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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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I don't understand what his role in this team is. He makes no impact on the game yet he is free to roam anywhere he likes to do what exactly? Pass it sideways for a few yards?

It's ridiculous how much better we look with a winger on the right.

I know he has a lot of fans because he looks so silky on the ball but I find him extremely irritating. He looked better in the second half with a few good touches though.

Was he guilty of losing Sigurdsson?
 
He doesn't even bother standing out on the right anymore.
 
Borys said:
I don't understand what his role in this team is. He makes no impact on the game yet he is free to roam anywhere he likes to do what exactly? Pass it sideways for a few yards?

It's ridiculous how much better we look with a winger on the right.

I know he has a lot of fans because he looks so silky on the ball but I find him extremely irritating. He looked better in the second half with a few good touches though.

Was he guilty of losing Sigurdsson?
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Don't know about him losing Sigurdsson but was furious with him today for playing so small. I mean Herrera is not giant but he plays pissed off, which is great. Mata is unfortunately is all finesse and no bite or nastiness.
 
Definition of a luxury player. Has a decent skillset but isn't good enough to build a team around which is what he needs. Really nice guy and all but we should be looking to replace him.
 
Seriously needs to bulk up. That run near the end that resulted in him falling flat on his arse after getting slightly pushed was laughable.
 
AttackingFlair said:
Did okay and put in a good shift but slowed the game down a lot with sideways passing when he could've passed forward. He wasn't the only culprit though.
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Don't get me wrong, I go crazy when he starts the sideways passing, but could it partly be down to a lack of movement in front of him? Was he guilty of the same thing at Chelsea and/or with Spain? (genuine question as I've mostly watched him play for United.)
 
Needs to be dropped / rotated / rested. Whatever you want to call it. For good of him and the team but I honestly think if we sign players we really want / need he wont have a chance in a 433 or 4231 type formation.
 
The forwards are static at times, but when they do make runs the midfield never plays them, so after one of two failed runs the forwards stop which leads to more sideways passing from the midfield.

Sometimes with Mata he plays the quicker 1-2 passes but loses it, but passing slow possession based passes sidewards is not really helping either.

Its just not clicking for him, but the alternatives are not great on the bench so what do you do?
 
Sylar said:
Needs to be dropped / rotated / rested. Whatever you want to call it. For good of him and the team but I honestly think if we sign players we really want / need he wont have a chance in a 433 or 4231 type formation.
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Yep. If we had quality out wide, he'd be seeing much less game time.
 
He is too slow. There's never the option he could ghost past someone if they focus on stoppin him playing the pass. You don't have to be quick to be a #10 or a wide attacking midfielder (Silva, Isco, De Bruyne) but you do need that dribbling abillity which he doesn't have.
 
We finally play a good attacking game and you have a go at Mata who was one of the biggest factor. Because of Young's role as a wing back Mata was playing sort of as a #10. He was constantly moving, as was Herrera, which made the team less static than usual. Much better flow in attack and Swansea had a difficult time shutting down the attack.

Seriously, a player has the ball at most for about 7% of the game. The rest of the time he's off the ball and that work is more important. Unless someone dribbles past a bunch of players or scores a long range belter then it's the off the ball movement that creates space for the player that assists and player that scores. Mata did exactly his job today. He created space, he got into goal scoring chances and he distributed the ball well and quickly.
 
I think Mata really gets a lot of unfair stick at times. He hasn't had a great season, granted but he is not all at fault for everything. It's common knowledge that Mata is very slight and weak. He does't get involved in the physical side of things. There is only so much he can do considering his size. He will always get bullied too easily. What Mata needs is to play in a team where he is "shielded" from the physical side of the game.

He is also suffering from a lack of runners around him, this is where you would see the best of Mata. Everyone around him is too static to make use of his best attributes.

That said, I doubt United can provide him with best environment for him to be at his best, sadly. But he is not as bad as fans make him to be.
 
goin4glory said:
Definition of a luxury player. Has a decent skillset but isn't good enough to build a team around which is what he needs. Really nice guy and all but we should be looking to replace him.
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Couldn't agree more.
 
jem said:
Don't get me wrong, I go crazy when he starts the sideways passing, but could it partly be down to a lack of movement in front of him? Was he guilty of the same thing at Chelsea and/or with Spain? (genuine question as I've mostly watched him play for United.)
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There were quite a few passes on but he took too long and then played safe. Either he's instructed to slow the game down by the coach or he's not got as good a football brain as it seemed when he was at Chelsea?
 
One stat that shocked me was when they showed the distance run by United players stat around the 60th minute and Mata was actually leading the stat. Maybe he isn't as much of a luxury player as people think.
 
Ayush_reddevil said:
One stat that shocked me was when they showed the distance run by United players stat around the 60th minute and Mata was actually leading the stat. Maybe he isn't as much of a luxury player as people think.
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He put in a good shift but contributed nothing going forward. £37m playmaker is expected to contribute something going forward against Swansea at home.
 
Ish said:
You're being very kind with that timeline there NL! He's been gash for a much longer time period IMO. So too has just about every other mid/attacker tbf.
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Well okay it's been more like months not weeks but I felt in the second half we saw glimpses again from what the lad can actually do when he is on form and not totally void of confidence. I hope he and the team can build on this experience and finally get some live back into this team.
 
NoLogo said:
Well okay it's been more like months not weeks but I felt in the second half we saw glimpses again from what the lad can actually do when he is on form and not totally void of confidence. I hope he and the team can build on this experience and finally get some live back into this team.
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It's been more than that. It's been three years since we saw Mata at his peak. Since 13/14, he's been terrible - bar that four game run he went on during the end of last season - and that's coincided with top managers such as Mourinho and Van Gaal using him in a way that doesn't suit his skill-set. This gets said a lot and is somewhat of a cliché, but he's a player who would have been excellent many years ago. Right now though, he's a massive hindrance to our squad and needs to be replaced next summer, or we bring in some competition to challenge him for his spot (with him playing a role as a squad player). Which I've been in favour of for a while now.
 
I've been very critical of him in recent weeks but he ran his socks off today. Improved second half.
 
He's pathetic at times nowhere near what we need.
 
MoneyMay said:
It's been more than that. It's been three years since we seen Mata at his peak. Since 13/14, he's been terrible - bar that four game run he went on during the end of last season - and that's coincided with top managers such as Mourinho and Van Gaal using him in a way that doesn't suit his skill-set. This gets said a lot and is somewhat of a cliché, but he's a player who would have been excellent many years ago. Right now though, he's a massive hindrance to our squad and needs to be replaced next summer, or we bring in some competition to challenge him for his spot (with him playing a role as a squad player). Which I've been in favour of for a while now.
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Well that's probably true. Last time he really convinced me for a longer period of time he still wore blue. In all honesty we need to look at quite a lot of alternatives for our attacking quartet if we ever want to get back into Europe's elite. Atm I'm afraid that only Martial really got the quality it takes to make a permanent impact in our attack.
 
NoLogo said:
Well that's probably true. Last time he really convinced me for a longer period of time he still wore blue. In all honesty we need to look at quite a lot of alternatives for our attacking quartet if we ever want to get back into Europe's elite. Atm I'm afraid that only Martial really got the quality it takes to make a permanent impact in our attack.
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Absolutely. He was excellent for Chelsea. He's a player who knows how to make use of open space and defences that are stretched. He was in a very comfortable position back then. Which had a detrimental effect on that Chelsea side. However, now that he's required to defend and contribute more to our build-up play, he's struggled. He's not strong or agile enough to beat his man - look at Ozil and how he controls his opponents - and doesn't have the right attributes to move away from pressure and create chances for us.

I think Mata's best performances for us were at the end of last season, but they were overrated to a certain degree. Same applies to the start of this season. He was creating more clear cut chances than I can ever remember with us, but he was above average. He's the true definition of a luxury player.
 
Absolute marmite performer. goes from 45 minutes of invisibility to 10 minutes of hitting crossbars and lovely 1-2's then vanishes again for a bit.
 
Not his worst game today but if there is any truth to him wanting to leave United then he should go, and hopefully we'll get a decent price because of his reputation, stats and age - because based on his all round performances I don't think he would get into many other top teams starting line up.

Also, if it is true about him wanting to leave he may be slightly misguided - I checked and he has started more times for us this season than any other player (20) and has played the second highest amount of minutes after Chris Smalling (source: Who scored)
 
Woody really should look into forming a Man United ladies team. We can make Mata captain of the side. Provides nothing on the pitch these days. We can put in any youth team player and get more out of them than what we are getting out of Mata.
 
I thought he was good (going by the reaction in here that might be down to my love for him) but good positive things from players like Young and Martial usually involved a little link up with Mata somewhere, wasn't flashy but allowed the freedom of others to come out. My most pleasing aspect of his game last night was his defensive work, he was closing down and doubling up the whole game, even back in our defensive third, really put a lot of work in which just goes to show how stupid some of the arguments are about him.
 
Thought he was better today, and was better against Chelsea than he has been for some time too. He looks more comfortable when we're not playing standing-still snail-pace possession football. He is at his most dangerous when he collects and plays the ball on the move. His game unravels when he receives the ball on the spot. He's too sluggish from a standing start to make anything happen. In motion, he is very mobile.

I still believe he can contribute to United, and that he is capable of more than what we are seeing. Very talented player, stuck in the same rut as the majority of the squad, but unfortunately his lack of physical traits make him one of the bigger liabilities when we are playing like this. Young on the right would be a better option, and Herrera is probably a better option at #10, as he's got a bit more tenacity and toughness to his game.
 
Eric'sCollar said:
I thought he was good (going by the reaction in here that might be down to my love for him) but good positive things from players like Young and Martial usually involved a little link up with Mata somewhere, wasn't flashy but allowed the freedom of others to come out. My most pleasing aspect of his game last night was his defensive work, he was closing down and doubling up the whole game, even back in our defensive third, really put a lot of work in which just goes to show how stupid some of the arguments are about him.
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I thought he played well too. When he has runners around him he produces magic. Our team is just too static to get the best out of him imo.
 
I don't know why people are telling him to bulk up. We all know he isn't a physical player and never has been. He's always relied on his brain and his technique like David Silva. We can't expect him to grow a pair now at this point in his career, he will always be the same player. The only way we can change his effectiveness is if we play in a way which suits him. He needs mobility around him and strikers who can make direct runs.

Honestly I hope we do sell him just so people see how good he is again in a different set up. He would get so many assists and goals playing for teams that suit him more than we do.
 
Ayush_reddevil said:
One stat that shocked me was when they showed the distance run by United players stat around the 60th minute and Mata was actually leading the stat. Maybe he isn't as much of a luxury player as people think.
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He's just shite then?
 
I'm sick of hearing about how bloody likeable he is. If he wasn't likeable he'd have been lynched at this stage. Physically weak and generally cowardly in possession. What does he actually offer? We spent 37 million on him

Edit: and what actually makes him so likeable? he's been shite on the pitch. what do you all like so much? his beard? Don't get it, never have. Every now and then he does something lovely on the pitch but it is happens far too rarely to explain the love this guy gets on here.
 
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