[evil_geko]

Ah I see, it was Herrera and Mickys fault he was shit yesterday

Really needs to move the call quicker. He’s been caught dallying on the ball a fair bit in recent games.

How is he supposed to move ball quick when no one opens...ever? Just hoof it eh?

Ffs ppl, this is not FIFA.

 

[ivaldo]

How was he to move the ball quicker when as soon as he got it, our attacking players made runs away from him. There's only so many times you can hoof the ball. No one was looking to take the ball to feet. Look at Chelsea for example, any time the midfielder received the ball deep they always had another midfielder screaming for the ball in space.

It wasn’t just with throughballs or passes to the feet of the attackers, it was basic passes to fullbacks and the other midfielders. If you don’t have a pass on to an attacker, you don’t take 7 touches before squaring it to the fullback. You release it quickly, creating a different angle, continue moving it until an
attacking options becomes available. It’s so easy to defend against a team when the angle of attack never changes. It’s not just Matic that does it, but he’s certainly been one of the worst in recent games.

 

[ivaldo]

How is he supposed to move ball quick when no one opens...ever? Just hoof it eh?

Ffs ppl, this is not FIFA.

No it’s not fifa. You can’t spam throughball and blame the AI for not moving in the right place. You keep the ball moving to create new angles. Taking a dozen touches in the hope space will magically open up does nothing to help.

 

[JoaquinJoaquin]

Thought Matic played quite well yesterday considering the holes we had in the midfield. Was only him, De Gea and Young that could hold their head up high from that game.

 

[André Dominguez]

If only the rest of the team could be at Matic's level of focus and drive, we would be in a much better position right now.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

Rejoice!

 

[Darkhorsez]

Rejoice!

That’s a relief! Towards the end of the Chelsea game, he was literally running out of gas. He is by far our hardest worker on the team.

 

[Kapardin]

Tweet

— Twitter API (@user) date

Rejoice!

Christmas has come early.

Matic has really taken over Carrick's role of being Mr Calm in midfield. Our most important player.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Christmas has come early.

Matic has really taken over Carrick's role of being Mr Calm in midfield. Our most important player.

I just hope Carrick can share the load a bit before the season's out.

 

[Trizy]

Absolute brilliant news.

 

[Regulus Arcturus Black]

Ah I see, it was Herrera and Mickys fault he was shit yesterday

He really wasn’t shit.

Our best player on the day I thought.

 

[ivaldo]

He really wasn’t shit.

Our best player on the day I thought.

Disagree, don’t think it was one of his better days.

 

[breakout67]

The reason why Matic isn't criticized as much is because his level is consistently higher than most of the team. A bad performance can be excused because of his previous stand-out performances. Matic has also played the most minutes in the whole team along with De Gea and Lukaku.

I would consider Matic and Lukaku to be our standout players in this rough patch, both have been carrying their area of the pitch. Considering that they are new signings but still have shown their importance I can excuse a poor performance so long as it is not long term.

 

[RooneyLegend]

Yeah, he was rather mediocre vs Chelsea punctuated by the scene where he was being rag-dolled by Hazard who's about half his size.

 

[whatwha]

I just hope Carrick can share the load a bit before the season's out.

What happened to Carrick anyway? He's not featured all season, and there's been no reports of his injury or "mystery illness" or whatever it is.

 

[SATA]

Apparently he didn't play in any of Serbia's two friendly games in the Far East, so he should be well rested for two weeks now. Not sure if he's nursing a knock or something though

 

[kotha]

Apparently he didn't play in any of Serbia's two friendly games in the Far East, so he should be well rested for two weeks now. Not sure if he's nursing a knock or something though

Don't think it's a knock.. Was just said he was being rested..

 

[kundalini]

Failed to do the basics defensively, especially given the balance of the team. Decent on the ball but no surprise Newcastle created so many chances when our holding midfielder performs like that.

 

[Water Melon]

His passing is very good, but did not shield the back 4 well today, especially in the first half.

 

[PlayerOne]

Yup his defensive work was poor today, didn't do as much as he usually does. Still not his worst game, he was good on the ball and kept it ticking along

 

[Devil may care]

Looked energized having Pogba bak next to him, got a bit further forward than usual.

 

[Regulus Arcturus Black]

Think he just enjoyed the play too much to worry about shielding, superb on the ball today.

 

[Trizy]

Think he just enjoyed the play too much to worry about shielding, superb on the ball today.

Indeed. Don't get the earlier stick, he was good.

 

[automaticflare]

Indeed. Don't get the earlier stick, he was good.

Probably the first game in 6 weeks where he didn't have to do literally everything in midfield

 

[haram]

Deserves a rest midweek. We only need a draw in Basel anyway. Him and Pogba are such a great two-man midfield

 

[Yagami]

Got drifted past a bit too easy a couple of times but I thought he was alright. His ability to shield the ball under pressure helps us so much, and that scooped ball to Herrera in the last few mins

 

[Trizy]

Got drifted past a bit too easy a couple of times but I thought he was alright. His ability to shield the ball under pressure helps us so much, and that scooped ball to Herrera in the last few mins

Think that's what makes him and Pogba a brilliant midfield 2. Obviously they're great passers but in the tighest of spaces they manage to hold onto the ball with pure strength and close touches. Very underrated skill.

 

[Freak]

This guy is such a lovely footballer. For such a big man his touch, control and ability to get out of tight situations is just wonderful.

 

[Thecarrickfan_2016]

He was class yesterday, We got him for a bargain, I'm glad he joined us as well.

 

[marlowe78]

Was good again. I agree that he should get midweek off. Put Herrera in his spot and let's just see out the group.

 

[Ban]

Failed to do the basics defensively, especially given the balance of the team. Decent on the ball but no surprise Newcastle created so many chances when our holding midfielder performs like that.

So many chances? What were those?

 

[BridgeBanter]

Im glad United fans have warmed up to Matic and recognized how good he is and how important he can be with a specific role in the team, even if for what ever reason it was no longer working for him at Chelsea. I was truly baffled as to the fairly apathetic reaction alot of people on this forum had when it was announced he was joining (not at our level, chelsea reject etc), especially for a midfield starter in two tittle winning teams.

 

[IAmAWinner]

Thought this was one of his worst performances for us. Sloppy passes, off the pace and didn't offer enough protection.

 

[el3mel]

Thought this was one of his worst performances for us. Sloppy passes, off the pace and didn't offer enough protection.

He was definitely poor in the first half, but second half he played well.

 

[NotoriousISSY]

First half he really irked me. Second half much improved and held his own when Pogba gassed out.

 

[Bobski]

He struggles when the game gets stretched, much better in a compact game. This may be one of the reasons why Chelsea looked to move beyond him, bringing in Bakayoko to pair with Kante, more dynamic players.

 

[walkinhop]

We really shouldn't be playing with 2 in mid, not with him anyway. He shines in different circumstances, as others have already said.

 

[automaticflare]

First half he really irked me. Second half much improved and held his own when Pogba gassed out.

First half when we were 3v2 in midfield??

I thought he was excellent in second half and we were overrun in first half somewhat

Extremely difficult to play against extra man surprised at the starting formation really
Midfield is so important.
Look at the Chelsea team today drink water kante and balayoko and then hazard dropping in and out that's 4 midfielders really

Would much rather fellaini matic and pogba in a flat 3 at moment with form of our 10s which would help out matic enormously and release pogba to be more effective in final third

 

[Bobski]

Also needs to be mentioned that since Pogba returned Utd have been a lot easier to get at in midfield. For all his gifts Pogba can be lazy tracking runners.

 

[Devil may care]

Looked leggy at times today, got better as the game went on.