A true pro and one of my favorites, shame his legs weren't there after a while.
Wish him the best and good luck!
Wish him the best and good luck!
31
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 32
- Goals
- 0
- Assists
- 4
- Yellow cards
- 5
- Status
Had a good game. Seemed to be pulling the strings from deep. Need a midfielder desperately in his mold next season.
Classy player who did a solid job for us. Shame he didn't win one trophy with us but one of our better signing post SAF era. I am pretty sure Jose would love to have him at Roma.
Its like...he is giving his all for best free agency position, feel sorry for who ever gets scammed.
You don't like your countryman?
Didn’t watch him much at Chelsea so I didn’t know he’s such a top player. Wish we had him at his prime. Thank you Nemanja and for signing my kit
Cynic in me, but he did this last time when he wanted a contract.
Very good player. Just over the hill though it's a good thing he's going.
Sure he will get a decent club to take him and will likely be successful. Italy seems the obvious move.
Sure he will get a decent club to take him and will likely be successful. Italy seems the obvious move.
Correct that's my take on this as wellCynic in me, but he did this last time when he wanted a contract.
I think i'd have him down as our 4th best player this season?
feck knows who our 5th would be.
feck knows who our 5th would be.
Been a good player for us since he has been at the club and he was never the issue in our struggles.
He is a 7/10 defensively and with his passing but sadly only a 4/10 in terms of pace and mobility. If we get someone who isn't any older than 26 and is at least 7/10 in defensive and passing and 6/10 with pace and mobility we would have done well to replace him.
He is a 7/10 defensively and with his passing but sadly only a 4/10 in terms of pace and mobility. If we get someone who isn't any older than 26 and is at least 7/10 in defensive and passing and 6/10 with pace and mobility we would have done well to replace him.
Basically every season he's been here goes the same way. He has a period in the season where he plays well and lots of people start saying that he's our best midfielder. However they completely forget that his good period only lasts for about two months, and for the other 80% of the season he's poor and struggles badly with keeping up with the pace of the game.
The only season that hasn't gone like that was his very first, and even that was only 50% good and 50% bad.
The only season that hasn't gone like that was his very first, and even that was only 50% good and 50% bad.
Says a lot about this guy that he knew he wanted out a long time ago. None of that indecisive shite to fish around for the best contract/most money "I want to speak to ETH first" bla bla bla.
Hope he goes someplace with bad referees so he can continue kneeing players in the balls.
Hope he goes someplace with bad referees so he can continue kneeing players in the balls.
How he got his last contract extension says a lot about this guy indeed.
Was it once or twice?
Think it was once, under Ole, it was also dragged into his last few months. So his age when he joined plus initial contract from JM, yea only one extension i believe, maybe they triggered +1 but thats it
The thing is, the praise he gets during those good spells has always been on the money. During those good spells he reaches a level of all round central midfield play (in attack and defence) that we haven’t seen since Carrick was in the team. Only possible exception being Fred on a very good day. None of the rest of them come close.
Can we get some prime mobile tough and skilful midfielders
Yeah, I would agree with that. He was a very good central midfielder who had his best days before joining us, but during those short periods of form he was still able to showcase a good level. If he'd been able to show that more consistently, preferably also while having a bit more mobility, he would have been a vital player for us over these years.
What I would say though is that, other than central defence, central midfield is probably the most important position on the field for consistency. And Matic has never had that during his time with us (unless you want to point to his first half a season). I would say both Pogba and Fred, despite all the criticism they get which is somewhat true, have been more consistent than Matic. Perhaps not in the last two seasons for Pogba, and obviously not Fred's first season, but overall I would say their ratio of good to bad is comfortably better than Matic.
In his defence though, the fact that he was having to play next to Pogba whose own weaknesses highlighted the growing limitation in Matic's game didn't help. Also that strangely he and Fred always struggled to play together, despite in theory being easily our most balanced midfield partnership. It wasn't until Rangnick came in and tweaked their positions (Matic staying in midfield more often instead of always dropping back into the defence, and Fred pushing further forward) that they started combining well.
Close the thread, goodbye Nemanja
This deserves to be the last post of the thread. Thanks Nemanja.
Jose again 
- Status