Play him at no10... so he finally does and hes was shite 
Kagawa all over again
Kagawa all over again
8
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 54
- Goals
- 11
- Assists
- 11
- Yellow cards
- 7
- Red cards
- 1
- Status
Judging by the posts here and in the matchday thread, one would think Mata turned in one of the worst performances ever in a game. There is always insane overreaction here after a loss. Yes, Mata didn't play well today. Yes, he should've scored off that Schweinsteiger pass or passed it to Memphis at least. But for most of the game (until the last 20-30 minutes), his play was fine, and he definitely looked better set up as a #10 than as a right winger who drifts to the middle. It allowed Young and Memphis to stay wide, and the potential of our wing play looked better (it's another matter that Young didn't play well from the right). I would still like to see him in the #10 role, and hopefully he'll be better next time. People want to kill him for slowing down our play, yet Schweinsteiger and Blind were both far more guilty of that today.
Calm down guys. Granted he was really really bad today, he has still been playing well. I mean for christ sakes, he has created most of our chances and assisted a bunch of our goals. It was a bad game, these things happen.
Would say give Rooney a shot at 10 when he's back. Although if you let Mata get used to the position again I think he'll be the better option.
Had a bad game today, nothing more nothing less.
Had a bad game today, nothing more nothing less.
Forget the missed chance, that can happen to anyone but once again he created absolutely nothing. It's general theme of his United performances. I thought the only thing stopping him from creating chances was a lack of pace. Doesn't even have that excuse now...
He was very poor. But let's be honest, he has not been playing well this season so far. I would have benched him some time ago, this game doesn't make a difference
You're doing it wrong. He's obviously not good enough and has been shown up by all our other wonderful attacking players. We should be playing Young or Valencia ahead of him as they're far better unless you overvalue minor details like goals and assists.
I don't see a place for him in our starting line up in all honesty.
That's not true. He had at least a couple good passes to Memphis in the first half.
I thought he dropped deep far too often, especially with Herrera in midfield.
It's his lack of directness that's the problem.
This. First thing he does is turn back ffs.
Also lets not say LVG coaching because Memphis Young and Martial don't do that
Oh god, here come the reactions.
Juan, stay off the internet until next week, put your feet up and enjoy a hot chocolate.
Juan, stay off the internet until next week, put your feet up and enjoy a hot chocolate.
I'm not saying you're wrong, but Herrera's been doing it quite a bit too - especially against Liverpool... as was Depay actually.
Depay wasn't doing it that often and gave the ball away a number of times due to attempting to take on his man or do a trick flick. Herrera was playing CM....
But it coincides with him playing his "best position", like last season where he got a bunch of games there and made nothing happen. And I dont believe its an impressive amount if you disregard his first half season at the club, where he was our more creative player.
Against Liverpool? Herrera was playing AM
I was talking about today.
Herrera did the same while playing at #10.
Januzaj didn't
Well I've never been convinced that #10 is his best position - I did want to see him giving a go there - largely because we seem to be giving everyone else a shot... but I'm happy with him on the right, he gives us a different option, gets goals and assists, and can really come into games to good effect (like the second half against Newcastle)... he just needs to do it more consistently. But then literally all our attackers suffer from consistency...
And look where he's gone!
"Once again"...I swear to God Redcafe fans are hilarious.
Say how about the time he played a wonderful pass to Junuzaj that won us the game against Aston Villa?
Say how about the time Mata was our ONLY creative and dominant outlet vs Newcastle that should have had at least 4 assists that game if it wasn't for our poor finishing.
Say how about that time he scored against Swansea to give us a fighting chance of getting back into the game?
Say how about the time he assisted Daley Blind's goal against Liverpool that put us ahead by 1?
Come on guys. Enough with the bs.
Say how about the time he played a wonderful pass to Junuzaj that won us the game against Aston Villa?
Say how about the time Mata was our ONLY creative and dominant outlet vs Newcastle that should have had at least 4 assists that game if it wasn't for our poor finishing.
Say how about that time he scored against Swansea to give us a fighting chance of getting back into the game?
Say how about the time he assisted Daley Blind's goal against Liverpool that put us ahead by 1?
Come on guys. Enough with the bs.
He did none of that playing at 10 just saying, maybe he is just better out on the right with licence to drift in
EDIT: Everytime I have seen him play 10 for us he has been shite
For the first hour we looked quite good when it came to chance creation, but is that solely in spite of Mata? Had a poor game but given our options I wouldn't mind seeing him at number 10 again.
Hardly the biggest sample size to judge him at #10. A few games at the start of last season in a badly malfunctioning 3-5-2 and one game this season where he was just generally off the pace.
He didn't mess up that Schweinsteiger pass because he was playing at #10, he messed it up because he was off his game at that stage generally.
Takes too many touches on the ball which slows us down.
He's annoyingly cautious for someone who's primary role is to create. If he has no pace and he turns and passes the ball backwards the majority of the time then I'm not really sure what he offers. Seems to get an easy ride form United fans for some reason. His form has been patchy at best since he joined.
He is a player too reliant on others.
Tbf did some good things today as well but then went missing or just crumbled when he needed to be counted. Too Spineless of a player if that makes sense.
Tbf did some good things today as well but then went missing or just crumbled when he needed to be counted. Too Spineless of a player if that makes sense.
Strongly agree. Honestly as much as he is a really likeable fella, he doesn't half drive me up the wall sometimes as a footballer. I tend to keep quiet about it as he's so popular but honestly I think a decent amount of our laboured attacking play can be attributed to him and the way he plays the game. Nowhere near direct enough and way too hesitant to pull the trigger.
He was utter shit for the last 30 minute or so and should have been subbed, but he was ok before that. Not great, but not terrible either.
Juan Mata has been fairly productive as a number 10 for us.
In 1192 minutes(13.4 full games)(14 apps)(excluding this game) He has scored 7 goals and 4 assists as a number ten.
That is a goal or assist every 108 minutes..
Mata problem is he always want to create chance rather then thinking of scoring,
The chances he miss is really annoying.
The chances he miss is really annoying.
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Figures for PL matches only.
Under Moyes before Mata arrived 36 goals in 22 games. With Mata on the pitch that season we scored 23 in almost 14 full games (90 mins). Mata missing (didn't start or been substituted) 5 goals in just over 2 full games (against weak opponents)
Under LVG last season. Team scored 62 in 38 games. Mata on the pitch 41 goals in 27(6) appearances which works out as just under 26 full games (90 mins). Mata missing 21 goals in just over 12 full games.
This season Mata on the pitch 4 goals in 4.5 games. Mata missing 2 goals in 0.5 games.
So in each of the seasons he has been at the club, we have been scored at a slightly higher rate when Mata hasn't been in the team. Overall since Moyes arrived, with Mata 68 in 44 full games, without 64 in 37 full games. Mata at the club but not on the pitch, 28 in 15 games.
Stats from transfermarkt. Need to select the season then take a close look at whether he was on the pitch when goals were scored.
http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/juan-mata/leistungsdaten/spieler/44068/plus/?saison=2014
Nice guy. Talented footballer. But to my mind, the sample size is too large to be ignored.
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Mata is a handy little player, he's just not 37M worth of player. He should probably stay in the first XI because we don't have anyone better right now, but for next season we need to sign a player to replace him with far more weapons. He was embarrassingly terrible tonight, which is probably skewing opinions rather heavily.
When Giggs was getting near the end of his career, legend that he was, I'd get annoyed at times at how he'd always go for the 'killer' ball. Mata is the opposite.
A happy medium would be nice like.
If I see him fluffing his lines from that BFS pass again I'm going to throw my TV out the window. Memphis was free in the middle as well.
I dont think so, I think his problem is intent and attitude. He's far too happy to pass the ball sideways or backwards these days, when at his best in the past he would be looking for killer balls constantly. Thats the player we took from Chelsea. He wasn't as good as some others at keeping the ball, but statistically he created chance after chance. He's lost that edge right now
He had a poor game but there was clearly some good aspects imo. It's not all going to click at once. You've got an attack/midfield with 4 new players out of 6, Martial doesn't even speak english. Mata deserves a roasting for some poor play and for not doing better from the schwein pass but others had poor games too. For me I can see the potential in him, Depay and Martial although I don't expect to see it much when Rooney is fit. You can't expect it all to click straight away.
Up until the Shaw injury and for some spells after that our attack looked as good as it has done in ages and there was some real threat. The injury and subsequent re-shuffling in defence and then poor decisions/lack of clinicalness in front of goal, mostly from the young players made this worse than it was in some ways. If we scored the good openings we made than Mata taking the time to occasionally slow the game down and wait to speed it up when there's lots of players in the final third wouldn't be such an issue.
Up until the Shaw injury and for some spells after that our attack looked as good as it has done in ages and there was some real threat. The injury and subsequent re-shuffling in defence and then poor decisions/lack of clinicalness in front of goal, mostly from the young players made this worse than it was in some ways. If we scored the good openings we made than Mata taking the time to occasionally slow the game down and wait to speed it up when there's lots of players in the final third wouldn't be such an issue.
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