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2018-19 Performances


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5.3 Season Average Rating
Appearances
32
Goals
6
Assists
3
Yellow cards
3
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Mata was never the most natural fit at RW but last season was his worst for us for us by quite some distance.

The reality is that he's still going to play quite a lot for us this season though, so if he repeats that lack of form....... :(
 
The most overrated player post Fergie era

Martial with his Martial FC fanatics come a close second

It's amazing what a large player fanbase can do :lol:
 
Why did we extend his contract for another year?
I have no idea. Utility-player maybe? It certainly is a mystery. Mata can have his moments but i've never thought of him as what we need in our attacking lineup
 
He should never play any away game against a decent side. Actually he should never play any away game anyway.
 
How can he possibly be a forward? No way he should be occupying any position in the furthest line forward. He obviously doesn’t have the tools for it.
 
He should never play any away game against a decent side. Actually he should never play any away game anyway.

He should never play for us period.

I'm amazed he's still at the club and probably earning very high wages.

He's a nice guy and all, but he's fallen off a cliff compared to what he was in 2012.
 
We should build our team around him.
 
He should never play for us period.

I'm amazed he's still at the club and probably earning very high wages.

He's a nice guy and all, but he's fallen off a cliff compared to what he was in 2012.

Agree but that's where we're and he's here so at least make with what we have. While at home and us controlling possession his problems decrease a little bit. Away against decent side and he gets murdered.
 
Agree but that's where we're and he's here so at least make with what we have. While at home and us controlling possession his problems decrease a little bit. Away against decent side and he gets murdered.

Useful against teams parking the bus against us, useless against any team interested in having the ball.
MOWVCKM.jpg
 
The most overrated player post Fergie era

Martial with his Martial FC fanatics come a close second

It's amazing what a large player fanbase can do :lol:

Who is overrating him? He (wrongly) got criticism about not tracking back ever since he joined.

At least once on every page of his thread there’s a mention about him being a shadow of his Chelsea self. Neville called him not a United type player as soon as he signed. There are numerous threads that we need to sign a proper RW. I hardly see anyone overrating him here.
 
Two or three good pass's during pre-season playing as a second striker is'nt going to convince me he is going to have a good season, the only place he will get a game is on the right of a front three, god help us.
 
Who is overrating him? He (wrongly) got criticism about not tracking back ever since he joined.

At least once on every page of his thread there’s a mention about him being a shadow of his Chelsea self. Neville called him not a United type player as soon as he signed. There are numerous threads that we need to sign a proper RW. I hardly see anyone overrating him here.

One complaint on every thread after the season he had is nothing

Smalling had a good season last year, was by far our best centre back yet almost every post on his thread is about wanting to rid of him:lol:

Mata gets away with murder. He was absolutely terrible last season. But that seems to be swept under the carpet
 
His continued place in the United team highlights how consistently average we seem to be happy with.

A nothing player. Nice guy, but nothing about him at all. He will give you no more than five good games a season.

Utter joke.
 
The amount of criticism he gets it’s baffling. His threads are usually quiet when he has a decent game and he gets a lot of flak when he’s subpar, and this usually happens when the whole team plays unbelievably bad.

Is he a first team player? No. He lost his pace and is much slower and less energetic than at Chelsea. But he’s probably still a more intelligent player than our first 11 combined. Still operates well with the ball, puts in enormous shifts on the pitch. Runs off the ball like a madman sometimes, but usually no midfielder sees him. No one remembers his really decent performance against Leicester in December in a crucial game, because Mike Smalling bottled it and that was the focus. He was also the only player who was covering the whole pitch against Sevilla in the second leg. His run back in the late minutes, when the whole team just stood still, broke my heart. He wears his heart on his sleeve and always gives his best even though his abilities recently have faded.

He had a decent pre-season. He needs more of a free role. He’s not a RW in a Mourinho system unfortunately, though he and Sanchez link up quite well. With more quality around him and some attacking football he can be a decent sub with his experience.
 
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It's hard to believe Mata was our record signing at £37m only a few years ago. In those terms he has unquestionably flopped but as almost every decent player now moves for big money he has proven his worth as a 6/10 squad option in my opinion. He and Jose deserve credit as the hotly anticipated Matapocalypse, in which Jose would sack Mata on the spot on day one in the job, never happened and he showed the occasional moments of class we all knew he was capable of (Juanfield :drool:).

That said his time as an effective member of our squad is very swiftly coming to an end. As has been said he's ill-suited to Jose's right-sided role in which the player needs to be able to break from the fullback position into the opposition box in about three seconds, and his chances of being effective for us in the middle are microscopic and shrinking with every day that passes.

Likeable guy, good but not great signing and nearing the end.
 
The amount of criticism he gets it’s baffling. His threads are usually quiet when he has a decent game and he gets a lot of flak when he’s subpar, and this usually happens when the whole team plays unbelievably bad.

Is he a first team player? No. He lost his pace and is much slower and less energetic than at Chelsea. But he’s probably still a more intelligent player than our first 11 combined. Still operates well with the ball, puts in enormous shifts on the pitch. Runs off the ball like a madman sometimes, but usually no midfielder sees him. No one remembers his really decent performance against Leicester in December in a crucial game, because Mike Smalling bottled it and that was the focus. He was also the only player who was covering the whole pitch against Sevilla in the second leg. His run back in the late minutes, when the whole team just stood still, broke my heart. He wears his heart on his sleeve and always gives his best even though his abilities recently have faded.

He had a decent pre-season. He needs more of a free role. He’s not a RW in a Mourinho system unfortunately, though he and Sanchez link up quite well. With more quality around him and some attacking football he can be a decent sub with his experience.

Useful for a team in possession, useless if team not in possesion. His hobbitesque physique makes him a liability as long as the team does not have the ball. Against teams parking the bus more than we do he will be usefull and should start. Against teams wanting the ball or comfortable on the ball(50-75% of EPL and same in europe) he can be a substitute at most.
Shame that he has spent so many years playing for teams and managers not owning the ball.
 
Useful for a team in possession, useless if team not in possesion. His hobbitesque physique makes him a liability as long as the team does not have the ball. Against teams parking the bus more than we do he will be usefull and should start. Against teams wanting the ball or comfortable on the ball(50-75% of EPL and same in europe) he can be a substitute at most.
Shame that he has spent so many years playing for teams and managers not owning the ball.

This is a bit unfair and inaccurate. Mata is a very diligent defender and there are no issues with his displays when we don’t have the ball.

It’s when we gain or secure possession that he becomes an issue and shows himself to be pretty much a nothing player now.
 
This is a bit unfair and inaccurate. Mata is a very diligent defender and there are no issues with his displays when we don’t have the ball.

It’s when we gain or secure possession that he becomes an issue and shows himself to be pretty much a nothing player now.

I dont disagree with the statement that he tries to defend and always does the best he can. Problem is that when he is not being supported by at least one player in defense he serves no function. 1v1 defensively is impossible for him, and he has to fall off untill he gets backing from the fullback.
And to clearify when i think he is useful: when we are playing ball against a deep sitting defense and we are trying to find an opening.
 
Cant comment on mata much as i never see.him do much when he plays. #mrinvisible
 
I dont disagree with the statement that he tries to defend and always does the best he can. Problem is that when he is not being supported by at least one player in defense he serves no function. 1v1 defensively is impossible for him, and he has to fall off untill he gets backing from the fullback.
And to clearify when i think he is useful: when we are playing ball against a deep sitting defense and we are trying to find an opening.

He should always be supported by at least one teammate, given his position. Principles of defending - it’s all about shape and his position in relation to teammates, opponents, the ball and space. To be honest, if he ever finds himself isolated against an attacking opposing player, delaying them to allow for cover and balance from his fellow players is all that is necessary, and could actually easily be called the right thing to do. His understanding of defending is excellent and underrated, and probably more beneficial than having the physical capacity to neutralise a direct opponent. Look at the Bayern game - their right back overlapping was by far their most fruitful way of breaking us down. Sanchez has looked much sharper and more physically able this pre-season and is certainly a willing worker and a winner - and more equipped physically to carry out defensive tasks than Mata - but he kept switching off or positioning himself poorly and they got in behind us due to that several times. Mata is, for someone playing in an advanced wide position, a more intelligent defender and doesn’t usually give much away at all.

In terms of when you believe him to be useful, I myself really don’t see it. Particularly last season, his lack of any physical prowess meant that any time he was in possession opponents put him under severe pressure and it was a fight just to keep the ball. His play involved far too much sideways and backwards passing due to said pressure. On the ball, he was ultraconservative and constantly reset our build-up play. He also went wandering far too much in his bid to gain space. The longer we had possession, the further he would get from the kind of areas he should have been occupying. Frankly, he was all over the place and for a supposedly intelligent ball-player it was very disappointing.

For me, he has had two (brief) good periods of form at the club. First during the run of games under Van Gaal where everything clicked, he formed a great and effective right-sided triple with Herrera and Valencia - their movements were well synchronised and they progressed the play and created openings effectively. And later, in Mourinho’s first season in the run of games leading to his injury that year. For a short time, he focused his off the ball movement on making well-timed runs along the back line and in behind the defence (it reminded me of the kind of penetrating dashes that Ljungberg made for Arsenal), and in doing so provided the side with a dimension it otherwise didn’t have.

On the whole, it’s been an underwhelming time at United for Mata and I can’t see him providing us with much more than that this season. We really need a better option on the right. Mata should be a squad player.
 
In terms of his character off the pitch, one of the nicest guys in football alongside Buffon. A gentleman and always keeps it professional, no matter how bad he has been treated.

On the field.....he's been played out of position for a long time now. He is a number 10 like David Silva and we've been using him on the right wing for ages. We either put him back in the middle (which i doubt will happen) or we sell him and use the money towards a proper right attacking winger
 
On the field.....he's been played out of position for a long time now. He is a number 10 like David Silva and we've been using him on the right wing for ages. We either put him back in the middle (which i doubt will happen) or we sell him and use the money towards a proper right attacking winger

Yeah, no. First off both players started their careers as wingers so you're wrong off the bat. Silva was playing one till very recently.

Secondly Mata only marks in the RM position, but when we have the ball he always drifts inside. The heatmaps always place him at #10. The position is not a problem for Mata. Coming off the right he even has a bit more time on the ball, when he was played centrally in the past he got bullied by DMs and had no time.

The only problem with Mata is that he simply doesn't have the physique of a modern footballer. He's short, but he's still slow. He has a low centre of gravity but gets pushed off the ball very easily. Ultimately footballers are also athletes and Juan isn't one any more. He has brilliant first touch, technique and sometimes vision. But you gotta be able to move like an athlete on the pitch as well.
 
Yeah, no. First off both players started their careers as wingers so you're wrong off the bat. Silva was playing one till very recently.

Secondly Mata only marks in the RM position, but when we have the ball he always drifts inside. The heatmaps always place him at #10. The position is not a problem for Mata. Coming off the right he even has a bit more time on the ball, when he was played centrally in the past he got bullied by DMs and had no time.

The only problem with Mata is that he simply doesn't have the physique of a modern footballer. He's short, but he's still slow. He has a low centre of gravity but gets pushed off the ball very easily. Ultimately footballers are also athletes and Juan isn't one any more. He has brilliant first touch, technique and sometimes vision. But you gotta be able to move like an athlete on the pitch as well.

The position a player started in almost 10 years ago isn't very relevant now. Mascherano was a midfielder and became a defender, Schweinsteiger started as a winger and became one of Germany greatest central midfielders. In both cases and in Mata's case they found a position better suited to them.

At Chelsea, he was mainly used as a number 10 behind Torres/Drogba etc, occasionally on the wing but it was never his strong point. Kalou, Oscar, William, Ramires all played in that position at different times. When he first joined Man United, Valencia was our right winger and Mata played in the middle, which he was excellent at.

You also mentioned his heat maps always place him at number 10 by the end of a game, that isn't a good thing. We have someone there already so it means Mata is avoiding his role as a winger or simply cant perform like he should there so is naturally drifting into the middle where he feels more comfortable at. I don't think his physic is the issue, Messi and Sanchez are both tiny and on their day they are the best in the world in their positions. Mata just doesn't have the speed to be effective on the wing. His style and attributes make him much better suited at number 10. I think he's been used as a stop gap for our RW for a while now as there were other areas we had to prioritise, now the RW has become a priority he should be used to his strength in opening up defences behind the striker and proper right winger purchased.
 
Played a really nice pass to Shaw but was really poor other than that. That bit with Lukaku wanting a cross was comical, should have been an early ball for him to attack and it wound up with a late ball sailing over his head.
 
Assist aside, he nullifies our right side. We really needed a speedy winger this summer :(
 
Played a really nice pass to Shaw but was really poor other than that. That bit with Lukaku wanting a cross was comical, should have been an early ball for him to attack and it wound up with a late ball sailing over his head.
Disagree. Thought he had a really good game and was instrumental to our attacking play.
 
Played a really nice pass to Shaw but was really poor other than that. That bit with Lukaku wanting a cross was comical, should have been an early ball for him to attack and it wound up with a late ball sailing over his head.

Miscommunication, nothing more, nothing less.

This guy's getting plenty of unfair stick, it was far from an amazing game from him but then again he's still able to pull off that assist for Shaw, has got good ball retention, works his ass off both offensively and defensively and doesn't shit it. It's not coincidental he starts games for us.

Then again people would probably cream themselves with a fecking Gray who's a pace merchant with zero end product.
 
Got better as the game went on.

Even managed to get past a few players in the 2nd half :eek:
 
Showed his quality in the second half but not his best game. Got overrun over on the right. Really starting to feel that the only place he can play is at 10. May be worth trying him on the left or in CM.
 
Good in the last 15 minutes but didn't do much elsewise. Was helped by Leceister pushing up and us counter-attacking.

Against the better sides and with less space he's nowhere as good. I'm really, really hoping Mourinho tries playing either Alexis or Lukaku on the RW this season.
 
Good second half and got hopefully the first of many assists this season.
 
A lot better in the first half, and played a nice ball to Shaw for the goal.

I just think if there's width on one side of the pitch, Mata roaming wouldn't be a problem. As it is, both he and Sanchez cut inside and close up the pitch, which makes it so hard for us to stretch teams and hit them on the counter.

It's what makes Eriksen effective at Spurs. Obviously a wonderful player, but with Son staying wide and Alli running off the ball, it allows Eriksen to drift inside and get on the ball.

Going forward, a combination of Sanchez and Mata is not what I really want to see, but I felt he was our best attacker tonight.
 
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