Mkhitaryan is currently showing why he's the better choice with his pace and more direct style of running at the defence, and Mata's desire to cut inside means they are both occupying the same spaces whilst leaving Valencia with a lot of work to do down the right hand side with little support. I've said before that I think the focus should shit to finding a right winger rather than a left winger, as both Rashford and Martial have done very well so far playing on the left. They both have the pace and dribbling skills to cause defenders serious problems, and if we had the same down the right, we would be even more dangerous.
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 and Imran @Annihilate Now! start with the good news by celebrating Manchester United Women's emphatic FA Cup win over Spurs at Wembley and the future of manager Marc Skinner.
Then it's the bad news and the ever worsening form of our Men with losses to Arsenal and Palace.
Finally the main debate - ETH Out now or keep him until the end of the season - if not longer. Are you Team Nik or Team Imran?
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I thought Mata was better in general play than Mkhitaryan over the two games, though obviously Mkhitaryan got those assists.
Regardless, I'd be inclined to leave the team as it is after two 4-0 wins in a row.
Regardless, I'd be inclined to leave the team as it is after two 4-0 wins in a row.
Most wingers look livelier aged 23-26 than they do at 29.
He is probably the most technical player in the team. A clever footballer which is rare these days and we have 2 in the team (Mata and Blind). Needs to improve his corner delivery. No excuses with all the height he has to aim at. Blind is miles ahead of him in terms of delivery.
This. Exactly my thoughts.
We need only one of Mkhi/Mata.
For RW, we were supposed to sign Griezmann to play as AM/SS/RW depending on system. If we sign nobody, another solution would be trying out Martial-Lukaku-Rash
Agree, but at the expense of width.
We need width to break down the defence more than one more "winger/AM" who cut inside and clashes with Mkhi, Pogba and sometimes Rashford/Martial/Lukaku. Our "middle" is congested, same as last season.
The 4-0 result masks our inability to break down defence when opponent parking the bus yesterday. They were essentially playing 5 at the back, 3/4 in the middle. That changed when they started attack and we successfully hit them on the counter
I prefer only one of Mkhi/Mata In the system
Another superb silent domination of the opposition.
He is a useful player however it would be great to have an upgrade that does either what he does (pacier and more threatening) or have someone who does something different, i.e. not cut inside and narrow play.
He is a useful player however it would be great to have an upgrade that does either what he does (pacier and more threatening) or have someone who does something different, i.e. not cut inside and narrow play.
Not even sure about that anymore, Blind has been awful for a while and hasnt found his LvG form. Martial, Pogba, Matic are very good technically.
I think we can make more use of width but I don't think Mata and right side is the issue. He and Valencia are a good combo, I'd say the issue is more on the left where Rashford wants to come inside rather than stay high up the pitch to help us stretch the pitch yet is not as good in central areas as Mata/Mikhi. This is particularly an issue as Blind can't offer the same overlap as Valencia can. Hopefully Shaw can come back and find form as that could be the answer there.
The other consideration is time. It's still early in the season and we had a lot of rotation in the front players last season and so I still think there's more to come from the players as they learn to better work together.
No doubt there will be games that don't suit Mata but I think he can play more than most. It might have taken us some time to get through breakthrough goal but we were pretty comfortable and we were threatening and Mata played a good part in that.
Man Utd 2:0 Leicester
Think he's been pretty good this half.
Such a shame that didn't go in. Very good half from him.
That goal would have been comparable with Bergkamp's one vs Leicester. Fantastic touch to bring it down , a touch and shot to the top corner.
Nonetheless, best player so far.
Nonetheless, best player so far.
He's been fantastic.
Best player on the pitch.
Been excellent.
Love this guy
Has an unmatched ability within the team to just ghost away from the defender, gets in such good positions, and it was a good thing that he did because Ndidi was doing his best to mark Mikhi out of the game
It did not make sense to sub Mata our most creative player again today
His contract says that he has to leave the pitch before the 70th minute.
Unlucky in front of the goal today, but much better performance than the previous 2 matches ( which he's not even that bad imo ). Our most intelligent player on the field imo.
Who do you take off then? Mkhitaryan that's racking up assists or Martial who looks like a hungry goal threat. It made sense to take him off and Rashford scored.
I really like him but i dont think he should play with Miki. It should be one or the other not both. They both seem to occupy the same space which means we lack width.
I think him and Mkhi in the same team is redundant and I still think we'd fare better with a winger instead of him on the right.
The width is provided by the full back. The two of them pulled off all those little one-twos that drag defenders away and create space for Valencia to run into, who always crossed into shins after slowing down for a few secs and let them get back into position.
Thought he was class in the first half but then didnt notice him much in the second. Made sense if we wanted to put in Rashford for it to be for Mata since martial was threatening and mkhitaryan does loads in terms of keeping the pressure on and recovering loose balls.
There were enough times when that hasnt been the case. I just think we have 2 players out wide who dont like to stay out wide and it hurts us.
He looked good today to be fair to him, but I agree with the problem highlighted above. And it's not like Valencia compensates for the lack of width down the right side adequately.
So yeah, the problem for Mata is that he's playing is similar position to Mkhi and while the latter is not exactly setting the world alight, he is picking up assists in every game. So the first sub is always going to be Mata at the moment.
Personally i think in tight games Mata should get the go ahead. In other games i would go with Mkhi.
I just think if Mata doesnt play behind a striker hes really wasted. But he played well in the first half today
In other words we don't have a RB who will provide quality width, so playing Mata and Mkhi is indeed creating a problem. Whether that is Mata's fault or Valencia's it's kinda irrelevant. Valencia is de facto our RB at the moment because we don't have anyone near as good in that position, while we do have more options in attack.
I think it's quite obvious that's how we are set up tactically on the right, and that's probably Mourinho's idea to pick apart parked bus. It's not working though due to Valencia's poor delivery.
Yes, and that is an issue, but it obviously goes deeper than the 'Mickey and Mata occupy the same space' argument. It's how we set up tactically. If Mourinho chooses to Mickey wont go near that right hand side and our delivery would still be poor.
It needs to be sorted out, one way or another.
Mkhi looks a much better player to bring on with his speed, but he's also very good from set pieces. He's got 2 assists in 3 games from his dead ball deliveries alone. I remember last season when Jose had Rashford taking corners and set piece and it was quite worse. So it's hard to leave Mkhi on the bench as well because he's always likely to contribute one way or another.
It's a bit of a problem but a positive one, a bit like the Martial/Rashford situation. If we had a decent RW then Mkhi and Mata could rotate.
Good game again today from Mata. Was busy and got into dangerous positions. Was very unlucky with his shot in the first half.
He was very good, made a lot of good runs and unlucky not to score.
Also I like the fact that we have Mata in the team who can keep the ball and calm things down when you need to just hold on to the possession. Also mad
Also I like the fact that we have Mata in the team who can keep the ball and calm things down when you need to just hold on to the possession. Also mad
Looks a lot better in a side with more pace / power around him. Lukaku up top has done wonders.
I love Juan, he was brilliant in the first half and has one of the best first touches in the league 
He was good in the first half, best performance of the season so far.
If I wanted to bring Rashford on today, I would sub off Valencia who had a non-productive performance. With the last ¼ of the game left, and with the opposition parking the bus, I would most surely not sub off our only out and out intelligent player.
In my opinion both Mata and Mkhitaryan get in each other's ways. They do play well together but they also both try to occupy the same spaces and we become very narrow, which would not be a problem if our fullbacks were good attackers but they're just not. I think we should play Rashford and Lukaku up top and Mkhi out wide or in place of Mata Rashford on the right wing. It would open up a bit more room for everyone.
Thought he was our best attacker in the match. I don't think any player in the league offers as much off the ball movement as him. There was a moment in the 2nd half where a long ball was put forward to Lukaku in the box who headed it to the side but Rashford wasn't close and I thought to myself that Mata would have been there to receive the pass, he doesn't miss these runs.
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