For me, people fail to recognise what Matic offers us despite the go to criticisms; they fail to realise where his skillset is beneficial.
Everything in football is a balancing act. We can say there is something wrong with our attack; we know the balance and creativity isn't right; we shouldn't have to rely on countering all the time as our only goal scoring hope. With those things said, do we get rid of Rashford? Martial?
Likewise Matic requires the right balance around him. Hey, perhaps fix the frontline and maybe Matic will look better playing up to them. Yes, solely in midfield Matic requires a certain type of partner, but his game is very much put in the spotlight by the lack of cohesion and creativity the rest of the setup has, back to front.
I'm not even going to go into Matic's skillset and what he's good at. It's been said before and I'm too tired to flesh this out any further!
But claiming Matic is negative and slow is missing the point. Writing him off by categorically stating that he shouldn't have his contract renewed in 2020, is also premature.
I do agree however with those saying he needs to fight his way back in. McTominay embodied what Ole asked for against Barcelona. The spirit of teams past. The fight, drive, pride, and...he often did it with panache. Fred made confident forward passes, playing through the lines regularly. He made a lot of calm first time passes. Carried it well when required. He looks like he's settling. So until such time that one of them goes through a bad patch of form, or injury or rotation dictates then they should keep their place.