This is Van Gaal and Rooney all over again.
31
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 38
- Goals
- 1
- Assists
- 0
- Yellow cards
- 12
- Red cards
- 1
- Status
He was tremendous for about 2/3 months and it went downhill from then. Said he was a massive problem for us but inexplicably he kept getting praise and MOTM awards.
Yep. Mourinho has to be judged upon this more than anything.
He should stand up to be counted for what is happening.
I believe we have an excellent”ish” squad. But playing Matic and Lukaku from tbe start today was ludicrous.
I am not super anti-Mourinho but today is on him.
No, he just isn't.
Pereira isn’t 6 foot 4 unfortunately so Jose doesn’t want to hear it.
Jose was quick to forget pereira’s performance v Leicester.
How did he run Bailly into the ground ? He’s constantly injured and when he’s fit he’s constantly making mistakes!
Logic.
Infuriating.
The rest excuse was made a lot last season. He has had extended periods without play last season, and a few weeks this season. He has been poor regardless. He was mostly poor last season. He was very poor in his final season at chelsea.
See, I think 2/3 months is a stretch. 2/3s of month, maybe. He had the classy debut and maybe a few more good games. But after that he was mostly mediocre to decent. The excuse of him needing a rest was flying around early last year.
I'm not seeing anything other than a crap footballer. Outside of the handful of appearances, he hasn't shown anything to make me think otherwise.
Something is really puzzling about how he defends.
When we are sitting back under pressure he sits inbetween Lindelof and Smalling. He acts like a 3rd cb but he just gets in the way.
By the time he eventually starts to press forward and try to close them down it’s just too slow. His positioning is very weird.
they ghosted past him so many times today it was embarrassing.
When we are sitting back under pressure he sits inbetween Lindelof and Smalling. He acts like a 3rd cb but he just gets in the way.
By the time he eventually starts to press forward and try to close them down it’s just too slow. His positioning is very weird.
they ghosted past him so many times today it was embarrassing.
fred - herrera two with pogba at 10
After watching Andros Townsend and Kouyate basically running past him like he didn't exist on the football pitch, give me CDM herrera any day of the week. Herrera isn't the best CM by any stretch of the imagination, but i know he'll actually compete to win the midfield battle. What was Matic even attempting to do today?
A player past his best.Welcome to Manchester Uniteds transfer incompetence.
If it's just the height thing, then I'd rather Fellaini play there instead of him. At least he'd actually be a presence.
There is something else going on there. It makes no sense to keep start such a shit terrible if other reasons weren't taken into consideration
Just a lumbering mess of a player. His insistence on playing Matic must be some form of self-sabotage.
Last edited:
What would it cost a journalist to ask him this "Why do you keep playing an underperforming player like Matic all the time ?"
Remember last season when he came out after a match and said something like this is way Matic and Lukaku always play, he said it without even being asked about it, oh man good times.
He's fallen off a cliff more than I can remember any other 30 year old player doing. He should be nowhere near our 1st choice line up
He loves them alright
Indeed. It also remphacises the acceptance of poor standards at the club.
Play crap, you are guaranteed a start next game as long as you are a golden goose
Thank god the board didnt let him buy anymore 29/30 year olds. You get one good season and then bang. Awful. Reminds me of the decline in Rooney tbh. Slow, cant close people down, cant pass. I watched him for Serbia also last weekend and he was the same
I don't see any other big clubs doing that. It's madness
Golden goose? More like a dead duck
Their life, career, family. Probably end up with a set of nice cement boots near a dock.
Why criticise Matic? It is Jose who signed him and plays him. Matic is depressed (remember Carrick) or simply past it.
Last season if he played well the team played well, if he was bad we were shite.
This reason he has been bad pretty much every game...
This reason he has been bad pretty much every game...
He was terrible again, letting his man run off him time and time again, but this was probably the most infuriating part of his game today for me:
Lingard under pressure gives a poor pass, but one that you'd probably expect Matic to still get to or at least get to a 50/50. Instead he just stands still, doesnt even attempt to go for the ball, doesn't close, doesn't attempt to intercept the pass and then when it gets to Zaha just jogs back and leaves it for someone else to deal with.
At 3:20
Lingard under pressure gives a poor pass, but one that you'd probably expect Matic to still get to or at least get to a 50/50. Instead he just stands still, doesnt even attempt to go for the ball, doesn't close, doesn't attempt to intercept the pass and then when it gets to Zaha just jogs back and leaves it for someone else to deal with.
At 3:20
Nah, nah he's just tired, that's all...
Matic always escorts the opposing player to our goal. He might as well not play at all. But it is Jose's fault for picking him always. I am sure even Jones would be better than him because Jones is much quicker and much stronger than Matic. Not many players are going to waltz pass Jones.
He's somehow worse out of possession than he is with it. He looks finished but I suppose it's possible he looks much worse as a result of the 'tactical' decision to sit off teams in the way we do.
Why did we sign Matic? £40m for a 29 year old. I'm sorry but Mourinho has no idea what he is doing. The man is absolutely clueless.
Herrera was outstanding at DM in 16/17 including winning the Matt Busby POTY award and a MOTM in the Europa final.
Herrera was outstanding at DM in 16/17 including winning the Matt Busby POTY award and a MOTM in the Europa final.
So it seems that players do decline at 29/30... in all seriousness, buying 29/30 year olds for 40m is not that smart of an idea however you look at it.
Yep. I pointed that out last season and people defended him. He escaped criticism because he didn't have a huge target on his back like many players. Pogba had one because of his price tag and reputation. Rashford and Martial had one because they were constantly compared and thus had their own fans. Other players are obvious stand outs from previous regimes. Matic always escaped criticism due to the quiet nature surrounding his thread and reputation, and this led to perception that he was good for almost the whole season.
Don’t let the sports science brigade hear you say that mate. They’ll be in here talking about how a player can perform at their peak until the mid 30s now thanks to “advancements” and then throw in some joke about “well he’s 29 now, everyone knows 29 is the new 60 according to some in here hur hur hur” anytime it’s pointed out that it is expected that a player will start to decline at 29-30
Which is why we don’t see any players playing top level football past 29, right?Don’t let the sports science brigade hear you say that mate. They’ll be in here talking about how a player can perform at their peak until the mid 30s now thanks to “advancements” and then throw in some joke about “well he’s 29 now, everyone knows 29 is the new 60 according to some in here hur hur hur” anytime it’s pointed out that it is expected that a player will start to decline at 29-30
It’s almost as though players are individuals and will beginning declining at different stages in their career. Conclusively declaring a player is in decline at 29 is moronic, considering the plethora of evidence we have at our disposal that suggests the contrary.
At the top level, yes. At their peak? No. Most players start to decline at that age. Obviously there will be exceptions, but in general it’s safer to assume that they will, rather than hoping that they won’t. I don’t see how that can be argued? I’m not saying every player declines, but it would be safer for us if we steered away from them, unless they are absolutely top class, like a Modric. That’s why going for Sanchez made sense for us, granted it hasn’t worked out so far.
Going for players who’s top level is just “good” in that age bracket isn’t a smart investment whichever way you look at it IMO, as the potential upside isn’t worth the risk.
While that may be true, all the signs were there that Matic was beginning to decline in his last couple of seasons at Chelsea.
- Status