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2015-16 Performances

View full 2015-16 profile

5.7 Season Average Rating
Appearances
54
Goals
11
Assists
11
Yellow cards
7
Red cards
1
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The way I see it he is producing the goals and assists but not quite the performances. I don't know what we can do about that other than getting in somebody like alves behind him. (Or perhaps wait for Darmian to improve)

Unless of course we replaced him with a marquee signing like Reus or Bale ( not so likely, is it). Although my personal preference is somebody either like Greizmann or potential like Draxler
 
He just needs to come hunt for the ball sooner. Probably not limited to United but, often we tend to focus trying to break down teams mostly on one side and these days that is often through the left side. So when Mata does stay out right, he sees very little of the ball. Part of the reason we got better yesterday was Mata came and looked for the ball, he was ending up all the way on the left sideline. When he does get on the ball he usually ups the pace for us a little. Been thinking for a while that he really should be our #10 but, that in this system is a very specific role in that LVG wants that player more central and closer to goal. Maybe part of the problem is at the start of the games, he holds his position a bit more to figure out what the opposition are going to do down our right side - dunno but, it's typical of him not to really enter the game till a good 20-30 min have gone by

From the right if Mata just is given autonomy from the start to roam and our CM is given instruction to cover the right when he does roam while we are in possession then he can start doing it earlier in games.
 
That was a real workman like performance yesterday which I've not seen from him before. There was a couple of times he tried to get on the end of a couple of chances inside the box. I know he says he's not a winger but he did do a very good job for us out there (albeit he does drift inside an awful lot).
 
Im probably one of the few members here that see him as a very good wide right forward. Played well yesterday and did well for both goals he had a hand in
 
Prefer him on the right that at no.10. It means Herrera should be able to get in the team, blocking Young. While I have been satisfied with Young's performance he's inefficient. Like another poster mentioned, he'll look to take on his man consistently but then often failing with the crosses. Sometimes a good delivery but even if the deliveries are often good, you need to be finding a man, which I feel he doesn't do enough.
 
It is kind of weird that when he was at Valencia, he played wide and he actually had some pace/acceleration. He's only 27 and yet it seems he's completely lost all of that lol. I've said it before but I still think he looks as though he's 'carrying' weight; he could be more leaner and possibly be that extra half yard sharper, which imo would help him and our game massively. Maybe it's dribbling technique but Silva's style of carrying the ball is majestic and with that fleet footed step he can actually go past people. Mata had this before and I still think he has it but where has it gone?! Maybe being the only creative link between the midfield and attack hinders his game i.e Aguero, Navas, Sterling, Toure are equally capable of dropping and dictating play in their familar formation, whereas Mata is usually the last one to give that final pass/chance.

Either way, his qualities now should be that he plays centrally and has freedom to pop around the pitch/into the flanks. This right sided position is surely not a long term solution because he will struggle to impact games where teams attack down that side or are able to keep the ball better than us. Hopefully someone like Martial can drift that side of the pitch and link up with him because we need some serious width. It's not about needing to beat the full back and being able to cross but width stretches teams when they press/anticipate the ball. Earlier above someone criticised Navas and rightly so but it shouldn't be because of his orthodox style, which imo is glorious, it should be for his lack of consistent end product. For the amount chances he creates/gets into very good positions he should be a regular double tally goal scorer and assister.

I've said it before in other threads but players like Young and Valencia should be getting game time the way they are (not for the long term but as soporadic starters and 'game-changers' as subs) now because their orthodox style compliment our intuitive, intelligent players like Mata, Herrera, Schweinsteiger, Depay, Martial etc. Not to mention their fearless professionalism and experience.
 
He instantly creates something once he moves in or rotates to that #10 role. He is so much more dangerous than anyone we have who could play behind the striker.
 
Has anyone gone back to the second half of the Moyes season and last season and seen how many times he's blazed the ball over from inside the area? Against Palace he had three in one game before getting the lone goal, Soton at home he had two. One thing I noticed that I thought was a bit strange.
 
Lawman said:
Yep exactly the centre half comes over and closes the space for 1 v 1 same with the midfield leaving Depay a lot to do. If we had someone like Mane on the right then it's much harder for this to happen and leaves opportunities for Depay to be 1 v 1.
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See that's the issue with Mata. If he starts on the right in current 4-2-3-1 and drifts inside there is nobody attacking from the right wing. That makes it easy for opposition defenders to double mark Depay, who is struggling to create in the EPL.

I liked him more in the right attacker last season. His dribbling isn’t anything special but he’s good at creating for himself that little bit of space to pass, cross or shoot. That’s how he played last year when we used 4-3-3 (I mean, the real 4-3-3, not the one LvG is talking about). He also could get in dangerous positions more as he stayed high up the pitch.

I see a lot of people are happy that he’s influencing game and so, but it makes us easy to defend because we’re attacking only from the left. It’s easy to see how we struggle to score goals from open play, and it will be even more difficult now with Shaw out.
 
Borys said:
I see a lot of people are happy that he’s influencing game and so, but it makes us easy to defend because we’re attacking only from the left. It’s easy to see how we struggle to score goals from open play, and it will be even more difficult now with Shaw out.
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We did just tonk away three against Soton though. Granted two were pretty gifty.

Another example of Mata not staying forward on a counter.

 
United again! said:
We did just tonk away three against Soton though. Granted two were pretty gifty.

Another example of Mata not staying forward on a counter.

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We were very lucky to score first and second goal, so it proves my point that we struggle to score from open play.

So are you suggesting Mata is playing too deep?
 
Borys said:
We were very lucky to score first and second goal, so it proves my point that we struggle to score from open play.

So are you suggesting Mata is playing too deep?
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Lucky in that the first was offisde? To be fair, it was a hard one to spot, with Mata coming back into an onside position and the linesman not being sure whether Rooney touched the ball on the way through. It still required decent movement from Mata and great work from Martial to score.

The second goal, yeah its a bad back pass, but it needs Martial to be alive to the situation... we made our own luck in both scenarios.

They were no more lucky then Southampton's first, and to an extent their second (if we're saying our 2nd is poor defending, then so is their 2nd)
 
United again! said:
As in, he's being deployed deep? Or he's not playing his position properly?..
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Yeah, I agree he's playing too deep.

Annihilate Now! said:
Lucky in that the first was offisde? To be fair, it was a hard one to spot, with Mata coming back into an onside position and the linesman not being sure whether Rooney touched the ball on the way through. It still required decent movement from Mata and great work from Martial to score.
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I guess you missed that it was Southampton defender who kicked the ball and it landed under Martial feet. Double luck.

Annihilate Now! said:
The second goal, yeah its a bad back pass, but it needs Martial to be alive to the situation... we made our own luck in both scenarios.
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You sound like the only scenario you would consider as “luck” is when the opposition score an own goal. Yeah it required Martial to be aware but we didn’t manage to create such an easy goalscoring situation on our own, so yeah, it was very fortunate.

Annihilate Now! said:
They were no more lucky then Southampton's first, and to an extent their second (if we're saying our 2nd is poor defending, then so is their 2nd)
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First Southampton goal was scored after DDG made a safe from Mane shot, so it’s close to our third (I don’t consider it as lucky goals).

Calling our second goal as “bad defending” is bizarre, it was a pass to the striker feet.

I don’t understand why so many people won’t admit we were very lucky to score those goals and it was Southampton who had better chances.
 
Borys said:
I guess you missed that it was Southampton defender who kicked the ball and it landed under Martial feet. Double luck.
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So anything that isn't a direct pass to feet count as luck?

And it's not really luck, he had to make the tackle, and there's only one place the ball could have gone once he made the tackle, to the side, which is where Martial was.

You sound like the only scenario you would consider as “luck” is when the opposition score an own goal. Yeah it required Martial to be aware but we didn’t manage to create such an easy goalscoring situation on our own, so yeah, it was very fortunate.


First Southampton goal was scored after DDG made a safe from Mane shot, so it’s close to our third (I don’t consider it as lucky goals).

Calling our second goal as “bad defending” is bizarre, it was a pass to the striker feet.

I don’t understand why so many people won’t admit we were very lucky to score those goals and it was Southampton who had better chances.
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I meant their second goal. The ball is crossed to Pelle who is free of anyone even remotely bothering to mark him for some bizarre reason. He has a free jump to head the ball into the net... completely ridiculous on our part, obviously not as bad as Yoshida's backpass, but certainly in the same realm of terrible defending.

Basically, we were only as lucky in front of goal as Southampton were - but you make your own luck in football. This was a game that, after the first 30 minutes, we completely dominated until their 2nd goal went in. I imagine if we had defended that goal with any shred of decency we'd have seen the game out with little fuss.

And what were these great Southampton chances? The header from the corner that De Gea made a superb save from? Everything else was half chances/shots from outside the box.
 
Annihilate Now! said:
So anything that isn't a direct pass to feet count as luck?

And it's not really luck, he had to make the tackle, and there's only one place the ball could have gone once he made the tackle, to the side, which is where Martial was.
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If I said we got lucky because we won after an own goal, you would probably say the same. Come on, it sounds ridiculous.

I meant their second goal. The ball is crossed to Pelle who is free of anyone even remotely bothering to mark him for some bizarre reason. He has a free jump to head the ball into the net... completely ridiculous on our part, obviously not as bad as Yoshida's backpass, but certainly in the same realm of terrible defending.
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No- because Pelle and Mane were in control of the situation, the latter made a perfect cross and the former scored a nice goal. Our defence made a mistake- but I don’t consider it as lucky goal. If it worked like that you could always said “if X was closer to Y, you wouldn’t score”. But they did, and we never touched the ball- unlike our first two goals. We were not in control, we got lucky.

Basically, we were only as lucky in front of goal as Southampton were - but you make your own luck in football. This was a game that, after the first 30 minutes, we completely dominated until their 2nd goal went in. I imagine if we had defended that goal with any shred of decency we'd have seen the game out with little fuss.
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We dominated, fair enough. My point is we needed the fortune on our side to score 2 of those goals. We can’t count on that.

And what were these great Southampton chances? The header from the corner that De Gea made a superb save from? Everything else was half chances/shots from outside the box.
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I remember Blind saving us twice, plus Pelle hitting the post. I would like to remind you David De Gea was 2nd highest rated player with 8.5 (Martial was on 8.8). They definitely had the better chances.

I saw a lot of people who don’t want to admit we were lucky, but would they say the same if it was Southampton who scored those goals? Yeah, I don’t see it.
 
Man Utd 3:0 Ipswich
I know he has his fans here but the way he plays the position drives me nuts, so often he gets the ball in a position to attack the fullback and he either passes it back or sideways, and yes I know he does that because he realizes he can't go past anyone and needs to wait for the overlap, but it's so frustrating to watch.
 
Looked like he had an excellent match judging by the comments I've read and what I did get to see of the game. He was unlucky not to get a goal.
 
Another pretty ordinary 70mins for him, his little dart for the second was important though. Makes you think again that being a little more direct and forward thinking he could do this a lot more often and cause more problems. I think he really benefited from Valencia being an absolute balls out madman and running up the right hand side almost every time. I have to admit that his linkup with Darmian seems to have dried up because Darmian has realized the guy is a loose cannon positionally and doesn't want to go charging up field to be caught miles out of position which is almost a certainty when Mata drifts inside.
 
He rubbishes the idea that LVG is too rigid. There's no position he doesn't find himself in the front 6.
 
for years and years Fergie had complained we didn't have enough goals coming from midfield. #Johnnykills.
 
Don't care about arguments about him as a player when you see stats like that. Yes, they don't tell the whole story but the part of the story they do tell is that he directly impacts the game more than most.
 
Also impressive al Toure and Hazard have 6 penalties between them.
 
I think he plays much better with Valencia over lapping him. At the minute Darmian is too safe and doesn't want to risk overlapping, which really limits Mata's space. I prefer Darmain defensively but in the games we are needing to break down teams, I think Valencia should be starting IMO. Against Sunderland it should be the same, Darmian needs a little rest IMO.
 
Great skill set but wasted at right side of a 3 imo kills our momentum going forward up the right side but when he picks the ball up centrally he is a danger to any team. But he needs employed in the right manner!
 
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