Matic usually starts the season like a house on fire. Then gets burnt out from being overplayed. I would definitely keep him and use him sparingly. He has been great for us when fresh.
Do we need to talk about Matic?
- Thread starter padzilla
- Start date
Maybe there's a pattern there and he'll be gold next season.
In his first season with us he was only 'gold' for the first three or so months. After that his form was on a steady slide and he was fairly poor in the second half of the season.
Yeah, he gets way too much stick on here. He's not the problem people seem to make out. Very good player.
Still believe Matic should go into our midfield. Too many people writing him off!
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He needs to be used differently. Rest him every 2 games he plays and slowly try to give longstaff minutes to see if he can takeover from Matic.
Grand as a squad option. Shouldn’t be a starter.
Why exactly do you have so much faith in a slow declining 31yr old CDM with average ball playing skills? He's not going to roll back the years miraculously
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Worst signing ever. What a waste of 45m. Youri Tielemans is going to join Leicester for the same price. Matic was too old and only played well for the first half of his first season. He is not fit for purpose. He is responsible for many of our midfield problems. I would rather see Mctominay and Andreas start ahead of him. He is too slow.
Mourinho wanted some absolutely awful players. Glad he didn't get Eric Dier and Willian. Mourinho was hell bent on increasing the average age our our squad with players in decline.
Mourinho wanted some absolutely awful players. Glad he didn't get Eric Dier and Willian. Mourinho was hell bent on increasing the average age our our squad with players in decline.
I thought he was great his first season but looked in decline this year. Time to replace him (and a replacement for Herrera and Pogba..) just a whole new midfield then.
Don’t need to talk about him, just sell and replace.
Don’t overplay him and keep him fresh. A fresh Matic can still do a job, a tired one is a liability.
Agreed. No way should he play in Europa and he should miss a number of games, but he can definitely still do a job for us when fresh. The criticism of him on here is somewhat over the top.
Not sure about that, he was downright dreadful last season numberous times.
Saying that though Mourinho definitely overplayed him, Solskjaer also rushed him back after PSG too quickly IMO.
Perhaps he isn't always truthful about how fit he is? he often looks like he's carrying an injury.
It's been said plenty of times but he should have a role Carrick did in the closing stages of his career. Fresh and rested Matic can be useful still in some games. Mourinho ruined him by playing him in every game.
He had a great first season at Chelsea too, then fatigue started setting in towards the end when they limped to the title and the next season was a disaster. Conte used him well and he looked good again, came to united, started well and faded again.
It's quite clear he can be effective but needs to be managed well and rotated with capable back up options.
It's quite clear he can be effective but needs to be managed well and rotated with capable back up options.
Yep. We could do with a fresh Matic for experience. He's very good and had a decent spell when Ole first took over and also for the first half of the season before last. We just overplay him.
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Well said. He's a very decent CDM, but you can tell when he's playing too much.
We need a defensive midfielder. I think we should sign one. But in case we don’t, i dont think matic should be an automatic starter. Mctominay was very good during our winning spell last season. He put in very good performances as a starte
He has experience, but his legs are gone. He cant play 7 games in a month. Just use him half the games and he will deliver decent performances in most of them. Jose ran him into the ground and with the injuries, he immediately played again. He also played the world cup last year. I am happy he got a break this summer, hopefully Ole will use him more carefully if we bring someone in that can play a similar role (maybe Longstaff). Since Fergie, most managers dont get the term rotation and maximising squad potential. Even after bad performances and tiredness/injuries, players get picked with no merits and a shit run of form. Matic is the best example under Jose and you can find them under any manager we had since then (Rooney is LvG's prime example). Young under Ole etc...People start to hate these players, but they shouldnt be in a position to play week in week out.
Agree with all. He's not as bad as the Caf and other fans make him out to be.
Can certainly make an impact in games, and has a big presence in midfield on his day.
Is he still around? He certainly does make an impact but it is the wrong sort of impact and of course he is a big presence in the midfield because he is a big man. So did Fellaini when he was here by the way. They are all have a big presence but eff all they do most of the time.
Pretty much all of McTominay's good performances came in the Herrera role. The times he played played more of the Matic role he was generally disappointing (although he only played there a few times from memory).
Don't forget Perisic. We'd be sitting here now going into 2020 with Lukaku William Perisic front 3 with Matic Dier and Herrera CM (Virus sold)
I would sell no problem, would try McTominay in his position, or even Fred. I don't think they would do any poorer, doesn't track players into box, doesn't impose himself in heading duels, and has given away a number of free kicks because he has lost any pace that he had.
Matic with the occasional rest is a decent player, unfortunately for him both the last two seasons he's been driven into the ground by January.
Hence the drop in for Feb onwards.
Hence the drop in for Feb onwards.
Another player who doesn't excel at anything and plays at a snail's pace making it tough to build up from the back with his safe passing. actually made me feel sorry for Pogba
We have bigger fish to fry this window. Matic is a problem for next summer.
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Maybe with Ole's new fitness regime we will get a better tune out of Matic. He needs a reduced load though, only 55-60% of matches played with this being his last season with us then I'm optimistic about him.
It's a fair point. Matic is stlll very good, albeit too slow and static sometimes, which gets us into trouble.
I think you're onto something here. Although maybe it was the manager's not having confidence in their other options sending out a half fit player.
He is a problem for now. Literally lining up with Matic in midfield makes us average. If we are losing PP then it is even more urgent. What games does he even stand up in? Has 5 weeks a season where he isn't TOTAL shite and Chelsea offloaded him for many reasons and we are experiencing them. I'm deadly serious. Spurs just signed a dynamic, technically decent but also physical specimen in the 20 something Ndombele and we gonna compete with dead men like Matic? I don't even remember him last having an acceptable season but a las, United don't learn and will try to compete and give it a real go with vastly inferior personnel....
Matic is too slow for the new Ole style,ship him off to Inter and lets have Nainngolan for a couple of seasons to educate our up and coming youth.
Getting Nainngolan is asking for trouble apart from doing inter a big favour
Personanllly think Matic is another great example of why you don't spend lots of money on players around 28 becuase a you only get a few years out of them before you have to replace them.
If he could be rested in between games, I would keep him for another season. He is not able for a full season anymore.
One of many signings we have made the last several seasons I never wanted in the first place. I thought he was just average and over rated and not good enough on the ball.
Have to say I was very impressed with him watching him as a fan, being at our club for the first nine months. A lot of things he does very well....still, like shielding the ball. However this past season he has been pretty much the over rated and average player I thought we had signed in the first place.
I do think he was way over priced and there were quite a few much better options we could have signed at the time.
I kind of feel about Matic at the moment as I did with Valencia and YOung last summer. He is doing a job and there are several other positions need replacing far more urgently, is getting more stick than he deserves, but isnt that great......but seeing the huge decline in the former two this season gone, somebody coming through to replace him over the season isnt a bad thing. Seems far too soon and we dont know if Garner can step up, Perreira is undecided but personally I would rather when he plays its one of the two midfield spots in front. That is probably why we may be after Longstaff, but for the fees mentioned, for me, no way......player nobody has been linked with that played for a relegated club and surely available for a decent fee.....Ascacibar we should be after
Have to say I was very impressed with him watching him as a fan, being at our club for the first nine months. A lot of things he does very well....still, like shielding the ball. However this past season he has been pretty much the over rated and average player I thought we had signed in the first place.
I do think he was way over priced and there were quite a few much better options we could have signed at the time.
I kind of feel about Matic at the moment as I did with Valencia and YOung last summer. He is doing a job and there are several other positions need replacing far more urgently, is getting more stick than he deserves, but isnt that great......but seeing the huge decline in the former two this season gone, somebody coming through to replace him over the season isnt a bad thing. Seems far too soon and we dont know if Garner can step up, Perreira is undecided but personally I would rather when he plays its one of the two midfield spots in front. That is probably why we may be after Longstaff, but for the fees mentioned, for me, no way......player nobody has been linked with that played for a relegated club and surely available for a decent fee.....Ascacibar we should be after
I don't think it has to do with his age but how his managers don't wanna give him a break, play him every game and never sub him. That's the recipe for a disaster.
Due to Matic's legs going I would keep him and use him for the big games only. I think we should be able to rely on him to have one game playing at a high intensity once in a while.
Rewatch our drubbing by Everton, Matic was abysmal gave up
That should of been his last appearance in a united shirt, the ones still wanting him involved cant of watched that game or if they did didnt watch it properly
Anyone have a clip of Sugurdssons goal and youl see what i mean, no attempt to block at all looks worse when you watch it in real time
That should of been his last appearance in a united shirt, the ones still wanting him involved cant of watched that game or if they did didnt watch it properly
Anyone have a clip of Sugurdssons goal and youl see what i mean, no attempt to block at all looks worse when you watch it in real time
Theirs probably an element of that of him playing too much, but thats part of been wanting to be a key part of a big clubs team. Simply put players struggle to do it when they get to around 30, most players generally loose a yard of pace around this age, no question this has happened to Matic.
Which is why you should never sign payer of that age for big fees and big contracts as you don't know how they are going to adapt when they loose that yard of pace.