If he knows that so much why doesn't he show that on the pitch?
Juan Mata | Official: Signs two-year contract with option of a third
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik and Imran hold a long overdue conversation about United's awful league form with 1 win in 7. They discuss a disappointing draw at Bournemouth, a not so disappointing draw against Liverpool and a crushing defeat at Chelsea - Is time nearly over for Erik Ten Hag?
Then in a special second half of the pod, Nik welcomes Natalie ( https://twitter.com/natalie_17) to discuss the fortunes of Manchester United Women as they booked a place in the FA Cup Final after a historic first ever win vs. Chelsea.
If the youngsters aren't played ahead of Mata that means one of two things:
1) Mata is a better option than them, in which case he should play.
2) Our coaching staff is unable to recognise who is a better player than who, in which case the solution isn't to keep selling players until the coaching staff is forced to pick the ones you like by default.
Either way, keeping Mata isn't the problem.
He's already been on the periphery of the first team under Ole as it, hardly an insurmountable obstacle to getting gametime in a season where we will have far too many games.
yeh. They're all never complains, and is somewhat effective, That's all you need at United now. Don't forget those "knows what it’s like to play for Man Utd", "bleeds red" totally explainable concept too.
It's not ideal however he's probably one of the least of our worries, he also comes across as a good professional who wont kick up a stink should we get a better option and he's just used for the Europa/ bench option
I'm far more concerned about the likes of Jones/ Young/ Rojo et al.... Some of whom I'm well aware we have extended. It makes it more frustrating we are so keen to sort the likes of Jones but not Herrera- potentially had we sorted him earlier he wouldn't have demanded more money and potentially felt like Jones etc were prioritised. I'm well aware he isn't amazing but he was certainly worth keeping around over some, yes a Fifa mass sale and buy would be absolutely superb but unfortunately that isnt an option!
I haven't yet seen it announced, how long have we given him?
I'm far more concerned about the likes of Jones/ Young/ Rojo et al.... Some of whom I'm well aware we have extended. It makes it more frustrating we are so keen to sort the likes of Jones but not Herrera- potentially had we sorted him earlier he wouldn't have demanded more money and potentially felt like Jones etc were prioritised. I'm well aware he isn't amazing but he was certainly worth keeping around over some, yes a Fifa mass sale and buy would be absolutely superb but unfortunately that isnt an option!
I haven't yet seen it announced, how long have we given him?
There are much worse players we've rewarded with contract extensions. His goal and assist output has fallen pretty badly over the last few years though, just 9 goals in his last 72 games. Maybe he's in for a Teddy Sherinhgham style rebirth (00-01) next season though 
The cynical side of me thinks a lot of these renewed contracts are just so the club doesn't have to spend even more on replacements. Could be useful in the Europa league though.
The cynical side of me thinks a lot of these renewed contracts are just so the club doesn't have to spend even more on replacements. Could be useful in the Europa league though.
Yay, looks like we will have another testimonial for a player who is clearly past it. Darmian next please
With all things considered I'm glad we still have mata at the club. He's still capable enough to be part of the squad but his overall persona is outstanding.
We probably aren't going to have a mass exodus at the club this summer, which does sound appealing, so keeping mata is ok in my opinion. We have much more fundamental issues within the squad to sort out before letting go of Juan Mata
We probably aren't going to have a mass exodus at the club this summer, which does sound appealing, so keeping mata is ok in my opinion. We have much more fundamental issues within the squad to sort out before letting go of Juan Mata
1. No. It means our youngsters aren't better than Mata, which means they are not good enough to be trusted, which also means we should have bought a better starting player to replace Mata instead of signing him on as a squad player to replace potential squad players albeit young.
2. They can be able to recognise that nobody is good enough and they still have to pick someone to play, so it really isn't saying much if a lesser player is playing when the competition is so thin.
Either way, keeping Mata doesn't contribute to us having strong competition in our squad.
By that logic, we can keep most of our players then. Darmian is also on the periphery, he has decent experience, let's offer him a good extension too.
This club will go nowhere as long as it doesn't show serious ruthlessness.
Our youngsters not being better than Mata isn't a reason to keep Mata for 2+1 or 3 more years. It makes no sense to me.
Get in. So excited to read his blog after every loss.
Non-story pretty much. It's like re-signing Romero. Nothing wrong with it but it's back-page news stuff. Where's our next signing already? James and then....?
Weird post.Yay, looks like we will have another testimonial for a player who is clearly past it. Darmian next please
Mata shouldn't be a regular starter for us but clearly still has plenty he can contribute.
Yup, we need more of those, this is definitely gonna United improve as a team.
fecking hell... this club. How are we expected to progress when the club keeps resigning deadwood players who hog the wage bill and offer absolutely nothing to the club?
We will come back stronger next game. Turnaround etc. blah blah blah right?Oh I absolutely get and endorse the impulse, there are about a dozen players in the squad I'd happily sell, no issues there.
It's the lack of counterbalancing common sense that's the problem, especially when people use it as (yet another) way to criticise the manager.
Still, it isn't going to change any time soon so hey ho.
We didn't get rid of any deadwood apart from Valencia. Jones, Young, Mata, Rojo are all staying for now and with good length of contracts. Even Darmian is still around.
Sweepstake on who will be the next undeserved contract renewal?
My guess is Eric Bailly signing a bumper deal while on the treatment table.
My guess is Eric Bailly signing a bumper deal while on the treatment table.
This is a sign to take United challenging again. I can feel the excitement, hope, and optimism for next season.
Matic! Big salary bump too.
Off the pitch maybe.
The point is we have an absolute pile of players who could reasonably sold, only some of whom can be. So you have to prioritise who to lose first.
Mata offers us experience, personality and all that stuff but crucially he doesn't offer us a transfer fee if we sell him, unlike your Darmian example. Which makes losing him less attractive that losing Darmian, which makes losing him less of a priority than losing Darmian (or any number of others).
If people want to replace Mata that's fine but they then have to pick a different crap player to keep as it is literally impossible to replace all of them with time and money constraints. If they don't want to replace Mata but just lose him for no apparent gain then they're arguing from a rather weaker position.
Ok
Ok
Christ! Can you imagine that? No doubt you'd get the 'head in the sand' brigade saying what a fantastic decision that is too.
I feel just because of the position we are in and with the number of departures happened/hopefully going to happen it’s probably a good thing we’ve signed him up. But at the same time I really would have preferred if he had gone and we had brought in someone else to fill his slot in the team.
He just doesn’t fit in the team. On his day he is a fantastic player but he just simply doesn’t fit and really never has here at United. Arguably I would say the best football he has played was that brief period of time Moyes decided to go 3 in midfield and used Kagawa and Mata as his midfielders. They played some nice stuff and Kagawa started to play well. Probably helped he was away from Valencia who was oblivious to Kagawa’s movement and acted like he could never see him.
He just doesn’t fit in the team. On his day he is a fantastic player but he just simply doesn’t fit and really never has here at United. Arguably I would say the best football he has played was that brief period of time Moyes decided to go 3 in midfield and used Kagawa and Mata as his midfielders. They played some nice stuff and Kagawa started to play well. Probably helped he was away from Valencia who was oblivious to Kagawa’s movement and acted like he could never see him.
The ones who are applauding deals like this will be the first to be shouting Ole out!
That's my point, our club shouldn't even be in this position where it's almost begging for Mata to sign an extension of that length. That's crazy to me, he's just not worth that trouble.
We're already sure to keep many average players, letting Mata would send a positive signal that the club is not joking around with this rebuild. Players who have been coasting, contributing next to nothing shouldn't be rewarded with more years to stay.
If the alternative is signing someone to replace Mata, then we don't sign someone in a different position to replace a different crap player.
We are limited in what we can do this summer by both time and money. That's the reality of the situation, that's why a rebuild will take several years, that's why we can't upgrade everyone we want to upgrade at once. It's perfectly fine to think selling and replacing Mata should be a priority but it does inevitably mean not replacing someone else.
I can't remember a club rewarding mediocrity as much as United do now.
In terms of depth, I always look at it like a 1st 11 and 2nd 11. If you can put out 2 starting 11s, then have a few versatile youngsters fill out the rest, I'd say you're in good shape. If you have more than that, overly bloated. Less, and you're struggling.
With United right now its:
Martial Rashford
Lingard
Pogba McTominay
Matic
Shaw Lindelof Smalling Young
De Gea
James Lukaku Mata
Pereira ???
Fred
??? Jones Bailly Dalot
Romero
Basically for clear gaps in squad, we need a starting RB so Young and Dalot can be back up for both fullbacks and we need a CM so McTominay can go into 2nd 11 (or rotate with Matic).
For bloated areas, Sanchez has no point, Rojo has no point, Darmian has no point. Gomes, Chong, Greenwood and Tuanzebe all have 2 lineups ahead of them taking minutes over them without even looking at Sanchez, but since Sanchez isn't leaving, then it has to he one of the front 3. Replace Lukaku with Sanchez without buying anyone and then our squad looks incredibly light in terms of anyone who can score somewhat regularly, so it leaves Mata as the player who was the easy option to get rid since his contract was expiring.
With Martial, Rashford, Lingard, Sanchez, Mata, Lukaku, Daniel James... theres just not enough space there for our youngsters to get the time they need. 2 of that group have to leave, but if one of that group is Lukaku, then we need to replace him, so it's only logical to get rid of the 2 that are crazy overpaid, past it, havent produced in years and we wouldnt even notice any hit if their minutes went directly to youth players, and the one had his contract expiring. Our squad would literally have been more balanced simply by releasing Mata. I guess in the scenario that we sell Pogba and Lukaku and don't buy any attacking players, yeah it's good to keep Mata. I'd say we will have much bigger issues in that scenario though.
Unlike Sheringham, Mata's never been that good for us to begin with, imo. Bar his Juanfield performance, has he had any other performances worthy of, at one time, being one of our most expensive transfers ever? I don't believe so.There are much worse players we've rewarded with contract extensions. His goal and assist output has fallen pretty badly over the last few years though, just 9 goals in his last 72 games. Maybe he's in for a Teddy Sherinhgham style rebirth (00-01) next season though
The cynical side of me thinks a lot of these renewed contracts are just so the club doesn't have to spend even more on replacements. Could be useful in the Europa league though.
This Mata deal has to mean De Gea will sign a new deal. Its the Spanish connection, it has to be. There is no other reason to keep a player that is so obviously declining,.
Oh absolutely, ideally we wouldn't be in this position at all. If possible I'd happily see half the squad cleared out, the likes of Mata, Young, Jones and the rest included.
That literally isn't possible from where we are though. More than a few players we want gone have to be kept. That's the reality of the low ebb we find ourselves in.
Sending out a signal that we mean business would be nice but if you're Solskjaer it means an awful lot less than making sure you have enough players in your squad for the coming season.
Draw up a list of all the players you want out in your mind, then imagine you're told you have to keep 3/4 of them for next season. That's Solskjaer's job and it isn't an easy one.
"You can't get rid of everyone" is an annoying straw man argument. As it stands, we're not getting rid of ANYONE. And we're also making it more difficult for us to get rid of them in the future.
Yes but they still need actual chances to get those minutes. If you have 2 full front 3s of senior players ahead of you, and then another senior attacking option as the 7th player, and then you're competing with 2 other promising young player.... it's just a terrible set up. They have to prove themselves but there also needs to be a path for them to do so. Extending Mata is basically blocking Gomes. I'd have fewer problems with extending Mata if Sanchez was going for sure (not happening, and still ideally both would leave), but that's not the case.
What it looks like is that we'll head into the new season with Martial, Rashford, Lingard, Sanchez, Mata, Daniel James, Greenwood, Gomes and Chong as attacking options, assuming we sell Lukaku. 6 senior (weak as feck), 3 youth. If we replace Lukaku like one would hope, that's 7 senior and 3 youth. The only opportunities for games there would be brief token sub appearances, some minutes during crisis situations, or leaving 500k+ in wages combined out of the matchday squad every week because we couldnt get rid just to fit one of those 3 youth options on the bench. This isn't a case of fmnot being good enough to force your way in. If a player is genuinely as useless as Sanchez and Mata were, and we already have a bloated squad, it's simply inept management if they arent let go, especially when his fecking contract was expiring.
I dont really see any positive from this
his influence was very limited last season and I cant see that changing next or the (Jesus) 2 after that
hes not good enough to be that Cantona figure to the young players
hes too slow to fit in with Ole's planned style of play
I really dont understand it if I'm honest
his influence was very limited last season and I cant see that changing next or the (Jesus
) 2 after that hes not good enough to be that Cantona figure to the young players
hes too slow to fit in with Ole's planned style of play
I really dont understand it if I'm honest
Tbf I was also assuming we'd lose Sanchez, which you've now reminded me isn't a given. Thanks a bunch.
Tbf I was also assuming we'd lose Sanchez, which you've now reminded me isn't a given. Thanks a bunch.
Great position we're in. Get rid of Sanchez and I understand keeping Mata. But we're likely keeping him because nobody can afford him. So now we have both. Say what you will about Lukaku, I'm one of his biggest haters but hes still the only player of that group who is even around their prime, and one who can provide a decent benefit to the squad, yet I'd bet hes the only attacker who leaves (which would leave us in an even worse state than now). I understand the whole thing about not being able to get rid of everyone. I want to get rid of Darmian and Rojo because they literally never play. Same with Sanchez. Its empty wages. People hate on Young but it makes sense keeping him as a back up fullback (rotating with Dalot as first back up). Its just that there's so many of those that half of them at least half to go.