Hasn't done well at all in the last few games. Really needs to step up.
8
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 54
- Goals
- 11
- Assists
- 11
- Yellow cards
- 7
- Red cards
- 1
- Status
Toilet
Don't think he's happy with how he played today. Not his type of match. Too much battle in the box with the ball in the air and drifted a bit out on the wing where he couldn't deliver a simple cross. Looked like his team mates and him were not synced in attack. He had a couple of moments where he waited for a movement from Lingard or Memphis, but nothing happened. Instead he had to release the ball and then make the run himself.
He was rubbish in a game where we needed him to step up... Disappointing.
Clearly fatigued but with Herera injured now it looks like a rest won't be coming any time soon.
If I was to consider any of our attackers undroppable, Mata would be the one. Too much quality, too productive and too capable of coming up with something even when playing badly.
That said, I don't think LVG feels the same way. He needs to improve his form and quickly.
That said, I don't think LVG feels the same way. He needs to improve his form and quickly.
... You realise he's shown none of this for the past four of five matches?
Am I only allowed to judge him on the past four or five matches?
Before the Boro game, LVG said he was in the red zone. Might be true. he's looked off pace for a month.
Can a player with 'too much quality', 'too productive', 'too capable' go four or five matches without doing anything? That player couldn't. Mata, could, because he just really isn't that good.
You know something is wrong when you're the senior member of an inexperienced attack and it's you who gets subbed off.
edit, for another inexperienced kid at that.
edit, for another inexperienced kid at that.
Last edited:
Clearly has skill and vision but he's just too slow. Repeatedly got caught on the ball today.
Yes, a player that good can go five games without doing anything. Better players than Mata have too, poor form happens quite a lot in football. It's only five games ffs.
Absolute master of looking neat and tidy throughout but doing very little. Barring a couple of games here and there it's been the story of his season while everyone else around him gets dogs abuse. Not like Lingard and Depay were all that good either but still looked a cut above and more dangerous than Mata. Just goes to show utterly dogshit we are without Martial in our attack. The only attacking player who's good enough for United.
Could you not have come up with a better, more believable excuse? Fatigued? What the flying feck has he done in the last fortnight aside from warming the Spanish bench? Or are we just running out of excuses for him now? I thought pace around him was supposed to unlock some sort of genius inside him...
Could you not have come up with a better, more believable excuse? Fatigued? What the flying feck has he done in the last fortnight aside from warming the Spanish bench? Or are we just running out of excuses for him now? I thought pace around him was supposed to unlock some sort of genius inside him...
Not playing well, is he? Needs to up the urgency.
It's like the go to excuse for any small player with half decent technique ever.I love the man, but not a good performance today. Was a non-factor in any 50/50 ball, lost the ball a few times and repeatedly played the safe option rather than looking for an incisive through ball.
So poor. I don't understand how Mata can put in performances like these. So much technical ability, such a good left foot, yet so unwilling to go on and stamp his authority on the game. He's still a quality player but with him you just feel it could still be so much more.
Not having a go at you, but according to a few people on here pace is meant to get the best out of Mata. Depay and Lingard were making excellent runs throughout the match, so the problem clearly lies elsewhere. If a player struggles to turn and face the opposition goal, he's going to have problems creating chances for us, even if we have attacking players making amazing runs off the ball. It's not a coincidence that Mata performs slightly better playing on the RW, and that's because he has more space to operate in and there's less pressure on him. Whenever he has played as a #10 for us, he's struggled. Mourinho, Del Bosque, Van Gaal all prefer other players to him in that role for a reason...
You could tell from his reaction to being subbed that he even knew he had a poor game.
He's a really good player but I just get the feeling that after next summer he's going to replaced on the right & won't be given the chance to play centrally. If LVG gets the players or type of player that he wants then I can't see Mata being here much longer than another season.
He's a really good player but I just get the feeling that after next summer he's going to replaced on the right & won't be given the chance to play centrally. If LVG gets the players or type of player that he wants then I can't see Mata being here much longer than another season.
Not great his stats hide the fact he has been stone average since joining.
Yup. He's a quality player technically, but he's still lacking in key elements. Ozil, who has been the best #10 in the league this season, finds it relatively easy to evade pressure and always creates space for himself, so it seems like he has more time/space to work with compared to other playmakers. If Mata was able to get in the right areas for us, he would be amazing. But it's not going to happen. We need more pace... he has to play as a #10... Van Gaal isn't managing him properly... All these arguments never made sense to begin with IMO. For us to see the best of him in his "favoured role", he would need to change his skillset and that's physically impossible.
Needs to do better. Is coasting by when we need him to be doing more.
My point wasn't that his best position is #10, I like him wide but people like to write him off centrally just after one half he plays there. How many times did he actually got the chance there to perform for us in a fluid team behind striker who can actually keep the ball and make the runs?
I agree that he didn't have good game, and that he should have done better with Memphis and Lingard in front of him, but it's just their first game together and it's impossible to expect that everything will click for them in the first game together, in new formation(s), in a tough away game.
When he plays centrally rather than having that bit extra freedom drifting off the right it allows CM's or CB's to get on him quicker and he lacks the strength or pace to get away from them most of the time.
Goals are goals. I agree he has been a tad underwhelming but it's been an awkward time at the club.
Weird that a few years ago every team wanted, or needed, a player like him but now it seems it's like it's hard to fit them into a team.
Yep the 433 has killed their positions but the ones with mobility can play in the front 3. Mata should play in the middle 3 at home versus the weaker teams.
That's a bit of an exaggeration. He's had some incredibly average spells for us (first half of last season, and arguably at the moment), but he's had plenty of very good spells for us too.
United score with Mata no longer on the pitch, what a surprise ! Or actually not really, as our scoring rate in the PL is better without him; which was also the case last season and even in his first season at the club.
I'm still waiting for the spell of games without Mata, just to see how we might perform. Complete mystery to me how he gets in the team every week (though not as extraordinary as Rooney's selection)
I'm still waiting for the spell of games without Mata, just to see how we might perform. Complete mystery to me how he gets in the team every week (though not as extraordinary as Rooney's selection)
This is exactly how he plays in most of our games, tbf, except he didn't get a goal / assist to hide it.
Think he limits us. I've completely lost faith in him. We need players with power, dribbling ability and pace. A really nice lad...who won't go into a tackle to save his mother.
Not a fan Cheesy to much of a passenger for me. Yep great stats but overall in games is a burden and we carry him. The sooner he's replaced in that wide right the better. Of the front man is his position and he should get his chance there.
What a stupid logic.
We scored when he was on the pitch, and we conceeded a goal after he was subbed off.
And can you post those stats about us being more efficient without him and if you which gameswere those.
Funnily enough if there's anyone he should look to learn from it's own best bud Ander Herrera who always plays with a great deal of intensity. Mata has so much going for him, but if he could just impose himself more on games, and be willing to take on the mantle that he really should be taking on.
I posted them on Nov 2nd in this thread. If you want the matches, go to transfermarkt, look at Mata's personal stats, it shows all the details, though you'll need to either recall or make note of, when the goals were scored in those matches that Mata was substituted.
This season: http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/juan-mata/leistungsdaten/spieler/44068
Last season: http://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/juan-mata/leistungsdaten/spieler/44068/plus/0?saison=2014
Mata may seem an important player when he is on the pitch, but when he is missing we don't seem to have much problem scoring goals or creating chances. The only season in which the fixtures were unfavourable to Mata's stats is the Moyes/Giggs season in which he missed the Hull home game and was a sub against Norwich at home. In the other seasons, if anything, he has featured in a marginally easier set of fixtures so it should be pretty alarming that our scoring rate isn't higher with Mata on the pitch.
Last edited:
Typical Mata performance without that goal/assist for fans to rave about him.We can't afford to start him and Rooney together unless Wayne played as number 10.Too many passengers in one front 4.
Still prefer him as a united player than not....
Just curious, but how would he do at Arsenal?
I found your post:
So by your math, with Mata in the team last season we were scoring every 56,02 minutes, and without him every 53,47 minutes. Yes, that's great improvement, I am surprised how the manager didn't notice those 2,5 minutes difference.
So, to check it out, I'll just post games in which he didn't play at all(I am lazy to look through all games where he was subbed off). So, he's missed West Ham home(2-0), City away(1-0), Arsenal away(1-2), West Ham away (1-1), Burnley home(3-1), so completely balanced set of fixtures, two tough games, few shittier ones. That's 8 goals in 450 minutes, so that means we were scoring at pretty much identical ratio when he was on the pitch, every 56,25 minutes, and that was mostly because of the Burnley home game. Arsenal home in which he played we scored one, and City home with him we scored 4, so there's really no any pattern here so you can come up with any conclusion.
How that proves anything is beyond me.
For a large portion (or maybe all) of the time that Mata has been with us, we've lacked pacey players up front. Now that we have Martial, Memphis, and Lingard available, I think we're beginning to fully realize how much Mata slows us down.
We complain about how much Rooney is moved around the lineup in order to accommodate him and we should also look at the situation when Mata plays. IMO Mata is being fitted into 2 positions neither of which he is suited for.
IMO he doesn't have the needed abilities to play as a CAM/10 because he is too slow, too lightweight, and won't try to navigate around defenders with the ball. His first instinct is to slow play down or pass into safe areas rather than try to force the play and create. He is also useless for aerials and whenever there's a 50-50 he will always get beaten to control of the ball because he's simply not fast enough.
Similar problems come up when he is on the wing because, again, he does not have the speed or ability (or desire) to take defenders on and create his own space. This is a large part of the reason why Valencia still has a place on the team, because he is (or was, until Lingard) our only speed going down the right.
His redeeming qualities are that he works hard and he can create great chances -if- given the space to work in. His skills are some of the best in PL but the situation has to fit. So it's no surprise IMO that he's struggling because the situation is not always something that he'll get.
I've liked Mata but if we want to have the fast, dynamic attack we've been talking about, I don't really think he's worth the money we're paying him. I guess we can hold onto him for now but we should be looking to improve his place.
We complain about how much Rooney is moved around the lineup in order to accommodate him and we should also look at the situation when Mata plays. IMO Mata is being fitted into 2 positions neither of which he is suited for.
IMO he doesn't have the needed abilities to play as a CAM/10 because he is too slow, too lightweight, and won't try to navigate around defenders with the ball. His first instinct is to slow play down or pass into safe areas rather than try to force the play and create. He is also useless for aerials and whenever there's a 50-50 he will always get beaten to control of the ball because he's simply not fast enough.
Similar problems come up when he is on the wing because, again, he does not have the speed or ability (or desire) to take defenders on and create his own space. This is a large part of the reason why Valencia still has a place on the team, because he is (or was, until Lingard) our only speed going down the right.
His redeeming qualities are that he works hard and he can create great chances -if- given the space to work in. His skills are some of the best in PL but the situation has to fit. So it's no surprise IMO that he's struggling because the situation is not always something that he'll get.
I've liked Mata but if we want to have the fast, dynamic attack we've been talking about, I don't really think he's worth the money we're paying him. I guess we can hold onto him for now but we should be looking to improve his place.
- Status