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2021-22 Performances


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MyOnlySolskjaer

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Full Name: Немања Матић
Date of Birth: Aug 1, 1988 (32)
Nationality: Serbia

Other Nationalities: Slovakia

Height: 194cm
Position: Midfielder - Defensive Midfield
Foot: Left
Squad Number: #31
Player Agent: Universal Sports Group
Joined: Jul 31, 2017
Contract until: 30.06.2023
Date of last contract extension: Jul 6, 2020
Outfitter: Puma

 

Dve

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Matic deserves a mention after his performance today. We looked a lot more in control of the game the second half, and Matic bossing the midfield was the main reason for that.
 

AjaxCunian

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Still has so much quality on the ball, there are few defensive midfielders who can play the ball like him.
 

bosnian_red

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Makes such a difference to control on and off the ball having a player who knows where to sit positionally and just be an option. It's what we lack because of his age unfortunately, and IMO until we replace him we won't challenge properly (even with Varane and Sancho).
 
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A game like this reminds you how good he is. Barely broke into a jog, but was clearly on a different planet to somebody like Garner.

If all games were played at preseason pace, Matic would be the best defensive midfielder in the world.

They're not though... so the challenge is finding somebody with Matic's intelligence, ability to orchestrate from deep and protect the defence while also having some athleticism.
 

Dve

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Makes such a difference to control on and off the ball having a player who knows where to sit positionally and just be an option. It's what we lack because of his age unfortunately, and IMO until we replace him we won't challenge properly (even with Varane and Sancho).
He´s soon 33. He´s not too old.
 

El Zoido

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He’s still got plenty to offer, but he can’t play two times a week.
 

Poborsky's hair

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He’s still got plenty to offer, but he can’t play two times a week.
jeez, he's finished two seasons ago, average display in a meaningless preseason game against League one quality team won't save him. Andreas pereira looked like Pirlo in one of the preseasons, people don't realize the top flight game is at entirely different pace..
 

#07

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QPR treated him like a traffic cone today. Still baffled by us giving him a four year deal last summer.
 

sp_107

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To be honest we didnt get much of him in last 2 years except in few patches here and there.

I like him but 3 years contract last year was bad from our end, Hopefully he can have few good patches in this season as it is going to be a long one.

Not having him in form for last 2 years costs us a lot and hopefully a new strong CDM in Kante mould can bring the balnce in midfield
 

sullydnl

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He gets (fairly) criticised sometimes but watching him today made me wish there was a young version of him we could sign. Not that he was particularly amazing, but you can still see flickers of class even past it though he is. And he's the right type of midfielder.
 

ivaldo

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He gets (fairly) criticised sometimes but watching him today made me wish there was a young version of him we could sign. Not that he was particularly amazing, but you can still see flickers of class even past it though he is. And he's the right type of midfielder.
A 25 year old Matic would he amazing. At Chelsea, in his prime, there were few better. Unfortunately, he's been past his use by date for about 3 years. For every beautifully weighted pass you get 3 hospital passes, a bit of nonexistent tracking, or a dire defensive header (what was he even trying to do!).
 

VanDeBank

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I like how he was smiling while he put the armband on Donny :D

I don't think we'll get a midfielder in without losing Pogba or that we'll get a significant offer for him.

Should stay as an experienced back for his final year, similar to Mata.
 

Sting

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Head and shoulders above any midfielders that we have at the moment. Too bad he’s on the wrong side of 30.
 

Pogue Mahone

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Head and shoulders above any midfielders that we have at the moment. Too bad he’s on the wrong side of 30.
Came in to say exactly this. By far the classiest all round central midfielder in our squad. When he’s on top of his game we’re almost a different team. Unfortunately we can’t rely on him to be on top of his game every week (or even most weeks)
 

MadDogg

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Great for the first 30-35 minutes. Drifted out of it after that, which is about normal for him the last couple of years. He's capable of looking really impressive on the odd occasion (normally against poor opposition), but the amount of 'good' we get has been declining every season.
 

DWelbz19

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A Matic re-gen is exactly what we need. There must be somewhere out there playing at a high enough level!
 

VinzentFTW

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Great performance, and i wish he was 5 years younger. Today he showed why we need a new holding midfielder as he is the only one capable doing it in a 433.
 

DickDastardly

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He's 2 years younger then Modrić.

He has the brains, and he was never too reliant on brute force or excesive stamina.

Does he have the will power and drive to give his best this season? He would push Fred and Mctominay out of the first 11 if he did, plus, he would give us a chance for a good 433 team.
 

Van Piorsing

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He's 2 years younger then Modrić.

He has the brains, and he was never too reliant on brute force or excesive stamina.

Does he have the will power and drive to give his best this season? He would push Fred and Mctominay out of the first 11 if he did, plus, he would give us a chance for a good 433 team.
Think he accepted rotation role in 2020 during signing new contract, he's still our classic DM in a pure sense and he's experienced enough to know his own limitations. Also one of the few players who know how to win the title, just don't have the engine for full season.

Andreas & Lingard have to go first, that's for sure.
 

ShinjiNinja26

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I wish he had Matic is his prime, are midfield would be sorted. In fact are whole team would be sorted and ready to challenge on all fronts.
 

DWelbz19

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He's 2 years younger then Modrić.
Modric is a freak of nature though. Few midfielders in history have been as good as Modric still is at the age of 35.

32/33 is quite a normal age for midfielders to drop off at the very top level. As Matic shows when he does play, his technical ability isn’t the issue — it’s a lack of consistency to his game, which has come about with his age.
 

DickDastardly

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Modric is a freak of nature though. Few midfielders in history have been as good as Modric still is at the age of 35.

32/33 is quite a normal age for midfielders to drop off at the very top level. As Matic shows when he does play, his technical ability isn’t the issue — it’s a lack of consistency to his game, which has come about with his age.
2 years is not insignificate.

Although, Matić is a much larger fellow then Luka.

Can't help but think the fact that Matić has accepted his rotational role has made him decline faster.

The fact that we have been calling him way past it for two seasons now sort of speaks for it self.

I'd love for him to prove us wrong.

I just think he doesn't have that mental drive, that little spark that would propel him to excel.

He's in a good place, enjoying life in the best club in the world, not giving a feck, playing the occasional role.
 

Sylar

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A Matic re-gen is exactly what we need. There must be somewhere out there playing at a high enough level!
If we get that, one that can play 90% of games, we easily challenge and compete.
 

acnumber9

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Great for the first 30-35 minutes. Drifted out of it after that, which is about normal for him the last couple of years. He's capable of looking really impressive on the odd occasion (normally against poor opposition), but the amount of 'good' we get has been declining every season.
He definitely drifted out of it when he went off at half time.
 

charlenefan

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Very good first half from him and credit for him, Mata and Heaton the only players to really acknowledge the fans as they walked into the stadium
 

acnumber9

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There's 10-15 minutes between the period I talked about him being great and when he went off.
So he was a bit quieter in the 10 minute spell after we were 3-0 up than he was for the 35 minutes while we built that lead? Definitely noteworthy. What’s slightly more noteworthy is how much worse we were when he went off. Which has been a theme throughout pre season.
 

RedDevilRoshi

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Wish we had a younger version of him. He was brilliant in that deep midfield role. Shielded the defence really well, kept always looking forward to pass and linked up really well with VDB

I think he’s a definite starter next week.
 

Pogue Mahone

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So he was a bit quieter in the 10 minute spell after we were 3-0 up than he was for the 35 minutes while we built that lead? Definitely noteworthy. What’s slightly more noteworthy is how much worse we were when he went off. Which has been a theme throughout pre season.
It’s been a theme for much longer than that.

When McT and Fred are on top of their game we’ve had some excellent team performances, providing the opposition are naive or cocky enough to come at us and leave room for the counter.

In matches where we should be expected to dominate and control midfield almost all our best performances post-Fergie have featured Matic playing like he did today. We just don’t have another midfielder who can pull the strings like he did against Everton. I always hoped Pogba could be that player but, well, that’s never going to happen, is it?
 

CM10

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2 years is not insignificate.

Although, Matić is a much larger fellow then Luka.

Can't help but think the fact that Matić has accepted his rotational role has made him decline faster.

The fact that we have been calling him way past it for two seasons now sort of speaks for it self.

I'd love for him to prove us wrong.

I just think he doesn't have that mental drive, that little spark that would propel him to excel.

He's in a good place, enjoying life in the best club in the world, not giving a feck, playing the occasional role.
There were times under Mourinho where Matic looked well off the pace, he would just play him through it. His decline has been a long time coming.

If Matic was more mobile he'd still be great for us really. The Leicester game where we had to play all the kids demonstrated his value on the ball if it wasn't always obvious, when he was playing with a lot of players who lacked that composure.

The onus shouldn't really be on Matic to deliver though. We've known for a while that he's not up to much, and certainly can't be relied upon for more than the odd game. We can't complain too much having signed two top quality players this window but a holding midfielder would've been the cherry on top and might've had us seriously challenging.
 

acnumber9

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It’s been a theme for much longer than that.

When McT and Fred are on top of their game we’ve had some excellent team performances, providing the opposition are naive or cocky enough to come at us and leave room for the counter.

In matches where we should be expected to dominate and control midfield almost all our best performances post-Fergie have featured Matic playing like he did today. We just don’t have another midfielder who can pull the strings like he did against Everton. I always hoped Pogba could be that player but, well, that’s never going to happen, is it?
I agree, I’m a big fan of Matic despite the obvious issues that he has. He’s the kind of player we need to be able to play week in week out.
 

Dve

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Matic is looking really sharp this preseason. Surprisingly sharp. If he keep it up, we might forget that we need a DM. Pretty sure he´ll start against Leeds.
 

Bastian

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Nothing but class in that first half (didn't catch the rest of the match). He's quite obviously a top class player, just a shame he's physically worn out. Hopefully Ole can figure out a schedule for him and stick to it, to retain his freshness.
 

bucky

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A Matic re-gen is exactly what we need. There must be somewhere out there playing at a high enough level!
Cheick Doucouré might be that player. Playing for Lens, 21 years old. However, he just has one full season under his belt and it would be asking a lot.
 

Foxbatt

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I really do not understand why he drops so deep to pick the ball up? Our CBs are supposed to be able to pass the ball decently. By dropping as the third CB, he lets our midfield get overrun. Neither Fred nor McTominay drops that deep.
 

NZT-One

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It’s been a theme for much longer than that.

When McT and Fred are on top of their game we’ve had some excellent team performances, providing the opposition are naive or cocky enough to come at us and leave room for the counter.

In matches where we should be expected to dominate and control midfield almost all our best performances post-Fergie have featured Matic playing like he did today. We just don’t have another midfielder who can pull the strings like he did against Everton. I always hoped Pogba could be that player but, well, that’s never going to happen, is it?
If we switch to a single pivot, it will change lots of dynamics. If roles change, performances might change. If we have two 8 working more for the offensive game, it might not be needed to have a midfielder "that can pull the strings" as long as the 8s are doing a good job. Plus: Remember who will play at Centerback for us.

I thought, Fred did the single pivot job pretty fine today. Better than I would have expected and he showed some shielding techniques I hadn't seen him use. I know, he isn't known to be a DM but he might fit the new role description unexpectedly well.

I can understand, that Matic is well liked and I agree, he might be useful for us but he is the past - just like Mata. Giving them gametime, in my eyes just takes minutes from other players either getting more used to a role or young players we would love to see their actual potential (like Garner). I know, Matic is currently well above them in a lot of relevant aspects but for me, playing him is pointless - he can be alright, today I thought he was fine but I would struggle to give him more than a 6.5 out of ten. That is good, no question but is it good enough that we delay working on the future in this part of the team?
 

NZT-One

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I really do not understand why he drops so deep to pick the ball up? Our CBs are supposed to be able to pass the ball decently. By dropping as the third CB, he lets our midfield get overrun. Neither Fred nor McTominay drops that deep.
I think these two drop just as deep sometime and it makes sense as it is a method also used in other teams to create a temporary back-3 to make the builtup easier. But Fred dropping deep to provide a pass option isn't as noticable because when he moves deep he will move back into midfield eventually. Some goes for McTominay even though he doesn't do it with the same enthusiasm.

Matic is mostly trying to avoid pressure and therefore evades it. We either find a way to create more easy passing options or we have to live with him doing that.
 
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