Nemanja Matic image 31

Nemanja Matic Serbia flag

2021-22 Performances


View full 2021-22 profile

5.3 Season Average Rating
Appearances
32
Goals
0
Assists
4
Yellow cards
5
Status
Not open for further replies.

flappyjay

Full Member
Joined
Feb 12, 2016
Messages
5,931
Only one that looked like a United player on the ball everyone else looked scared.
 

Pogue Mahone

The caf's Camus.
Joined
Feb 22, 2006
Messages
133,348
Location
"like a man in silk pyjamas shooting pigeons
:lol: Three posts! Classic redcafe!

I thought he was excellent. As the one and only CM at Anfield he deserves huge credit for us taking the game to them for 25 minutes. That was quite an achievement. Just shows what came be done if we fix our broken central midfield.
 

Annihilate Now!

...or later, I'm not fussy
Scout
Joined
Nov 4, 2010
Messages
49,672
Location
W.Yorks
Only one that looked like a United player on the ball everyone else looked scared.
I thought this... everyone else (apart from Sancho) seemed to absolutely crap themselves whenever a Liverpool player got within 5 yards of them,

Sometimes his calmness gets him into trouble, but i'd rather have that then everyone elses crap hurried passing.
 

el3mel

Full Member
Joined
Oct 23, 2016
Messages
43,735
Location
Egypt
Really gonna miss him. Guy has been a class act during his time with us and pretty much the only professional in our awful midfield selection. He's the only one I look at and think "yeah, this guy was really a league winner once before".

All the best for him in his upcoming life after United. Really shame he never got to win something with us.
 
Last edited:

acnumber9

Full Member
Joined
Jun 21, 2006
Messages
22,253
For any faults he has I think he’ll be missed. Even if only as a sub to throw on to calm things down. I’ve long said he’s our best midfielder regardless of his weaknesses and I don’t think that has changed.
 

Marwood

Full Member
Joined
Mar 6, 2021
Messages
4,251
A talented player with a rare mix of size and dexterity. Good left foot.

But for me I'll remember him as one of the most naive highly experienced players I can remember. His decision making at times, like Liverpools first goal, is amazingly bad for a guy with this number of games under his belt.

But he's always gone under the radar, others getting the most stick.

Just another one I'm really happy to see the back of because I think he could have been a lot better.
 
Arsenal 3:1 Man Utd

Pogue Mahone

The caf's Camus.
Joined
Feb 22, 2006
Messages
133,348
Location
"like a man in silk pyjamas shooting pigeons
As usual nobody wants to talk about good performances. Another good game from Matic. It’s depressing how much better he is than everyone we’ve played alongside him since Fred got injured.

We’re a completely different team when we have a good performance from someone who actually knows how to get the basics of central midfield consistently right. Imagine having three or four of them in the squad at once?!?
 

criticalanalysis

Full Member
Joined
Apr 12, 2015
Messages
6,034
He looked a bit pissed coming off.

Matic leaving at the end of the year ONLY makes sense if Mata, Pogba, Lingard are definitely leaving AND we're bringing in another two top midfielders in the summer. Otherwise I would have given him another year. He's exactly the type of player Ten Hag would love.
 

Annihilate Now!

...or later, I'm not fussy
Scout
Joined
Nov 4, 2010
Messages
49,672
Location
W.Yorks
Thought he was out second best player behind Ronaldo.

An actual midfielder doing actual midfieldery things
 

charlenefan

Far less insightful than the other Charley
Joined
Aug 17, 2005
Messages
33,052
Very good today but then it's just because I'm so used to us not having a midfield that can play the ball forward through the lines

Wonder where he's going next season? Roma with Jose? Spurs with Conte maybe?
 

Andycoleno9

matchday malcontent
Joined
Mar 4, 2017
Messages
28,576
Location
Croatia
Again (and again) our best midfielder. His decision making and positioning is top stuff. His legs are gone but he overcomes that with his football brain.
Sounds strange but i would keep him one more year for cover on that dmc position.
 

philnguyen1994

Full Member
Joined
Nov 26, 2021
Messages
169
He's not all that old for a CDM, only 33. Plenty of CDMs at other clubs and in our own past were still at their peak at 33. Is the assumption that he can't play 90 minutes every week even true? If it is, why is that? He seems a professional guy and doesn't seem like the Rooney / Anderson type that doesn't take good care of his body. He hasn't had that many serious injuries either.

How comes a club that used to be known for the longevity of their players (Giggs, Scholes … even Carrick played 23 PL games in 16/17 when he was 36) now has players like Matic and Mata whose legs seems completely gone by their early 30s. Something wrong with our fitness and conditioning?
 

MadDogg

Full Member
Joined
Apr 24, 2002
Messages
15,809
Location
Manchester Utd never lose, just run out of time
He's not all that old for a CDM, only 33. Plenty of CDMs at other clubs and in our own past were still at their peak at 33. Is the assumption that he can't play 90 minutes every week even true? If it is, why is that? He seems a professional guy and doesn't seem like the Rooney / Anderson type that doesn't take good care of his body. He hasn't had that many serious injuries either.
He's always struggled when playing too many games in a row. Even in his first season here when he was only 29 he only managed half a season before his form dropped away massively. In his second season he was only good for about two months after Ole took over, and then the same the following season around lockdown. In the last two seasons he's only been good for even shorter periods, and often even in individual matches he's seemed to struggle once we get to about the 70th minute.

Mourinho tried to play him every match no matter how he was playing. Ole would drop him when he was playing poorly, but whenever Matic was playing well Ole seemed to fall into the trap of playing him every match and his form would quickly fall away. The way we should have been using him is continually using him for only one match a week or so, and possibly even less in the last season or two.
 

Sandikan

aka sex on the beach
Joined
Mar 14, 2011
Messages
52,710
Silky as anything, but just not the legs to get around and do it game after game.

Hopefully another sort of signing we move away from in future. High-ish price for a player late 20s
 

edcunited1878

Full Member
Joined
Sep 3, 2014
Messages
8,935
Location
San Diego, CA
He's not all that old for a CDM, only 33. Plenty of CDMs at other clubs and in our own past were still at their peak at 33. Is the assumption that he can't play 90 minutes every week even true? If it is, why is that? He seems a professional guy and doesn't seem like the Rooney / Anderson type that doesn't take good care of his body. He hasn't had that many serious injuries either.

How comes a club that used to be known for the longevity of their players (Giggs, Scholes … even Carrick played 23 PL games in 16/17 when he was 36) now has players like Matic and Mata whose legs seems completely gone by their early 30s. Something wrong with our fitness and conditioning?
Matic is a large person and has played a more physical game in central midfield during a much more physical and faster pace the past 8 years. Scholes and Giggs didn't have to play through that. Plus he's not in a very good team like Scholes, Giggs, etc when they just stroked it about in the middle to their teammates. Much more chaos and pressing and legs needed to get about. And United are one of the few teams in the top have of the PL who play with only 2 CBs and 2 CMs. That takes a lot out of them and they are responsible for so much ground.
 

Stadjer

Full Member
Joined
Apr 5, 2013
Messages
7,296
Location
The Netherlands
He's not all that old for a CDM, only 33. Plenty of CDMs at other clubs and in our own past were still at their peak at 33. Is the assumption that he can't play 90 minutes every week even true? If it is, why is that? He seems a professional guy and doesn't seem like the Rooney / Anderson type that doesn't take good care of his body. He hasn't had that many serious injuries either.

How comes a club that used to be known for the longevity of their players (Giggs, Scholes … even Carrick played 23 PL games in 16/17 when he was 36) now has players like Matic and Mata whose legs seems completely gone by their early 30s. Something wrong with our fitness and conditioning?
Every person and body is different. Giggs did do a lot of extra fitness/yoga for himself i believe. I doubt our fitness went backwards while the study of fitness and more professional use of it increased.
 

The Corinthian

I will not take Mad Winger's name in vain
Joined
Dec 10, 2020
Messages
11,463
Lovely assist. He’s worth keeping on for a year. Have a feeling that Mourinho has got him a place in his Roma team for next year.
 

Red the Bear

Something less generic
Joined
Aug 26, 2021
Messages
9,127
He was genuinely world class in his peak.
Why did his legs have to go so soon....
 

Godfather

Full Member
Joined
Feb 18, 2007
Messages
29,803
Location
Austria
We miss out on these kind of players when they reach their prime thanks to our crap scouting for years now
 

Irwin99

Full Member
Joined
Aug 6, 2018
Messages
9,124
Top bloke. Was completely overloaded by Chelsea's midfield but he still fought for everything and was our best midfielder by a mile. Lovely assist too.
 

Pickle85

Full Member
Joined
Mar 15, 2021
Messages
6,371
He absolutely shows some of the younger players up with his effort, guts and calm on the ball. Shame his legs have gone but some of the others could learn a lot from him
 

RedRoach

Full Member
Joined
Sep 19, 2016
Messages
431
Tragically the only decent midfielder we have even though he doesn't have the legs anymore. How midfield has been neglected this long is beyond me.
 

BarstoolProphet

Full Member
Joined
Aug 7, 2014
Messages
6,468
One of the only right type of players we have signed post-SAF. Shame we got him at the end of his career. It's the right decision to part ways this summer but he's still a good footballer.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.