Soldato
- Joined
- 14 Jul 2007
- Posts
- 3,443
well tell me then when you rated mata at united as being as good as when he was at chelsea?
he did overnight become worse because he was being deployed on the wing in a system which doesn't suit the player.
the whole defense is a joke. they all need to go. if they aren't going to play mata in the hole then they need to sell him. i bet the next club he goes to he does well at back in spain most likely. as he will be played in that position and do the same job he did at chelsea.
mourinho is who got rid of him at chelsea he then oversaw his decay at united too. he didn't like him for some reason, because he apaprently didn't work as hard as oscar even though he outran oscar in practically every game at chelsea.
What e did 7 years ago isn't really relevant to the decision to keep him now. Its what he brings to the table now that matters to the club. He is a good football and I agree playing him as a winger is a waste just as it was when Kagawa was played as a winger too but that excuse/reason only works up to a point when you look at the performances being turned in by the player over a long period. I'm happy for him to stay as a squad player but he isn't going to be playing in the hole in a scenario where we are trying to fit Pogba into the team too which is a whole other issue.
I have watched him struggle in games and by struggle I mean as a footballer not specifically as a winger. its not like he is being asked to hug the touch line and get chalk on his boots. I would very much doubt he will recapture his Chelsea form again because we are talking about 7 years down the line. In a more pedestrian scenario he may have a few years left in the tank but he isn't a player we can be building round and moving him on wouldn't be a huge issue.
The defence has issues although the numbers aren't as bad as player performance suggests they should be. Lindelöf is worth keeping and I still believe there is a player in Bailey somewhere but whether its worth persevering with is another matter. Jones and Smalling are simply the types of squad player that you don't mind having around as long as you aren't relying on them to actually play any games! Shaw is back to being overweight which is unforgivable in my eyes and obviously Valencia and Young aren't full backs, so in short, yeah it needs work.
That said again however, for 20 games this season that defence was fine in the context of it forming part of a winning team.