The_Red_Hope
Full Member
- Joined
- Jul 12, 2005
- Messages
- 2,852
Should never play him on the wing again. Just keep him on the bench until he can play at #10 or just sell him for ffs.
Yeah I don't blame him as such, but the question has to be is he good enough even in number 10? He's no where near as good our rivals equivalents.Extremely stupid to criticise him today given the way he was used.
Even if we accept that playing him at RW is sometimes a good idea, was this the game to do it? Watching him try to deal with Rose and, as people above said, playing so deep he looked like a wingback at times....He's been better than people have given him credit for at times on the wing, so I don't think that can be used to excuse him being incredibly quiet today.
Nah, major mistake to play him there today. Mensah was often drifting into a central role to help the defence out, so it was a game where we should've really been looking to play someone who has more pace than Mata and tends to get back more often. Mata did it occasionally, but it's not something his game's really suited to as such.Even if we accept that playing him at RW is sometimes a good idea, was this the game to do it? Watching him try to deal with Rose and, as people above said, playing so deep he looked like a wingback at times....
Literally nobody would have expected him to play well in that role, whether they're a Mata fan or a Mata hater. Nobody except Van Gaal that is.
I'm genuinely not bothered by today I'm not judging him on today's game I have watched him week in week out and he is rotten. No surprise we had one shot on target with this guy choking up our attack up the right wing every week. He's a massive part of our problems in the team. Add Rojo and Darmain to that! Not yet sure about Depay or Lingard other than knowing they are not good enough to be starters week in week out if we want to be challenging for titles.He's been okay in parts. Needs to do a lot more to the impact the game as a whole, but he's often contributed with goals and assists. Today he did little though, and I'd happily criticise him for offering us very little.
That's fair, he hasn't played well enough to suggest he's any sort of answer for us long term. Plenty of fair things he can be criticised for generally.Yeah I don't blame him as such, but the question has to be is he good enough even in number 10? He's no where near as good our rivals equivalents.
So where should we pick him then? He offers nothing. I hesitate to use the word "deluded" but how often are we going to keep making excuses for some of these players as of its magically going to click for them one day? If he had played 32 good games up to now and had an off day today I would accept your point but you can count the number of really good games he has had on the fingers of one hand since he signed.Mata is a better player than Depay. He was playing right back for most of the game. It's impossible to judge his performance today because asking him to play that way was batshit mental.
I'm not really debating whether he's good enough or not. This game isn't one to judge him on at all is my only point. He was basically playing as a right back. Of course he was going to be shit. That's not his fault. It's the manager for picking him and forcing him to play that role.So where should we pick him then? He offers nothing. I hesitate to use the word "deluded" but how often are we going to keep making excuses for some of these players as of its magically going to click for them one day? If he had played 32 good games up to now and had an off day today I would accept your point but you can count the number of really good games he has had on the fingers of one hand since he signed.
Yeah, he looked annoyed and disillusioned.He seemed pretty feck off on the bench, or just in disbelief at the state of things
Maybe he can't believe how bad he has been since he signed. Kagawa wasn't any worse we have wasted £34m here. It's the same with Darmain as Rafael was better. Nani is better than all our wingers and Hernandez would be our best centre forward and Welbeck would walk into the team, Evans is also miles better than Rojo. Alot of bad decisions have been made. Fellaini don't know what to say at this stage.He seemed pretty feck off on the bench, or just in disbelief at the state of things
id be inclined to think its what LVG asks from the players. Half the team forever swapping positions to places they shouldn't be, then inevitably look poor. Mata on the wing, jesse in the middle looking poor while our right side is getting ragged because Juan cant cover. then get flak for it from fans/mediaMaybe he can't believe how bad he has been since he signed. Kagawa wasn't any worse we have wasted £34m here. It's the same with Darmain as Rafael was better. Nani is better than all our wingers and Hernandez would be our best centre forward and Welbeck would walk into the team, Evans is also miles better than Rojo. Alot of bad decisions have been made. Fellaini don't know what to say at this stage.
Really?Maybe he can't believe how bad he has been since he signed. Kagawa wasn't any worse we have wasted £34m here. It's the same with Darmain as Rafael was better. Nani is better than all our wingers and Hernandez would be our best centre forward and Welbeck would walk into the team, Evans is also miles better than Rojo. Alot of bad decisions have been made. Fellaini don't know what to say at this stage.
We should certainly try and bring in an upgrade for the first eleven. I just don't get people saying we should sell him outright in the summer when he is objectively one of our best players right now, faint praise though that is. There's no way we're going to strengthen so much that having Mata as a squad player wouldn't be useful.Can't judge him off yesterday as his position was just idiotic by LVG, but I do think we could use an upgrade in the attacking mid position. I wouldn't mind keeping him as he does often play well I just think we need more speed through the center.
Are they per 90 minutes? They mean nothing otherwise. And considering Mata takes a lot of set pieces the assist stats are terrible.Really?
Kagawa: 63 appearances, 6 goals, 10 assists = 0.253 goals/assists per appearance.
Mata: 105 appearances, 28 goals, 17 assists = 0.428 goals/assists per appearance.
I'd say those numbers suggest Kagawa was quite a bit worse than Mata. Especially when you consider the fact that Mata has only been here for the Moyes/LVG era of gloom, whereas Kagawa's one good season happened to be in the title winning one under the greatest manager of all time. I suspect Mata would also do better if you put him in a side that was capable of scoring 86 PL goals a season as opposed to the current version of our side that has yet to reach 40.
Didn't offer much today except that neat little corner routine with Blind, and yet he saw plenty of the ball.
All said and done he really is averageSome of the criticism is really unfair.
Mata has been one of our most productive players since he joined, in fact he maybe the most, however, he's barely played in his favoured position. 45 goals and assists in just over 2 seasons is a good return in a team that's scored around 170 goals since he joined. Mata has contributed towards 1/4 of our goals whilst playing in the worst possible position for a player of his traits.
In addition to this, he's never complained, his attitude has been incredible. Not once did he shed is responsibilities the other day against Spurs, when he was run ragged by Rose for 70 or so minutes. He ran up and down the pitch, albeit in slow mo.
I can't help but feel that we wasted a talent in Mata. A player capable of so much constantly played in the wrong position, yet could leave in summer with impressive figures.
He laid Rashford up twice and his movement in general caused their defense issues.Didn't offer much today except that neat little corner routine with Blind, and yet he saw plenty of the ball.
Our players look as surprised as the opposition when it comes off. Everyone's stood there flat footed with their mouths open.Hilarious how Villa fell for that corner routine twice.
It's quite a clever one but we never seem to do anything from it.
Too true.Our players look as surprised as the opposition when it comes off. Everyone's stood there flat footed with their mouths open.