Nemanja Matic image 31

Nemanja Matic Serbia flag

2017-18 Performances


View full 2017-18 profile

6.2 Season Average Rating
Appearances
49
Goals
2
Assists
4
Yellow cards
6
Status
Not open for further replies.

el3mel

Full Member
Joined
Oct 23, 2016
Messages
43,735
Location
Egypt
Solid so far. Not impressive, but solid. It's hard to be impressive when you are not pressed. I am curious how is he going to play against teams that will press us. He is so calm and commanding. Love it. Great start of the season!
We played against Real Madrid already and he was our best midfielder. There's no team in the EPL who's harder than Madrid in terms of attacking.
 

Rake

Full Member
Joined
Nov 19, 2012
Messages
4,358
Location
Moon's Spawn
Because he doesn't need to most of the time. Slide tackling should be a last resort method for defending. There are players who love to throw themselves at any given opportunities.
I`m well aware of that but nobody can be in a perfect position all the time.
 

Buchan

has whacked the hammer to Roswell
Joined
Jun 5, 2012
Messages
17,652
Location
The Republik of Mancunia | W3102
I love his little dribbles towards the opposition's deep-set midfield in a bid to provoke them into leaving their positions. He commits the player then passes to a teammate. Carrick, all too often, just passes sideways in those scenarios, and opposition midfields just slide across as a unit. They don't seem like much, but those little penetrative Matic runs make a world of difference. I love how composed he is on the ball. Excellent midfield player.
 

Hellboy

Full Member
Joined
Aug 18, 2006
Messages
17,494
Location
Heaven on earth
Solid so far. Not impressive, but solid. It's hard to be impressive when you are not pressed. I am curious how is he going to play against teams that will press us. He is so calm and commanding. Love it. Great start of the season!
He had Okazaki pressing him all the time especially in the first half, couldn't get near him.
 

arthurka

Full Member
Joined
Jan 20, 2010
Messages
18,738
Location
Rectum
Chelsea are idiots letting him go and replacing him with B-joko.. Top shelf quality from Serbia..
 

jem

Full Member
Joined
Jan 14, 2010
Messages
9,327
Location
Toronto
He's fantastic. He's everything I'd imagined Schweinsteiger would be for us. Absolute steal.
 

criticalanalysis

Full Member
Joined
Apr 12, 2015
Messages
6,212
Was very very good in his role today but I'm repeating myself here, Mourinho needs to rotate or rather introduce another midfielder sooner into games.

He's done A LOT of ground work our past 3 games and in the 2nd half, it showed the limitations of playing a two with one of them being Pogba and essentially a front 4 ahead of them.
 

RedCurry

Full Member
Joined
Apr 25, 2016
Messages
4,687
He's been fantastic so far this season. Doesn't do a thing wrong. Early days though.

In my opinion, his biggest challenge will come against teams that press. Liverpool game would be his first real test. But majority of the games we play, he will dominate if he continues playing like he's done so far.
 

SwansonsTache

incontinent sexual deviant & German sausage lover
Joined
Dec 16, 2015
Messages
15,563
Location
Norway
Was very very good in his role today but I'm repeating myself here, Mourinho needs to rotate or rather introduce another midfielder sooner into games.

He's done A LOT of ground work our past 3 games and in the 2nd half, it showed the limitations of playing a two with one of them being Pogba and essentially a front 4 ahead of them.
Agree, we need to use Herrera\Fellaini and Carrick for all our cup matches and easier league matches, I fear we'll run him into the ground, which admittedly you could accuse Jose of doing in his second season with Chelsea in his last stint there.

In big matches his role will be more reserved though since he will be mostly asked to sit, while Herrera does the hustling.
 

Ban

New Member
Joined
Oct 22, 2015
Messages
26,022
Location
Zagreb, HR
There were so many reservations about us buying this guy. And look at him now, he slotted in the team like he's been there for ages. Another brilliant display.
 

Yagami

Good post resistant
Joined
Jan 27, 2013
Messages
13,523
Our group looks easy on the paper, so yeah you could be right.
The last time we had Benfica and Basel in the same group we were knocked out in 11/12. The last time we were actually in the CL we were knocked out of the group stage by Wolfsburg. We shouldn't take anything for granted.
 

charlenefan

Far less insightful than the other Charley
Joined
Aug 17, 2005
Messages
33,052
In a window where Oxlade Chamberlain goes for 40m with a year left on his contract Matic is looking a bargain
 

Dante

Average bang
Joined
Oct 22, 2010
Messages
25,280
Location
My wit's end
Was very very good in his role today but I'm repeating myself here, Mourinho needs to rotate or rather introduce another midfielder sooner into games.

He's done A LOT of ground work our past 3 games and in the 2nd half, it showed the limitations of playing a two with one of them being Pogba and essentially a front 4 ahead of them.
He's missed only 14 games in 5 years. Matic isn't the type to suffer from fatigue.
 

criticalanalysis

Full Member
Joined
Apr 12, 2015
Messages
6,212
He's missed only 14 games in 5 years. Matic isn't the type to suffer from fatigue.
His injury record is fantastic but that doesn't mean you can't keep your players more fresh than others. The amount of defensive ground he covers AND the forward runs is not sustainable. Pretty much the whole Chelsea squad suffered this at Mourinho's first two seasons at Chelsea iirc. Of course on his second season he won the title but it was a case of burn bright and fast.

Anyways it's just a minor concern for now. At Utd, he's got a far better squad with plenty of good depth so he has all the opportunities to rotate.
 
Stoke 2:2 Man Utd

Amar__

Geriatric lover and empath
Joined
Sep 2, 2010
Messages
24,119
Location
Sarajevo
Supports
MK Dons
Kind of hoping for a jinx with this, but gotta say both him and Pogba are very poor today, especially Matic who I thought didn't bring much today at all. His worst game so far for us.
 

lawliet354

Full Member
Joined
Feb 27, 2014
Messages
1,863
Location
Uncomfortable chair
Kind of hoping for a jinx with this, but gotta say both him and Pogba are very poor today, especially Matic who I thought didn't bring much today at all. His worst game so far for us.
Yeah he was really bad today, didn't really do much defensively, and made some of stupid passes going forward, and somehow he keep getting beaten in the air by Shaqiri
 

Devil may care

New Member
Joined
Jan 7, 2010
Messages
35,976
I thought he did fine defensively but didn't have much of an impact in possession like he has in the other 3 games.
 

Minimalist

New Member
Joined
Dec 10, 2013
Messages
15,091
Did his job which is his defensive duties mainly. I don't expect him to brilliant in all aspects every match.
 

Jacky Quacky

made eight consecutive posts about Fellaini once
Joined
Aug 25, 2014
Messages
3,236
Location
Bedford
not going to lie if he was playing exactly like this for Chelsea i can see why they sold him.
 

Moiraine

Full Member
Joined
Feb 20, 2016
Messages
2,981
Location
Oslo
Didn't see first 52 minutes of the game because I had to go to the airport but after that, I can't remember him making any contribution to the team. He rather gave away the ball cheaply a couple of times in the final third and was not effective in tracking back either. I guess he was trying to go in advance positions to force a positive result.

But give the guy a break, let him play for half a season at least (especially group stage matches of Champions League) and then we can criticize him.
 

Jaybomb

New Member
Joined
Jan 1, 2016
Messages
4,459
He's a defensive midfielder. He's rarely ever gonna directly make goals for us.

I thought everyone accepted and appreciated that?
 

izec

Full Member
Joined
Sep 5, 2013
Messages
27,239
Location
Lucilinburhuc
He's a defensive midfielder. He's rarely ever gonna directly make goals for us.

I thought everyone accepted and appreciated that?
He started on fire and contributed offensively. He had an average game offensively yesterday, so obviously some are disappointed, even if his main job isnt to shine offensively too
 

RooneyLegend

New Member
Joined
May 3, 2013
Messages
12,963
His passing like Hererra's contribute nothing to our team offensively which is a shame cause we need to improve in that aspect.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.