Substitute Juan Mata was replaced in
Manchester United's Community Shield win
"because he was the smallest player", boss
Jose Mourinho said. Mata,sold by Mourinho to
Unitedwhen at Chelsea, looked unhappy tobe
taken off 30 minutes after coming on in the
2-1 win over Leicester Cityat Wembley.

"I needed to take off the smallest player
because we were expecting alot of long balls,"
Mourinho said.

But BBC pundit Danny Murphy said the
decision was "embarrassing" for Mata.
"You don't do that unless you are trying to
send a message," ex-England midfielder
Murphy said.

"They have a lot of history at Chelsea and he
has embarrassed him in front of his supporters
and his family.

"He is basically saying to him you are not
important and he has done it publicly. I can't
see him still being at the club at the end of
August."

Midfielder Mata, who is 5ft 7in tall, was sent
on in the 63rd minute in place of goalscorer
Jesse Lingard, with the score 1-1.
He was replaced 10 minutes after Zlatan
Ibrahimovic's 83rd-minute winner by 5ft 10in
new signing Henrikh Mkhitaryan.

Mourinho put his arm around Mata when the
Spaniard came off three minutes before the
final whistle but the former Valencia player
looked unimpressed.

http://www.gidiloaded.com/forum/113-man-utd-boss-jose-mourinho-i-substituted-mata-because-he-was-the-smallest-player