Ole freezing out Juan Mata | He didn’t, Juan’s mother has just passed, RIP.

[RashyForPM]

Not sure why so few people have brought this up. For me, it’s Ole’s biggest general miscalculation in his management this season. It’s simple, if Mata played against Sheff Utd, WBA, Palace and Arsenal, we’d be much closer to City. He is the perfect player to break low-blocks down and has done so many times for us. There was a point where he was indisputably better than David Silva, and while he has lost all his athleticism, he still has the most talent of any player in our squad. I still think that and always will until he leaves. His creativity and vision is on par with or possibly even exceeds that of Pogba and Bruno.

Meanwhile, we persist with keeping Martial and Rashford as first choice, even though as much as I think they’re good players, I can’t name two worse players in the entire top half at breaking down two banks of four. Mata started the season very well and won our September player of the month, so why isn’t he playing?

 

[acnumber9]

Makes little sense to not have him on the bench in place of one of four defenders. Looking like we’ve seen the last of Mata.

 

[17Larsson]

I think there's something going on we don't know about. He had good form earlier in the season so I'm sure if he was available he'd be taking part.

Is he even training these days?

 

[spiriticon]

Why is always the players who don't play that are always rated the highest on the caf?

We'll be calling Jesse Lingard back soon enough.

 

[groovyalbert]

Guarantee we'll see him used in the EL.

 

[Bojan11]

Ffs.

He's been here 7 years and we have struggled against these sort of teams with him. You'd be moaning about his lack of pace, when he starts.

 

[Josep Dowling]

Juan Mata wouldn’t change our form but I find it odd how’s he disappeared.

 

[stevoc]

Well he's shit on the wing and he won't be playing centrally with Fernandes and Van De Beek needing minutes so it makes sense he's not in the squad.

 

[Cloud7]

Mata should have been sold/released some time ago, so no problem with this at all

 

[PlayerOne]

Out of everything to throw at Ole, this is not one of them!

 

[RashyForPM]

Why is always the players who don't play that are always rated the highest on the caf?

We'll be calling Jesse Lingard back soon enough.

It’s not that, and I mentioned it in the OP. Mata has unbelievable quality and if you can be bothered to go through my posting history, I’ve never criticised his footballing ability, just his total lack of pace. Lingard is nowhere near as good a footballer as Mata. Latter is perfect to break down low-blocks.

 

[RUCK4444]

Don’t really agree with the OP. Whilst I like Mata we’ve had more than enough creativity with Bruno and Pogba in the squad, until Pogba’s injury.

I rate Mata but with his limited physical capabilities we can’t sit here in hindsight and say with any confidence he would have won those games for us.

 

[spiriticon]

It’s not that, and I mentioned it in the OP. Mata has unbelievable quality and if you can be bothered to go through my posting history, I’ve never criticised his footballing ability, just his total lack of pace. Lingard is nowhere near as good a footballer as Mata. Latter is perfect to break down low-blocks.

Well he's clearly not perfect considering we've been struggling against low blocks since forever. He'll just be another player outside the penalty area stroking it around in slo mo.

 

[Judas]

Said it a few weeks back, say it again now, offers a lot more than VDB. I'd have a lot more faith in Mata creating something clever than Donny who will still have people bleeting for him to start or come off the bench when he'll like clockwork do absolutely nothing.

VDB might come good one day for us, but right now I'd put him down to the U23's and get Mata back involved.

 

[Skills]

The bench is stacked, but I feel Mata would've offered more than VDB at the end. VDB was struggling to get on the ball and the attack looked quite gung-ho - Mata tends to calm everything down a bit which is quite valuable in those situations.

 

[RashyForPM]

Well he's clearly not perfect considering we've been struggling against low blocks since forever. He'll just be another player outside the penalty area stroking it around in slo mo.

Tell me Mata wouldn’t have contributed more than Rashford and Martial in the Sheff Utd game and this one. He is definitely better at breaking these teams down than those two.

 

[Hughie77]

VDB has taken his spot, but I think today against W Brom he could have opened them up. I would have even put him on and taken Rashford off hes been pants in the last 3 games. And today was the worst.

 

[Devil may care]

Ffs.

He's been here 7 years and we have struggled against these sort of teams with him. You'd be moaning about his lack of pace, when he starts.

Yep, it's always the rewriting of history when we have a stinker against a shithouse team, obviously Mata isn't in the mix for fitness reasons or something as I don't see Ole doing him like Mourinho did Schweinsteiger. In the summer i expect Mata and Matic to be moved on.

 

[Roboc7]

The guy hasn’t been good enough for years, it’s strange he’s not on the bench but he’s extremely unlikely to make a consistent difference.

 

[spiriticon]

Tell me Mata wouldn’t have contributed more than Rashford and Martial in the Sheff Utd game and this one. He is definitely better at breaking these teams down than those two.

Maybe? Maybe not? Mata's been anonymous more often than not in these types of games so it's not a given that he's the go-to man against a low block team.

Rashford is likelier to come up with a moment to win the game than Mata I would say.

Feck Martial.

 

[Red00012]

Why is always the players who don't play that are always rated the highest on the caf?

We'll be calling Jesse Lingard back soon enough.

Having 4 defenders on the bench against WBA is a bit strange don’t you think ? If we needed to use our bench today it was most likely going to be we needed someone to break down their defence . But he chooses 2 centre backs , a LB and a RB to name as subs.

 

[Catt]

Is he freezing him out?

He's really small so maybe he got lost somewhere...

 

[Schmeichel's Cartwheel]

Why give him a new contract then? He gave Jones, Smalling & Pereira new deals too. It’s just weird. Refused to let Romero go to Everton for £10m now we’re losing him for free. Refused to let Williams go on loan when he has no use for him in the squad. It’s all just really strange.

 

[Judas]

Having 4 defenders on the bench against WBA is a bit strange don’t you think ? If we needed to use our bench today it was most likely going to be we needed someone to break down their defence . But he chooses 2 centre backs , a LB and a RB to name as subs.

Said it before the game started. It seemed very negative to have that many defensive players on the bench. We had so little to come on and change the game, literally just Greenwood, you'd be mad right now to think VDB was going to come on and do anything of note.

 

[Bojan11]

Why give him a new contract then? He gave Jones, Smalling & Pereira new deals too. It’s just weird. Refused to let Romero go to Everton for £10m now we’re losing him for free. Refused to let Williams go on loan when he has no use for him in the squad. It’s all just really strange.

What? Everton were refusing to pay any money, so don't know where you got we refused £10m from.

 

[edgecutter]

Mata's time was up last year and he has no future here. I have no problem leaving him out, but james and diallo should be given some game time over martial.

 

[Schmeichel's Cartwheel]

What? Everton were refusing to pay any money, so don't know where you got we refused £10m from.

We’re both wrong. They were offering £2m to loan him for a season.

Still weird considering his treatment since.

 

[Red00012]

Why give him a new contract then? He gave Jones, Smalling & Pereira new deals too. It’s just weird. Refused to let Romero go to Everton for £10m now we’re losing him for free. Refused to let Williams go on loan when he has no use for him in the squad. It’s all just really strange.

You probably should get some facts straight before posting.

 

[harms]

There was a point where he was indisputably better than David Silva

There were no such points. He was more productive, but even at his peak many would argue that Silva was a better and more influential player.

Anyway, back to business — I agree that he certainly could’ve helped us out against outsiders that sit back and don’t press much. He’s still one of our best passers and his free kicks with left foot are a valuable asset.

 

[spiriticon]

Having 4 defenders on the bench against WBA is a bit strange don’t you think ? If we needed to use our bench today it was most likely going to be we needed someone to break down their defence . But he chooses 2 centre backs , a LB and a RB to name as subs.

LB and RB makes sense because they are probably the most physically demanding positions out there.

He probably didn't need 2 CBs though I agree. Especially if one of them is Tuanzebe

 

[Bojan11]

We’re both wrong. They were offering £2m to loan him for a season.

Still weird considering his treatment since.

Yeah, so a big drop off from £10m. Why should we give Everton players on the cheap and help them solve a big problem in their team?

 

[NewGlory]

I think there's something going on we don't know about. He had good form earlier in the season so I'm sure if he was available he'd be taking part.

Is he even training these days?

This 100%

 

[DWelbz19]

I think it’s more the idea of Juan Mata than Juan Mata itself that we’re missing, so I can see why the thread has been made.

Sounds silly, I know, but he’s no longer that player we require as many have pointed out. But his player profile absolutely is — a creative midfielder who floats around the field giving and going and making things happen, popping up with good G/As. That’s precisely what we’re lacking.

 

[Annihilate Now!]

I don't think it would be crazy if we had options...

But today we had 5 defensive players on the bench.

5!! What's the feckin point in that?!

Even if he's leaving, he's still part of the squad... Might as well use him when it's to our benefit,and it's not like he hasn't already positively contributed this season so far.

Hell he won us the pen that won us the home game vs WBA

 

[Schmeichel's Cartwheel]

Yeah, so a big drop off from £10m. Why should we give Everton players on the cheap and help them solve a big problem in their team?

Why refuse money for a player who we’re gonna end up losing for free. Why not let a player who has served us well move on? Instead of making him rot in the reserves?

We did Romero dirty.

 

[Bwuk]

From what I’ve seen I’d rather Mata off the bench than VdB any day of the week.

 

[Bojan11]

Why refuse money for a player who we’re gonna end up losing for free. Why not let a player who has served us well move on? Instead of making him rot in the reserves?

We did Romero dirty.

So you refuse to answer my questions. Great.

Do you think Everton would do the same? If roles were reversed, I am sure Everton would demand a big fee. They wouldn't say oh he's been with us long, so let him go on the cheap. Everton were splashing the cash, I am sure they could afford the money to sign Romero especially as Pickford and Olsen are crap.

 

[Jericho]

I think he would have made more of an impact today than VDB.

 

[Sandikan]

Not sure why so few people have brought this up. For me, it’s Ole’s biggest general miscalculation in his management this season. It’s simple, if Mata played against Sheff Utd, WBA, Palace and Arsenal, we’d genuinely still be in the title race.

Based on what?! Utterly ludicrous. He's been a massive bit part player for seasons and most performances are met with hours of ranting about how he should long have been shipped out.

Europa fill in and that's it from here on in.

 

[Sandikan]

Why is always the players who don't play that are always rated the highest on the caf?

We'll be calling Jesse Lingard back soon enough.

It's classic cafe.
Any non win is met by a systematic annihilation of everyone who did play.
Usually with mass bumping of Ole, Woodward, Glazer, Phelan, Carrick and that other little bloke, threads.

And obviously anyone who didn't play was clearly the answer.

If Martial had been as anon as Cavani today there'd have been mass sore keyboard bashing fingers.
(In the centre i mean...he was pretty anon out wide!)