Mourinholic:
The same Maccabi that defeated Basel.......Even Abraham, the father of faith will give up on some idiots on this thread regaining their sense

Dadehmola:


That's because he doesn't influence games enough....

Aside his goals & assists, mata has been anonymous in many of our matches this season.

I wouldn't drop him from the starting 11 though..

Dadehmola:


That's because he doesn't influence games enough....

Aside his goals & assists, mata has been anonymous in many of our matches this season.

I wouldn't drop him from the starting 11 though..

Leyqute:


You wan start argument this morning

chrisley024:
they've become even ashamed of trying to defend him. No one yesterday to score for him or push him to score.

chrisley024:
How many players in Europe even influence matches that much?. Bar Silva in EPL I'm still thinking of anyone else.

chrisley024:
keep it up Mata

funny we don't hear people singing his praise but some here would've filled pages with long writeups if he was the white Pele.

Caveatemptor:


Mata has improved this season.
The back heeled flick for Smalling and Uniteds second goal last night was audacious and the sign of a player coming to terms with his role in the team as well as his responsibility.

Caveatemptor:


The fact that Van Gaal has got him taking penalties for the team ahead of Rooney shows that Van Gaal believes and trusts in him.
Now if Van Gaal could just grow an extra pair and drop Rooney to the bench and play Mata in his natural role...............

AdeLaNa1:
Rooney:

1 shot
0 on target
0 dribbles completed
0 assists
0 goals

Disgusting stats for a striker meant to be our captain!!

SIRcumalot:

I've given up on understanding Mata's role in our team.
To us fans he doesn't look like he is the right fit or even playing well from that position but come match ending he go don score goal and grab plenty assist join.

Dadehmola:



• Carzola (last season)
• James Rodriguez
• Isco
• Coutihno

Ps : they aren't on the same level with silva but they still influence games (to a very considerable extent) for their respective clubs.

Mata is becoming an inzaghi-esque #10 - scoring chance goals & providing assists without necessarily pulling his weight as an attacker.

Dadehmola:



• Carzola (last season)
• James Rodriguez
• Isco
• Coutihno

Ps : they aren't on the same level with silva but they still influence games (to a very considerable extent) for their respective clubs.

Mata is becoming an inzaghi-esque #10 - scoring chance goals & providing assists without necessarily pulling his weight as an attacker.

UniqueGem:
BTW, Schneiderlin was lucky to escape a red card yesterday. Only God knows how he escaped that second yellow card offence when i was already shouting "red card". But i really like what he did, we gave the ball away on the attack, they went on the counter which might have resulted to a goal but schneiderlin threw himself on the line and brought the player down. Meanwhile, as all these took place, Rooney was watching from afar confused. Who Rooney help self? Attack 0 defence 0 Midfield 0.

UniqueGem:
Apart from James Rodriguez, the other players you mentioned are not on same level as Mata when it comes to creativity. In the EPL alone, the most creativeplayers are Silva, Mata and Ozil in a distant 3rd.

Dadehmola:

• Carzola (last season)
• James Rodriguez
• Isco
• Coutihno
Ps : they aren't on the same level with silva but they still influence games (to a very considerable extent) for their respective clubs.
Mata is becoming an inzaghi-esque #10 - scoring chance goals & providing assists without necessarily pulling his weight as an attacker.

chrisley024:
Is he actually our no.10 cos you see him more in the box finding spaces than the player playing behind the CF eg. Rooney.
Dude creates the most chances in this team and has the most intelligent movement off the ball to find spaces in the box.

SIRcumalot:

Rooney Blocked a goal bound shot.

Dadehmola:






That's why the two bolded words(creative & influence ) cannot be used interchangeably (at least in this context)..

David silva is actually a combination of both - he dictates play for his team majorly because he does wonderful things with the ball even in tight spaces.

Though an intelligent player, [Mata on the other hand cannot protect the ball, draw fouls from the opponents & delay a key pass till the right moment when marked closely (the basic things I look out for in a #10).

UniqueGem:
No matter the area you want to look at attributes from, Cazorla, more especially Coutinho shouldn't be grouped with Mata.

SIRcumalot:

Rooney Blocked a goal bound shot.

AdeLaNa1:
Oh! Congrats to him. He missed a sitter in the first half but blocked a goal bound shot so all is forgiving!!

Dadehmola:


That's because he doesn't influence games enough....

Aside his goals & assists, mata has been anonymous in many of our matches this season.

I wouldn't drop him from the starting 11 though..

funlord:


Am I the only 1 who was glad that van gaal told rooney not to take that penalty yesterday? Based on his current form na 4 parking lot dem 4 pick the ball!

UniqueGem:
Rooney fluffed a shot destined for the back of the net. There was a certain time Rooney could move from being our last man in defense to finisher of a counter move all in 27sec. But now, the ball even evades him.

sinizia:


Congrats on wasting your time arguing with Dayo. At least you've learnt about his post-shifting skills.

chrisley024:
they've become even ashamed of trying to defend him. No one yesterday to score for him or push him to score.

elampiro:


Which incidence was this?

elampiro:

Which incidence was this?

Dadehmola:


The shameful miss, I guess..

Elampiro, that chance was a clear sitter but your fat idol skied it towards Mars.

Rooney is a disgrace to the club!!