Last season he would at least pop up from time to time with a tap-in or score from a cut-back. This season he is just invisible every game without fail, and without a goal every 4 or 5 games to protect him.
8
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 40
- Goals
- 3
- Assists
- 7
- Yellow cards
- 1
- Status
Too much keep it safe passes. No speed either.
fecking hell the amount of times he drifts from Left wing to center back to take the ball from rojos feet only to play passes in our own half. He has good games now and then but he really isn't United quality.
Yeah, sure. Just look at Lukaku's pass there. If you still feel it was Mata who killed the counter then watch again because it was Lukaku's pass that killed the counter
Cracking cross for that goal, been much better in the second half so far.
Offside far too much.
Key passes, great runs, set up two goals.
My MoTM!
My MoTM!
Well look who sideways passed his way into setting up two goals.
The Old Trafford crowd really seemed to appreciate his cowardly, negative, invisible, pussy performance too.
The Old Trafford crowd really seemed to appreciate his cowardly, negative, invisible, pussy performance too.
Okay I switch it to Alexis.
Thought he was good today,
I gave him MotM too.
I gave him MotM too.
In terms of balance in the squad, this guy is seriously underrated at times. Plays to teammate's strenghts and this time unlocked Rom.
Played well today. Nice assist.
Perfect game for him. Very important when we have most of the possesion.
I hope he gets a new contract. Deserves to retire at United. Such an intelligent footballer.
Our second best attacker today, lovely cross for the goal.
Played well today. My MOTM.
I actually think Mata and Sanchez combined very well today - promising signs. I still see Mata as the better option than Lingard, especially now that Sanchez is around to buzz about like Lingard, but at a much higher level. I'd go with Martial, Lukaku and Mata, with Sanchez given the free role.
He's a big player for us in games where we have all of the ball.
No question.
Aye, when were up against a team thats going to put 10 behind the ball, hes one of our better attackers.
Were going to have pretty limited counters so his inability to keep up with them isn't that relevant and hes still our best passer imo.
Good movement too.
Hes worth the place in games like this.
We need Mata to "knit" our forward play together. No other forward player we have got is capable of doing just that.
Nice assist for Lukaku, apart from that some appalling decisions and passes, nothing I would rave about certainly.
I found it refreshing seeing him attempt so many killer passes. They didn't all come off but they don't need to. I appreciated the effort instead of him constantly passing it sideways. You could see that he was playing for his place in the team.
This. He was much riskier in his passing today
Looked like he’s revelling in Sanchez’ arrival. Mata was second best player on the pitch today. Loved seeing the little magician flourish.
My man of the match, I thought he was a real spark for us. That was a lovely cross for Lukaku for the goal.
The control he did from Pogba's pass was more than amazing.
Please someone post a gif of it
Please someone post a gif of it
Some of the comments here after what has generally been described as a good game, beggars belief. Mata always gives his all and much of the time is influential and constructive. I’d like to see him in the traditional no. 10 position more often. He’s not exactly used to his strength imo.
The problem is that means taking Lingard out of the team who arguably is better for the team atm. On team balance, Lingard through central area is better as the whole idea is to keep the central secured and guide opposition to the wide area. Lingard has the intensity in his pressing and defensively stronger. Lingard would be more ideal to slot in when Pogba advance forward than Mata staying next to Matic for the obvious reason. Let's not start Iniesta, David Silva, Modric... debate. Mata is very different than though or he can help us in playing a controlling game.
Lingard, imo, is typical of a lot of players over the years...Fletcher, Cleverley for example...in that they promise much but never quite reach fruition, and fade away. Great goals, and a useful squad player, but without Mata’s intelligence.
I would never fault the effort with Mata, he always gives his all. What I meant was, there were some uncharacteristic mistakes, poor decisions that I wouldn't expect of him to do. He was better than some of his previous outings, but eventually he is not good enough and should only be squad player here.
Lingard is very intelligent player, the positions he takes and off the ball movement he makes are very good and something players with good game intelligence do.
Mata is more pleasing on the eye though.
One thing I have noticed that Mourinho never starts Mata in big games. He haven't stated against any of top six sides this season. Even if his passes are not working, his running off the ball can cause problems to opposition.
This is typical of negative tactics we've seen in the big games so far under Mourinho's reign. Mata provides much needed guile in attack and seems to already have an understanding with Sanchez.
Harsh on Fletcher. He’d have been our captain for a few seasons but for his illness. Peak Fletcher was a very good midfielder and has no place in a list with Cleverley.
Fletcher?
Didn’t promise much. Unexpectedly reached a splendid fruition. Didn’t fade away; got struck down at his peak by a devastating long term illness.
You may well be right with Lingard, but I think you underrate his intelligence, and his determined attitude will always stand him in good stead.
Cleverley was never more than neat and tidy with a decent touch. People wouldn’t have got so carried away had our other midfield options been better at the time.
Stock post, which just shows you clearly haven't been watching every game.
Probably because he can't keep up with the pace of an end to end match. The fullbacks just run off him and he can't track them. They don't hold back as they aren't worried about Mata's pace going the other way either.
We saw how lost he looked when he came on against Tottenham.
We'd be better off playing 3-5-2 with Sanchez/Martial/Lukaku/Lingard as the attacking options.
I really like Mata and I want Jose to find a place for him in the big games. Why not? Our results in the big games have been piss-poor and I don't recall Mata playing them at all. Maybe the back to back defeats to Arsenal and Spurs only but they aren't representative because our second string team were playing. He also scored against Arsenal last season at OT. It's unfair on Mata as well because when he keeps getting left out of the big games and the team aren't getting the results he must be thinking 'what do I need to to do to play?' He would give us more control in these games and we wouldn't look so clueless like we did at Liverpool for example.
Insulting another member
I've watched most games this season. He really doesn't do enough. You're a moron if you think otherwise.
- Status