Never understood the passenger thing. He's always good for a goal or an assist. If he's providing goals and assists what more do people want from him.
8
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 35
- Goals
- 10
- Assists
- 4
- Yellow cards
- 2
- Status
He was an easy target for some fans because he wasn't as involved. But in reality, how could he be, when we were just lumping it, Mata was the one who would always suffer the most. The times we have played good football, he has been involved and productive.
Why not David Di Herrera? Get rid.
WTF
David Herrera would be my favourite United player of all time!
Not sure that's fair. He had some pretty anonymous games when Fellaini was injured/not in the team, infact I'd say mostly Fellaini not in the team, or when Fellaini was playing deep. He wasn't the only one, and there were mitigating factors for sure but I'm not sure his fluctuation in form had anything to do with us sometimes resorting to lumping it. The lack of pace or movement or link up etc.etc. - sure.
What did he mean when he said "easy" in reply to who the best FK taker at United was? Was he suggesting that he was the best? Or Rooney? Di Maria?
Yeh, no doubt the inclusion of Herrera has helped things a lot but that's still in the same argument as him getting the ball in dangerous areas. So often the ball was played around the back and the space in midfield was non-existent because teams were able to shape up against us. So I guess my point is that the more purpose in our play (which should have always been there), the better Mata will play.
As a big a fan I am of him, I will put my hands up and accept he hasn't been up to his Chelsea standard but I truly believe that's down to the way we were playing. Keep up the recent form and he will just get better.
Primary goals does he add, he doesnt get that many assists for us. The general consensus was that if he doesnt score, he just had little influence. He didnt create many chances, often passed the ball backwards and had no influence defensively, if you play as a no 10, and you have those kind of performances, you're being a passenger.
Easy to forget his early outings this season after his latest run of games. He was absolutely shocking - even if he did nick a goal or two. He wasn't the only one, mind. RvP has scored a few as well, but that alone doesn't make his season a good one.
I will admit he wasn't great but to call him shocking is just stupid. I don't get how fans just label a player shocking or a waste of space if they are not playing at their absolute peak. It's either a 9/10 performance or 1/10. He was okay during that spell, I admit he wasn't great but to call him shocking is just absurd.
He'll go back to being a passenger soon enough.
He's definitely not a passenger, which is an odd term to use for any player. He has probably been a bit of a victim of LvG's constant formation swapping which resulted in him not playing in a number of fixtures in order to shoehorn the likes of RvP and Falcao into the lineup.
Yeah, he was far from his best but that was just him not really doing anything special in a game and not sticking out. Went hiding basically. Ridiculous to call it shocking if he did nothing wrong. People go way over the top with criticism on here.
Correct. LvG called him one of his most consistent performers. High praise for a 'passenger'...
Well the period before the Spurs away game, you can look it up in the treadmarks, the dominan posts where anonymous, passenger, passive, too lightweight etc, dont know if he just had no confidence but he had very little influence when he played, very easy to make it undone after 2 brilliant matches. Similar to the Rooney discussion, he scores 2 times in a row and suddenly he didnt have a bad patch of form.
But also look at the results and performances of the team during that spell. Fans were frustrated and it's only natural to pick apart a players performance, especially one that isn't playing to his usual high standard. Now that the system is working, the team is playing well, those same fans look at the positives and those arguments like lightweight (which should not change overnight as he is the same size and strength) go away.
Yeah, there you said it. He wasnt playing to his high standard and that was very clear, to moan about people who criticised him when he wasnt doing that seems pointless to me. It's just like lets say Falcao suddenly starts to deliver, and then I'm like ; how in hell did people not want him to stay? Well because he wasnt good enough before he delivered? Mata has been in fine form recently, but you and I know that he was quite anonymous fior a fine period.
His interview on football focus 
He's just so perfect. Don't ever leave me Juan.
He's just so perfect. Don't ever leave me Juan.
That's the spirit.
Not if he's got Herrera playing in centre midfield to the side of him.
We all know what Mata is, drifts between the lines, likes the give and go, play him with other players like that and he excels. If we are using players who are on Mata's wavelength he'll look great, but if we try to arrow direct balls over the defence for him to run on to...forget about it.
Man Utd 3:1 Aston Villa
Another assist. What's his stats looking like now?
Played decent. Put Valencia in quite a few times, who then wasted it.
Classy performance, did he misplace a single pass? The false winger role is working out for him as it allows his strengths to shine and covers his weaknesses.
Wtf?
My issue wasn't the criticism, it was the constant calls for him to be sold. Players go through bad patches, but I don't think fans should call for players of his quality to be sold because of them, especially within a year of buying. A player like Mata always deserved to be backed better than that. At least with Falcao, we haven't already committed the 40m to buy him in the first place.
Kagawa fan?
Speaking of Kagawa, now that the dust has settled and he's been gone a while I think it's safe to say that he was a bit crap for us relative to expectations. As poor as Mata has been at times hat least manages a goal or assist semi frequently. Norwich hat trick aside Kagawa was a nothing player. I know the system implemented by Moyes didn't best suit his skill set, but he never did much in his limited playing time.
Man Utd 4:2 Man City
I noticed Mata is starting to bald. On that slowmo where Navas fouls him you can see the back of his head is getting thinner. I'd give it 2 more years and he'll look like Zidane unless he puts in a real effort with hair treatment. Knowing him and his obsession with having perfect hair I would bet he's already stacked in that area.
Abso-bloody-lutely.
Where are all those uneducated Caftards
who declared he wasn't good enough/didn't suit - mainly at a time when he wasn't even getting in the team. Never a good time to judge a player imo.Absolutely brilliant 25 or so mins from him. Just bloody brilliant.
This new role is really suiting him. A big reason for the recent upturn in form/performance.
Good thing we didn't sell him to Juve for €18m a couple of months ago then. I adore this man. Statue outside old trafford is most likely going to be raised.
If hes sold in the summer i'm off to support Liverpool! Great little player who you just cant help but love!
Also did you see him leave that FK it for Young? World class dummy
Also did you see him leave that FK it for Young? World class dummy
Good to see the important issues are being addressed...
- Status