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2018-19 Performances

View full 2018-19 profile

5.3 Season Average Rating
Appearances
32
Goals
6
Assists
3
Yellow cards
3
Status
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Played well in the last 20 mins or so. His lack of pace kills so many counter attacks. Also in the first half, instead of risking a through pass when countering, he passed backways. Irritated me a lot.
 
It is not his lack of pace the counter attacks only. His lack of pace puts undue pressure on our defence too. The opposing full backs know that they can freely join the attack against us and get also get back to defend long before Mata could do anything. It was pathetic to see him jogging after their full back and by the time Mata reached the centre line their full back was already half way inside our own half. He then jogged back to defensive duties and Mata was only still just pass the centre line.
Poor Darmian was in no mans land always.
 
I still dont know if that Leicester left back was so good, strong and quick or if it was just Mata who couldnt handle him.
 
Stadjer said:
I still dont know if that Leicester left back was so good, strong and quick or if it was just Mata who couldnt handle him.
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Chilwell is good but there's not many outfield players in the PL that are worse athletically than Mata.
 
Jose should not be picking him at all now. Any decent right winger with pace and who can cross will be better than Mata.
 
Stadjer said:
I still dont know if that Leicester left back was so good, strong and quick or if it was just Mata who couldnt handle him.
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To be fair to Mata as soon as Chillwell had left him for dead the next player up was Fred who doesn’t look slow and Chillwell left him for dead as well. So possibly Chillwell is just stupidly fast combined with Matas mediocre pace shall we say.
I do really like Mata, think he is a great player, he however if Jose wants us to be a proper counter attacking team doesn’t have the most vital elements in his game to be a success playing this way which is a shame.
 
Unless Mata plays as a 10 he shouldn't be in the team IMO.

The fact is though we have nobody better to play the RW position, so he has to start. Bonkers.
 
Mata + Darmian is one hell of a right flank. Jose will surely make changes when he has options at RB available but can't see who he can replace Mata with. Should we play Young as RW with Valencia and Shaw as the fullbacks? Could work.
 
Adam-Utd said:
Unless Mata plays as a 10 he shouldn't be in the team IMO.

The fact is though we have nobody better to play the RW position, so he has to start. Bonkers.
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We haven't really tried Alexis there, I know he's not doing much on the left but surely he will be better than Mata on the right which will give more time for Rashford or Martial on the left.
 
Our right side is clearly our big weakness, both in terms of attacking and defending. We really should have bought 2 new players there. For this season, I hope that Rashford can play well there or Sanchez gets a shot
 
I think he played the right wing quite well under LvG when he was making some nice diagonal runs into the box to get into scoring positions, pretty much playing it like a wide striker. Now he has gone into more of a defensive minded role tucking into midfield which clearly doesn't help the width.
 
Please, just get rid of him. I'd rather have Young back at right wing. At least he can beat a man and cross.
 
True iHicksy. Why not play Young on the right wing and Shaw as the left back? At least Young has pace, can defend, can dribble and can cross all better than Mata.
 
This is all quiet weird considering he actually played well against Leicester and was one of the big reasons we improved a lot in the second half....

I mean, you can prefer a RW who does different things sure, but it seems a bit odd to slag a player off when he a) actually played well and b) created our winning goal.
 
He drifts far too much inside. We lack width, pace and trickery badly on the right side, someone like Douglas Costa would transform us.
 
It is not only that he drifts inside he tries to carry the ball inside and that means the play gets slowed down to walking pace for all the other players. He cannot defend because all other players beat him for pace even when jogging. He loses possession when tackled and he cannot protect the ball when he is tackled.
 
horsechoker said:
We haven't really tried Alexis there, I know he's not doing much on the left but surely he will be better than Mata on the right which will give more time for Rashford or Martial on the left.
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Alexis has lost the pace he once had, I can't see him running passed many fullbacks anymore. Doesn't seem to have the step overs / tricks he once had either which is odd.

Saying that though he can't do any worse than Mata. He seems better closer to the goal anyway.
 
Mata is a tough one for me. I think he seems like a great guy, a superb teammate and he seems to love the club. His touch is world class and his vision and bravery to pull off difficult passes is as good as anyone in the league. On the other hand, his lack of pace, physicality and lack of defensive work rate causes us problems. Playing him as a winger seems to unbalance the field for us and I've always thought he'd play better just behind a striker as his creativity, vision and touch is darn near world class. He's just not a complete footballer, much like Fellaini on the extreme other end of the spectrum.
 
Adam-Utd said:
Unless Mata plays as a 10 he shouldn't be in the team IMO.

The fact is though we have nobody better to play the RW position, so he has to start. Bonkers.
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For three years now it’s been our most glaring weakness in the team going forward yet the club has refused to provide any answers.

Is it due to our abundance of left sided attackers that they have refused to buy a quality right winger? Is Woodward still hoping that after many years of pursuing bale we will finally get him?

I like Juan mata but as said he offers no bite on the wing and instead comes central to overcrowd the likes of pogba and Sanchez(who also can’t stay wide).

On counters he isn’t very good either so really I can’t see how he has bright future with us.

I wish there was a life we’re our wide players were allowed to stay much further up the pitch just to see if mata would be more effective or not. Knowing mourinho it’s just a dream.

Just sell to inter this summer and hopefully get a better replacement.
 
KennyBurner said:
For three years now it’s been our most glaring weakness in the team going forward yet the club has refused to provide any answers.

Is it due to our abundance of left sided attackers that they have refused to buy a quality right winger? Is Woodward still hoping that after many years of pursuing bale we will finally get him?

I like Juan mata but as said he offers no bite on the wing and instead comes central to overcrowd the likes of pogba and Sanchez(who also can’t stay wide).

On counters he isn’t very good either so really I can’t see how he has bright future with us.

I wish there was a life we’re our wide players were allowed to stay much further up the pitch just to see if mata would be more effective or not. Knowing mourinho it’s just a dream.

Just sell to inter this summer and hopefully get a better replacement.
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Think yes to both of those.

Jose said in the January window our attackers were a complete set, I think we all expected Sanchez to play RW and have Martial LW, it all looked good on paper.

Bale was clearly ready to leave this summer IMO, but since Ronaldo beat him too it, that plan went out the window. Willian seems to be his backup option but that didn't happen either. We don't seem best prepared after that.
 
Mata did play as a number 10 but then again his problem there was he got caught in possession too often and was tackled out. He lack of pace up there was causing too many problems. He also was coming in too deep and collecting the ball and anyone remember the Huddersfield game too? I think that was the last time he played in the centre.
Yes he is a nice guy and he gives to charity etc but we do not need a nice guy who gives to charity and writes blogs etc.
 
keener said:
Mata is a tough one for me. I think he seems like a great guy, a superb teammate and he seems to love the club. His touch is world class and his vision and bravery to pull off difficult passes is as good as anyone in the league. On the other hand, his lack of pace, physicality and lack of defensive work rate causes us problems. Playing him as a winger seems to unbalance the field for us and I've always thought he'd play better just behind a striker as his creativity, vision and touch is darn near world class. He's just not a complete footballer, much like Fellaini on the extreme other end of the spectrum.
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Would it be possible for you to give some examples of Mata's vision and bravery to pull difficult passes because for Me Mata's biggest problem is he is hardly creative mostly plays obvious passes and lacks imagination.
 
gajender said:
Would it be possible for you to give some examples of Mata's vision and bravery to pull difficult passes because for Me Mata's biggest problem is he is hardly creative mostly plays obvious passes and lacks imagination.
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He does make that pass. That is his only positive for me. As for being the slowest player in the squad I would think he is the slowest player in the PL. He makes Berbatov looks like Usain Bolt.
 
Foxbatt said:
He does make that pass. That is his only positive for me. As for being the slowest player in the squad I would think he is the slowest player in the PL. He makes Berbatov looks like Usain Bolt.
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I am not saying he doesn't make that pass or is incapable of doing it just that he tends to mostly go for easier route.
 
gajender said:
Would it be possible for you to give some examples of Mata's vision and bravery to pull difficult passes because for Me Mata's biggest problem is he is hardly creative mostly plays obvious passes and lacks imagination.
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Sure, it wasn't very hard, I typed into youtube: Juan Mata magic 2018.

And all of this is what I'm talking about. He's just magic on the ball. He just falls short in the other athletic areas of the game.

I'm not trying to be controversial here. My comments are as straightforward as it comes, he's a little man. He loves the club, he's small and slow and lacks defensive aggression. But if you can't admit he has a special ability on the ball then I'm not sure what you see when you watch the rest of the premier league play football. Only a handful can do the things you see in this video.
 
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keener said:
Sure, it wasn't very hard, I typed into youtube: Juan Mata magic 2018.

And all of this is what I'm talking about. He's just magic on the ball. He just falls short in the other athletic areas of the game.

I'm not trying to be controversial here. My comments are as straightforward as it comes, he's a little man. He loves the club, he's small and slow and lacks defensive aggression. But if you can't admit he has a special ability on the ball then I'm not sure what you see when you watch the rest of the premier league play football. Only a handful can do the things you see in this video.
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I am sorry the video seem to have been taken down , I do get you point about Mata's creativity but he seems to do it very rarely and according to me he simply is not good enough to hold regular place for us in any position if want to get back to our glory days.
 
Hmmm, youtube videos aren't allowed? Anyway, I understand your point and I agree that he's not a complete enough athlete for us to play the type of football that I hope for either. He's very one dimensional.
 
gajender said:
I am sorry the video seem to have been taken down , I do get you point about Mata's creativity but he seems to do it very rarely and according to me he simply is not good enough to hold regular place for us in any position if want to get back to our glory days.
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keener said:
Hmmm, youtube videos aren't allowed? Anyway, I understand your point and I agree that he's not a complete enough athlete for us to play the type of football that I hope for either. He's very one dimensional.
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The video works for me. Maybe try watching it on YouTube instead of the embedded version on here, @gajender ?
 
gajender said:
I am not able to watch it on you tube either , I think it's taken down by the source itself.
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Hmmm, it works for me on here and on YouTube. The only thing I can think of is that you have some add-ons that prevent it from playing (though I can't think of what add-ons would stop that) or that said video is unavailable in certain countries as, for whatever reason, some aren't.
 
I expect lingard to come back and take the place on the right wing. He seems a better fit for our system and is for sure more of a help to the right back. Mata is a useful alternative against teams that choose to sit back or preserve a lead. His ability to pick a pass would be critical then.
 
Brighton 3:2 Man Utd
Today was far from being his fault alone but how the feck is he still playing for us on the right wing, especially away from home.

He's a past it, slow, weak and non dribbling No.10 playing for us on the right side of a front three. He's absolutely useless now and shouldn't be anywhere near the club.
 
Absolute trash.

How the hell he's still playing on the right in an away game is beyond me. He's done for as a player. Should have been sold and replaced last summer.
 
Anonymous.

Fortunate to be starting games at this stage of his career.
 
His athleticism was already below average, it's now gotten worse this season. Should move to Spain or Italy in January.
 
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