Only just watched the LASK game (really wasn't in a rush to watch what was essentially a dead rubber) and reading this thread feels like I've slipped into a parrellel universe where nothing makes sense. Because no way was Mata's performance in that match anywhere near the car crash some of you are making it out to be.
Okay, 1st half he was ineffective, as was the whole team (although he was no worse than James or McTominay), but 2nd half I thought he played pretty well. Not everything he tried came off, and there were occasional errors that would at one time have been unheard of from a player like him, but to say he was "atrocious" is a massive, massive stretch. Even aside from the two assists, he had some pretty good passes that, sure, don't mean much in the long term, but certainly don't make him deserving of the pelters he's got on here. Reading the previous page back you'd think he dropped a 0/10 performance. Someone in the match thread even said he "will never play worse than that" which is just ludicrous.
And the weird thing is, it's only on here. Almost everywhere else has ranked him as one of the better performers, even MOTM. I do agree with the poster who said that had the likes of Pogba or Bruno performed like that, there would be little to no criticism. I find on here when certain players are seen as surplus to requirements (and I'm not saying Mata necessarily has a future here, and I'm not particularly bothered if he stays or goes), everything they do is looked at negatively and any good contribution is downplayed, or even ignored.