[mattunited1978]

All 3 of mickys open play assists have came after he's been moved to the right...Think he's just as effective there as he is central, maybe more so. Regardless of which role he's playing his career path suggests we were always going to see a better version of him this year.

Without knowing him, he does seem a pretty shy,quiet character so its easy to see why he's improved pretty dramatically after his first year with a new team throughout his career, the more he gets used to being around the group.

He's got great quality and i think he's only going to get better.

 

[Alabaster Codify7]

Weird one, he seems non-existent for spells in games but you cannot argue about the man's productivity in terms of assists.

And that's why he's on the pitch!

 

[Pace Abuser]

Mkhi struggles to shield the ball unless he's running. I find sometimes he receives the ball standing still and while he's thinking he just leaves it wide open, then his lack of strength they just nick it off him.

When he's running or moving with the ball though his balance helps him keep it better like with pogbas assist

Precisely this. Once he improves his decision making which should come with team cohesion having played together and also adapting his game to the epl, we should see a far more economical Mikhi that doesn't frustrate with those silly ball losses.

 

[tomaldinho1]

Support the team It's a forum on the internet, pointing out issues during a match is hardly a problem. He gets criticism when he's doing something wrong and he gets praise when he does something good. Same against West Ham, gave him stick for his first half and praised his second half.

He's supposed to be an integral part of our attack, in tight games he's pretty much useless. He'll hold on to the ball too long, lose shoulder duels and lose the ball while trying to drible his way out when he's in dangerous areas. Did the match open up because he started playing better, no, it opened up because Swansea had to get higher up the pitch in hope of getting a point. Needs to improve his all round game.

As if the criticisms weren't wild enough at the best of times on the caf, poor little Mkhi is taking flak for losing 50/50's with the likes of Mawson, Fernandez and Fer....

 

[Sarni]

I think he's very underrated by our fans. He was one of the best players in the league at Dortmund and had a rather good first season at United, he's only just 28 and with his creativity and ability on the ball he's comfortably going to produce well into his 30s I think. Of all our attacking players he's IMO most likely to create something out of nothing against quality opposition. I'd like to see him play behind Lukaku more. He won't consistently make correct decisions but it's about those moments of brilliance he manages to pull off. If he were playing somewhere else and we were linked with him at £50m, people would be excited about the prospect of bringing him.

 

[Trizy]

Again he masked a shite game with 2 assists. To be fair hard not to start him when he's creating those numbers.

 

[roonster09]

Again he masked a shite game with 2 assists. To be fair hard not to start him when he's creating those numbers.

Shit game is very harsh to rate his performance.

 

[FC Ronaldo]

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[Dante]

The likes of Ozil or De Bruyne or Hazard or Silva or even Mahrez have dominated games in the Premier League and set the tempo single-handedly for almost entire matches. They don't always do it, but they're capable of it at their best and contribute significantly towards it on a regular basis. Mkhitaryan doesn't. He pops up with the odd moment when games are stretched.

Maybe Mkhitaryan has got it in his locker. Maybe he doesn't. I'm not convinced one way or the other, but I'm leaning more towards the latter. I hope the issue is simply down to confidence, and the recent assists will help him believe he can make the step up.

 

[ValenciasDrilledCrosses]

I would rather watch player losing possession trying to create chances than player who won't play any risky passes and keep the ball all the time.

Mkhitaryan is bit frustrating player but he will create plenty of chances which is his role in the team. He isn't Silva type player who can control the game, he is KdB type with good final passes.

Exactly, you can't play a defense splitting perfect pass every time. Mkhi plays in a style that will lose possession but at his best will create tons of dangerous opportunities as well. People seem to expect him to hold on to the ball perfectly every time but then criticize players for playing too safely. This isn't Pep's Barca where every player will hold onto the ball and keep possession perfectly

 

[Dante]

Mkhitaryan's passing accuracy is 90% so far this season and was 84% last season. That's not an area that's a shortcoming for him at all. Classic strawman argument.

 

[MadMike]

Mkhitaryan's passing accuracy is 90% so far this season and was 84% last season. That's not an area that's a shortcoming for him at all.

He might misplace the odd pass but when he loses the ball it's usually cause he's dribbled too much and got dispossessed. Which won't show in the passing accuracy stats.

Though, so long as he doesn't do it near our box, I'm more than ok with it. He's a good dribbler and if he takes 1 player out he opens the space so much for a potent attack. It's what he was brought in to do anyway, otherwise might as well just have Pogba and Matic looking for Lukaku with long balls all day.

 

[Brightonian]

The likes of Ozil or De Bruyne or Hazard or Silva or even Mahrez have dominated games in the Premier League and set the tempo single-handedly for almost entire matches. They don't always do it, but they're capable of it at their best and contribute significantly towards it on a regular basis. Mkhitaryan doesn't. He pops up with the odd moment when games are stretched.

Maybe Mkhitaryan has got it in his locker. Maybe he doesn't. I'm not convinced one way or the other, but I'm leaning more towards the latter. I hope the issue is simply down to confidence, and the recent assists will help him believe he can make the step up.

Ozil so rarely does it that if he has done it's the exception, not the rule. I'd actually group him and Miki in a way, in opposition to the others there. Both can have games where they are excellent, look like the most gifted player on the pitch, and make the key contributions in terms of goals and assists, but still don't dominate the game or set the tempo. They drift in and out of it more than that, but that's actually part of what makes them so dangerous.

 

[Giant Midget]

The likes of Ozil or De Bruyne or Hazard or Silva or even Mahrez have dominated games in the Premier League and set the tempo single-handedly for almost entire matches. They don't always do it, but they're capable of it at their best and contribute significantly towards it on a regular basis. Mkhitaryan doesn't. He pops up with the odd moment when games are stretched.

Maybe Mkhitaryan has got it in his locker. Maybe he doesn't. I'm not convinced one way or the other, but I'm leaning more towards the latter. I hope the issue is simply down to confidence, and the recent assists will help him believe he can make the step up.

I wouldn't put Ozil in there. His biggest criticism is that he completely disappears from games on occasion.

 

[Dante]

I wouldn't put Ozil in there. His biggest criticism is that he completely disappears from games on occasion.

On occasion. But when he's on it, he's on it. Mkhitaryan hasn't even shown that much yet. If he could reach the level of Ozil, I'd be delighted. Our man isn't even there yet.

 

[Aza Boy]

It is only 2 games. Again shite teams. Lets wait this weekend against Leicester. If he can do another assist which lead to the goal, we should not care whether his all around performance shite or not.

Looking positive, hope he can maintain even elevate that.

 

[Jib]

All 3 of mickys open play assists have came after he's been moved to the right...Think he's just as effective there as he is central, maybe more so.

He's better on the right. He played there with Dortmund and he was an assist machine...

Same with Pogba, he scored his 2 goals when he played in front of Matic and Fellaini. His best season was in 2015-2016 with 2 midfielders behind him.

But a lot of people think that Mkhitaryan's best position is as #10 and Pogba's in a midfield 2

 

[NoLogo]

All 3 of mickys open play assists have came after he's been moved to the right...Think he's just as effective there as he is central, maybe more so. Regardless of which role he's playing his career path suggests we were always going to see a better version of him this year.

Without knowing him, he does seem a pretty shy,quiet character so its easy to see why he's improved pretty dramatically after his first year with a new team throughout his career, the more he gets used to being around the group.

He's got great quality and i think he's only going to get better.

I totally agree. He had a very slow start at Dortmund as well. Also pretty spot on about him being strongest on the right, at least for Dortmund that was the case as well. People claim he needs to start in the center because he always drifts inside but nearly every wide attacking player does that these days and it's working so why change things?

That being said I still think we need to get a better 10 than Mata. I love the little guy but he simply isn't as great anymore as he was during his early Chelsea years. We need someone on de Bruyne's level who can consistently destroy oppositions with his through balls and dribbling skills.

 

[Mkhizlatba]

To all the people that say he's invisible for most of the match, maybe open your eyes.

Starting outfield players touches vs Swansea

Touches
Matic 105
Valencia 101
Pogba 97
Blind 93
Mkhitaryan 76
Jones 64
Bailly 63
Mata 63
Rashford 39
Lukaku 25

 

[mattunited1978]

I totally agree. He had a very slow start at Dortmund as well. Also pretty spot on about him being strongest on the right, at least for Dortmund that was the case as well. People claim he needs to start in the center because he always drifts inside but nearly every wide attacking player does that these days and it's working so why change things?

That being said I still think we need to get a better 10 than Mata. I love the little guy but he simply isn't as great anymore as he was during his early Chelsea years. We need someone on de Bruyne's level who can consistently destroy oppositions with his through balls and dribbling skills.

Yeah i agree on mata,i posted on another thread that id like us to go for draxler, i think his best position is central behind the main striker and think theres a de bruyn level player in there. I think when he becomes a key man at a big club,likely whoever gets him from PSG, he'l become top quality.

This would let us move micky to the right and have a great player like mata fighting for a place.

 

[Robbie Boy]

http://www.football365.com/news/man-utd-all-set-for-mkhitaryan-to-maintain-his-magic

 

[NinjaZombie]

If he continues to be around this level for us, man did we get a bargain for him. Looking at the transfer market now, a sub 30m player like him is a steal.

 

[Bwuk]

How is his average rating only 6.4

4 assists in 2 games. People have ridiculous standards!

 

[Bestietom]

I think it is being rough on him, saying he has not been good enough so far....He has already had 4 assists, and all he needs to do, is score a few himself...

He will probably end up as assist king this season, as he can open up defences with a quick pass....He will come good regarding scoring also...

 

[Dave46]

To all the people that say he's invisible for most of the match, maybe open your eyes.

Starting outfield players touches vs Swansea

Touches
Matic 105
Valencia 101
Pogba 97
Blind 93
Mkhitaryan 76
Jones 64
Bailly 63
Mata 63
Rashford 39
Lukaku 25

Some people post shit and others pick it up.

 

[Escobar]

How is his average rating only 6.4

4 assists in 2 games. People have ridiculous standards!

In both games he was very poor in the first half. He improved massively and got 4 assists which is brilliant but that does not mean he should get an 8 or 9 rating in those games

 

[Dave46]

In both games he was very poor in the first half. He improved massively and got 4 assists which is brilliant but that does not mean he should get an 8 or 9 rating in those games

He was not very poor, stop spreading this bs.

 

[red_john]

He starts every game for me when he is in this form. The one position which i think will get rotated the most is LWF ( Rashford, Martial and Lingard)

 

[ChaddyP]

He was not very poor, stop spreading this bs.

by poor they mean he wasn't scoring and assisting. Did the same thing in the second half which was more open and got the assists and then he was considered to have a good half. He was good in both halves. First half Swansea were playing with a narrow back 5, second half they had 2 CBs and full backs up the pitch. Much more space

 

[Escobar]

He was not very poor, stop spreading this bs.

Did you think he deserved a 7 rating or higher?

 

[Dave46]

Did you think he deserved a 7 rating or higher?

I don't care about the rating part, but he was not very poor.

 

[Escobar]

I don't care about the rating part, but he was not very poor.

In the first half he was, greatly improved in the 2nd

 

[horsechoker]

Paul Merson called him one of the top 5 players in the Premier League which was weird because he only got 2 PL assists last season and was in and out of the squad. I know he's started this season well but top 5 in the PL? That seems like something even the biggest Mkhi fans wouldn't say right now.

 

[Inter Yer Nan]

Paul Merson called him one of the top 5 players in the Premier League which was weird because he only got 2 PL assists last season and was in and out of the squad. I know he's started this season well but top 5 in the PL? That seems like something even the biggest Mkhi fans wouldn't say right now.

He was saying something similar as soon as he kicked a ball last season. Clearly he likes him as a player and didn't want to write him off on his debut season.

 

[Dave46]

He was saying something similar as soon as he kicked a ball last season. Clearly he likes him as a player and didn't want to write him off on his debut season.

In his position he could be in top 5, unlike some guy, who argued there are 20 guys in front of him. As I said earlier, Hazard, KDB and Sanchez have and edge over him right now, but he can be in top 5 attacking mids in this league.

 

[Pace Abuser]

I'm a big fan. I've said it before, he just needs to adapt to the intensity and aggression. Needs to change his game intelligence to suit the team and epl more. That will come with experience.

 

[Nick.]

What do we think of him at half-time vs Leicester? I think he's looked ok but most of our attacks have come fron wide from what I can tell.

 

[Jacob]

He doesn't do first halves. Watch him in second.

 

[Massive Spanner]

He's been almost non existent so I fully expect 2 assists in the second half.

 

[MyOnlySolskjaer]

Well... Let's just hope he does his second half thing.