[SirAF]

I Don't think he played well at all. Says it all that Fellaini came on for him and made an immediate impact. Most matches he plays in I forget he is on the pitch. You don't think Mourinho sold him because he was so great, do you?

I don't agree with the last comment, but I agree that he was poor today. Pleased LvG took action already at half time.

 

[MoskvaRed]

He played quite well when judged in isolation but the team is lopsided with so many attackers, which is why Fellaini made a difference. Van Gaal needs to make some tough decisions about which big name forward players to leave out.

 

[KiD MoYeS]

Would've looked better in the diamond.

 

[Walters_19_MuFc]

Was pretty good today, and it was a shame he was sacrificed, but Van Gaal obviously felt we needed a bit more height and physical presence. Still think he should play as a number 10, with Di Maria, Fellaini and Carrick/Blind in a diamond, though.

 

[jem]

My stream was a bit off during the first half, but this was a worrying reminder of the Mata from earlier this season. I love the guy, but I sometimes wonder where he fits in, especially how much better Di Maria looks in the middle of the park (and the fact that Rooney won't be dropped.)

 

[sullydnl]

He played quite well when judged in isolation but the team is lopsided with so many attackers, which is why Fellaini made a difference. Van Gaal needs to make some tough decisions about which big name forward players to leave out.

Spot on.

 

[Dunk]

He played quite well when judged in isolation but the team is lopsided with so many attackers, which is why Fellaini made a difference. Van Gaal needs to make some tough decisions about which big name forward players to leave out.

Mata should start the home games and be locked up for the away games.

 

[Ringo 07]

Mata should start the home games and be locked up for the away games.

He did very little at home to Southampton last week despite having one or two scoring chances. You should rephraze that to - Mata should start against non top 6 sides in home games and locked up for away games

 

[MoskvaRed]

He did very little at home to Southampton last week despite having one or two scoring chances. You should rephraze that to - Mata should start against non top 6 sides in home games and locked up for away games

Yes, and you want a bit more than that from your second highest record signing.

 

[Eric'sCollar]

Thought he was fine.

 

[Sammyjunn]

He's been okay at best and on average he's been invisible, he's a nice lad but it's just not good enough for us, just look at the difference between him and Silva/Fabregas, it's really baffling. I think we should get a no 10 who is really creative in the final third, Eriksen/Firmino, players like that.

 

[Kounan]

With our system there is no number ten which would do a good job. For Mata to play well, the midfield HAS to help, and the midfield isn't, which again isn't their fault, we just don't have the numbers.

We should play with 5 midfielders, one striker and than we will see his creativity.

How is it that NONE of our attacking players plays well, none, when we play in this set up?

 

[DWelbz19]

He did very little at home to Southampton last week despite having one or two scoring chances. You should rephraze that to - Mata should start against non top 6 sides in home games and locked up for away games

Pretty much.

 

[bosnian_red]

He did very little at home to Southampton last week despite having one or two scoring chances. You should rephraze that to - Mata should start against non top 6 sides in home games and locked up for away games

Was our best player on the night along with Valencia and blind, he just had a couple of misses. Mata gets criticized way too much, he was far from the worst player out there in the first half, created a great chance, but was unlucky to get subbed I felt.

 

[Eric'sCollar]

He did very little at home to Southampton last week despite having one or two scoring chances. You should rephraze that to - Mata should start against non top 6 sides in home games and locked up for away games

Scary thing is, people actually believe stupid ideas like this.

 

[Shark]

The funny thing is, although he's performing at a decent level now, you feel that if he was sold to a team that suits his way of playing, he'd tear shit up again like the Mata we witnessed at Chelsea.

 

[Kounan]

I would just like to ask this question. In the last 2 games, which of our players was better than him attacking wise?

Don't say Fellaini, as we changed the way we started playing with him, but so long players follows LVG's instructions none of our players plays well, and when we actually do it's mostly because of Mata.

 

[Sammyjunn]

I would just like to ask this question. In the last 2 games, which of our players was better than him attacking wise?

Don't say Fellaini, as we changed the way we started playing with him, but so long players follows LVG's instructions none of our players plays well, and when we actually do it's mostly because of Mata.

None, but that's hardly the point, everybody can see that none of our attacking players have been good enough, we had zero shots on target vs Southampton and created close to nothing vs Stoke, nobody is bringing that extra's, if Mata can only play well if it's all going well and rosy, and with the right conditions, it's not worth it. He does very little with the ball, and he has been here a year now. He's alright in terms of scoring, but even when we played 4231 or the diamond, it just wasnt good enough.

 

[NoPace]

The funny thing is, although he's performing at a decent level now, you feel that if he was sold to a team that suits his way of playing, he'd tear shit up again like the Mata we witnessed at Chelsea.

Yep. Some team playing 4-2-1-3 with Mata as the one, protected by good midfielders and with 2 pacey wide players and a 9 trying to get in behind and feast on his passes. Southampton maybe, if they can keep Schneiderlin (and Wanyama) with some combo of Tadic, Mane, Rodriguez, Elia, Long and Pelle as the front 3 in front of Mane.

 

[Kounan]

None, but that's hardly the point, everybody can see that none of our attacking players have been good enough, we had zero shots on target vs Southampton and created close to nothing vs Stoke, nobody is bringing that extra's, if Mata can only play well if it's all going well and rosy, and with the right conditions, it's not worth it. He does very little with the ball, and he has been here a year now. He's alright in terms of scoring, but even when we played 4231 or the diamond, it just wasnt good enough.

You can say he plays well when everything goes well, or that he is a reason because it goes well (one of the reasons), depends how you look at it.

As you said, none of are attacking players is playing well and look at these names. So is it really them, or something else?

When they play well is it because of the system, or despite the system (because then you have to give them even more credit).

Fact is, whoever plays, plays mostly badly, so I do think that the conclusion should be quite clear.

 

[Sammyjunn]

You can say he plays well when everything goes well, or that he is a reason because it goes well (one of the reasons), depends how you look at it.

As you said, none of are attacking players is playing well and look at these names. So is it really them, or something else?

When they play well is it because of the system, or despite the system (because then you have to give them even more credit).

Fact is, whoever plays, plays mostly badly, so I do think that the conclusion should be quite clear.

Obvious this system is shit, agree with you on that, but earlier in the season when we played the diamond, he wasnt impressinf either, even when Rooney was suspended, so dont think it's fully on to that. Since he's here, he has scored a fair amount of goals, but the chances he creates as a no 10, its just not enough.

 

[PSingh]

I would just like to ask this question. In the last 2 games, which of our players was better than him attacking wise?

Don't say Fellaini, as we changed the way we started playing with him, but so long players follows LVG's instructions none of our players plays well, and when we actually do it's mostly because of Mata.

Spot on. None of our attacking players seem to play well with this formation. Personally think he was the easy choice to sacrifice today, Rooney was awful on the ball, Falcao wasn't involved in the game and Di Maria was having a shocker. But i guess Mata is the easiest player to drop.

 

[Kounan]

Obvious this system is shit, agree with you on that, but earlier in the season when we played the diamond, he wasnt impressinf either, even when Rooney was suspended, so dont think it's fully on to that. Since he's here, he has scored a fair amount of goals, but the chances he creates as a no 10, its just not enough.

Oh, don't get me wrong, he isn't playing great, I can see that, but I have a feeling that he improved actually, but the system now is holding everyone back.

 

[Sammyjunn]

I think the same, he has been better since the Liverpool match, but I dont think its enough, based on what I've seen from him in our red shirt.

Oh, don't get me wrong, he isn't playing great, I can see that, but I have a feeling that he improved actually, but the system now is holding everyone back.

 

[walsh]

I actually think he's been our best outfield player in the last month or so.

 

[DarkXaero]

The pass he played to Falcao was fantastic, but I felt he didn't do much other than that so I agree with the substitution for Fellaini. He even gave away the ball a couple of times. I think he was played too deep today to have much effect.

 

[ZDwyr]

Aside from that lovely pass to Falcao he was pretty poor. However, he was no worse than Rooney when it came to giving the ball away. In hindsight it was a good substitution though.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

I'm beginning to think that signing him was a mistake. He and rooney seem to have become similar players. Mata is the technically sounder player with a better passing range and rooney with more drive and goalscoring but they're both fairly static players who dont dynamically make things happen. Having both of them just seems like overkill.

When we signed him I thought he was capable of picking up the ball and making things happen on his own unlike kagawa who seemed reliant on his surroundings completely but mata seems to be the same. Right now he's all about keeping it tidy and making one or two things happen in the final third. Not enough imo. Id play adm in his current position.

 

[legball]

He was poor, except those harmless passes are something good for some of you, he's the one that is supposed to be knitting things in the attacking third, is he doing that? No. Going forward, I don't think we should keep him.

 

[BennyBlanco]

Mourinho was right about his lack of physicality/waste of time off the ball, though how he treated him was appalling, Gary Neville was also correct from the start.
I like the guy off the pitch, he really is a loveable bloke but we should try and recoup some of our money on him this summer.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Mourinho was right about his lack of physicality/waste of time off the ball, though how he treated him was appalling, Gary Neville was also correct from the start.
I like the guy off the pitch, he really is a loveable bloke but we should try and recoup some of our money on him this summer.

Sadly I'm beginning to see mourinho's logic now. Mata doesn't run. He's certainly not compensating for it rhe way ozil did at madrid either.

 

[Eric'sCollar]

Put yourself in our (hopefully) position next season with Champions League football. Juan Mata is a player I want in the squad every day of the week. He is still relatively young, hasn't even been at the club a year, it's way too early to be pulling the plug on a player with so much ability that we need next season.

 

[Bojan11]

Ridiculous people want to sell him.

He's playing in a static team, where the play revolves around none other than Antonio Valencia.

Valencia had chances before to make passes like the one he made to Fellaini. But he instead did his usual try to drill the cross into the shins of the defender.

Rooney and Carrick have been worse than him in the past month.

I don't get why when we play 3 at the back, Van Gaal insists on two strikers always. If he doesn't want to play Rooney striker. Di Maria is certainly not a striker. Then why not have Mata off the front guy. Most of his goals have come, when he is ghosting into the box. This current position doesn't allow him much.

 

[Successful]

I actually think he's been our best outfield player in the last month or so.

I fully agree. I think he's lacking a lot of love from the fans on this board. If you look at how he's handling the ball nowdays he's the only one who comes close to being Barca-like.

 

[Roboc7]

He will back on the bench for a while now I would imagine, isn't doing enough to be the luxury player in midfield, the formation and the players around him don't suit him but I still think he will be in the summer. Changes have to be made to add some balance and pace to the side and I think he will be sacrificed.

 

[mu77]

good player but not right for this side.

 

[Sam]

I was one of the posters that was most on his back earlier this season, but in the last month or so he's really upped his game to the level I expect of him. Dare I say he's been showing his 'Chelsea form'. He's been far more involved, losing the ball a lot less, and most importantly, he's been taking risks with his passing and trying to make things happen.

One bad 45 minutes, where he was still better then Rooney/Di Maria/Carrick anyway and was the only one that created a chance (that beautiful ball for the Falcao shot) and people want him sold again? Ridiculous hyperbole.

 

[Devil may care]

LvG will never be able to play his preferred 4-3-3 with Mata as a starter, which is why I still imagine he'll end up sold in the summer.

 

[itso 7]

The funny thing is, although he's performing at a decent level now, you feel that if he was sold to a team that suits his way of playing, he'd tear shit up again like the Mata we witnessed at Chelsea.

Our problems with regards to how we get the best from him stems from our decision to banish Rooney from playing as striker. Imagine if we had a player like him in 2010 with Nani and Valencia flanking him behind Rooney. He is the player we though we were getting when we signed Kagawa but then we went on to sign RVP and now it's even more messed up because we now have Falcao in addition to Wayne and Robin and no one has any pace of note. I think Mata would be lethal in the United sides of 2010-12, especially the 2010 one with Fletcher and Carrick behind him.

 

[kundalini]

I don't see the point of Mata. I just don't think he is title winning quality; not enough skill given his lack of pace and height. He came to a team that was playing rubbish and a year later he has made no impact on our scoring rate; we score at the same rate with Mata on the pitch as we did under Moyes prior to his arrival. Indeed we seem to score at a slightly higher rate when Mata is sat on the bench.

Mata 0.31 goals per 90 mins + 0.19 assists per 90 mins. Herrera 0.27 goals + 0.41 assists. Di Maria 0.26 goals + 0.53 assists. Rooney 0.46 goals + 0.23 assists.

Quite how Mata gets into the team ahead of Herrera is beyond me. Herrera even outperforms him on net goals + assists per 90 mins, nevermind tackles and interceptions.

If anyone offered us £20m, I'd happily accept.