He's too slow, too weak, and too safe a player.
8
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 40
- Goals
- 3
- Assists
- 7
- Yellow cards
- 1
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) was joined by comedian Ali Woods to look back at the best and worst moments of a rollercoaster season with the annual United Hour Awards.
Has Ten Hag been sacked yet? We're not sure and we hope not, but it's looking more likely as the days pass.
Who should replace him and why is it taking so long to make a decision?
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Another poor performance by Mata. He's done.
He is really poor this season, it has to be said. It's criminal that Mkhitarian can't keep this Mata out of the starting XI.
Not a big fan of Lingard but currently Lingard is better than Mata. The exact same qualities of having little about them, but at least Lingard links up well, drives forward every now and then, and isn't easier than piss to win the ball from.
This. The fact that Mata probably deserves to start ahead of Mkhi despite having by far his worst season since arriving here is a bad, bad sign.
Anyone who doesn't want Ozil must not have been watched Mata for years.
How often do you watch ozil?
My brothers an Arsenal fan so all the time. He's far superior and the numbers would back that up. Mata get's away with murder because he's a nice guy.
Ive never warmed to him here but now hes just flat out not good enough, the 37 million pound fee was quite substantial back then and hes never justified it imo
Weak and slow. Very poor. Conditions were terrible but still.
Another game to add to many I'm left wondering what is the point of him.
Sorry, I hate emojis, but Ozil would come here, encounter the same problems and be included in a thread (made by somebody like you) describing him as "deadwood" within six months.
I love him as a character but I love the team more, time to sell him next summer.
Useless. He’s a bang average number 10 who’s main idea of creativity is spreading play out wide. He hardly plays passes between the lines.
Nothing worked for him out there. If this would have finished 0-0 or 1-1 he would have had a rating of 2 max.
Shame, he's been poor. I don't think we ever got the best out of him but he's been a consistent goal scorer from us and, now that that has disappeared, he doesn't offer much at all.
That's a bloody lie. Watch the match again. So many times he has players forward or he had the option to play a through ball and get the ball rolling. However he always always always takes the easy pass and sends it 2 yards to Pogba. We play with a man down when we have lingard or Mata on the pitch. Just a pussy these days
Mata cant beat a player to create space for himself . So he heavily relies on movement in front of him. Our movement in the final third is terrible . So the only option Mata has are safe passes or passes backwards.
Explain how Ibra always seems to be able to make forward passes through the middle then?
Our wide playmaker can't beat a man, can't pass into the space, can't help in the midfield battle. What use is he?
Also this
! He is no use in this current United team .
He is no use in this current united team !
I love Mata - probably my favourite player, but he was dire today. Nothing else to say really.
He is softer than a pillow and weaker than a blade of glass. To play creatively he needs acres of space and no one closing him down - a luxury that no EPL side can afford.
It’s high time to cut him loose.
It’s high time to cut him loose.
Such a disappointing player, offers literally nothing. Where is the magical Chelsea Mata? 
He's off in the summer surely.
He's off in the summer surely.
Maybe Ibra can make some passes through the middle . My point is the movement of martial , rashford and Lukaku is terrible . Thats why most of our attacking play breaks down . Or do you Disagree ??
Yup. Same here. Pains me to criticise him and I always want him to do well but he was diabolical today. Is our No 10 position cursed?!
He and Mikitaryan would probably look better if we had an actual attacking system and a semblance of synergy. Never been a fan of Mata(at Utd) and will not cry when he goes but you are never going to get the best out of player like in as scrappy a style as Utd play.
He offers pretty much nothing at the moment. He just circulates the ball over and over and he's too slow to go round a player so every time he's on the ball he stops, turns back and looks for a back/side pass allowing 5 opponents to track back and line up. I'd be very surprised if he was still here next year.
We can't rely on changing the systems to suit 10s
They should be the ones to influence and dictate how we play like Silvia/de bruyne right now at city. They force the issue.
Miki and mata are too passive at moment. We can't afford to have midfield/attacking link players to wait for others to influence the game. They should be the ones doing it when the team is playing poorly
Not the best season for Juan unfortunately. Great Guy and i think i speak for many on here in saying that i would love to see him playing well week in, week out as he such a nice guy.
But he's just been all over the place really. Not even in the squad for some of our games this season and when he does start a game it just passes him by. I can really see him leaving in the summer. It looks like things have gone a bit stale for him here at the moment. Would love to see him turn things around though.
But he's just been all over the place really. Not even in the squad for some of our games this season and when he does start a game it just passes him by. I can really see him leaving in the summer. It looks like things have gone a bit stale for him here at the moment. Would love to see him turn things around though.
Easily my favourite player and it hurts me to criticize him but he was very ineffective. Fear he'd be dropped for Zlatan once he recovers fully
Movement alone does not work against a well drilled team! You need to put fear into the other team with your ability to create space.
Players are scared of Zlatan and Pogba because they can beat a man and deliver the final ball. When Mata gets the ball they know he will pass backwards or sideways and they can track his run and itlle be ok.
Silva, KdB, Hazard, Coutinho, Ozil do not need good movement because they can dribble past players and pass into the space. They force the attackers to move with their passes.
Looked like he was running in mud today, just couldn't get into the game and got swarmed easily.
Ozil has more athleticism than a 12 year old girl, Mata doesn't. At this point in his career Mata is essentially Rooney 2.0. No ability to run in behind or beat players so stuck in an endless cycle of passing backwards/sideways and slowing down every counter. Just last week Ozil was MOTM vs Spurs and put in a performance better than anything Mata has produced in a United shirt.
Sorry, I hate emojis, but Ozil would come here, encounter the same problems and be included in a thread (made by somebody like you) describing him as "deadwood" within six months.
Mata is too weak and slow as others have stated. We also play way too slow, or hoofball, and he needs the ball quicker as he cant outrun defenders. Seems a nice bloke, and hes stated he wants to play here into his 40s. That wont happen.
Better blogger than player since he came to us
I agree, but I still think he'd offer more than Mata. I don't want him, though, because, like Mkhi and Mata, he's another who only plays well when the team is, but when the going gets tough they're nowhere to be found.
Sorry, I hate emojis, but Ozil would come here, encounter the same problems and be included in a thread (made by somebody like you) describing him as "deadwood" within six months.
Fekir would be great because he wouldn't need the team to be firing on all cylinders - he can make a difference on his own.
Exactly, and this is what I mean by "safe player". Rarely attempts dangerous balls and, when he does, his weight of pass is never consistent.
No, we've just had players playing there that, honestly, weren't good enough. Rooney post 11-12 was awful, Kagawa too weak, Mata too weak, Mkhi too weak. I wasn't a fan of signing Mata and Mkhi at the time because they don't have that D.Silva ability to hold off players which means they're much more easily kept quiet.
Absolute waste of a shirt, i just cant fathom why we stick with him. I've never once seen him dictate or dominate a game in the way a no 10 should. He's worse now than when Jose sold him for Chelsea, please can we call it a day with him.
He’s done some good things and some bad things today. The one ball he lost when he received it in the middle of the pitch as he was going forward, was exactly how he lost a similar ball that led to us conceding one of the goals against Huddersfield. We were lucky Brighton didn’t have enough quality to punish us on that possession.
Too nice, too slow, too weak. Enough of the “oh he is a nice guy”, he needs to get the hell out of our club. 37million worth of crap
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