Like score a crucial equalizer in the FA cup final when we have just been rocked by a late goal that seems destined to win Palace the cup?
Juan Mata
- Thread starter MyOnlySolskjaer
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He has his good moments and he has his bad. I'm not prepared to pressure Jose into keeping him, put it that way. If he stays then that's good.
Ah go on.
Alright then, he's a better option than Rooney, are you happy?
That game was pretty much the epitome of Mata's entire season. He had an absolute stinker of a game and was about to get subbed, scores a lucky deflection and suddenly it changes everyone's perception of him. Complete fraud.
It was actually Rooney's contribution that kept us in the cup final. Of course Mata's the one to get the plaudits though.
This!
I really don't understand if these people who rates Mata in here are actually watching the games or just the highlights. I have watched all our games at least once each and majority twice each for all our full matches. I tend to think Mata is not playing even though he is on the pitch. He's been too invisible in most of our games IMO. Most of the time I only realise that Mata is actually playing when he scores a goal or makes errors. One of the example is obviously that crystal palace game. Being invisible in a whole game, and then somehow out of nowhere he appeared and scored thanks to other players contribution and it's not like he consistently scored every games.
One look at this thread and you'd think Mata was the reason for all our troubles. Good thing we have Rooney and Fellaini who will steer us to the treble next year.
I've been a big critic of Mata this season, but I don't think we should sell him. He has his limitations and it's pointless listing them because they're obvious, but he does score and set up a fair few oven the course of a season.
I think if we're going to be going into a season in which we'll be playing Thursday and the next Sunday so often, having a player of Mata's quality in the squad is vital.
He was far and away one of our best providers of goals last season. Who knows, me might be hard working enough now to impress Jose. I was certainly impressed with how much he got back last season.
I think if we're going to be going into a season in which we'll be playing Thursday and the next Sunday so often, having a player of Mata's quality in the squad is vital.
He was far and away one of our best providers of goals last season. Who knows, me might be hard working enough now to impress Jose. I was certainly impressed with how much he got back last season.
No but he's definitely not the solution and now there might be a good opportunity to make back some of our money and wages on a signing that just hasn't worked out at all.
Keeping him could very possibly develop into another Nani/Rooney saga.
1 bad game should not result in a player being sold.
Though, I do agree - Mata is not MUFC quality.
My reason: he is an attacker, and I checked his stats for last season. He scored 6 goals, which is embarrassing.
To compare, Rashford (18 year old kid) who only got about 33% of the game time which Mata got, scored more goals than Mata.
Rooney is bad. But Mata isn't much better. Both of these players are fine for a team aspiring to be in 4th/5th place. But for a team which wants to win the title - they are not good enough.
Disagree. Mata is not an impact/ super sub player. He is a player meant to have the team to tailored to his style and he drift out of the game and opponents' attention to deliver his quality. Pretty similar to this old Rooney.
Mata has been working hard. No one should condemn him on that. The problem is the quality of his hard work. Mata can be tackle a player, but Mata is not good/strong enough to win the ball = not tackle (Midjtland game)He can be tracking runner, but can't stop runner get to the ball/cross (vs Rose at White Hart Lane) = not tracking.
Surprised nobody has slated you for this point, so i'll do it. That bit in bolded line is absurd, i'm struggling to write anything in response to that without either insulting you or putting you on my ignore list.
If we are comparing players based on goals, then Arsenal- arguably a better side than us last season with a better manager than at least LVG- had Ozil as #10.
Ozil in his among the best seasons of his career- Scored 6 goals, Mata scored 9 (6 in PL 3 in FA Cup)
And while I agree that Ozil was better all round, you need to compare like with like. Can't compare strikers with #10s
Anyone who disagrees with him doesn't watch the games it's simple. If I were you I wouldn't bother...
Seems mad to sell a player that was involved in pretty much half of our goals last season. He's not perfect by any means, but when a team's playing well he's more than capable of creating them killer passes to set someone up and he does have a knack of getting important goals. Problem is that when the team isn't playing well he sort of disappears. He's pretty much a luxury player, but potentially with people like Pogba and Ibra in the team, we could afford him to be there too.
Not only that be he seems like a genuine nice guy who likes playing here.
Not only that be he seems like a genuine nice guy who likes playing here.
I'll be honest, all I ever do is watch youtube videos of our players. Who needs to watch football matches anymore? Old school wankers.
Indeed,I can confirm I watched every game live as it happened last season and every season and still think mata was one of our better players
The Pogba and Zlatan part is just too wrong. Pogba and Zlatan tends to need this kind of disappearing act surfing game too. We need play who can get involved and show up than more slacking geniuses. Old Rooney Bastian Carrick can join this small club too.
Can we give our players a year under a proper manager and a proper system to play in before judging them?
Contract till summer 2018 and apparently earning £150k a week.
Im not sure I expect clubs to be queuing up to offer us £20m+ and pay his wages (apparently £7.5m a year)
I can see him staying for a year before leaving for not much money at all given he will be in the last year of his contract
Im not sure I expect clubs to be queuing up to offer us £20m+ and pay his wages (apparently £7.5m a year)
I can see him staying for a year before leaving for not much money at all given he will be in the last year of his contract
Not what I can decide. It's an opinion. Thing is many evidence pointing toward Mata attribute/ quality is not fit for the role in Mourinho team. He is not plug & play player, but once need a system that tailored his style. Mourinho has a big job to do and Mata is too luxurious at this moment.
Just a few stats about Mata's last season, which I agree he wasn't too good in:
Passing Success- 89.2% (Highest among players with 30 appearances in PL)
Dispossessed- 1.4 times per 90 minutes( Among top 10 with players who played as attackers with 25 starts in PL)
Unsuccessful Touches- 0.8 (Best in PL among players who play as AM(L,C,R) or ST with 20 starts in PL)
And while I agree that some stats are becoming more pleasing to the eye because we played safe football, can't it be said that he didn't have that level of impact because of the same reason.
So to people who want him out, who should be his replacement who is technically this good?
Passing Success- 89.2% (Highest among players with 30 appearances in PL)
Dispossessed- 1.4 times per 90 minutes( Among top 10 with players who played as attackers with 25 starts in PL)
Unsuccessful Touches- 0.8 (Best in PL among players who play as AM(L,C,R) or ST with 20 starts in PL)
And while I agree that some stats are becoming more pleasing to the eye because we played safe football, can't it be said that he didn't have that level of impact because of the same reason.
So to people who want him out, who should be his replacement who is technically this good?
Not my favourite player but he is definitely a better 10 than Rooney who will start every game because he is Rooney. Having Mata in the middle with a focal target man and pace on the wings would see him rack up lots of assists and goals 15-20 of each. But he doesn't fit how Jose likes to play so I assume he's off.
That's what I hate the most about Mata.
Too easily pushed off the ball - very frustrating to watch.
It's obvious he has heaps of natural ability/skill and over a course of a season will have a good Youtube compo but 10 times more compo's on the crap stuff he does.
I can totally see why Jose sold him.
Mourinho said in the press conference, he is not afraid to lose possession! Mourinho doesn't need these stats. What matters is how well a player can contribute to the team having no possession. Mourinho team tends to do a lot of defensive work (not just running, positioning,...), but be involved, tuck in... Mata hasn't shown much improvement in this department
Berbatov had rate conversion rate (goal per minute), we know how the story went. It's style compatibility. Not just quality.
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I meant as in among the least. In a positive light. Every other player has been dispossessed way more
Mkhitaryan?
Though Id like Mata to stay I dont see him being happy as a sub - particularly as his previous experience under Jose does not seem to suggest he is going to give him the opportunities. Better he goes somewhere and plays his natural game (that said I still think because of his wages it may be hard to find somebody willing and able to afford him)
I agree he isn't the one who is a hard tackler, but his work rate is pretty good for a CAM. There hardly is any CAM who helps out defence consistently these days as it is, and is good attacking
Pretty sure he was bought for RW. And I also, don't want him to leave but he is too good to be just a bench warmer.
Yeah, because they're beaming with praise on here too.
We've just signed him.
Thing is we don't compare to players out there, but only to players Mourinho uses, see fits his profile. If Mourinho see that another player who may score/assist 1 less goal than Mata but help the team overall prevent conceding goals, enough to win the game then it's good enough. Mata has no problem with work rate. Problem lies with defensive quality. That Spurs game where Rose had a field day on the left not due to Mata's slacking but Mata's inability to challenge Rose defensively.
IIRC Messi was the player who got dispossessed the most (negative way) in La Liga the season 2010-11 arguably his best individual season.
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At no point did I say he was a super sub in fairness. We will need a lot of players next season being in four competitions, and having Rashford, Martial,Ibra and mkhy is fantastic. But, we do need more options beyond them, if we sold Mata your only subs are pretty much Rooney, Depay and Januzaj. That's not enough if we want to stay in the cup competitions for a long time and do well in the league.
I'm not sure I agree with this idea that Mata is a player that needs the team tailored to him. It simply not true. Mata can quite easily not start every game for us next season and still do well for us because he's a very good footballer.
You didn't even need to respond to him to insult him RS!
You didn't even need to respond to him to insult him RS!
That was a playful dig at all of us 
Why would I should get slated when people only defend Mata by mentioning goals and assists, it makes me wonder if people are just watching the highlights or full match.
Yeah....suuurrreee
I know! No worries. I'll be the first to admit to being an old school w@*#^r
You should look at how Mourinho run a team. He uses a small squad too. He plays his first team a lot. For some reason, he can improve his team fitness in his past clubs. Mourinho worked in PL before so LVG argument is not working. We're not doing SAF big squad policy. Seeing the current list of players, we're more than stuffed enough except for that 4th signing.
Mata may not be super sub, but using him means that the team needs to play to his style or it's better to use other players. That's the point of my previous post hence the term not plug & play.
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Comparing the stats you will see that Mata got 9 goals, 6 league goals and 3 FA cup goals and Rashford scored 6, 5 in the league 1 in the FA cup. Mata also contributed with 5 assists to Rashfords 2 assists. Not saying that makes Mata a better player than Rashford but the guy has contributed quite a bit last season even though he was pretty anonymous throughout the season during games.