Maybe the extra rest enables him to be all of those things?...
He really should never be taken off unless we have a two goal lead though. I see what you mean.
8
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 42
- Goals
- 10
- Assists
- 6
- Yellow cards
- 5
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He really should never be taken off unless we have a two goal lead though. I see what you mean.
Yeah well his so-called flaws do not outweigh his input and that it why Mourinho (at the moment at least) plays much more than Lingard or Mkhi.
He works really hard all game, I would rather he run hard for 75 minutes and then replace him with somebody fast and full of energy. No point drawing it out the full 90 if he isn't going to be as effective.
Arguably our best attacking player in the first half of the season. He and Herrera have improved under Mou.
Didn't Mourinho do the same thing with Ozil at Madrid? Pretty sure he did.
Seems like for some reason subbing off his AM is Mourinho's favourite substitution.
It's where we have the most competition, and at Madrid it was to do with the Ozil/Di Maria dilemma (much like he used to alternate Benzema and Higuain). And in both cases, the two players are notoriously not the most physically robust so it makes sense to use them carefully if you have other options.
Was that aimed at my post?I've read it all now. Close the internet please.
Tonight's game pretty much summarises why in the long term, Mata needs to fear for his place in the first 11, which tbh everyone should be in that mindset with the quality we have in the squad.
I'm careful to say this about Rooney but if he can keep up what he did tonight for the rest of the season then Mata needs to be battling Rooney/Pogba at no.10, Miki/Lingard on the right wing and Martial/Rashford on the left wing.
All three of those duos offer more movement, more physicality and more penetration with equal or not less creativity.
I'm happy for him to play and feature prominently in games but my criticisms are still valid imo when he plays.
Nobody should ever feel safe about his position, whether that is Mata or any other player. No one should be untouchable and no one is tbh, Rooney has started to play much better once he realized he was a player just like the others, that he could be benched too for shitty performances. If he plays, like he has for most of this season, it's because he's deserved it more than the others for his performances.
With so many players coming into form and we play better and better (hopefully also taking our chances), the attacking positions will be under threat for anyone who doesnt perform
Can't wait to see him play with Mkhitaryan with both in form. They'd destroy teams.
Will be curious to see if he slows down our counters if he replaces Rooney in that lineup. Always a complaint I've had with him, and our attack sure did move the quickest we've seen in a long time with him on the bench
It moved quicker because we had Martial/Mkhi out wide rather than Rashford and Lingard.
Pogba and Mata should walk into that side.
It doesn't surprise me, he was the same at Chelsea and has a habit of scoring in important cup matches too.
Yet he's the first one most people out when everyone is fit!
Ozil had stamina issues at Madrid. He would be knackered around the 60 minute mark every game.
Harsh seeing him dropped today.
One of our players of the season so far. One of our better finishers and creaters etc. Should feature when fit imho, given current form. We look much better with him on the pitch than without.
One of our players of the season so far. One of our better finishers and creaters etc. Should feature when fit imho, given current form. We look much better with him on the pitch than without.
Really should have come on later, if he was kept on the bench because of his height then that's ridiculous.
What's our record with him off the pitch, compared to when he is?
In the last 20 minutes we couldn't put together two passes and couldn't relieve the pressure at all. How Mourinho doesn't realise brining on Mata gets us further up the field, relieves the pressure and maybe we can even look towards getting another goal I don't know. I understand that you need big players when crosses come flying in inevitably at the end but there really is a lot more to football than that. Generally putting the best players you have on the pitch is the best way to win.
Leave him on the pitch or play him and we do well. Take him out the equation and we end up being disappointed. Coincidence?
Games without Mata entirely:
1-2 L v City
0-0 D v Liverpool
3-1 W v Northampton
4-1 W v West Ham
1-1 D v Everton
You don't always need muscle in these scrappy games. Sometimes a player with a good touch and awareness can calm things down. He should have come on at some point. Rashford seemed a strange decision.
I've long given up trying to understand some of Jose's decisions this season.
Should of started today imo.
We always look better with him in the side.
We always look better with him in the side.
Should have come on at 60 minute mark for Pogba who gave us absolutely nothing today.
I don't see who Jose would have taken out today to play him, we had the rigfht starting 11.
Herrera probably.
Such a simple post with so much truth. Unfortunately Jose rarely sees the the simple option.
I dont mind him not starting, but he defo should have come on in the second half (around 70 minutes). His ability to take the ball, do the simple things like actually keeping it and taking pressure of our defence is brilliant. Plus its not like he doesnt help out our defence by coming back either.
We needed Herrera's energy and combativeness though.
Nearly anyone. Mata has been our best attacker this season, the likes of Martial/Mkhitaryan/whoever should have to do more than they have to displace him for a big game, especially when Mata was rested midweek.
Instead we bench him, play poorly as we usually do when he's not on the pitch and drop points.
I think Jose wants pace flanking Ibra which makes sense, Mata has been good this season but I personally don't think the "He didn't play so this happened" thing really works, bar when it comes to Carrick. If you look at this and the Arsenal result it was simply down to chronic individual errors, frustrating but not a reason to say one guy needs to play.
Luxury player..
interesting too, is that Ozil's numbers are actually really good in this department. He's often been criticised for not being a big game player...
You don't see Barcelona subbing off Iniesta or Messi to put bigger players on the pitch to defend crosses. It's been a syndrome at United for quite some time; even Ferguson played Smalling at RB instead of Rafael to combat crosses against the bigger teams. I never much liked it.
Zorya 0:2 Man Utd
Did he come off injured?
Quiet game, however he wouldve done much better at number 10 than Rooney.
Quiet game, however he wouldve done much better at number 10 than Rooney.
Wasn't involved a lot but I am more concerned about what happened when he came off, hope it's not an injury.
Didn't Keita get subbed on every game to help see games out?
Also I'm pretty sure if we had Messi and Iniesta then we would be slow to sub them off as well
Quiet game. Was a bit strange what happened after he went off. Hopefully it is nothing serious.
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