8
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 54
- Goals
- 11
- Assists
- 11
- Yellow cards
- 7
- Red cards
- 1
- Status
He's the CAF darling, and gets off too lightly. I've not been a fan of Mata, the one at United. Too slow, too cautious, takes too many touches and can't shoot. He's such a nice guy and all, but how does that help the team to win games? I'll rather have young players like Memphis making the kind of stupid decisions he made today, as I can put it down to inexperience. For such a talented and experienced player, he contributes so little, too often to United.
But wouldn't you agree that we've not had the team to really let him create as he did at Chelsea? Aside from today I can't think of many situations he's been in where we've set up in a way that would allow him to influence in the way he did for Chelsea. We didn't have the players. Last season/under Moyes you've got no runners from the wide positions inside. The strikers all want to come to the ball and play like 10's not 9's. It's only with Herrera as well that we've really started getting runs from the middle as well. It's not like there's runs he's constantly missing.
I agree that sometimes he can be slow on the ball in the middle but when he gets to the final third he's plays it fast enough most times. But like I said more often than not there isn't the run.
With Depay and Martial, 2 players who will run in behind then we might see more from him in that capacity. And there were flashes of it today. But they need time to get an understanding. And it's not all him, as young players they will and did make mistakes that impacts the team.
A day to forget, I'm interested in what he has to say about this performance in his blog...
Very disappointing tonight considering he was playing in his favoured position. His passing was well off and he made the completely wrong choice when Schweinsteiger played that beauty of a pass into him.
Now that Rooney is pretty much consistently shit, I think it's fair to say that Mata has taken over as our most inconsistent player. You never know whether you're going to get brilliance or utter dogshit.
Thought he deserved another chance at #10 but showed why he doesn't play there. Was a poor performance I thought. The only decent knock-down Fellaini got fell to him and he tried to pass instead of taking the shot (which he messed up anyway). Thought he lacked a bit of leadership in that moment.
Also, I know he scores a bit but I can think of a few chances he has spurned, when he should be burying them, when we really needed him to score.
Also, I know he scores a bit but I can think of a few chances he has spurned, when he should be burying them, when we really needed him to score.
Probably his worst game for Utd.
Consigned himself to the right wing forever more after tonight's showing, but it might be for the best as it'd only complicate the number 10 position even more if he'd had a stormer, would also have potentially left us with Valencia as our right winger, and nobody wants that.
So we've basically got:
----------------Martial----------------
Depay---------Rooney---------Mata
And this could be fantastic, but we have virtually no adequate cover, even more so now i've just voted for Young to be our new LB.
So we've basically got:
----------------Martial----------------
Depay---------Rooney---------Mata
And this could be fantastic, but we have virtually no adequate cover, even more so now i've just voted for Young to be our new LB.
I agree with that. Its like he was in two minds a lot of the times. That ball from basti had to either be a shot or a pass across the box. Instead he tried to control it.
That set up from Fellaini onto his left foot and he goes and passes it back to Fellaini.
Wonder if he was more mentally affected by the injury than others, he's such a nice bloke. I'm going to let him off on that assumption.
I don't think that will work as much as I'd like it to. Rooney isn't going to budge from the middle, he doesn't run out wide much now and when he does it's not effective as he always needs to check back. So you've got Rooney, mata and depay all looking to come central. Then on top of that you've got rooney's main play there being a half turn and a wide pass pinning Depay/Mata to positions they don't want to be in.
Sadly I think if Rooney plays 10 then you'd probably want Young to come in which isn't really something I'd like although he does try hard to be fair to him.
Caf curse strikes again.
Player gets run in the position everyone wants him in, and he looks well below the performances in his 'wrong' position.
See also Di Maria (central midfield), Herrera (number 10), Rooney (up front) etc.
Player gets run in the position everyone wants him in, and he looks well below the performances in his 'wrong' position.
See also Di Maria (central midfield), Herrera (number 10), Rooney (up front) etc.
What a way to feck up your chances to play your favourite position.
He wasn't that bad. He should have scored when Schweini put him through. But otherwise I thought he did well. Linked play up and had some good movement/touches.
He was poor, but I'm hoping it was just a bad day.
Why wasn't he trying to score today? So many times he had the ball, in space near or inside the box and he decided to pass. Needlessly might I add.
He wasn't that bad first half. released a lot of our players on the run. Hid in the 2nd and that is unacceptable. Back to the RW or bench for you.
Aye, he was fine in the first half. Basically what we get from him anyway, except the attack wasn't as lopsided (which doesn't bother me but does bother others). We certainly didn't look any worse with him at #10 during that period.
It was really in the second half (and especially the last half hour) that he was particularly disappointing.
It was really in the second half (and especially the last half hour) that he was particularly disappointing.
He does very little but manages to pick up a goal/assist every other game. Hopefully that ends the Mata at #10 endless cries from fans.
No surprise whatsoever.
People will keep on harping on about his runners and his position. But it's Mata's limitations.
The only time he can sit on the ball is when he's in completely useless/nonthreatening areas. Give him the ball under any sort of pressure (in that '10' zone) and he's poor. That's not good enough, hence he never kept a place for Spain, even when he was 'one of the best players in the league'.
He's better wide, and he's not even great there. Said it before - he's not good enough for where United want to be, or for any top side, for that matter.
People will forever point to his Chelsea stuff, which, when analyzed a bit more, actually doesn't prove he's a top player (worthy of building the team around) at all.
Impact sub.
People will keep on harping on about his runners and his position. But it's Mata's limitations.
The only time he can sit on the ball is when he's in completely useless/nonthreatening areas. Give him the ball under any sort of pressure (in that '10' zone) and he's poor. That's not good enough, hence he never kept a place for Spain, even when he was 'one of the best players in the league'.
He's better wide, and he's not even great there. Said it before - he's not good enough for where United want to be, or for any top side, for that matter.
People will forever point to his Chelsea stuff, which, when analyzed a bit more, actually doesn't prove he's a top player (worthy of building the team around) at all.
Impact sub.
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Nobody denies that he can finish and put the ball on a plate for other people to finish. Oh yeah, and nice set pieces. The issue is pretty much the rest of the time when he's not doing that.
He's limited. Can't turn his man, can't dribble his man, can't shield the ball, can't sit on the ball unless it's in a nonthreatening position. He slows play down. Only comes to life when he's directly making a goal happen - basically like a forward/striker.
It's almost not possible to have a 'Mata masterclass' without him scoring or directly assisting (and even then, it's rarely a true masterclass).
His ability to assist the assist (the harder part, in my opinion) is not good enough.
We've seen Silva run the show without directly scoring or assisting. That's the difference.
Runners are not the issue. I wish people would stop making this excuse.
The issue is that Chelsea played on the break more. He had more space to play into most of the time. Thus he didn't need to shield the ball, dribble his man or generally be strong as much. He's at his best when defences are stretched, because he doesn't need to be strong or overly tricky with the ball at his foot. When defences are settled and on top of him, he's poor.
He's just unsuited to a possession team (or even a top countering team). It's got nothing to do with runners. No amount of good running is going to suddenly give Mata the ability to be strong on the ball.
this thread 
He is the Carrick from 5 years ago. Cant do anything right it seems, at least for some fans.....
He is the Carrick from 5 years ago. Cant do anything right it seems, at least for some fans.....
Slow, can't turn and run with the ball and tonight when he had two key moments he botched them, the pass to Memphis was too heavy and how he didn't bury that chance Schweini created for him I'll never know.
The problem United have in attack is we have two very talented but very inexperienced young forwards in Martial and Memphis in the front 4, this is where Rooney and Mata are supposed to be our two world class players that take up the slack as they develop next to them, but neither are good enough.
The problem United have in attack is we have two very talented but very inexperienced young forwards in Martial and Memphis in the front 4, this is where Rooney and Mata are supposed to be our two world class players that take up the slack as they develop next to them, but neither are good enough.
Very much this. His audition as a number 10 was a monumental feckup.
It is not that Mata doesn't have any dribbling ability of a winger, it is just that using it to beat a man or hug the the line is not part of his game.
Mata either
1) Comes inside to look for a killer pass or a shot.
2) Links up with the full back to create space for the full back to pick out an open player in the box.
3) Is making off the ball movements/runs to put himself into a position to score.
I just think that some people are asking him to do more that is out of his style of play. I don't agree with the fact that Mata slows the play down, albeit he may lack pace but he is quite quick in what he is doing, especially in the final third of the pitch.
It is just a bad game and I don't know why people are blowing this out of porportion as if Mata has not been our most productive player this season.
I agree Rooney has not been good enough, but to say Mata has not been good enough so far for United is just a major overreaction.It is a fact that Mata has been one of our most creative and productive player so far this season. He had a bad game and I have faith he will deliver once again against Southampton this Sunday.
It's not part of his game because he can't do it. It's not the end of the world. He has his qualities, but dribbling opposition players isn't one of them. If he could do it then he obviously would.
He's not quick in what he's doing, until it's directly involving a goal. Unless he's literally shooting or setting up a goal, he's pretty slow in his approach. It's very aesthetically pleasing but it's not zippy at all.
Yes he's been productive, but we all know Mata can directly contribute to goals. That's not the issue - it's that when he's not directly contributing to goals he's not great or progressive at all. He's limited and can't actually keep hold of the ball for long enough to influence games properly.
The fact what he has produced so far is supposed to be the best creativity we have shown highlights the problem with this squad right now, the two senior attacking players simply don't offer enough.
Apparently we are watching two different Mata's then... Mata is usually is on the move quickly or is distributing the ball quickly when I watch him. In fact sometimes I would argue he speeds things up! He may be physically slow but in build up plays I think he has been fine.
I think that in games like these, it may suggest that we need someone who can huge the touch line and play more like a traditional winger when Mata coming inside and playing more off the ball is not working out. Unfortunately, seeing as we loaned out Januzaj, Ashley Young and Antonio Valencia are subpar as right wingers, We may be short of options.
What he has produced so far?
You mean how he produced the killer pass that led to Januzaj scoring the winning goal?
You mean how he could have produced 3-4 assists if it was not for our dire finishing against Newcastle?
You mean how he produced a through ball to Rooney against Club Brugge?
You mean how he produced a goal that gave us a chance to still compete in the match against Swansea?
You mean how he produced an assist against Liverpool that put us up by 1?
I think he has been offering us a lot, just not last game for the last 60 minutes.
Deliver once again? He's been the main reason we are insipid up front for the last season and a half. I have been truly underwhelmed by him since arriving at United. Yep odd flashes of gold but in the main far to much of a luxury player and can see 100% why Jose got rid, the boy flatters to deceive. The quicker Rooneys back at 10 the better imo.
Lets go with things that actually mattered in the games.
When it comes to assists that has been something that has been exposed to a large degree by Brunt's stats last season, a set-piece even more-so. Also the goal he scored against Swansea put us 1-0 up, he didn't do anything once they went 2-1 up which is when you need your senior forwards to step up.
That is really my main point, if this team is going to get to a place where it challenges then it's not about Memphis and Martial, they are learning and their best lies ahead, we need to upgrade Mata and Rooney as neither do enough to take up the slack for the young players in the attack. They'll have moments, Rooney got a hat trick against Brugge and I am sure he'll have some good games eventually this season and as you say Mata has a goal and a couple of assists, but when you look at the forward lines we want to be on the level of Mata and Rooney don't cut it IMO.
Juan Mata was very bad this game. No excuses, the chance he missed from that brilliant Schweinsteiger pass was criminal.
His crossing was poor too and he dallied on the ball a bit too much to the liking considering the game was getting end to end in the 2nd half. This gave PSV defenders time to crowd the box.
He needs to pull up his socks. A major share of responsibility for today's loss is on Juan's shoulders.
His crossing was poor too and he dallied on the ball a bit too much to the liking considering the game was getting end to end in the 2nd half. This gave PSV defenders time to crowd the box.
He needs to pull up his socks. A major share of responsibility for today's loss is on Juan's shoulders.
Genuine question:
You've claimed that it's not that Mata can't dribble like a winger, but that it's not his game (I still don't understand this...)
And that he's actually quick at distributing the ball and moving about the pitch.
What isn't he good at at, in your opinion? Is there anything, or is it everyone else's fault? Because I'd think even the biggest Mata fans would admit he's not capable of dribbling like a winger.
Weird, the Mata I am watching is either receiving and passing backwards before dithering with the ball for a few moments or falling over and losing the ball under the slightest bit of pressure.
Not good enough last night and has shown no signs of justifying his transfer fee since he signed. He has his moments but his best performances were at Chelsea and that is over two years ago now and there is good chance he will never get to that level again.
- Status