8
Caus he gets crowded out too easily. Especially away from home.
It's amazing our best away performance post-ferguson is named after him in that case.
!!You mean; give him what he is; no10 position. Yeah, our coaches don't do that. Why? Who knows
Well yes, fantastic, your case study is one game.
Well it's an argument and despite n=1, a pretty strong example. You just waved your hands about and suggested he's poor in all away games without one example or how he's any worse than our other attackers in that regard.
Mata was playing in the final third in that game. Its pretty established that Mata's best position is playing in the final third, not as a genuine midfielder. His best season at Chelsea was him being in the final third all the time making runs off the last shoulder and feeding the striker.
I mean, if that's genuinely what you thought I said I can see your confusion, but you'd do well to go back and read what I did say before getting yourself in a tizz.Well it's an argument. You just waved your hands about and suggested he's poor in all away games without one example or how he's any worse than our other attackers in that regard.
I do find it very hard to believe he's any worse than Lingard/Rashford/whoever in that aspect in tight away games but whatever. And for every example you could provide of other players 'doing the business' in tight away games, I'm sure we can find Mata providing some value.
Fair enough.
Worried he can't defend a corner.
I generally agree – particularly in regards to Blind – but I do think it's a reasonable enough criticism of Mata. If he had a touch more agility and a slightly better burst of acceleration it would make a huge difference in finding that extra yard of space in the games where he does struggle and turn him from a good player into a great one.
No, he wasn’t. I think he’s been the most reliable player during the post-Fergie era. He just needs some creativity and runners around him. Even today, three or four times, he was looking hopelessly for some runs up front. He needs some clever players around him, unfortunately, we don’t have many.
We finished second last year, our best since Fergie. He contributed to that as much as others, more than some. Are you suggesting that no-one else in the team was responsible for us not winning the league?
Mata contributed 3 goals and 7 assists in 40 appearances last season. Across all competitions he contributed a goal or assist every 267 minutes and only contributed two assists after Christmas. He ended the season with most on here thinking replacing him in the first team was our upmost priority in the window. No, he's not a 'right winger' (although he never actually plays as one in reality) and yes he badly needed an overlapping fullback to help him out, but suggesting that Mata was integral to our 'success' last season is revisionist in the extreme. It was, in fact, by virtually every measurable metric his worst season at the club.
Yes. Thanks for the stats, I was about to look it up so thanks.
That's because he was fantastic. This thread is basically an argument between a handful of people who value his contributions vs people who value Speed/Strength over footballing ability.
Either him or Dalot were MOTM for me. Different level compared to the other attackers for passing, touch and movement. Should be playing more.
No he gets criticised most of the time, because he was poor. If he gets tackled and lose possession or if he fails to get the ball when it is 60/40 in favour of him or when the player he is supposed to be marking sprints away from him all the time and put others under pressure then he is not doing his job too.
I was wondering why the vibe was so weird, I guess this explains it. Pretty stupid though, as it obviously is possible to value both things, they aren't mutually exclusive. When Mata is played as a wide midfielder his movement is more restricted and his lack of pace and strength means he struggles to put his mark on the game, and he is also often slowing us down by dwelling on the ball out wide as he can't beat his man against a good organised defence. I don't think he has it in him to to back up a free-role in the middle with necessary goal-points. He used to score goals like he did against Fulham a lot more often before, put he has missed a lot of chances like that last few years. I don't think Mata doesn't deserve praise for his class on the ball and class as a person too, even the odd fantastic performance and many decent ones, but looking at him like some potential saviour in 2018 is pretty gullible.
He was great away to Chelsea this very season. I’m not sure who it is that consistently adds more to our away performances than Mata.
Yes, and he was either anonymous or worse against Bournemouth, West Ham and Brighton away. As I said, no one has argued he's never played well away from home, but if you're arguing there hasn't been a pattern to the games that he's struggled in then you're barking.
But who was so good in those games that it makes sense to play them ahead of him? Nobody is trying to say he’s perfect for every game. Just that he’s comfortably the best we have for that position and it doesn’t make much sense not to play him.
