Clever little player who knows when exactly to arrive in the box and finish off a move. Against most opposition he's more than adequate as an attacking option due to the sheer number of goals he gets and the kind of passes he sees which can cut open defenses.
8
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 42
- Goals
- 10
- Assists
- 6
- Yellow cards
- 5
- Status
Wow. He deserves to win a PL title with United
He doesn't do enough of it for me. One of the reasons why we are dominant in possession but toothless against well held defences is down to players like Zlatan, Mata and Rooney not making penetrative runs. He makes clever runs 2-3 times a game but considering the possession we have, it should be double that. He simply doesn't have the pace or stamina to continue making them to be fair.
You're just plain wrong. First of all, we're not toothless. We were last season when no one was making runs besides Mata. 2nd of all, what does "2-3 times a game but considering the possession we have, it should be double that" even mean? Are 4-6 clever runs per game the definition of top class off the ball running? 3rd, you don't need pace to make runs. It's also not enough if a player makes a run, the player in possession needs to both spot the run and make a good enough pass.
In an ideal world other players would take his position in the team. What a strange comment and reeks of bias against him. This is the midfielder who has been involved in the most goals since he joined the league. Not just scoring them but assisting as well.
Besides, he obviously makes more than 2-3 times those runs, the rest depends on whether he's seen by his teammates or if they attempt to find him.
This is a good point but it applies to all but Rashford from what I have seen. We need more players who move off the ball rather than wanting it at their feet. That was the big reason for me wanting Mane in the summer. He would have given us the pace and movement in behind that only Rashford does at the moment. Martial is to static for me although a top young talent.
That's critical analysis for the sake of critical analysis, criticalanalysis.
I think @criticalanalysis raises an interesting point here, when taken in context with the rest of the attacking options in the squad.
Mata is a classic #10. He's at his best when receiving the ball to feet in between the lines, and is by all accounts pretty good at it. He does run in behind occasionally, but as the stats show, it's usually someone else getting on the end of one of his passes, not the other way round.
That's fine - as long as you have other players that can run in behind - but I think the attacking players in the squad generally prefer the ball to feet as opposed to running in behind. Lingard is naturally inclined to do so, as well as Rashford and Memphis (yes, Memphis). Martial prefers to receive the ball in deeper positions, Zlatan and Rooney drop deep regularly, and Mkhi is another #10.
Mata is a classic #10. He's at his best when receiving the ball to feet in between the lines, and is by all accounts pretty good at it. He does run in behind occasionally, but as the stats show, it's usually someone else getting on the end of one of his passes, not the other way round.
That's fine - as long as you have other players that can run in behind - but I think the attacking players in the squad generally prefer the ball to feet as opposed to running in behind. Lingard is naturally inclined to do so, as well as Rashford and Memphis (yes, Memphis). Martial prefers to receive the ball in deeper positions, Zlatan and Rooney drop deep regularly, and Mkhi is another #10.
leading the team out of the tunel as a captain, I think it's a nice choice, he's been in the club for longer than Herrera and over the years he became our most consistent player so happy for him to get the band tonight.. he's gonna score I am sure
Happy for him.
Everyone thought he was on his way out.
Everyone thought he was on his way out.
Love seeing him as captain. We should give it to him permanently.
Man Utd 1:1 West Ham
Him struggling to keep the armband on is pretty funny to me, his arm must be much smaller than most captains.
Class again
If only all the chances we create could fall to him. Everyone else seems to enjoy missing as many chances as they can.
Looking back to the fears Jose was going to be moving him on at the beginning of the season
That touch towards the end of 1st half that led to Lingard's chance was so good!
He's playing great again. Player of the season by far until now.
Why we taking him off?
Because Mourinho has no clue
Was pretty decent. Not as good as his performances in last month or so, but definitely a 6.5-7/10 performance
Thought he was average today. Thought Lingard was worse and should have been take off, but expecy more from Juan
We've taken off our creative hub and have had to resort to a lot of pointless pumps up field and a lot of aimless crossing. Colour me surprised.
Is he not allowed to play the full 90 minutes?
Taking him off was a terrible call.
It's ridiculous. We're subbing him out to give minutes to players who then do nothing when they come on. I thought he was below par today, but him going off before Lingard is puzzling.
You could post this after pretty much every game he was substituted this season and be right. Incredible that Mourinho still doesn't get it.
I don't think he was that good today, it was harder for him than on Thursday as Lingard and Rashford weren't interchanging with him and creating space like Mkhitaryan and Rooney did agaisnt Feynoord.
He was just off today. It happens but we needed him at his best
Swedish commentators mentioned that he was limping.
His performance today was like the ones from his previous seasons with us. Disappeared and didn't do much at all in the game. I understood why he was off since he didn't make much impact during the game.
I've said in past posts, that I appreciate his qualities and output, however, stylistically he's just not a great fit for the current squad and imo even when we do have a great (and in form) squad. I'm not singling him out but I would say his position is probably the most vulnerable and possibly 'easiest' to replace, in regards in attacking positions.
I wasn't able to catch the last 30mins but today's game was more or less like that of Thursday's. Great quality on the ball with intricate passes and linking up in the final third. Good to very good with the ball at his feet and facing the goal.
Very very pedestrian with his back against goal, off the ball running (has good moments but not enough like I said) and little to no effective ball carrying.
Next time watch his game when he's in those pocket of spaces and he has someone up against him. 1) He will rarely receive those passes to feet (because a) we are a team don't trust/play those passes and b) Mata is a 'liability') 2) He doesn't have the combination of touch, first step of pace and strength to do much with it other than pass it back.
Not being effective in those positions are 'fine', if he compensates it with other qualities like running behind/in/out defensive lines but how many of those do you see from him per game?
Now before you think I'm obssessed with running, I'm not as there are other things he can improve on but that's one thing I expect and we should expect more from him because he doesn't have other things in his locker when we compare to other no.10s.
Yeah I'm not bias or criticising for the sake of it. I'm forming my opinion on the basis that, if I'm being harsh, he's the 'weakest' link out of all the options we have.
I think we have enough creativity, if we have a free roaming Pogba (with 2 proper midfielders behind him), Zlatan AND Miki on the pitch, that Mata's place in the first 11, is redundant whether as no.10 or right wing.
As a no.10, Pogba has to play deeper. As a right winger, we get no width aside from Valencia and we need to hope his passing ability and chance creation matches our lack of runners and non-orthodox wingers. Too many compromises for someone, who doesn't dribble/penetrate enough and is at his best with the ball at his feet and facing the goal.
Against bottom/mid-table fodder I have problem with him playing but that's not the point, we should have the best players and combinations on the pitch regardless.
Lingard is getting slated and sure his final ball is very very inconsistent but I would have him in the team on the right as long as we have an on form Miki/Martial on the left, with Pogba free roaming/creating. His final ball is a 'mute' point when he would get into those positions 5-6-7 times a game with his movement and being consistently found by Zlatan, Pogba, Herrera etc (who will have that defensive player behind them). Again disclaimer, he's not the long term answer.
Of course all of this applies to Rooney too. Another player, who's best attributes means making too many compromises to the rest of the team (although we can say we miss his aggression and experience, if I was being kind).
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We look more dangerous with him on the pitch than without.
Had a good first half, but as with the rest of the side, was poor in the second half.
Had a good first half, but as with the rest of the side, was poor in the second half.
I thought he was shite by his standards but we probably had a better chance winning with him on the pitch
It 's a very nice block of text and evertyhing but most of what you wrote had little to do with the initial point me and @Snow disagreed with. We were only talking about the specific subject of him making enough runs or not and you adressed it with one little paragraph.
I knew we wouldn't win when he came off. Suicidal.
Well actually only one part of my criticism was addressed. So instead of concentrating on that one aspect, I'm trying to paint a fuller picture with context (which I already did in-short in the initial post you had a disagreement with) and give fundamental reasons of why I expect more from him in that particular aspect.
So what's your opinion now?
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Now since you asked for it, my opinion now is very simple, if we can get a good upgrade for Mata in the next coming windows then we should go for it (in other words, I agree with your moutain of post). At the moment he is just performing as well as he can for us and I personally cannot ask more from him.
I'm happy that we have him and even if we manage to get a better 10, I still hope he stays with us as a replacement because his attitude is spot on. I'm just not sure he'd wanna stay.
Someone who is rarely injured, who tracks back about 90% of the time, who is United's best creative source, who is in his physical prime
Yet he rarely finishes a game. I honestly don't get this.
Well we'll have to agree to disagree because Mata does not do enough for me. He's an attacking midfielder, who gets to free roam the pitch, almost playing as a 2nd striker, playing in front a midfield that usually dominate games but typically plays as a 3rd centre midfielder, who occassionally makes some runs and links up play tidily. I don't doubt his application but even then I don't think he's contributing in the right areas enough. Contrast his movement with Lingard and Miki (in his last 2 appearances). It's night and day.
TLDR version: we have enough creativity and possession with other players in the squad, either he needs to be creating space for others like Lingard/Miki does or he needs to start scoring/assisting every game to justify his place in the starting line up.
I've read it all now. Close the internet please.- Status