[Treble]

I'm not sure that Matic and Pogba will fare well against teams that will press us, i.e. Liverpool, Spurs and City. They cover a lot of distance, especially Pogba, but due to their size they are not quick enough over short distances and will lose the ball in dangerous areas when put under intense pressure. Like it or not but Herrera is a must vs the top teams to provide speed in midfield and prevent counter-attacks.

I wrote several times already that having many tall players has not only benefits but also costs. Being relatively slow in midfield is one of them.

 

[Feed Me]

How quickly the mood changes

 

[Redlyn]

Well you are only as good as your luast game.

 

[Treble]

How quickly the mood changes

It's rational to update one's impressions on the basis of new evidence.

People were right to rave about his performance vs WHam and also right to point out flaws in his last game.

 

[Kostur]

Not impressive as before but not the worst midfielder on the pitch by a stretch too.

 

[pocco]

It felt like playing him in the 3 limited him to the donkey work too much. Herrera occupied the attacking positions he liked to pick up in previous games, with the issue being that Herrera is far too intent to pass the ball backwards all the time. Matic helped develop play far better when he was picking up the positions that Herrera was now finding himself in.

 

[TheMagicFoolBus]

Not sure if this is the case (haven't looked at heatmaps yet), but it seemed to me that he was pushing up the pitch more than he had in the previous 3 games. I suspect that maybe this is because of the presence of Herrera instead of another more creative player?

I say this because his problems last year at Chelsea came when he would push up to far-he's far more effective when he can sit deeper and dictate play from there, as he doesn't get closed down as quickly. On a couple of occasions he was quickly pressed at the edge of the Stoke box, and it led to counter opportunities for them. He doesn't really have the pace to recover and snuff these out either, and because he's very one footed and tall he's vulnerable to rapid close outs. It was more of an issue in Chelsea's 3-4-3 since the CMs would push up pretty far and were asked to circulate the ball quickly from wing to wing, but for the most part thus far at United he's sat deeper and benefited.

 

[Jib]

Matic, Herrera and Pogba isn't a good midfield 3. We saw that against Real Madrid and Stoke.

 

[breakout67]

Im confident some posters are just making shite up because we dropped points. He actually stopped 3 counter attacks during the stoke game! Not to mention that Hererra was the one that vacated his position multiple times during the game to press a man that Matic had already covered.

Some people have also forgotten that he was intelligent enough to realise that we can't cross for shite so he went for the flick on from the corner which led to the goal.

 

[tomaldinho1]

Herrera/Pog/Matic just isn't for me. Given we had lots of possession and chances vs Stoke we didn't need Herrera in there, we needed more creativity. Maybe City or Chelsea away that would be my choice but not at Stoke where the problem is breaking them down not stopping them.

Matic/Pog/Mata or Matic/Pog/Mkhi much better for me

Would love for us to try out:

------------Lukaku------------
Martial ---- Mkhi --- Rashford
------- Pogba-----------------
-----------------Matic---------

 

[TheMagicFoolBus]

Im confident some posters are just making shite up because we dropped points. He actually stopped 3 counter attacks during the stoke game! Not to mention that Hererra was the one that vacated his position multiple times during the game to press a man that Matic had already covered.

Some people have also forgotten that he was intelligent enough to realise that we can't cross for shite so he went for the flick on from the corner which led to the goal.

Doubt this was something he realized in game; it was a common tactic used by Jose and Conte whilst Matic was at Chelsea and a major reason why he accumulated the assists he did last season (I believe something like 3 assists of his came from near post runs on corners).

 

[breakout67]

Doubt this was something he realized in game; it was a common tactic used by Jose and Conte whilst Matic was at Chelsea and a major reason why he accumulated the assists he did last season (I believe something like 3 assists of his came from near post runs on corners).

We'd done countless short corners before that one; still credit where it was due for contributing to the goal if it was a set play from the corner.

 

[TheMagicFoolBus]

We'd done countless short corners before that one; still credit where it was due for contributing to the goal if it was a set play from the corner.

Oh of course and I didn't mean to detract from him as it's a genuine weapon during corners, I just don't think he had some sort of epiphany about your poor crossing and decided to try his luck at the near post. He's been doing that for a while and I'm sure Jose has been working on that routine in training.

I'm not sure if you watched West Ham/Huddersfield tonight but you can see how much more dangerous even a rudimentary play such as this makes a team during corners; if West Ham had done this with Carroll at the near post even occasionally they'd have had much more joy I'd imagine.

 

[horsechoker]

If we don't have defensive midfielder who dribble past players and score then what's the fecking point of him starting?

No wonder Chelsea got rid

 

[Hugh Jass]

Posters being very harsh on him. Granted, he was not excellent, but was not terrible either.

 

[Hugh Jass]

I'm not sure that Matic and Pogba will fare well against teams that will press us, i.e. Liverpool, Spurs and City. They cover a lot of distance, especially Pogba, but due to their size they are not quick enough over short distances and will lose the ball in dangerous areas when put under intense pressure. Like it or not but Herrera is a must vs the top teams to provide speed in midfield and prevent counter-attacks.

I wrote several times already that having many tall players has not only benefits but also costs. Being relatively slow in midfield is one of them.

Every player will not play as good against the top teams. That's not because they are bad; that's football. When you are playing against a good team, it's harder to be good.

 

[Ban]

Good again. Does he ever play poorly?

 

[Hojoon]

I rate him highly but he does have an annoying habit of giving away balls needlessy in potentially dangerous areas a couple of times per match.

 

[AR87]

He played deeper when Pogba went off to allow Fellaini to roam forward without worry. Intelligent player.

 

[el3mel]

Made 2 mistakes overall in the game but these 2 aside he was very solid and gets the ball forward very well. He's much better when he's playing deep alone instead of having another player interfering with him in the places he loves to occupy.

 

[Minimalist]

Irreplaceable already. Couple bad passes but everyone had a brain fart tonight it seems.

 

[Devil may care]

Smooth game, I thought he adjusted well to Pogba going off and took up more of the passing reins.

 

[Cliche Guevara]

As a couple of people have said, really took on a more involved play-maker role when Pogba came off. I'd be interested in seeing stats on his touches per game, as tonight he seemed to take on a lot more responsibility.

Perhaps he and Pogba still need to work out who's doing what. I think we're better with Matic controlling the play and Pogba getting on the ball when he's got space to do damage.

 

[Offside]

He makes a real difference to our team.

 

[Trizy]

My MOTM. Just made it look easy.

 

[kirk buttercup]

Class Act.

 

[kouroux]

Great player, great vision and passing. Still can't believe Chelsea sold him to us.

 

[barmyarmy]

After pogba went off he was driving forward with the ball and making some incisive passes in between lines. Brilliant player

 

[Escobar]

It was only 1 game, but he just looks miles better in a midfield 2. He knows his position, his runs, his passing

 

[Shark]

He's so good, that I'm already worried about who his replacement will be down the line.

 

[Wednesday at Stoke]

I thought he had been fading gradually and needs a break for a game. Gave away a ball after a misplaced pass right outside our box, luckily Basel were shit to do anything with it. That's probably what Jose had been referring it with his comment on sloppy play.

 

[Duafc]

He was my MOTM - thought he totally dictated the game and Basel, whilst admittedly poor, couldn't get anywhere near him - He seemed to grow into it a bit when Pogba went off, or perhaps there was just more onus on him in absence of Pogba's control and creativity. All his passing was sharp, quick and often incisive, kept us ticking over like a metronome, turned away from trouble so often and was generally just an ocean of calm.

So pleased with this signing, he's the kind of top class stability player that every top club needs.

 

[Escobar]

I thought it would be good to take him off after 65mins or so

 

[marlowe78]

I thought he was fading a bit towards the end. Misplayed a couple of balls and was wandering out of position. I just finished posting that I don't understand why we don't use Carrick late in games that have been killed off.

 

[Pexbo]

Such a big player for us.

 

[Cheesy]

He's just a really reassuring figure to have in the team.

 

[Amar__]

He is basically playing one man midfield today. It's like watching Carrick when he used to olay with the likes of Cleverley or Gibson.

 

[mu4c_20le]

Another monster performance today. I never get tired of watching him go in for a 50/50 like two trains colliding, then he gently nicks the ball away instead.

 

[Randall Flagg]

He was immense all game

 

[KM]

What a player!