. Not bad or awful by any means but completely invisible and safe.

Not sure why people are surprised. He's our version of Mesut Ozil.
 
Insanity said:
I want to say that he is a player who would only excel only when the the team is playing well, but that is not true as he looked good for a very medicore Chelsea side. I don't think we are using him right. He needs to spend majority of his time in the final third to excel. Not strong enough in the central midfield areas that he has been asked to occupy. More so, against teams with stronger midfielders like Wanyama last night.
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He needs to play higher up the pitch. The only way he can excel from a deeper position is in games when the opposition sits back and allows us to dominate the ball.
 
Can't wait for him to shut the mouths after a nicely slotted goal against the scousers.
 
akash02 said:
That was a normal Mata performance minus the customary goal. Not bad or awful by any means but completely invisible and safe.

Not sure why people are surprised. He's our version of Mesut Ozil.
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This is true, so disappointing as he was awesome for Chelsea.
 
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I keep reading that Mata is too slow but he has never needed to be a fast player. Just a player with a more positive touch and courage to play adventurous football with his passing. Crazy thing is that he was that kinda player at Chelsea.
 
It's funny when people say he went hiding or disappeared. If that was Carrick or Cleverley last season, instead of saying hiding or disappeared, they would be labelled as a coward.
 
The most disappointing thing about him for me is that he si always looking to keep it safe. When we bought him I thought he is teh guy who can unlock defenses with his passing, but so far this season it looks like he is just trying to keep it safe and not miss a pass.

We have players with fantastic movement up front, but they are useless if nobody from teh midfield has the balls to try anything else than simple passes.
 
I'd like to see him try some more expansive passing. There are rumours flying around about his future though so he probably doesn't have the confidence to try it in case it doesn't come off.
 
kouroux said:
I keep reading that Mata is too slow but he has never needed to be a fast player. Just a player with a more positive touch and courage to play adventurous football with his passing. Crazy thing is that he was that kinda player at Chelsea.
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In Chelsea, he was often at his best as he spent quite a lot of his time in the final third, regardless of whether he was out wide or in the middle. In this sense, he's like an old-school #10. Whenever he drops deeper, he plays more safely and doesn't play like he normally would, which is good to see as playing adventurously in deeper areas can result in us being open on the counter.

What makes Mata look bad is that he drops deep too often. He needs to be more involved in the final third or be in more space in order to play more adventurously. We saw how well he did against Hull and Stoke; in both matches, he was more frequently involved in the final third/had more space to work in. Whenever he plays a deeper central midfield role, he struggles as he doesn't have the passing range and self-belief to pick out players from deeper areas.

I sometimes wonder that, if Mata was playing in Man. City in place of Silva or Nasri in the wide attacking midfield role, would he be better than he would here, where he plays this deeper, more reserved role for us in matches like these? He certainly revelled playing in the left central midfield role where he spent less time playing deeper in midfield and was more comfortable in the channels and closer to the final third.
 
ZDwyr said:
I'd like to see him try some more expansive passing. There are rumours flying around about his future though so he probably doesn't have the confidence to try it in case it doesn't come off.
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He has those expansive passes in him as well. I remember him playing some very good diagonals to Young in his debut for us against Cardiff at Old Trafford last season. However, he did have quite a bit of space, and Young wasn't really closed down on the left wing in that match. Still, though, Mata can develop a good passing range, but I doubt he can do them like Modric can.
 
He just seems slow, seems to be playing too deep, as doesnt influence in the right areas because he starts the move little link up but then doesnt have the pace to then find himself on the end or then creating near the box. Just seems to play the simple pass, keep the ball ticking (Which is all good) but then not clinical at the end of the move as he's still 40 yrds from goal.

I like him and still want him to be a success, but with dynamic players around him (Di Maria, Herrera, Rooney at times) He lacks this. Some would argue it gives us variation. He should suit LVG's style of possession football. But just not quite working still. Think he'll get more time, as he is productive it's just finding him in the right areas which is required.
 
Man Utd 3:0 Liverpool
Got him down to score today.
 
The thing with Mata is that he can be invisible most of the match but pops up with a goal or assist.
 
He's at his best when we are dominant and he is getting the ball in attacking areas.
The way we set up, we arent playing to his strengths.

incredibly productive though. Insanely so. If there is one player worth carrying, its him.
 
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