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Juan Mata Spain flag

2016-17 Performances

View full 2016-17 profile

6.2 Season Average Rating
Appearances
42
Goals
10
Assists
6
Yellow cards
5
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Has a great knack of scoring just as the match day threads start with the "anonymous", "what does he even do?" posts
 
Our best player. Hasn't got blistering pace, but his movement is fantastic. This is the reason he picks up so many goals. Very clever player.
 
A Norwegian pundit/analyst claims that Mata's smart movement and passing allows world class players like Zlatan to get at the end of more chances. Even if Mata not necessarily is world class himself, he brings the best out of other players, provided that said players are good.

Keeping this in mind, I think Mata should start more often, now that we have Zlatan, Pogba and Micky.
 
Walters_19_MuFc said:
Our best player. Hasn't got blistering pace, but his movement is fantastic. This is the reason he picks up so many goals. Very clever player.
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In a way his total lack of physical attributes makes me like him more. He's all technique and intelligence.
 
I think we've settled who's the better finisher out of Ibra and Mata at the moment.

The guy is a class act.
 
Should have picked at least 2 assists in the first half too. One of the most intelligent players around.
 
As much as Mata is excellent if Griezman comes in he will be a huge upgrade.
 
Great game after so many poor games, it's been a while. My motm in first half. Those runs he made, he was hungry and wanted to get involved so much. Important goal as well make it more special. I prefer Bailly but I'll vote Mata in red cafe as my motm because of his first half.
 
Great runs off the shoulder of the last defender, and some nice touches to boot. My man of the match, especially for that opening goal when everyone else was doing the usual 'put the ball everywhere but in the goal' routine.
 
Unique performance. Today, he wasn't making many plays from deep as a midfielder. But the positions he took up were quite high. If we could get a heatmap, I swear it felt like he was higher than even Ibra at times. Always making runs and occupying a textbook wide forward's positions.
 
For a game like this, im happy to see him playing, especially a 4231 where he can drift out from the right (the advantage of having somebody like Valencia on that side).
Good goal and good game overall.
 
Very good game from him, clever player with great movement. Love watching him play.
 
Amazing to me that some people want him out of the starting 11 at the expense of a shining new signing.

What does he have to do to convince people that he is one of our most vital players?

When Mata plays, we play well. If hes not scoring a goal, hes making a goal. Or involved in the buildup.

In my book, he should be starting EVERY game. Hes one of the best players in the Prem. I certainly wouldn't swap him for any other CAM.
 
Jaybomb said:
Amazing to me that some people want him out of the starting 11 at the expense of a shining new signing.

What does he have to do to convince people that he is one of our most vital players?

When Mata plays, we play well. If hes not scoring a goal, hes making a goal. Or involved in the buildup.

In my book, he should be starting EVERY game. Hes one of the best players in the Prem. I certainly wouldn't swap him for any other CAM.
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Shiny new signing? Griezmann came third in the Balon d'Or, he's a huge upgrade on Mata.
 
AltiUn said:
Shiny new signing? Griezmann came third in the Balon d'Or, he's a huge upgrade on Mata.
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Mata's ours. Griezmann isn't.

And Di Maria was in the TOTY the season he joined United. Look how that turned out.

Some fans just want to see shiny new players every window. How about supporting the players we actually have instead of wanting more or being envious of other clubs? I wouldn't swap Zlatan for any striker and I wouldn't swap Juan for any other player in his position. We can win the league with our squad and I for one, am happy with the front line of Mata/Mkhi/Zlatan/Martial
 
Jaybomb said:
Mata's ours. Griezmann isn't.

And Di Maria was in the TOTY the season he joined United. Look how that turned out.

Some fans just want to see shiny new players every window. How about supporting the players we actually have instead of wanting more or being envious of other clubs? I wouldn't swap Zlatan for any striker and I wouldn't swap Juan for any other player in his position. We can win the league with our squad and I for one, am happy with the front line of Mata/Mkhi/Zlatan/Martial
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Stop acting like a trumpet @Jaybomb you would not want to upgrade any of our players? It's called improving the team its natural evolution for the club! I'm honestly not getting your point buddy.
 
If we were to sign Griezmann would people really want him out wide?

His best form comes playing as a striker.
 
Jaybomb said:
Mata's ours. Griezmann isn't.

And Di Maria was in the TOTY the season he joined United. Look how that turned out.

Some fans just want to see shiny new players every window. How about supporting the players we actually have instead of wanting more or being envious of other clubs? I wouldn't swap Zlatan for any striker and I wouldn't swap Juan for any other player in his position. We can win the league with our squad and I for one, am happy with the front line of Mata/Mkhi/Zlatan/Martial
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agree with you, some fans are turning into fans which Real has, we have very good squad but think we might need that another attacking option like Griezmann, hes a good goalscorer, I personally think hes a bit overrated and there are ifs but would be a good competition for other players, he would most likely get rotated with mata and micky for two spots, CAM, RW and possibly back up for Zlatan as a false 9, less games for rooney or fellaini, and even for lingard, injuries and everybody is happy
 
PepsiCola said:
If we were to sign Griezmann would people really want him out wide?

His best form comes playing as a striker.
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He will be our lead striker when zlatan goes. Probably play as a 10 against the weaker teams.
 
Lawman said:
Stop acting like a trumpet @Jaybomb you would not want to upgrade any of our players? It's called improving the team its natural evolution for the club! I'm honestly not getting your point buddy.
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I'd get an experienced CB in and a new "destroyer" type CDM. Someone in the mold of Wanyama who can break up play and get aggressive. Haven't seen much of Bakayoko or Carvalho but if they're that type of player, I would welcome one of those guys.

Thats about it. I think the Pogba/Herrera/Mata midfield and Zlatan/Mkhi/Martial front three is more than good enough to win titles. In some games, we will need to play more defensively and thats when the new CDM comes in.

But we played brilliant today and that was largely down to Mata. Griezmann can't do what Mata does. If he comes here, he will need to play with him cause Mata brings out the best in our play.
 
Not sure there's any need for a big fuss here.

We have Zlatan and Rashford as our 9s. We need 4 starting quality players to cover 3 attacking midfield spots (even without twice a week games it's nice to have a proper scary bench option to come on), then someone like Lingard as squad depth. We have Mata, Martial and Mkhitaryan and this summer we'll presumably add a 4th in Griezmann, Silva or someone else. If we play 4-2-3-1 in 35 games and 4-3-3 in the remaining 20 or so that's still 135 AM starts to give the big 4 about 34 each, which might not seem enough but with injuries and 2 games a week quite often isn't bad.

Pogba, Herrera and a new CM/DM to fight for 2 spots or to all start when we go 4-3-3. Seems likely Fellaini will be the versatile Lingard type squad depth here, with one or both of Carrick and Pereira around as well. It's a bit light if you don't rate Fellaini and we want to play a lot of 4-3-3, but it seems Mourinho does, and absolute worst case players like Fosu-Mensah or Blind have played there too.

Rooney, Young and Schweinsteiger leave in the summer and thats your midfielder and forward group. Looks right to me.
 
Been the heart of our attacks yesterday, been basically everywhere he was meant to be, slick 1-2s with Miki that led to the first goal, good finshing, pleased with his performance, was my MOTM yesterday.
 
Lawman said:
As much as Mata is excellent if Griezman comes in he will be a huge upgrade.
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One the right hand side?

I don't see too much difference between them in that position. If Griezman does off an upgrade it definitely won't be huge.
 
Yesterday, the interchanging with Micky worked very well and finally, he was more present on the right hand side (where we usually have only Valencia)
 
Dobbs said:
One the right hand side?

I don't see too much difference between them in that position. If Griezman does off an upgrade it definitely won't be huge.
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Id imagine if Griezemann came in Mhiki would revert to the right
 
vodrake said:
Has a great knack of scoring just as the match day threads start with the "anonymous", "what does he even do?" posts
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I don't believe I seen one post in the match day thread asking this question of Mata? Where and who posted this?
 
criticalanalysis said:
It's not just being 'overpowered', he's just not a 'threat' when he's in a one-vs-one/back to goal/not being respected (i.e an opponent in up his grill) so his default move is ball rentention. That's a criticism because he doesn't do enough on it when we need it (like in the first half) but also an acknowledgement that yes, at least he makes the right choice to recycle the ball.

The problem though is that we should expect more, like better hold up play and ball carrying. He's essentially a free roaming attacker/2nd striker.
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You make ball retention sound like a particularly nasty intestinal condition.
 
Lawman said:
Stop acting like a trumpet @Jaybomb you would not want to upgrade any of our players? It's called improving the team its natural evolution for the club! I'm honestly not getting your point buddy.
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Natural evolution versus James Browne's horn section? This is a good squad. Building a team is about more than brilliant individuals - the point about Di Maria is well made. When you talk about evolution I tend to think more of the youth system that the deep pockets of owners - we should appreciate the players that are here, including Mata, is the point. Great if Griezemann comes, though.
 
Dobbs said:
One the right hand side?

I don't see too much difference between them in that position. If Griezman does off an upgrade it definitely won't be huge.
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You must be kidding you don't see a difference in Griezman and Mata from any forward position?
 
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