Not sure what his role is at Utd.
8
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 12
- Goals
- 0
- Assists
- 0
- Yellow cards
- 0
- Status
Why is he still here? Nice guy & all but this sentiment shit has been holding us back. We need to get more ruthless. He belongs in the MLS or a league or similar level.
Not sure why he came off instead of Martial. He was playing well I thought.
I'm not someone who lost their mind that he got a new contract however Elanga looked more of a threat when he came on
Could be great goal from difficult angle, but came off the post.
Other than that not much really...
Other than that not much really...
Anonymous for large periods but that's expected of him nowadays.
It's getting stranger and stranger that he's an option in these games.
It's not that he's outright bad, he looks after the ball. It's that with every passing season he becomes less and less influential in games. He can pick out a cross or the odd goal but so can many players.
It feels like an opportunity lost to bed in a few younger players. I'm not one for banging down the door as I believe the staff are generally in the best position to assess youth but when you see Mata it's quite strange given the attacking young talent available.
It's not that he's outright bad, he looks after the ball. It's that with every passing season he becomes less and less influential in games. He can pick out a cross or the odd goal but so can many players.
It feels like an opportunity lost to bed in a few younger players. I'm not one for banging down the door as I believe the staff are generally in the best position to assess youth but when you see Mata it's quite strange given the attacking young talent available.
He plays like Scholes at Soccer Aid.
Bags of technical ability and intelligence executed in slow motion.
Bags of technical ability and intelligence executed in slow motion.
Thought he was ok. Nothing extraordinary, but not too poor as well, as the caf suggests. Probably unlucky to have come off considering Lingard and Martial were significantly worse than him, and Sancho wasn't getting into the game as well
That's a third of his season done.
He was only ever going to big up the majority of his minutes in the League Cup and the FA Cup. Knocked out of 1 cup so we will barely see him play now.
He did ok, but i dont know why we persist with him when he's clearly done. Seems such a waste of minutes when we could have played Elanga for longer and given him more opportunity.
I didn't mind Mata signing a new contract at the time but in hindsight it looks a bit pointless. He did okay last season and no doubt would have played more had it not been for his time away for personal reasons so it was understandable. But I assumed that Lingard and Pereira would be sold, at least 2 of Hannibal/Amad/Elanga would go on loan and of course nobody expected Ronaldo's return.
Doesn't give the impression he's someone happy to just take the money so I don't really understand why he's content with this squad role either. He's still only 33 and could easily be a regular starter for a bottom half PL side. If we want to give him a role at the club when he retires then that's fine, but it doesn't mean we have to keep him here until then.
Possibly sounds a bit harsh but he's just blocking a pathway to the first team now for the younger players. He was decent yesterday but that's not really enough to justify starting ahead of Elanga.
Doesn't give the impression he's someone happy to just take the money so I don't really understand why he's content with this squad role either. He's still only 33 and could easily be a regular starter for a bottom half PL side. If we want to give him a role at the club when he retires then that's fine, but it doesn't mean we have to keep him here until then.
Possibly sounds a bit harsh but he's just blocking a pathway to the first team now for the younger players. He was decent yesterday but that's not really enough to justify starting ahead of Elanga.
Juan is one of the great guys and a genuinely brilliant technician with the ball. He’s got moments in him, but although he’s physically fit his athleticism is such that he can no longer cope the physicality of PL clubs like West Ham.
I'm sure I read before that under Ferguson, players over 30 were only ever extended on a 12 month basis. However, this guy (and Matic) have both been given multi-year contracts when already in their 30s, and the kicker is they both look slow and tired and struggle to complete games and get about the pitch quickly.
It's strange. They've both managed to look like they're in their twilight years, even in their early 30s.
It's strange. They've both managed to look like they're in their twilight years, even in their early 30s.
Should have gone years ago, a sign of the apathy at the club currently that being nice off the pitch is valued more than being a winner on it.
Think I read somewhere the club is planning to hire him as club ambassador after he retires, so possibly that could happen next summer and we're only keeping him until then.
Park played for qpr after us and still ended up as a Manchester united ambassador. He can go play somewhere and get hired as an ambassador later.
I agree, Vidić is an example too. There was reportedly some offer from Lazio to Mata year or two ago but it didn't happen obviously. It was pointless giving him new contract this summer, we've got better players than him in both RW and CAM position.
How often was he expecting to play? 
How often was he expecting to play?
That's what I was thinking but tbf at the time he signed his contract it wasn't clear the likes of Lingard would be staying. Plus we've just been knocked out of the competition he was most likely to feature in.
He's played 62 minutes in the Carabao cup this season. What a great ROI for 160k/w, which was once again renewed this summer.
Manchester United is the best place to retire. Hard to blame the player for taking the renewal at his age (although if he renewed thinking he'd get game time, then that's on him). Our board just keeps giving them out.
Manchester United is the best place to retire. Hard to blame the player for taking the renewal at his age (although if he renewed thinking he'd get game time, then that's on him). Our board just keeps giving them out.
He's not on 160k. His previous contract was closer to 125-135k by all accounts and I'm sure the new one wouldn't be more than that
Unless we're planning for him to go immediately into coaching the squad next season the new contract makes no sense. He and VDB should be allowed to leave in January.
Villarreal 0:2 Man Utd
Not a foot wrong today. Class. 100% pass completion and successful dribbles
Fantastic cameo.
Seriously what is the point of letting a player come on for 20 seconds?
Wasting time?
Wasting time?
I hope Rangnick sells Mata in January.
The club is too sentimental
The club is too sentimental
Alcohol bump
You're actually right
Wonder if in the summer we'll start finally seeing the "great servant of the club" messages.
Only at United could we keep a player for a season as a token gesture with no outlay or intent to play. His minutes per ££££ will be special let alone goals and assists. What are we all about these days?
20 Appearances in two year, can't believe he's only 33 either, seems like he's been finished for about 4 years now.
Crazy to think next month will be 8 years for him here, the club seems to want the record for the amount of players achieving testimonials.
This strategy of keeping players no matter what has never been in Uniteds "dna" so I'm not sure why it's happened, buy if players haven't shown ability to succeed at the top level within three years the likelihood of them ever doing it will be slim - sure we may miss out on some late bloomers, but I'd rather that than keeping the likes of Mata, Jones, Smalling for close to a decade with no reward.
Crazy to think next month will be 8 years for him here, the club seems to want the record for the amount of players achieving testimonials.
This strategy of keeping players no matter what has never been in Uniteds "dna" so I'm not sure why it's happened, buy if players haven't shown ability to succeed at the top level within three years the likelihood of them ever doing it will be slim - sure we may miss out on some late bloomers, but I'd rather that than keeping the likes of Mata, Jones, Smalling for close to a decade with no reward.
Man Utd 1:1 Young Boys
I'm convinced that he's one of the reasons we look so disjointed everytime we mass rotate the team in games like this. He plays the game at walking pace these days. Must be a nightmare playing alongside him.
There's no way he manages another season here...surely?
There's no way he manages another season here...surely?
Donny had to cover the whole midfield from 20 min and on because Mata was done after that. We are better off giving that game time to the younger ones from next season.
Guy is cooked. Needs to leave at the end of the season unfortunately.
It’s crazy he’s only 33, he moves like he’s 53. Everytime I watch him I’m just staggered he got a new contract, he offers nothing at this level.
What a strange match. He had a 10 minute period (from the 15th to 25th minute of the match) where he was absolutely brilliant and everything he touched turned to gold. Unfortunately for the remaining 80 minutes he was terrible and had one of his worst matches where even his passing was off.
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