The Juan Mata v Di Maria Debate (Liverpool) | Poll added

Who do you want to see out wide against Liverpool?

  • Total voters
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Another thing is that ADM loses the ball too fecking often. Liverpool will throw Sterling, Ibe, Sturridge and some other quick shits and simply murder us on a counter with ADM trying to dribble past 10 people or take a shit shot. I'd happily take a draw at Anfield and Mata's good at recycling possession.
 
Di Maria to replace Mata because we will need him on the counter attack. Are we so quick to forget what he did against the gooners and so'ton away from home?

Mata had a decent match yesterday but it really wasn't anything to write home about. I thought he was probably the weakest out of all our midfield performers if you're going to make comparisons.

Di Maria's pace would be crucial for us to hit teams on the break and ADM has a great workrate for a so called "flair" player. Its always been the case wherever he has played.
 
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I think their right side is there for the taking, and I personally thought AdM's performance vs Arsenal was an improvement over his previous form. With Rooney in form as well, it should really worry their defence.
Plus I don't think AdM is such a selfish player that he'll ignore track-back instructions. He was known for his graft at Madrid and his red card should give him the motivation to at least work hard.
 
Di Maria and Shaw have simply not played well enough to deserve to start our biggest game of the season. Especially not ahead of Mata and Blind who both have played well. Let Di Maria come on with a point to prove.
 
berbatrick said:
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I think their right side is there for the taking, and I personally thought AdM's performance vs Arsenal was an improvement over his previous form. With Rooney in form as well, it should really worry their defence.
Plus I don't think AdM is such a selfish player that he'll ignore track-back instructions. He was known for his graft at Madrid and his red card should give him the motivation to at least work hard.
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He did just that against Arsenal when Monreal scored.
 
It depends on our game-plan.

If we're going to play the "boring", and ideal, philosophy, then you'd imagine Mata would be more suited, due to his passing ability and range.

If we're going to sit back and hit them on the counter, then di Maria has to start.
 
I'm in two minds over this one. Both arguments make lots of sense.

On one hand Mata should play because his ball retention will be essential away from home. He'll feel confident and deserves the nod based on yesterday's performance. Plus, playing him means that we could use Di Maria as a means of running at a tired defence in the second half.

On the other hand Di Maria's pace will be a great help on the counter and he has it in him to roast whoever plays on that left side of their defence. He actually had a good game against Arsenal going forward prior to the red card and I'd fancy him to run the rings around Sakho, or hopefully Lovren, if given the nod.

We've got a similar predicament with Shaw and Blind, too. Do we go with the faster players that are better suited to an away game, or the slower ones that will perform better with the ball?

Decisions, decisions.

Personally, I think I'd go with Di Maria and Blind.
 
Mata to start for me,

di Maria is far too careless on the ball he loses possesion so much and doing that against a counter attack team with a front 3 of Sturridge, sterling and coutinho is suicide.

Mata can retain possesion far more easily and Is much smarter with the ball at his feet. No brainer for me.

If it ain't broke don't fix it, we played our best match in a long time yesterday and we should keep the same 11.
 
Would be harsh on Young to be dropped. He's used the ball in a direct manner, but his defensive work is also a huge factor in his all round performance. Something which Di Maria can often be a bit lax on.

I think I'd stick with Blind as well. I think Shaw will come good, but he can lack composure at times. Blind never looked panicked, attacked sensibly, and knew when to overlap and when to join the midfield. Both are better options at LB than Rojo, who should only play in the middle.

I'd go with the same team as yesterday and hope we can play a similar game. I expected Spurs to come at us yesterday, using their pace to peg us back, but it didn't happen. We didn't really give them chance to. I'd be expecting the same from Liverpool. I hope we can make Liverpool look even a little bit as ineffectual as we made Spurs look. Boss possession, keep the pace of the ball high, we have a chance.

Bring Di Maria on after an hour if we need to, but I wouldn't bring him on at all if we're looking comfortable. He needs to stop giving the ball away so cheaply, and we don't want to be doing that if we're (hopefully) holding on to a lead.
 
Smashley doesn't get dropped, no chance. Mata normally ghosts in away matches, but Di Maria is so sporadic you never know what to expect. If we play with the same tempo and purpose we did against Spurs, the pace of players will be pretty irrelevant, so Mata could start. I'm not sure though, I could literally side either way.
 
I'd definitely leave Mata in and go with the same lineup, there's no reason to change anything after such a good performance. Having the option of bringing in di Maria or Januzaj is a very nice option to have if we need to inject a little pace and energy in to the team later on in the game.
 
Genuinely no idea. Di maria would be a huge asset for the game, but how do you drop someone like mata after yesterday? Same with young/fellaini. I still think our best lineup longterm would be Mata behind Rooney and Di maria wide, but as it is fellaini is doing really well so won't get dropped and rightly so.
 
All depends on how Di Maria responds to his suspension, which we obviously won't have a clue about until we see him. He could come back fired up and put in a masterclass performance, or he could be borderline useless as he's been recently. Hopefully LVG makes the right call, based on what he shows in training.

Purely based on games, I'd stick with Young on the left wing. He's been good offensively (put in good crosses, beaten his man, linked up well with Blind) and he also provides decent defensive cover. I think dropping him for a player who's been one of our worst performers and was so utterly stupid last monday would be incredibly harsh. Mata probably deserves to start again based on yesterday, but his pace could be a problem. I'd actually be inclined to go with what @Walters_19_MuFc suggested - Rafael right back and Valencia on the wing. A draw at Anfield would be a good result for us, and we should still create chances so we might even nick a goal.
 
Personally I think neither should play, and we should go Rafael and valencia down the right.

Di Maria while creative cannot be relied upon to track back against Moreno/Sterling, and Mata will try his best but will get done by pace and leave us 2 on 1 being counter attacked.

While Valencia isn't the best going forward, I would rather keep it safe early on with the tried and tested pair down that flank.

Go 4-5-1 with Fellaini helping Rooney, and if it goes wrong we bring on Mata and Di maria to try and rescue the game.

The main thing is we don't lose to Liverpool, and in current form I think we could lose if we go all guns blazing, we should maybe play this like European away IMO.
 
Mata is a classy player who has played in England for years. Di Maria is clearly quality but has not settled here yet and has no confidence at the moment. Has to be Mata.
 
Both Mata and Young were excellent yesterday but I think we should drop one of them to make way for Di Maria. Like others have pointed out, Liverpool press high and have a lot of pace in their team and are very good at keeping possession so we will better off if we play counter attacking football. We should look at the Arsenal game at the Emirates back in November where we hit them on the counter with pace and came out with the victory.

I like Mata but I would drop him. Young is more suited to the football I would like us to play on Sunday.
 
If we were at home Di Maria but as Mata is so much more intelligent I'd go for him to start. Di Maria to come on if Liverpool are looking tired
 
The way we performed against Spurs, I think we should stick to the same team because 1) they are playing with confidence and 2) the dippers will see that we are unchanged and maybe play more cautious against us which might work to our advantage!

Bring Di Maria on at 65/70 mins which can also be a deadly tactic for us!
 
Wouldnt be surprised if we went with Rafael and Valencia down the right hand side, try to counterattack them, seen as we are away.
 
Will Singh said:
The way we performed against Spurs, I think we should stick to the same team because 1) they are playing with confidence and 2) the dippers will see that we are unchanged and maybe play more cautious against us which might work to our advantage!

Bring Di Maria on at 65/70 mins which can also be a deadly tactic for us!
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Liverpool at home are far better than Spurs. We need a system to counter Coutinho and Sterling as well as stopping Henderson dictating the game. Never thought I'd say it but he has been quality for them recently
 
I love Mata, but Di Maria would be more useful in this particular fixture. We'll need his pace on the counter.
 
Kostur said:
Another thing is that ADM loses the ball too fecking often. Liverpool will throw Sterling, Ibe, Sturridge and some other quick shits and simply murder us on a counter with ADM trying to dribble past 10 people or take a shit shot. I'd happily take a draw at Anfield and Mata's good at recycling possession.
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This.

Although I'd also be happy enough with the Valencia-Rafael combo on the right someone else suggested.

Mata won't lose the ball with a pass as much as Di Maria but does get hussled off the ball in dangerous areas. We're away from home and a draw would be a good result. I'd be ok with Di Maria and Mata sitting this one out.
 
Kag said:
I'm in two minds over this one. Both arguments make lots of sense.

On one hand Mata should play because his ball retention will be essential away from home. He'll feel confident and deserves the nod based on yesterday's performance. Plus, playing him means that we could use Di Maria as a means of running at a tired defence in the second half.

On the other hand Di Maria's pace will be a great help on the counter and he has it in him to roast whoever plays on that left side of their defence. He actually had a good game against Arsenal going forward prior to the red card and I'd fancy him to run the rings around Sakho, or hopefully Lovren, if given the nod.

We've got a similar predicament with Shaw and Blind, too. Do we go with the faster players that are better suited to an away game, or the slower ones that will perform better with the ball?

Decisions, decisions.

Personally, I think I'd go with Di Maria and Blind.
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Agreed.

The squad must be feeling confident after Spurs so I'd go for the kill and stick Di Maria in and hope he's on his game.

That or we drop both of them. Di Maria is inconsistent/sloppy and Mata tends to disappear/get outmuscled.
 
It was the first time in a long time that the team actually played like one against Tottenham.

But noteably the starting eleven was missing the expensive signings that at struggling for form.

"The Rat Race" is no place to be finding your form so I'd go with Mata over Maria against Liverpool.
 
Keep Mata. Liverpool will be much more of a threat down the wings than Spurs. Mata done well and had a good work rate against Spurs, he deserves a chance again. Concentration will be key in this game.
 
we'll need to counter against them and di maria is more suited for that
 
I'd start the same team. People forget that ADM's form currently is not good so I'd prefer Mata who deserves to play based on the last game. As does anyone else for that matter, even Valencia over Rafael
 
Those suggesting Valencia on the wing will probably regret that within the first ten minutes having thrown their Sunday dinner at the television screen. He's not a winger.

As for Rafael. I'm one of his biggest fans on the forum but Anfield away is the last game I'd throw him in for. He'll be chomping at the bit to make an impression and is almost always an early yellow card candidate when in that sort of mood.
 
Kag said:
Those suggesting Valencia on the wing will probably regret that within the first ten minutes having thrown their Sunday dinner at the television screen. He's not a winger.

As for Rafael. I'm one of his biggest fans on the forum but Anfield away is the last game I'd throw him in for. He'll be chomping at the bit to make an impression and is almost always an early yellow card candidate when in that sort of mood.
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He's more of a winger than Mata who, for all his neat and tidy ball retention and occasional nice touch, actually created very little against Spurs. Ball retention is usually one of Valencia's strengths. Add that to his superior defensive work and strength on the ball and you can certainly argue the case for playing him ahead of Mata in a tough away game.

I don't feel very strongly about this, though. Would be happy enough with either option.
 
It's going to be a tough one and will probably depend on how much threat LvG thinks Moreno can pose from the LWB position. After all, it will be our 4-3-3 against Rodgers' 3-4-3 and our wingers will have to track back Liverpool's wing backs when we're defending off the ball. We must also keep in mind that Coutinho will also lurk in that area, probably as a (left) forward. If we choose the same starting xi as yesterday, the match ups on our right side will be Valencia vs Coutinho, Herrera vs Allen and Mata vs Moreno. I'm not sure how safe will LvG feel about that but my guess is that he will use Herrera (or Fellaini) close to Valencia in order to block Coutinho and leave the long shot option for Allen (maybe Rooney will also help there defensively). If that's the case, Di Maria will probably start ahead of Mata to keep an eye on Moreno. Imo Carrick will be too busy helping the CBs deal with Sterling in the more central areas of our third.

On the other side of the pitch both Di Maria and Mata can hurt Liverpool's defense. It's true that Rodger's switch to a three man defense has helped them a lot but they still have problems defending a winger's move when he cuts inside from a wide position. We can get players on the ball in dangerous positions in between their lines and if LvG believes that both Mata and Di Maria can do the job defensively, imo he will choose the one he thinks will link up better with Rooney up front.
 
For me AdM has to be in the first 11. As impressive our Display against Spurs have been - an in-form AdM can lift our game another step up. If LvG can get the best out of him (and look how we talk about written off Players like Fellaini, Young or Carrick) he will be one of our biggest weapon against every Team in the PL (and Europe).
 
With the form that Di Maria is in, i would rather start with Mata on the right wing. As fast as Di Maria is, i hardly see him get past his man. He is either losing the ball or too busy falling over. Mata might not be fast, but he uses the ball very intelligently and keeps hold of the ball more than Di Maria. Now if only Valencia could replicate what Blind did against Spurs, then we might be on to something.
 
This is what the manager gets paid for, these are big decisions. Tough one, personally I'd edge toward Di Maria in for Mata. Harsh on Mata, I know and I'm a big fan of the guy. I just think in a game of this nature, Di Maria's pace on the counter could be crucial. Young is playing too well to be dropped, so that's not an option IMO. I won't be upset if Mata starts, but Di Maria is my pick.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
He's more of a winger than Mata who, for all his neat and tidy ball retention and occasional nice touch, actually created very little against Spurs. Ball retention is usually one of Valencia's strengths. Add that to his superior defensive work and strength on the ball and you can certainly argue the case for playing him ahead of Mata in a tough away game.

I don't feel very strongly about this, though. Would be happy enough with either option.
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I want to beat Liverpool, not play for the point, and I don't think Valencia will cut the mustard as one of our attacking focal points. It'd be a terribly negative decision. To be honest, I don't expect Valencia to play as a winger for the club again. You're right about his strengths, though, however I think they are best suited to full back.
 
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