Classy touch and finish
Juan Mata | 2013/14 Performances
- Thread starter Varun
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik and Imran hold a long overdue conversation about United's awful league form with 1 win in 7. They discuss a disappointing draw at Bournemouth, a not so disappointing draw against Liverpool and a crushing defeat at Chelsea - Is time nearly over for Erik Ten Hag?
Then in a special second half of the pod, Nik welcomes Natalie ( https://twitter.com/natalie_17) to discuss the fortunes of Manchester United Women as they booked a place in the FA Cup Final after a historic first ever win vs. Chelsea.
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beautiful finish.
Juan Mata ooooooooaaaaahhhhhhh!
Juan Mata ooooooooaaaaahhhhhhh!
He comes from Espagna!
He'll fecking nutmeg ya!
Juan Mata ooooooooaaaaahhhhhhh!
He comes from Espagna!
He'll fecking nutmeg ya!
It's embarrassing how quickly he's become my favourite player at Utd. He's only been here 6 months.
When Spain gained control of the match and the game was over, I was hoping Mata scored, it gave me something to smile at.
Surprised it took you so long. He was my favorite player the day we signed him. He was so hard to hate when he was at Chelsea. Admired him so much when he was there. Just a classy player.
This is a performance of another kind....
I hope he has a place in Van Gaal's plans but I'm not entirely convinced he does.
John Mata 
I remember van Gaal saying in relation to why he cut off the Fabregas chase was because there was no reason to buy him since we already had Mata in the team. Could have sworn I saw a quote for that somewhere.
That doesn't sound like something LvG would say in the run up to a World Cup, let alone at any other time of the season. I think it' probably true, though.
I think it was just reported, that he told Woodward we have mata, kagawa and Rooney, so don't need another advanced midfielder.
If he plays Sneijder who is basically a downgraded Mata, he will have no problems.
His only worry will be fitting into a 4-3-3 formation, if he isn't 1 of the CM's I don't think he will start.
Is nobody else still baffled at Mourinho's decision to sell Mata and favour Oscar? As glad as I am we signed Mata, I am still astonished Mourinho thinks Oscar is the better no.10. just goes to show that even great managers can make horrible decisions born out of stubbornness. It seems Mourinho and Fergie both have this in common and I know Van Gaal has been questioned on similar grounds. Seems to be a consistent theme with the very best managers and is one particular reason why Moyes would never have been the right manager for us. Not prepared to put his stamp on the team and too afraid of mistakes and ridicule.
Mourinho fecked up big time with this one, players like Mata are nearly impossible to sign as well so he can't decide to resign someone similar. Silva won't be sold from City and Iniesta won't be sold from Barcelona and even Ozil won't be sold either so whoever they would like to get would be in the tier below at the very least.
He must have made an excuse in his mind to why he did poorly at Real Madrid in the end and Ozil must have been the one taking the blame in his head. For not doing the defensive job hard enough and probably Hazard was officially slated for the same reason but with Ronaldo in mind. So he was completely stuck in his idea that all 10 players needs to do the defensive job they have with no exceptions.
The interesting thing to me was that as soon Mata left Chelsea he actually started doing that defensive job for United, almost like he wanted to show Mourinho he actually had it in him all along as I doubt Moyes inspirational power was the reason he suddenly improved a lot in those regards.
Yeah, Mourinho selling Mata was and still is weird. While Mata is clearly the better player than Oscar, it makes the transfer even funnier considering how underwhelming Oscar was last season. Would have helped if they still had a certain player...
I think you mean Wenger saying he snubbed Fabregas because he already has Ozil in the team
Absolutely. What was even more surprising was Jose doing so after making Ozil the creative lynchpin of his Madrid side - and then dropping a similar kind of player based on lack of workrate (Ozil is dogshite compared to Juan in that sense).
That said they did have a couple of good #10s to take up Mata's matntle so maybe Juan's sidelining and eventual sale was an intentional ploy to get in line with FFP. Who knows what the real rationale behind the whole episode was. What we do know is that Chelsea have recouped almost 90 million from the sale of Mata+Luiz and can concentrate on more pressing areas of the squad. (FW, CM, LB).
Indeed haha, Mata outperformed Oscar in the 10-15 games he played for us compared to Oscar's 30+. I can't believe Chelsea fans though, slating the player who was their best for years simply because Mourinho said so... Not trying to blow our own trumpet but one thing I can say about us, is that when we sell players there is next to no hostility towards them.
Mata is so good. We've got a full season of this guy to come. He'll be scoring goals and setting them up week after week.
If you need a reason to love him more, he looks like a happy fan to meet Becks here. Sir David Beckham to him
No homo but i would do a threesome with both
No homo, of course, but you would turn De Gea and Herrera down?
that is homo tho. I understand they're nice, but really?!
I still don't really believe he's our player. He still looks like someone photoshopped into our gear.
I'm just as excited to see him play a full season for us as I am any new signing.
I'm just as excited to see him play a full season for us as I am any new signing.
Call yourself a fan?
Still don't see how you get the best out of both players with he and Rooney in the same XI. We're going to sacrifice a lot of Mata's effectiveness if he's stuck out on the wing and Rooney in his #10 position.
Okay De Gea too....but no Herrera
More sexy players = More women are interested in Man Utd = They're buying the kits = More money for the club = We can buy more top players
Absolutely no width there.
Depends on how the team is setup, width can come from the fullbacks
Neither pace.
True, I suppose. Shaw isn't exactly prolific going forward, Rafael is a mistake waiting to happen, and I'm not sure I trust our CB's enough to be left exposed so often when our fullbacks are bombing forward.
Again depends on the team setup and tactics. Will be interesting to see how we play during preseason, especially once RVP is back from holiday.
Having said that about Shaw, I saw on SSN that he had more dribbles and crosses than Evra last season...
As we showed last season, putting in a bunch of crosses doesn't mean much if they aren't put away. He only had 1 assist and didn't exactly have slouches up top that couldn't out them away.
I'm still holding out hope that we'll bring in a top class, natural wide player.
I actually don't like the formation as well though. But that's the best formation if you want play the three of them together at their best.
Shaw and Valencia could provide width and pace. Mind you, the goals they should produce would make it not really matter that much. Would love to see this.
Did these two cross paths at Real Madrid?If you need a reason to love him more, he looks like a happy fan to meet Becks here. Sir David Beckham to him
Mata may well have been in their "academy" while Beckham was there.
Cheers for the answer. Amazing the players Real have let go. That team could easily challenge for trophies.
On a side note I find it incredible that Beckham has played with Moyes.
At Preston?
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