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2017-18 Performances

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6.2 Season Average Rating
Appearances
49
Goals
2
Assists
4
Yellow cards
6
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His worst game for us, seemed yards off the pace, couldn’t make simple 2 yard passes.
He needs help in there when teams play a high press as all his options get cut off so fast, moving forward this game surely has made Jose realise we need 3 in midfield.
 
Ijazz17 said:
Pogba was woeful to be honest. Matic tried his best, but Pogba just didn't support him enough especially defensively.
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Yes, Pogba made him regularly give the ball away in dangerous areas and look like he was carrying a bag of cement on his back.
 
He was poor yesterday and has been since the City game really. But what do we expect him to do, he was so overcrowded, the likes of Eriksen, Alli and Son ran rings around him and Pogba was awol. He's not the 14/15 Matic, when he dominated midfields and left Fabregas to create.
It was poor tactics, he is really awful against teams who press high up, the guy needed help, Herrera should have definitely played.
 
Robbie Boy said:
Yes, Pogba made him regularly give the ball away in dangerous areas and look like he was carrying a bag of cement on his back.
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I think regularly is a bit much. I recall him losing the ball twice and one of them was definitely dangerous, near our own box in the second half. He tried a lot of forward passes, but it didn't come of though. But then again, only Carrick is only really capable of that. Pogba was absolutely dreadful though. Couldn't dribble out of tight spaces, jogged back to track the player, forward passes were abysmal. The only thing that worked for him were those Hollywood-esque like passes. I can understand why Poggers was subbed, but he always has the X Factor. A better sub might have been Herrera for Matic, but Mourinho wanted to probably go direct and Fellaini definitely offers that.
 
I don't get the whole 'blaming Pogba' thing. Matic has been awful for weeks. Pogba hasn't.
 
spiriticon said:
I don't get the whole 'blaming Pogba' thing. Matic has been awful for weeks. Pogba hasn't.
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Matic has been pretty average agreed. But Pogba was just woeful yesterday. Why else would Jose sub his star player ? If he wanted to bring Fellaini and try a different approach, he would have taken off Lingard or Martial like he normally does.
 
Only Jones was worse, doesn't have the legs for a big game either. He was like a cone that the Spurs players jogged around all game.
 
Ijazz17 said:
Matic has been pretty average agreed. But Pogba was just woeful yesterday. Why else would Jose sub his star player ? If he wanted to bring Fellaini and try a different approach, he would have taken off Lingard or Martial like he normally does.
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Because taking off Matic for Fellaini wouldn't have been a different approach.
 
Ijazz17 said:
Matic has been pretty average agreed. But Pogba was just woeful yesterday. Why else would Jose sub his star player ? If he wanted to bring Fellaini and try a different approach, he would have taken off Lingard or Martial like he normally does.
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Pogba was the worst yesterday, but we're focusing on Matic's performances. Just because Pogba is bad doesn't mean Matic has to pack it in too.

It's Matic's job to support Pogba so to allow him the freedom to run forward, not the other way round.
 
He has been overworked all season and naturally his performances have dropped.

While he hasn't been at his best, it's quite understandable. He was hounded by 3/4 players all game with no support.

I'm not blaming Pogba entirely, but he was missing yesterday and was nowhere near Matic. It highlights the need too sign two CM's and play Pobga further up as he has not got the game management, discipline or intelligence to play in an orthodox midfield 2.

Matic needs a rest, but we have no other options currently for DM
 
Ijazz17 said:
I think regularly is a bit much. I recall him losing the ball twice and one of them was definitely dangerous, near our own box in the second half. He tried a lot of forward passes, but it didn't come of though. But then again, only Carrick is only really capable of that. Pogba was absolutely dreadful though. Couldn't dribble out of tight spaces, jogged back to track the player, forward passes were abysmal. The only thing that worked for him were those Hollywood-esque like passes. I can understand why Poggers was subbed, but he always has the X Factor. A better sub might have been Herrera for Matic, but Mourinho wanted to probably go direct and Fellaini definitely offers that.
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Well I recall him constantly giving the ball away but maybe that's because I was fuming watching the game. Both were terrible, but it's safe to say, that Pogba as-per usual is getting a far worse time on here.
 
Adnan said:
Because taking off Matic for Fellaini wouldn't have been a different approach.
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I never said anything about taking off Matic for Fellaini. So not quite sure what your point is. Herrera for Matic might have been a better option.

spiriticon said:
Pogba was the worst yesterday, but we're focusing on Matic's performances. Just because Pogba is bad doesn't mean Matic has to pack it in too.

It's Matic's job to support Pogba so to allow him the freedom to run forward, not the other way round.
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That concept only works if you play a three man midfield. In a double pivot, no matter what people say on paper, both players have to pull their weight, maybe in different proportions definitely, but they still have to "contribute" to both facets of the game. Especially when Spurs have three very dynamic midfielders in control. Pogba spent half his time jogging back or racing forward only for the ball to be lost at some point. He really was in no man's land. I'm not saying Matic played great, he definitely didn't. His passes were off, he lost a few tackles, was easily outrun, but all the blame can't be solely attributed to him. That's the only point I am trying to make.
 
It was too much for Matic and Pogba, again this is why this 2 man midfield does not work against the big teams add that to the fact that Matic looked knackered, kept giving the ball away and had his worst performance this season and the end product is what we saw last night.
 
If you follow his career closely you will know that he always starts off a season like he is the best midfielder in the league and then becomes mediocre or even borderline bad towards the end of the season. He had enough rest in January so I don't think it's because of fatigue.
 
for the last 2 months, I come here and read the same sentence " his worst game for us"

He has been shit for 2 months, I never rated him and stand firm, he is a good player, but nowhere near world quality, he is too slow and takes so many many touches on the ball, he turns around on him self and he gives the ball away too many times. For me he is nowhere near good for united. I dont give a feck what people thinks of him.

He has been rested for many times the last weeks and still like he is playing at the end of the season. FFS you are just 30 yrs.
 
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Anyone else massively concerned with his fitness?

I know he's not young but apart form the start of the season, he's looked so immobile.
 
tomaldinho1 said:
Anyone else massively concerned with his fitness?

I know he's not young but apart form the start of the season, he's looked so immobile.
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Even at the start of the season he didn't look very mobile. It's just Mkhi was doing a decent job defensively of chasing down players to help out. I think he's as fit as he's going to be - it's just the formation José's using is just leaving us too vulnerable with Matic having too much to do.

Hopefully we'll revert to a 3 man midfield and his performances will rise because of that.
 
Matic's "awareness" for the first goal:lol:

Looks at Eriksen,turns his back on him while ball watching
 
Not normally a fan of players needing a rest given that they get paid an awful lot of money but there is a case there for him. Yesterday was the poorest I've seen him for us so far, he looked leggy and he misplaced a lot of passes. Nowhere near the commanding presence he was a few months ago.
 
I had to laugh when he ran about 70 yards and passed the ball straight out of play. His concentration levels have dipped massively for some reason. At the start of the season he was winning all his duels and anticipating danger before anyone with so many vital interceptions.
 
Problem with older players is you never know if it's a lull in form or a legit decline till it carries on for a prolonged period.
 
tomaldinho1 said:
Anyone else massively concerned with his fitness?

I know he's not young but apart form the start of the season, he's looked so immobile.
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Not concerned with the fitness but his form has dropped remarkably in recent weeks. He doesn't seem to be having any influence on the game whatsoever. That for me is a massive concern.
 
Trigg said:
Not concerned with the fitness but his form has dropped remarkably in recent weeks. He doesn't seem to be having any influence on the game whatsoever. That for me is a massive concern.
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Matic hasn't been particularly good since Arsenal away. A lot of fans have overlooked this, not sure why, while giving pelts to other players.

I have been willing to accept Jose's explanation that he played injured over Xmas and he might still be injured. However, the fact he's putting in pretty flat performances does affect us.

Wednesday night was not entirely his fault though. If Matic has not properly recovered from injury Mourinho should've protected him. Instead he was played in a midfield two with Pogba who predictably went walkies. God alone knows why Mourinho hates a midfield three...
 
I said it in a different thread, he's not better than Herrera, he started well because all the team started well a new season against really poor oppositions. If Herrera played we would still beat teams 4:0. In fact don't remember we would be dominating any top team with him in midfield having a great game, whereas Herrera was MOTM last year and it worked with Pogba but Mourinho likes his giants so he has to play but the fact that he takes ages to turn and cover the ground or the massive hesitation on the ball is driving me crazy. In this form he's definitely not good enough. Time to give Herrera some playing time. At least he can up the tempo with passing and provide legs. Matic often looks like 36old Carrick.

So let's get top CM in the summer and give Herrera chance to get to his best form of last year in which he would outplayed Matic for sure..
 
Perhaps his body can't handle a full season at this level anymore? He really shouldn't be tired at this point in the season. If he's tired now how will he perform in April/May at the crunch point of the season? I know he's played a lot of minutes but we recently had a week long break in Dubai something Chelsea didn't do last few years and I don't remember being this bad at Chelsea. Pretty sure he was one of the players who played every minute of every PL game so what's changed this year? Maybe he's started to decline because I honestly can't remember the last time he had a top game.
 
According to the MEN he has been carrying an injury for the past 6 weeks and trained very little in Dubai.
 
He looks less mobile than Carrick at the moment.

He’s been playing with an injury since Arsenal hasn’t he?
 
abdo99 said:
Perhaps his body can't handle a full season at this level anymore? He really shouldn't be tired at this point in the season. If he's tired now how will he perform in April/May at the crunch point of the season? I know he's played a lot of minutes but we recently had a week long break in Dubai something Chelsea didn't do last few years and I don't remember being this bad at Chelsea. Pretty sure he was one of the players who played every minute of every PL game so what's changed this year? Maybe he's started to decline because I honestly can't remember the last time he had a top game.
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He's been very solid for us for the most part, bar a couple of iffy games, Spurs away being the worst of his. Personally I don't buy the "he's been shit for weeks" some are saying in here.

It's not just that he's played a lot of minutes. He's played the most minutes of anyone in the team by a distance except De Gea. It's an enormous amount of game time, playing the full 90 in every league game (bar Watford, where he played an hour) in a position where he covers more ground than most, as he's not your typical sitting #6 like Carrick.

Mourinho has even acknowledged he needs a rest but he can't rest him because we have no one else.


Ideally we should be beating Huddersfield at home without needing him, to give him a week off until Newcastle away, but I'd be surprised if we line up without him.
 
Man Utd 2:0 Huddersfield
He's really annoying with all of his touches every time he gets the ball.
 
Great and flawless game today.

Without much pressure on him from the opposition he's more than handy to carry the midfield but when pressed like crazy some of his flaws may appear so we always need to play with another DMF beside him in big games.
 
Colossal today, he plays so much better when he's aggressive. Cleaned up everything in 2nd half and some nice passes too.
 
Clearly needs someone willing to hold their position as a partner, and since Pogba alway shall play that means we should go for a 3 man midfield.

Fecking 4-2-3-1 is damn near designed to showcase the flaws in both his and Pogba's game.
 
First decent outing for awhile. Although that may be partly down to playing in a proper double pivot, rather than chasing around after the gaps Pogba leaves when he goes forward.
 
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