Can't say I'm a massive fan of Mata the player, rather than the fella. There is surely no doubting his ability but his severe lack of pace under the last few managers has been difficult to watch and seeing his name on the team sheet has usually been a bit of a disappointment. That being said, ive been pleasantly surprised so far over the last few games.
I'm not sure what some other posters were watching but I saw a player putting a shift in for his new gaffer, particularly against the Saints. Yes, that should be expected but even so......tracking back and tackling/closing down were being done which bodes well I reckon.
This "luxury" player thing is interesting though. I'm never sure what that is really meant to mean. I usually take that to be someone who's a bit of a passenger but they occasionally chip in with something decent. Certainly, for me, that would be right with Mata. The difference is that now, with Mourinho in charge, with the team of massive athletes he's putting together, we can probably afford to have a wee man playing in between the lines, chipping in with moments of quality and pulling the stings. He's going to be playing in a much more mobile, pacy team now with more movement and options around him meaning he can do what he is better at i.e. letting the ball do all the work for him so his legs don't have to.
I tend to agree that we can't really have him, Rooney and Zlatan all in attack together though. Zlatan is going to be first pick so it's got to be either Rooney and Mata rather than both. It'll have to be horses for courses but I would be interested to see what Mata could do in certain games surrounded by Mickey T, Martial, Zlatan, Pogba, pacy fullbacks......could be tasty. At least we've got options now.
