Mata is a classy handsome bastard.
8
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 35
- Goals
- 10
- Assists
- 4
- Yellow cards
- 2
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik and Imran hold a long overdue conversation about United's awful league form with 1 win in 7. They discuss a disappointing draw at Bournemouth, a not so disappointing draw against Liverpool and a crushing defeat at Chelsea - Is time nearly over for Erik Ten Hag?
Then in a special second half of the pod, Nik welcomes Natalie ( https://twitter.com/natalie_17) to discuss the fortunes of Manchester United Women as they booked a place in the FA Cup Final after a historic first ever win vs. Chelsea.
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Hands off!
I doubt he will be coming back, he already has Real Madrid out of his system.Chicha seems like just had boobs job.
Yeah, why does he have a low-hanging fluorescent man boob? Is this the new fashion for the summer?
He needs to be taking nearly all of our set pieces. We've had a preference for swinging them in for the last few seasons but he's excellent at them on either side and more consistent than anyone else. Plus we could do with having Rooney in the box.
See all that he is capable of this season, he sounds very happy at United. Looking forward to watching him. Hopefully with the change in style it will really help him to shine. Class act too, his likeability factor is through the roof.
he will thrive with lots of energy around him, so the signing of Herrera and possibly another midfielder who could dominate will bring out the best in him.
I don't think Carrick and a lone striker really suited him too much.
but like most here, I like him and I hope he shows his worth this season.
I don't think Carrick and a lone striker really suited him too much.
but like most here, I like him and I hope he shows his worth this season.
Corners definitely. For free kicks and penalties, Rooney and RVP might have something to say, particularly if they become captain and vice captain.
He'd get it.
His eyes...
Hold me...
Calm down and go a put on a clean pair of panties!
Didn't he shave his beard like 2 days ago? The guy's fecking Chewbacca!
Looking forward to seeing him play this evening hopefully, he'll be fired up against his former club!
Rooney has his moments with the crossing free-kicks (as he does when he shoots), but he is far too inconsistent despite his great improvement. Van Persie has not actually scored many free-kicks over his career despite him taking them for Arsenal & us - he's much better with a moving ball. Mata is better at both crossing and bending them over the wall, for me. I still imagine Rooney taking plenty, though. Penalties should be RVP then Rooney, I feel, though i'd trust Mata if neither of them were on the pitch. Chicharito can take one too.
Agreed about corners. Rooney shouldn't be anywhere near those & RVP is not consistent enough with his delivery. They are both useful in the box & Mata (who is not) is better at corners anyway.
Man Utd 2:1 Valencia
Utterly anonymous tonight, wasn't he? Thought he wasn't great against Liverpool either. Slightly worrying with the season about to start.
Kagawa too tbf. Almost nothing went through the middle tonight. It was almost a reversion to Moyes/latter Fergie tactics after what we'd seen on tour. Of the 3 midfield creatives, Januzaj was probably the best in his short spell.
I thought Januzaj was terrific. Definitely playing as one of our two strikers though, with Kagawa at 10. Despite this, he pulled the strings in front of their defence superbly. Picking a team purely on today's game you'd stick him behind a couple of strikers and drop both Mata and Kagawa.
Indeed. He created more than anyone had in the preceeding 75 minutes almost effortlessly. My biggest worry about LVGs tremendously exciting shake up is that I don't know where we're going to play him this season. Because I really, really want him to play.
People need to stop putting him in midfield in 4-3-3. He's one of those AM's who are not suited to playing in midfield. It's always 4-2-3-1 when we play him with two proper midfielders.
Yeah, he was invisible, I would like to see how many times he touched the ball. I think playing with Hernandez upfront instead of Welbeck is quite visible even looking just at Mata's game. Wouldn't worry too much though, I thought he was excellent in all games except this one in preseason.
Yup. I'm a bit worried about how he's played the number 10 role in this pre season. To get the best out of Herrera and fletcher as a midfield two we need the number 10 getting far more involved than mata has. Issue with mata is that although he's exceptional in the final third and very classy on the ball, I would argue that he doesn't play make nearly enough. He's very much a player who likes to impact scorelines, and more of an attacker than a number 10.
Man Utd 1:2 Swansea
If we're gonna play a formation so we get the best out of Juan Mata, it might be a good idea to pass to him once in a while.
We seem to have some kind of residual tick where when he doubt, everyone just reverts to bypassing the midfield.
We seem to have some kind of residual tick where when he doubt, everyone just reverts to bypassing the midfield.
The stench of Moyes is still around.
It doesn't help that Fletcher has been shite, so the link's breaking down, but whenever there's a pass on through the middle, the defence just instinctively plays it out to the right anyway.
I don't blame Mata at all, what's he supposed to do? Tackle his own players for the ball? His set peices have been largely good, regardless of what Michael own says.
I don't blame Mata at all, what's he supposed to do? Tackle his own players for the ball? His set peices have been largely good, regardless of what Michael own says.
Impressive. He's been quite everywhere trying to get things happen.
ONE MORE lesson the need for proper CM's. Is anyone from United watching?
ONE MORE lesson the need for proper CM's. Is anyone from United watching?
He's not been involved as much as you'd like, but our moves tend to break down in midfield with Fletch/Herrera or up top with Rooney. We are really really forcing the issue it seems with a fair few long balls which are quite speculative
He is so slow, didn't have any impact. Is it just a fitness issue?
What impact is he supposed to have in an area of the pitch all our players seem mentally programmed to ignore?
That he is ignored is one, but when he gets the ball, he always plays it backwards, quite frustrating, doesnt look for options forward.
He can't do anything because Swansea have very good defensive shape, at least 5 men behind the ball when we get into the attacking third. If we had a striker like Welbeck/Aguero we'd be able to break them down with clever movement but atm everyone is static so the ball gets shifted about until it ends up out wide.
He's had more touches than anyone besides the back three and done the square root of feck all when he's got it. Looked unusually clumsy and cumbersome and his set pieces have been wank.
His team mates aren't getting him involved enough, same with Kagawa in his early days.
Because he has to come back into his own half to get it. Your expectation of set peices must be different to mine. They've all been put into good areas. It's up to people to attack them.*
He's never got the ball in a position he's able to do anything with it. No one has. That's the way I've seen it at any rate. We're all still scared to play it forward.
* like that!
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He's been piss poor, but we need to get him in the game more if we will continue with this system. Because it looks like it's still i our blood to get teh ball of the right side every time.
I thought he could do more in terms of carrying the ball but in terms of passing there's only so much he can do. You need multiple runners going from different angles. We don't have that. No one is dragging players out of position to open things or creating space for others and without that it's v.hard for a passer to put someone in. That's the problem with the 352 and our current players, it's too dependent on the passing being quality all round the team and we're a long way from having top passers in their position across the team.
He's very similar to Kagawa. Very commited to the team game and passing and moving that he just looks shit when others in the team are not doing their jobs. Players like Januzaj, Rooney and Nani will try to do things themselves but I get the feeling Mata and Kagawa are too disciplined to do that sometimes.
Very isolated in both formations. The movement and weighting of passing to him was bad and when he did get the ball he either went backwards or lacked options.
He needs players who are on the move around him, as any player of his kind does. No excuses he was definitely poor but it wasn't all his own doing.
He needs players who are on the move around him, as any player of his kind does. No excuses he was definitely poor but it wasn't all his own doing.
Anonymous today, not good enough.
It wasn't until Gerrard gave him a head start and caught in that game in the US that I realized how slow Mata is, and in this system the game is just passing him by way too often, he can't seem to make any space for himself.
I missed it, but my friend said that it was Mata that was chasing Ki for the first goal and then just stopped. Poor if true - was below par today.
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