Should never play him on the wing again. Just keep him on the bench until he can play at #10 or just sell him for ffs.
8
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 54
- Goals
- 11
- Assists
- 11
- Yellow cards
- 7
- Red cards
- 1
- Status
Yeah I don't blame him as such, but the question has to be is he good enough even in number 10? He's no where near as good our rivals equivalents.
Even if we accept that playing him at RW is sometimes a good idea, was this the game to do it? Watching him try to deal with Rose and, as people above said, playing so deep he looked like a wingback at times....
Literally nobody would have expected him to play well in that role, whether they're a Mata fan or a Mata hater. Nobody except Van Gaal that is.
Nah, major mistake to play him there today. Mensah was often drifting into a central role to help the defence out, so it was a game where we should've really been looking to play someone who has more pace than Mata and tends to get back more often. Mata did it occasionally, but it's not something his game's really suited to as such.
I'm genuinely not bothered by today I'm not judging him on today's game I have watched him week in week out and he is rotten. No surprise we had one shot on target with this guy choking up our attack up the right wing every week. He's a massive part of our problems in the team. Add Rojo and Darmain to that! Not yet sure about Depay or Lingard other than knowing they are not good enough to be starters week in week out if we want to be challenging for titles.
That's fair, he hasn't played well enough to suggest he's any sort of answer for us long term. Plenty of fair things he can be criticised for generally.
Today was about LVG rather than the players though, especially for people like Mata and Young who were dropped in it by his weird decisions.
So where should we pick him then? He offers nothing. I hesitate to use the word "deluded" but how often are we going to keep making excuses for some of these players as of its magically going to click for them one day? If he had played 32 good games up to now and had an off day today I would accept your point but you can count the number of really good games he has had on the fingers of one hand since he signed.
You know what, Mata showed some guts today in his defensive work in some spells. He was effectively a RB at some point. Not sure what ppl expect from him when the staff are losing their minds!
I'm not really debating whether he's good enough or not. This game isn't one to judge him on at all is my only point. He was basically playing as a right back. Of course he was going to be shit. That's not his fault. It's the manager for picking him and forcing him to play that role.
He had to track the fullback all game.
Once the full back became an issue, Lingard and Mata should swapped positions. That would have tempered Rose's forays forward and Lingard was shite in the center anyway.
Once the full back became an issue, Lingard and Mata should swapped positions. That would have tempered Rose's forays forward and Lingard was shite in the center anyway.
I can't believe we played him as a defensive winger 
he actually did well tracking back but we should have swapped him and Lingard.
he actually did well tracking back but we should have swapped him and Lingard.This season has shown that the way forward in the PL is pace and directness. He's as weak and slow as they come, we can still fetch a good sum for him, should be moved in the summer.
He tried his best, not his fault the manager is incompetent, every other manager in the league would have seen it wasn't working and swapped moved mata centrally. It was an obvious and necessary change but not if your manager is LVG.
He can tick "Play a game as a Wingback" off his bucket list
He actually did better as a defensive winger than he has done offensively for the past however many months.
He seemed pretty feck off on the bench, or just in disbelief at the state of things
Yeah, he looked annoyed and disillusioned.
Maybe he can't believe how bad he has been since he signed. Kagawa wasn't any worse we have wasted £34m here. It's the same with Darmain as Rafael was better. Nani is better than all our wingers and Hernandez would be our best centre forward and Welbeck would walk into the team, Evans is also miles better than Rojo. Alot of bad decisions have been made. Fellaini don't know what to say at this stage.
id be inclined to think its what LVG asks from the players. Half the team forever swapping positions to places they shouldn't be, then inevitably look poor. Mata on the wing, jesse in the middle looking poor while our right side is getting ragged because Juan cant cover. then get flak for it from fans/media
Really?
Kagawa: 63 appearances, 6 goals, 10 assists = 0.253 goals/assists per appearance.
Mata: 105 appearances, 28 goals, 17 assists = 0.428 goals/assists per appearance.
I'd say those numbers suggest Kagawa was quite a bit worse than Mata. Especially when you consider the fact that Mata has only been here for the Moyes/LVG era of gloom, whereas Kagawa's one good season happened to be in the title winning one under the greatest manager of all time. I suspect Mata would also do better if you put him in a side that was capable of scoring 86 PL goals a season as opposed to the current version of our side that has yet to reach 40.
One of the worst tactical decisions you will ever see is playing mata at rw against an attacking full back like rose. I mean where is the logic ffs. I don't blame him to be honest. Absolute stupidity.
Can't judge him off yesterday as his position was just idiotic by LVG, but I do think we could use an upgrade in the attacking mid position. I wouldn't mind keeping him as he does often play well I just think we need more speed through the center.
We should certainly try and bring in an upgrade for the first eleven. I just don't get people saying we should sell him outright in the summer when he is objectively one of our best players right now, faint praise though that is. There's no way we're going to strengthen so much that having Mata as a squad player wouldn't be useful.
I know Mata has his fans on here, but I seen absolutely nothing from him as far as creativity is concerned. Yes, he seems to run around a lot more, but not seen him done anything on the pitch for months. Not sure why he is played in every game. Maybe we need Maureen to come in and kick him out again.
Are they per 90 minutes? They mean nothing otherwise. And considering Mata takes a lot of set pieces the assist stats are terrible.
I wouldn't say playing on the wing is a lost cause for him as he has had some really good performances there but he needs a full back like Valencia or TFM to be effective. His whole game is based on using the pace of other players around him as a decoy to pull off his passes and maneuver in tight spaces.
Poor Juan, did you see his little legs tracking back into the RB position all bloody game
Mata on the right wing against West Brom or somebody is just about acceptable, but that's only in games where we boss possession. Against a team who are our equals, who have quick and willing fullbacks who bomb forward at will is tactically very stupid. LVG usually prides himself on "preparing" for the match, but I can't believe any of the coaching staff, Giggs or LVG himself didn't look at that and think, hold on this might fail badly?.
The fact that people who aren't paid to win football matches can see it, but they can't is quite baffling.
The fact that people who aren't paid to win football matches can see it, but they can't is quite baffling.
Inspirational
We play too far apart on the pitch for his liking. LVG is so keen not to break formation that the combinations we could be doing to break a defense down are almost non-existent.
Some of the criticism is really unfair.
Mata has been one of our most productive players since he joined, in fact he maybe the most, however, he's barely played in his favoured position. 45 goals and assists in just over 2 seasons is a good return in a team that's scored around 170 goals since he joined. Mata has contributed towards 1/4 of our goals whilst playing in the worst possible position for a player of his traits.
In addition to this, he's never complained, his attitude has been incredible. Not once did he shed is responsibilities the other day against Spurs, when he was run ragged by Rose for 70 or so minutes. He ran up and down the pitch, albeit in slow mo.
I can't help but feel that we wasted a talent in Mata. A player capable of so much constantly played in the wrong position, yet could leave in summer with impressive figures.
Mata has been one of our most productive players since he joined, in fact he maybe the most, however, he's barely played in his favoured position. 45 goals and assists in just over 2 seasons is a good return in a team that's scored around 170 goals since he joined. Mata has contributed towards 1/4 of our goals whilst playing in the worst possible position for a player of his traits.
In addition to this, he's never complained, his attitude has been incredible. Not once did he shed is responsibilities the other day against Spurs, when he was run ragged by Rose for 70 or so minutes. He ran up and down the pitch, albeit in slow mo.
I can't help but feel that we wasted a talent in Mata. A player capable of so much constantly played in the wrong position, yet could leave in summer with impressive figures.
Man Utd 1:0 Aston Villa
Didn't offer much today except that neat little corner routine with Blind, and yet he saw plenty of the ball.
He had a 5-10 minute spell when he came alive (2 through balls for Rashford). The rest was neat slow possession and losing it in exciting areas.
All said and done he really is average
Wasn't poor, wasn't great but should have had a goal and two assists.
Hilarious how Villa fell for that corner routine twice.
It's quite a clever one but we never seem to do anything from it.
It's quite a clever one but we never seem to do anything from it.
He laid Rashford up twice and his movement in general caused their defense issues.
He needs to stop playing on the right.
If Rooney had to play today, play him on the right and Mata left, because Mata is more creative than him.
If Rooney had to play today, play him on the right and Mata left, because Mata is more creative than him.
Our players look as surprised as the opposition when it comes off. Everyone's stood there flat footed with their mouths open.
- Status