You'd think after seeing half a season without someone slowing us down occasionally and getting no clean sheets, that our fans might just "get it".
31
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 34
- Goals
- 1
- Assists
- 3
- Yellow cards
- 4
- Red cards
- 1
- Status
Like a new signing since coming back from injury
Ok but takes too many touches on the ball.....
I like the frenzied football
That match felt painfully boring to me tbh
Composure around here is "slowing it down" "taking too many touches" apparentely. Everything must be done at break neck speed and clean sheets are for bores.
Give me that over being out of the cup.I like the frenzied football
That match felt painfully boring to me tbh
Boring, and slow.I like the frenzied football
That match felt painfully boring to me tbh
Both teams looked knackered today.
That is expected.
Yeah, just a spanking off Arsenal. We did have a good record against the top sides until coach trip arrived. You're kidding yourself mate.
Has to play really with McTominay out, the other midfielders aren't good enough defensively. Adds balance to the team, even if there are still a few problems with him and should probably be replaced in the summer. But for the time being, he needs to play.
McTominay has some reasonable qualities but Matic is significantly better defensively and also better at keeping hold of possession. You’d have quite a player if you could mesh the two.
I would play McTom over him every day of the week against the big sides actually.
It's the "lesser" teams when Matic defensive qualities, positioning and quality on the ball are a huge plus.
I'm kidding nothing.
No he isn't. He's repeatedly out of position and repeatedly losing his man because his legs are gone.
9/11 clean sheets when starting; 3/23 when not.
Ivaldo reckons that's a coincidence.
It's a real shame when posters become so blinkered about a player and write him off no matter what he shows. As I said above, against better teams McTom seems a much better option, but Matic really does have his qualities.
Your argument was:
Matic slowing us down is a fact. I'm not pointing out the fact he makes us more defensively stable as you mentioned nothing about clean sheets in this post.
Yeah, my argument was that saying "he slows us down" is lazy as feck.
Kroos slows Madrid, Xavi did Barca, Scholes and Carrick United. Slowing a team down is often a very good thing, except around here these days.
You mean, it's against teams that don't try to play through us where his defensive qualities shine. Basically, when he has to do very little defending. When teams attack us, like Arsenal did, he is absolutely fecking dread defensively. He's looked OK against Wolves, a counter attacking side, and against Norwich, who had absolutely no outlet.
You can accuse Matic of many things but he knows what his role is. His positioning is largely fine and he mops up well. This is reflected in our goals conceded tally when he’s not in the team.
Again, he has his issues, but he’s necessary until we can buy somebody with the mobility to match his IQ.
The suggestion that McTominay is better defensively is simply bollocks, to be frank.
I thought our back 4 were most at fault v. Arsenal and there was a significant difference with Matic on the pitch v. City.
But alright, he's fecking useless if that helps you sleep better.
Can ivaldo even start explaining away why we have ridiculously more clean sheets when Matic plays? Anything?
The reason you can allow players like Xavi, Scholes, Carrick, Alonso etc to slow down play is because they are far superior on the ball and capable of unlocking defences at the slightest opportunity. Matic cannot do this. I have no problem with Pogba slowing down play for example.
Slowing a team down when they are counter attacking is not a good thing, no matter how you want go paint it. Holding on to the ball for another two of three seconds and passing up on perfectly good options, to then play the ball backwards is not good. Allowing teams to get back into position or worse, allowing teams to step up their press against us as he passes the backwards is not good.
Slowing play down when there are no viable options is perfectly fine. Slowing the game down to a pace that suits us is perfectly fine. Slowing the game down to take the sting out of a game we are winning is perfectly fine. You seem to be confusing the two.
Matic very much belongs in the first category.
Has played well since he returned from his injury. Hopefully he can do it against Liverpool too. That will be a bigger test although they do not attack down the middle too much. I worry more about our defenders for that game and also that our wingers can't stop their fullbacks enough.
What are the stats?
No, you allow Xavi to do it when he wants nothing more than to kill a game.
Top midfielders slow down games. Now, I'm not comparing Matic to Kroos, Scholes or Xavi but claiming a midfielder who seems to start in an incredible number of our clean sheet game "slows us down" is a bad thing, is pure tosh. This frantic side needs slowing the feck down on occasions.
I really like the guy, he just isn't very good anymore. His long arm press-resistance is still a joy to watch mind you and a good quality to have. Thought he showed some leader qualities in moments too, which is appreciated. Has not been horrible since he came in.
I don't know how many times we have to watch him being robbed of the ball or have plays meander past him until this finally sinks in. Did you not watch the first half? Did you not watch the Arsenal game?
You can bang on all you like about your dislike of Matic but if you can't give me any explanation as to why the following is the case then you're just purely biased:
9/11 clean sheets when starting; 3/23 when not.
And @ivaldo , if you haven't noticed mate, most of our dog shit results this season come from us conceding the first goal, often because we're frantic as feck.
Another solid game from Matic. Really stepped up since coming back into the team.
You don't slow a game down when it's 0-0 and neither teams looks particularly dangerous. If he was doing it at key moments then that's fine, but not all game.
He doesn't do it all game, stop mixing up your clear bias with the truth.
Got those matches handy?
Strong performance again.
He's doing it from minute one. Which is why you quietly ignored on two occasions my point about him being robbed of the ball in the first half. It happens all the time.I'm asking you. It's your stat.
There isn’t a midfielder at the club who doesn’t get robbed of the ball, and that includes Pogba. You can use that as a stick to beat Matic with but he’s probably the least likely to lose it in our own half. Not one of our options has any real sort of composure.
Matic is slow and players can waltz by him. That’s an issue. But there are positives you are choosing to ignore and you’re wrong to do so. He isn’t perfect. He isn’t particularly ideal. But in certain matches he has his uses.
Laughing smilies, ahhhh now we know you've got nothing.
23 games against top teams eh? No wonder you edited that post. I'd add a green smilie here, but it's clear you're the one with the confirmation bias so I'll smirk to myself instead and log out for the evening.
I think a 433 with Matic and Fred infront of the defense with Pogba infront of them could work very well.
Matic is very good defensively, ita no coincidence we keep so many clean sheets with him on the pitch.
Matic is very good defensively, ita no coincidence we keep so many clean sheets with him on the pitch.
- Status