I'm glad to see this forum finally starting to unanimously appreciate what Juan Mata brings to this team. For most of his time here at United, he has been misused. Now he finally has some skillful, pacy players around him which suits his game. And of course, he's finally being played in his natural position. As long as the setup is right and Mata is our #10, we will create chances at a good rate.
8
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 42
- Goals
- 10
- Assists
- 6
- Yellow cards
- 5
- Status
And as long as Zlatan is our striker, we will miss them at a better one. Need to bring in the pace of Rashford/Martial up front to help Mata convert those chances into assists.
He should have had 2-3 assists today if not for Zlatan's wastefulness. Him and Herrera should always start imo, we look a completely different team with them involved.
Probably my favourite player in the team
A walking highlight reel today.
He gets the ball, turns towards the goal and plays the ball forward. Compare that to what Rooney did when he came onto the pitch.
He gets the ball, turns towards the goal and plays the ball forward. Compare that to what Rooney did when he came onto the pitch.
Because Rashford and Martial are guaranteed to convert those chances? They're young players who are prone to missing chances too. People who want to drop Zlatan and play Martial or Rashford as the lone striker: what will happen if those two don't produce either? We're already in a terrible run of form in the league lately, the pressure on our young players would be enormous if they were the lone striker up front. And if they start missing sitters too, it only makes the situation worse. Rashford himself has been in bad form lately (a product of being played out wide but still), and Martial's form over the entire season hasn't been good. So there are no guarantees that Rashford or Martial will score from those chances either.
Zlatan is in terrible goalscoring form lately but he has been a world class forward in his career and benching him isn't necessarily going to make things better.
He was outstanding today. Brilliant performance.
Everything about his game was classy. He brought people into play really well, his movement was excellent and he took people on. It was a really confident performance from him and it was great to see.
He had a few good chances which to be fair he could have put away but his all round game was very, very good. Play him in behind the front man on a regular basis and he'll come up with goals and assists if he plays as he did today.
Everything about his game was classy. He brought people into play really well, his movement was excellent and he took people on. It was a really confident performance from him and it was great to see.
He had a few good chances which to be fair he could have put away but his all round game was very, very good. Play him in behind the front man on a regular basis and he'll come up with goals and assists if he plays as he did today.
No shit... I swear Rooney at one point was chasing his own tail trying to figure out what to do with the ball.
As for Mata... he just seems to get better and better. He really needs to be a part of our first XI.
Aye. If nothing else he's put the question marks over him as a #10 to bed for good. Should be nailed on in his favourite position from this point on.
Deserves to start more "higher profile" matches. He seems to get dropped for "pace" but think we need to stop doing that now. If we want to be more solid in midfield, fine, push Pogba up, bring in somebody like Carrick/Morgan/fellaini, but then use Mata in a "wider" position to start with (hopefully right) as his ability on the ball would be better than somebody who can run faster but cant do much with it...
I think he's fitter than ever before. Also, does anyone else think he is a lot faster than he used to be?
First name on the team sheet.
To be fair he's done very well so far. Although, I wasn't happy with how he dealt with Hazard's goal last week but he's definitely has done much better than in his last 2.5 seasons.
Mata was at his best when he was combining with Zlatan around penalty area. No way Rashford or Martial are capable of pulling of give and goes and passes in tight spaces that Zlatan does. He missed a lot of chances but I think Mata's game will suffer if we put in other strikers up front. I am none too happy about Zlatan 's performance either. But I would want him to carry on for the next few games just for the sake of bringing out best in Mata. If he continues to fail to convert chances then maybe we can try alternatives.
Played great today but there was 2-3 situations where I thought he was a bit selfish with the ball and chose the easy wide option too much, although that might just be a LVG thing. Sometimes when a player like Herrera/Pogba/Zlatan has taken that position, back against goal and defender in those pockets of spaces outside the box, trust their touch and awareness and just give it to them. Yes there's a high chance they might get their pocket picked but those central positons are where they can affect play more effectively as opposed to the wait for the defenders to fall flat/square and go for the wide ball (in which case the defence has set).
Based on nothing, I would guess he just seems faster because of our change in style of play from last season.
We know LVG had a very pedestrian style of play (as confirmed by Mourinho) and I think Mata adapted to that as much as he could which is why he survived in LVG's team when others didn't.
Now though, with less micromanagement in terms of having fixed positions, his naturally good off the ball movement makes it seem as though he has more pace. He's moving into positions on instinct rather than by design which makes him seem quicker.
Agree. The Mata/Zlatan understanding is good, it's just Zlatan's finishing that obscures it. If Zlatan was at his best then they'd be a great combination.
How many points are we willing to drop by playing Zlatan? He's time and again been costing us this season with his misses. It's not like he's missing one sitter a game, it's multiple. I expect nothing from the man in big games like Chelsea and Liverpool (missed easy chances there too) but he's supposed to be scoring in these no pressure games against rubbish sides. People say there's no guarantee Rashford will score but for me seems a far more composed finisher than Zlatan does in his time here at United.
Yet again MOTM and yet again hauled of at 70 mins for an inferior player when we are chasing.
If we were struggling to create chances you could understand the need to mix it up, but that was not the case yesterday.
If we were struggling to create chances you could understand the need to mix it up, but that was not the case yesterday.
I was giving my own personal opinion that had I been the manager I will stick with Zlatan a few more games. I completely agree with you on Rashford being more clinical, at least from what we have seen of him in this season and last but I am equally sure Rashford doesn't contribute the overall game like Zlatan does. Last game against Burnley was a good example. Zlatan helped the build up play a lot with his incisive short passing. Putting Rashford in Zlatan's place mean we will have a better finisher (arguably) but it will also mean we will not have the same amount of chances being created since Rashford will not be able to excel with quick exchanges with Mata and Pogba. I do not trust Mata to be able to do well all by himself. He needs someone good to partner up in those intricate passes.
I don't doubt that Rashford will score. He will. He is a great talent. But I fear our chance creation will go down and Rashford will have to rely on putting away that odd chance. On the other hand, he could also make us more direct and we may not need those quick passes and build up around penalty area at all. It is just that I prefer what I saw between Mata-Pogba-Zlatan yesterday and would like to see if Zlatan can just sort out his finishing. I know the patience is running out with every dropped point but I cannot shrug the feeling that we're almost there in terms of being a good attacking side. All we need is Ibra to be able to finish chance off.
I don´t think that´s true at all. Quick one touch passing is actually one of his big strengths. What Ibrahimovic has over Rashford is physicality, his hold-up play and creativity. And i´m not sure we´d create much less chances either. Obviously it helps when your striker drops deep, but it also creates many situations when we get into good positions for a pass into the penalty box and nobody is ready for it, because Zlatan is strolling around in midfield.
Even without Zlatan dropping deep all the time we most likely would have dominated the game just as much against a horrible Burnley side. So a more willing runner could have proven to be more usefull in that situation. And it´s not even the case that Rashford stays upfront all the time. He´s dropping back and drifting to the wings as a striker quite a lot as well to speed up attacks with a quick one touch pass or back heel flick.
Stop talking rubbish Zlatan is on a bad run granted but he's far superior to anything we have or had since RVP the year we last won the league. He will come good some of the saves yesterday were unlucky (he did have a few poor efforts granted) but the man has star quality and will net us 20-25 this season.
Fellaini and rooney on for Mata and Lingard? very creative substitutions which cost us points, Mata would have scored, fellaini did feck all and I don't comment on rooney anymore... wake up Jose, seeing the uninspiring bench I guess it's time to promote some youngster, someone like Josh Harrop would provide more attacking threat for the last 20 minutes than ROoney and Fellaini together in 10 games
No chance that's happening. He's looking every bit the 35 year old that's just spent the last few years in a crappy league. He's Way off the pace and he's left it too late to be good enough for the prem or have an impact. Anyway on mata, It is infuriating that he ALWAYS gets subbed off.
Many occasions he's been our best attacking option yet when that dreaded 75th minute comes you can guarantee Mata will be brought off despite our other attackers been terrible.
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For anyone who's interested, Mata's best season for Chelsea:
100% pass & take on accuracy are incredible stats for a player whose primary objective is to create.
We'll always create chances with him and Pogba in the side. Just need to finish them.
He was absolute magic yesterday, just running the show.
Insulting from Mourinho to sub him off. Baffling decision.
Insulting from Mourinho to sub him off. Baffling decision.
Even more so for a man who's too slow for players to even worry about him going past them...apparently.
I enjoyed seeing him take on players with his face to goal, he hasn't done it enough for a man his talent. It shows the confidence from rightfully getting a starting position. Taking off two of our main threats for Rooney and Fellaini didn't make sense to me either. it seems Mou still feels pressure to give Rooney gametime. He should only get it when we are comfortably ahead, it's pointless bringing him on in search of a goal.
Looking like what we were expecting when he signed him from Chelsea. Far better as a ten than an orthodox seven.
Rooney, gets ball (high chance of a bad touch) with back to goal, cuts onto right foot (he once tried to take on the LB and lost the ball), plays horizontal long ball.
Anyway on mata, It is infuriating that he ALWAYS gets subbed off.
Many occasions he's been our best attacking option yet when that dreaded 75th minute comes you can guarantee Mata will be brought off despite our other attackers been terrible.
Zlatan keeps getting chances and soon he's going to convert a barn load of them. That's my thoughts plus he is far superior to all other known options right now.
Who knew that he'd be more effective in his best position than hugging the touchline!
Just who knew that!
Just who knew that!
Needs to start (and finish) every game, couldn't believe he was brought off yesterday.
Majestic beautiful little spanish bastard.
Best performance by a central attacking midfielder in a United shirt in a very long time.
To replace him with Rooney was a very stupid decision
Amazing. I already forgot how good he was. And he always seemed to turn up for our games too.
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