Good finish. Hopefully it'll open his floodgates and enable him to score more goals and reach his customary 10 goals a season
8
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 40
- Goals
- 3
- Assists
- 7
- Yellow cards
- 1
- Status
If Carlsberg did luxury players...
I started 10 mins into the match and thus missed his goal but he's still been excellent regardless.
If Adam Johnson had his touch...
Hope that's not ban worthy
Magical Mata. He's still one of the top attacking midfielders in the league.
This is regulary type of situation where he is far more reliable than Mkhi who has at least one awful miss per game from similar chances or even easier chances, shame we cannot use Mata more in these situation.
He's just been quite unlucky so far. His general performance was always solid to good. Hope this goal breaks the duck and he goes from strength to stregnth.
Let me start by saying that I always hated Mata, ever since I first saw him in the PL. Never used to understand what all the fuss was about. I was so happy Mourinho was coming, since I was 100% sure he would get rid of him. Then he managed to break into the team slowly and now he's become a starter. The fact that he managed to convince Mourinho after what happened at Chelsea is pretty damn impressive, especially because he's not in the mold of a typical Mourinho player.
But let's not get carried away here, since Mourinho has probably started using him partly because of a lack of better options, and also because he's experienced.
He is a useful player for sure but I have no doubt Mourinho won't hesitate to drop him when he manages to get hold of a better and more versatile player.
Mata might be weak and slow and has the physiqe of a 15 year old, but he really does make our attack click with his intelligent movement and passing. He seems to have a very high footbal iq and he seems to always have good awareness of what's going on around him and knows where to go with the ball in order to exploit spaces. He also makes intelligent runs in behind and never seems to loose the ball. I think alot of these things come with experience and he has more of it than any of our other attackers. And on top of being functional, he can also score, which is a huge plus. But even if he doesn't score or assist, he always contributes to our play.
Of course there are many negatives with him as well. And we definitely need improvement, not just on Mata but in all the attacking positions bar Lukaku if we are to challenge the very best in Europe. But for now, he is more than adequate.
But let's not get carried away here, since Mourinho has probably started using him partly because of a lack of better options, and also because he's experienced.
He is a useful player for sure but I have no doubt Mourinho won't hesitate to drop him when he manages to get hold of a better and more versatile player.
Mata might be weak and slow and has the physiqe of a 15 year old, but he really does make our attack click with his intelligent movement and passing. He seems to have a very high footbal iq and he seems to always have good awareness of what's going on around him and knows where to go with the ball in order to exploit spaces. He also makes intelligent runs in behind and never seems to loose the ball. I think alot of these things come with experience and he has more of it than any of our other attackers. And on top of being functional, he can also score, which is a huge plus. But even if he doesn't score or assist, he always contributes to our play.
Of course there are many negatives with him as well. And we definitely need improvement, not just on Mata but in all the attacking positions bar Lukaku if we are to challenge the very best in Europe. But for now, he is more than adequate.
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MOTM for me, just sublime today, some wonderful touches.
That fecking touch though.
Doesn't have the stats to back it up this season, but imo he is better and more important than Mkhi.
Got the goal he deserved long time ago. He has been an important part of our system even if the fans can't say it clearly.
Pretty sure he's scored that exact goal about ten times for us now
The fact that Mourinho tried to sign a left winger instead of a right winger should tell everyone the importance of Mata in our team
Don't think that's how it went per se. Perisic can play either side, and I doubt Jose planned to pile up 3 left wingers and have just Mata for the right.
Anyway, he was very good today, goal aside. I haven't changed my overall view that he shouldn't be the automatic starter he is, unless in Mkhitaryan's place perhaps.
Was very good today.
Lethal in the box.
I thought that he played well today, particularly in the first half. He's more reliable in the box partly because he keeps it simple when he has the chance to keep it simple.
Played well, again.
Thought he was good. He doesn't have the numbers this season but he's put in some very good performances.
Good again, and finally got a goal on the board. Rashford and Martial's numbers are getting silly now, but maybe it's Miki who should make way, with Mata coming into #10.
Happiness is seeing Mata score.
Don't want to see Mata at #10 in the way we play he's given much more freedom than the #10. And the importance of what he does goes criminally under noticed. He is vital in us keeping possession high up the pitch and getting attacks started. Spurs would never play Eriksen at #10 for the same reason we don't with Mata. What he does in those half spaces is vital for us. At #10 he's going to be crowded out at asked to press defenders and holding mids and do a heck more off the ball work.
He may be the slowest attacking midfielder I've ever seen but if I had to choose one player for a chance to fall to it'd be Mata. So clinical.
Probably worded that wrong.How can anyone hate Mata?
I didn't hate him as a person, just didn't rate the guy. I was always annoyed by how Chelsea fans kept raving on about him like he was Messi. And I used to tell them how he's gonna be flying out the door if Mourinho came back, and that's exactly what happened. Imagine how excited I was that he came to us instead.Probably worded that wrong.
He was genuinely very good for Chelsea though.
Mourinho reckons he's amongst his most important team players and the kind every manager needs because of what they bring to the team instead of individualistic play.
nice to hear Mou namecheck as one of the players he can trust - nice redemption story for them both.
He was the best of a bad bunch in that fallen Chelsea team, and he had good numbers. But at the time, I failed to see what he was supposed to be good at.
30+ goals and assists in one season highlights exactly what he was good at.
Juan Mata doesn't deserve to be hated by anyone.
I'd love to know his win rate when starting games for United in comparison to our win rate as a team.
I've seen some strange shit on the internet over the years but nothing as mind-bogglingly outrageous as "I always hated Mata".
If he could do that consistently then you'd have a point. I always saw him as a luxury player, although not a very good one.
I guess Mourinho must have loved him when he returned to Chelsea, hmm maybe not.
There's a difference between rating and hating...a huge difference. He was one of our best players last season.
verb (used with object), hated, hating.
1.
to dislike intensely or passionately; feel extreme aversion for or extreme hostility toward; detest:
Seems way OTT and undeserved to me.
Hugs, though.
Or, I'm the only one who has the balls to say it.
But seriously, if you think about what a Mourinho type player is, Mata would be the complete opposite of that. He was obviously not gonna say, "I hate Mata" but everyone new he was gone if Mourinho came in.- Status