[bosnian_red]

Brilliant. Great to have options to rotate around in midfield and keep Matic motivated and fresh. Done a world of difference for his own football not needing to play constantly.

 

[SATA]

He’s a great player and a great person. Just wish he was 27 again

 

[Highfather_24]

Needs to be managed like Carrick/Scholes/Giggs were at the end of their career. Should never play twice a week.

What an immense performance today. Beast.

 

[Kag]

Got to hand it to this bloke. He’s been brilliant for a good while now.

I said back in September/October that he’d be a ‘necessary evil’ and I meant it as a compliment. We concede less when he’s in the team and he certainly has a role to play in the next couple of years.

 

[Kostov]

I think he was our best midfielder today. Great game.

 

[Adnan]

As long as we're defending deep he's fine. But eventually we have to look to play on the front foot and it will be sensible to have someone more mobile operating in that role. The same applies at CB.

 

[Bwuk]

Think he’s a big part of why we look more solid.

He positions himself better than Fred or McTominay.

 

[Regulus Arcturus Black]

Think he’s a big part of why we look more solid.

Of course he is.

 

[RedIan]

Unappreciated by the moaning crew but another superb performance. He has been outstanding for months now.

 

[Berbasbullet]

Unappreciated by the moaning crew but another superb performance. He has been outstanding for months now.

Yep, class for a while now, his positioning is great.

 

[Schmeichel's Cartwheel]

Matic was fantastic today, Fleck!

 

[simplyared]

So happy to see his name on the team sheet today. Played a big part in the performance. Strong and plays with intent. Puts his stamp on a game. Some of the criticism he was getting on here was scandalous and no I wasn't one!

 

[Lee565]

Who would have thought we would look so strong in midfield at the start of the new year.

Fred has turned it around and Matic has become almost as crucial to the team as Fernandes, another match where he has played a big part in and we come away with another clean sheet and we probably would have had a clean sheet at everton as well if not for de gea's mistake.

 

[Ekeke]

His best performance since his first 5 games or so after he signed

 

[madzo2007]

He has had one hell of a renaissance since Christmas. I, like many had written him off, he looks fresh and was even pressing players towards the end when he's usually dead on his feet. He has the experience and know how to do the job we need in midfield.

 

[arthurka]

A Rolls-Royce performance.. He deserves his contact.

 

[izec]

Completely underrated, not even in the top 5 MOTM voting today.

 

[quackattack]

Is it his traning, the management, the competition, or simply setteling in? Maybe either, or neither, but I like what I'm seeing of him right now!

 

[Red Royal]

Great to have him back. With midfield options we should look to rest him when we can though

 

[MyOnlySolskjaer]

Going to be tough to replace him, his position is the hardest to get right.

 

[11101]

Think he’s a big part of why we look more solid.

He positions himself better than Fred or McTominay.

He does, but he needs their legs to cover the ground he cant. Without their energy levels we would be left horribly exposed.

 

[Lash]

Yep, class for a while now, his positioning is great.

Yep, the way he just zipped in to save the day when aguero sat down Maguire oozed class.

 

[Foxbatt]

I certainly will hold my hands up. I thought he was finished but he has come back very strong. He is now a very important cog in the team. Had a fantastic game today. He was immense.

 

[RedDevilRoshi]

I also need to hold my hands up and offer an apology to Nemanja as thought before this year that he was finished and needed shipped out asap.

Yet again, he was absolutely excellent today. City could not get through him and he protected the back 3 really well. I wonder where Bernardo Silva was as because he certainly wasn’t at Old Trafford today?

 

[Freak]

He shows why we should play with a DM. Top performance again.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Deserves a lot of credit for his recent form. He has been excellent.

 

[Based Adnan]

Loved him going down with cramp in injury time

 

[Feed Me]

He can continue being important to United if we do not run him into the ground like previous management.

 

[ThinkTank@Cafe]

I also need to hold my hands up and offer an apology to Nemanja as thought before this year that he was finished and needed shipped out asap.

Yet again, he was absolutely excellent today. City could not get through him and he protected the back 3 really well. I wonder where Bernardo Silva was as because he certainly wasn’t at Old Trafford today?

You were not alone. He looked like an MLS player at best.

 

[Kostov]

We still need a long term DM signing this summer, but Matic showed that he is still very useful.

 

[roonster09]

Our defensive record since he is back is brilliant, cleansheet ration is very good too.

Having fit Matic makes so much difference, we shouldn't play him 3 times a week.

 

[Tom Cato]

Nemanja Matic playing himself straight into a contract extension. We need depth so if this is the Matic we're getting, I'm all for it.

First half of the season Matic was something to be desired. Second half Matic is making a case for being one of the big surprises of the year, right after Williams and Fred.,

 

[Ace of Spades]

I have no problem with him staying another season, concentrate on getting a RW, striker and CM and we can look for a replacement for him later.

 

[Idxomer]

Hasn't he basically only been playing in the premier league lately? I believe this is absolutely the right management for him.

 

[Alexit]

He still has something to offer. His recent form has been incredible. Go on "Static" Matic, keep proving the moaners wrong.

 

[Alabaster Codify7]

He's looked good lately but the sceptic in me remembers that several of our players have upped their game when contract renewals come around. We still need to prioritise a new CDM this summer or else I fear we'll see a drop in his performances again and we'll be talking about how a lack of a true CDM is harming our season in 20/21.

 

[Regulus Arcturus Black]

First half of the season Matic was something to be desired. Second half Matic is making a case for being one of the big surprises of the year, right after Williams and Fred.

Question for you here @Tom Cato as I feel there's a lot of confirmaiton bias regarding Matic.

Ended last season injured (after being a stalwart in the run that got Ole the job).

• Started the season benched for McTom and Andreas/Lingard.
• Started his first PL game in a 1-0 win vs. Leicester.
• Then started and played shite along with the rest of the side vs. West Ham away.

So 2 PL starts.

Then got injured, came back at the end of December vs. Burnley and was instantly being lauded for looking great.

So "first half of the season Matic", are we basing that on one PL game vs. West Ham? or are we letting confirmation bias slip in because so many had him down as part of the "deadwood" brigade?

 

[TheRedDevil'sAdvocate]

He's looked good lately but the sceptic in me remembers that several of our players have upped their game when contract renewals come around. We still need to prioritise a new CDM this summer or else I fear we'll see a drop in his performances again and we'll be talking about how a lack of a true CDM is harming our season in 20/21.

Very true with Shaw being such an example until his recent resurgence. In his case, he responded well to his place in the starting lineup being "threatened" by Williams. That's what some healthy competition can do for you.

As for Matic, he might have felt somewhat aggrieved when he realized that he would be a sidenote in the manager's plans in pre-season. After all, he did play his part in the initial run that gave Solskjaer the permanent job. Nothing wrong with the manager preferring a different type of midfielder and nothing wrong with a player believing that he should be playing as long as the channels of communication between them remain open. Then we had Matic posting on Twitter/Facebook stuff that could be interpreted as slight digs at the manager (didn't have a thread about it or something?) and, after that, he was kind of frozen out by Solskjaer. Which became a problem for the team when we had to resort to illogical tactics in the midfield instead of playing the only holding midfielder in the squad. Now, the problem seems to be solved and Matic seems to be happy at OT and Solskjaer seems to be content with him too. It's good man management by Solskjaer in the end, one may argue it's a case of putting water in his wine (alongside Ighalo and probably demanding of Ed to get the Bruno deal done now and not in the summer).

We should definitely look for a new midfielder but the type we should be after are very hard to find and they usually are quite expensive too. In both McT and Fred, we have the ball-winners with the exquisite energy levels who can cover lots of ground. We need an option that will help us improve the quality of our possession game in the middle of the park without completely neglecting his defensive duties (mainly shielding the ball and not making easy for the opposition to bypass him). Until then, Matic can still have his uses. He's the most experienced midfielder we have when it comes to defensive positioning, he's the best option we have as the deepest lying midfielder (either at the base of a diamond or a reversed triangle) and he can also be a stepping stone for either McT or Fred to venture forward. All these things he does not at a world-class level anymore but, nevertheless, when was the last time a manager complained about having more options to pick from?

 

[12OunceEpilogue]

Question for you here @Tom Cato as I feel there's a lot of confirmaiton bias regarding Matic.

Ended last season injured (after being a stalwart in the run that got Ole the job).

• Started the season benched for McTom and Andreas/Lingard.
• Started his first PL game in a 1-0 win vs. Leicester.
• Then started and played shite along with the rest of the side vs. West Ham away.

So 2 PL starts.

Then got injured, came back at the end of December vs. Burnley and was instantly being lauded for looking great.

So "first half of the season Matic", are we basing that on one PL game vs. West Ham? or are we letting confirmation bias slip in because so many had him down as part of the "deadwood" brigade?

Though we should be clear, in that he came off the bench in the 1-1 draw away at Southampton (me neither) and wasn't particularly good pre-injury vs Astana and very poor vs AZ in the EL, it's true Matic was shat on by most fans based on only a few games when the whole team was playing poorly. I suppose when you add his long-term injury on the wrong side of 30 that may also colour a fan's judgement, but it's a fair point that much of Matic's journey from good player last year to waste of squad space throughout the end of 2019 was fuelled by talk and not by tangible evidence.

 

[e.cantona]

Was sure he was done at top level last season and the start of this one. My highest rated player this season. Only Bruno's higher