Rolled into work and buzzing at the thought of reading his blog 
Also
Also
8
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 35
- Goals
- 10
- Assists
- 4
- Yellow cards
- 2
- Status
As soon as he scored his second I thought about how positive his blog is going to be this weekRolled into work and buzzing at the thought of reading his blog
Front page of Norwegian newspaper VG today.
Shockingly Pro-United from a Norwegian sports paper!
Front page of Norwegian newspaper VG today.
They probably just hate Liverpool.Shockingly Pro-United from a Norwegian sports paper!
Last time we met them:
I remember that
What a performance. Sheer class. So happy to see him enjoying his football again.
What a game he had yesterday. He's brilliant as a false winger in a 4-3-3 and his link up play with Herrera is wonderful. I still can't get over them two goals
This! It was also really nice to hear LvG say how impressed he was and mention how important Mata is to the team and how much Mata is in his thoughts. I was worried Mata could be sold in the Summer, but LvG's comments yesterday alleviated most of those worries.
I told a friend of mine before the game that Mata would score (I also said that we would win 0-3 with Rooney scoring two, to be fair..). The thing he objected to was that I said Mata would score.
What a time to be alive Thanks, Juan, and hugs!
What a time to be alive
Thanks, Juan, and hugs!Honestly, it has to be one of the finest United performances i've seen away against a top side/rival. RvP against City two years ago was also brilliant, but this was also quite special. Not only did he score two majestic goals, he hardly put a foot wrong all game, and out right side just demolished Moreno yesterday
Love that!
Front page of Norwegian newspaper VG today.
By far and away his best performance for us so far. That was the Mata from Chelsea!
Not only his two beautifully taken goals, but just the way he absolutely ran the game, even from a wide position. Carry on like that and the position is his
Not only his two beautifully taken goals, but just the way he absolutely ran the game, even from a wide position. Carry on like that and the position is his
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This is JuANFIELD
Impressive considering the last two seasons haven't exactly been ideal for him.
Their front page game is strong.They probably just hate Liverpool.
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Liked this part-
Certainly during the past three months it has been possible to question the Mourinho-ish vogue for insisting the one quality attacking midfielders must have above all others is defensive discipline. For one thing Mata’s defensive frailties are perhaps overplayed. He will never be a tackler but under van Gaal he has made more interceptions per game than Cesc Fàbregas, Oscar, David Silva and Mesut Özil. Willian has made marginally more tackles (by 0.2 per game) and been dribbled past 0.3 times fewer. Against that Mata’s passing accuracy is better and despite playing less than Willian he has been directly involved in twice as many goals. At which point you start to wonder exactly which of these two attacking midfielders is failing to do some vital part of his job.
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Mourinho must be regretting selling him. His creativity and ability to pop up with a goal is something they really miss. Hazard is an amazing player of course and better then Mata, but after that, Mourinho definitely should have found a way to fit him in. Willian, Cuadrado, Oscar are nowhere close, and hell, not even Fabregas is as talented as Mata on his day.
Delighted the way it worked out though and us having him now, think he'll thrive from now on if he doesn't get dropped or anything like that. Very few players in the prem can put in performances like he did yesterday.
Delighted the way it worked out though and us having him now, think he'll thrive from now on if he doesn't get dropped or anything like that. Very few players in the prem can put in performances like he did yesterday.
Don't know if Mourinho regrets it, don't think he does but it was very strange declaring Oscar to be his number 10 just one month into the season on September without giving Mata a proper chance. Hopefully LVG will have properly sorted out this team by next season and we will see who is the better playmaker.
Such a nice guy Not sure how we will move forward with him. When he was on the right at Chelsea, teams ran at him down his side which he struggled to dea with. I would love to find a place for him to start every week though.
To be fair, Van Gaal's game plan changes that completely. Mourinho's ideas were all about absorbing pressure, breaking fast on the counters and utilizing pace in the final third. Van Gaal is all about pressing in defense and that "if you keep the ball, you cannot be hurt". In Van Gaal's team, Mata might not be the liability he'd be in Mourinho's team. Plus he appears insistent on moving the ball faster by pass than moving with the ball with dribbles.
In that case it may work. Hopefully.
To be honest, I don't think Mourinho really regrets it all that much. For one reason or another, Mata didn't really seem to fit into his style, which is why he wasn't getting a lot of first team football and eventually came to us.
I don't think the lack of a player like Mata is what Chelsea are struggling with creatively: their sometimes average (although often still very good) creative play often comes from the types of tactics Mourinho employs in certain games. Fabregas arguably edges Mata as an overall footballer and offers a lot creatively, as does Hazard obviously.
Maybe it was my screen.. or the kit.. or my eyes... but I swear he looked leaner on Sunday. Seemed to turn and spin a bit quicker too.
Class performance from him!
Class performance from him!
That's a bit of an exaggeration. Yes i did watch a ton of Chelsea games back then and at no point do i remember teams targeting him. Obviously Mata is of not much use to us defensively but like that article says his defensive frailties have been overplayed. There are loads of other attacking players who does equally or worse than him defensively. No other playmaker has been as harshly judged as Mata for his defensive contribution or the lack of it.
I had no idea that his name literally translates to Johnny Kills. What. A. Guy.
He certainly Mata'd that second goal.
I've been hoping to see him get time out wide since the season began, looked amazing out there so far!
"Slippy G, fuuuck you!"
So childish but I love it.
Wow, just like watching match of the day.
I really really hope its the start of a great time for him over here. He's such a lovable bastard.
Plus if he plays regularly he'll get you 15 goals a season from the wing easily. That in itself his priceless.
Plus if he plays regularly he'll get you 15 goals a season from the wing easily. That in itself his priceless.
He used to post on here didn't he?
That has to stick! Should be a banner every time Mata plays at Anfield.
Front page of Norwegian newspaper VG today.
I agree Hazard is amazing (not really a fan of the person, but can't deny his qualities on the pitch). But why Jose did not try and work a front six of....
------Fabergas----Matic------
Willian/Oscar-Mata---Hazard
--------------Costa-----------
Sure you can sort some players around if you want more defense, say switch Fabergas for Mata and put Ramires next to Matic... but it baffles me to this day why Jose was not even a bit more thourough in trying to make this work.
Of course I couldn't be happier he didn't...
.Thanks.
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