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2020-21 Performances

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MyOnlySolskjaer

Creator of Player Performance threads
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Full Name: Немања Матић
Date of Birth: Aug 1, 1988 (32)
Nationality: Serbia
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Other Nationalities: Slovakia
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Height: 1,94 m
Position: Midfielder - Defensive Midfield
Foot: Left
Squad Number: #31
Player Agent: Universal Sports Group
Joined: Jul 31, 2017
Contract until: 30.06.2023
Date of last contract extension: Jul 6, 2020
Contract option: Option for a further year
Outfitter: Puma​
 
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If you are not going to use him why have the club renew his contract. Its weird that Matic has went from starting consistently then thrown to the wilderness.
 
In games that we know we will dominate position we should always play Matic over Mctominay/Fred. He's so much better on the ball.
 
Don’t think its a coincidence that we’ve looked slower on the ball and vulnerable defensively when he hasn’t played. Both against Sevilla and Palace. It’s a shame that Ole realised it last season but is second guessing himself now.
 
I cannot understand why he wasn't playing yesterday. We have one DM in the whole squad. Ole persists with his 4231. And leaves out Matic.

I'd play him in pretty much all the Premier League matches possible.
 
I'm not his biggest fan since he really had been playing absolute shite for us for a majority of the games he played but imo it's also the case that the team was at his best with him, Pogba and Bruno forming the 3 central midfielders. Every other comibnation just simply doesn't seem to work at all.
 
Hes getting old now and he does create extra workload for those covering his lack of running, but the one thing he always does is put himself in the right place at the right time. Against teams that dont press us we need him there to sweep up lost possession and keep us high up the pitch. I'm sure yesterday would have been a different result if he was in the team.
 
NoLogo said:
I'm not his biggest fan since he really had been playing absolute shite for us for a majority of the games he played but imo it's also the case that the team was at his best with him, Pogba and Bruno forming the 3 central midfielders. Every other comibnation just simply doesn't seem to work at all.
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The two games that we've used Fred, Pogba and Bruno it's worked quite well. Better than what we'd looked with Matic towards the end of the season.

For some reason we seem to keep going back to McTominay being first choice replacement and it doesn't work, but Fred has shown enough that he should get more chances in that role. Whether he'll be good enough to be first choice ahead of Matic I don't know, but I expect he'd at least be good enough that we can regularly rest Matic and not run him into the ground yet again.
 
Didnt Matic go 14-15 games undefeated together with Bruno? The games we lost after lock-down, 2 if I remember Matic didnt play. Why are we relying on Mc and Fred who ruined our season last year? Looks like we are bound to make the same mistake.
 
Luton Town 0:3 Man Utd
Matic was my man of the match tonight. He played his position perfectly. Having that extra security in front of, and alongside, the centre backs is so important to us. Nobody else in the squad offers what he offers.
 
Can he teach someone exactly how to position himself like he does as a DM? That would be grand.
 
If we can get someone in midfield to cover his space when he goes up field it would be brilliant. He has the ability to make a decent long pass and the ability to shoot from range. This is why I feel that we need to sell Pogba and get someone else or play a 4 man midfield. Maybe if we play a 4 man midfield of DVB, Matic, Pogba and Matic, DVB can do that?
 
solid enough, looks better with Fred than any of our other CM's as he can cover Matic when he loses the ball and can't catch the runner.
 
Annihilate Now! said:
Can he teach someone exactly how to position himself like he does as a DM? That would be grand.
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I think this is gonna be a problem for us. I think it's quite specialist what he does and teaching somebody would be an issue (unless they come through academy specialised in that position)

We're gonna need to spend money and I don't see it happening at the end of this new season
 
Brighton 2:3 Man Utd
Best United player today.
 
I thought Matic was good for the first hour, 70 minutes. We're going to need him to be huge this season.
 
He’s good when he’s not exhausted. Needs to be rotated and managed carefully.

Our best player today. Still needs to release the ball quicker sometimes though, sometimes he runs in open space towards the guy he’s going to pass it to before passing it. Just put some fizz on it and keep it moving.
 
I just don't fancy him. Slow tempo when build up the play and doesn't press enough.
 
izec said:
Makes no sense to press when nobody does it. If we were a high pressing team and he wouldn't do it, i could see some sense in it.
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The Sevilla game, we press very well. In fact, not the only game we press. After all, our strength is counter and pressing is the best way to get the counter attack.
 
Think he was one of the 3 best players today, but still the midfield as a unit added very little to the defence.
 
He's ok if you want to play a deeper defensive line. But if we want to play and maintain a proactive play style he will have to go along with a few others.
 
Incredible how he went from being slandered to being clamoured for. We are much better with him in the team. However, we need to upgrade him sooner rather than later, he's not getting any younger (neither is Greenwood, but you know what I mean).

COME ON UNITED!!
 
I'm not criticising his performance, but I get the feeling if Mctominay had played this game and we condeded 10+ clear cut chances, got overran in midfield and failed to control the transitions like we did today he'd be slaughtered for not knowing how to play the DM role.

Truth is it's a team game, our outfield players are just not at the races at the minute and just goes to show 1 player isn't automatically going to make a difference. Matic the best of a bad bunch.
 
One man midfield for most of the game.
 
Played well, as expected. We really need a competent deputy for him though, we can't over play him.
 
When he’s fully fit and is physically right, he does a good job for us. When he plays game after game after game, his performance levels start to drop.
 
Dominos said:
I'm not criticising his performance, but I get the feeling if Mctominay had played this game and we condeded 10+ clear cut chances, got overran in midfield and failed to control the transitions like we did today he'd be slaughtered for not knowing how to play the DM role.

Truth is it's a team game, our outfield players are just not at the races at the minute and just goes to show 1 player isn't automatically going to make a difference. Matic the best of a bad bunch.
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Common sense from watching the game will tell you that was all pogba at fault for us not being effective at controlling the game. How you can use a good game from matic to somehow create a case for why mctominay is just as useless as pogba is embarrassing. Mctominay starts and we probably lose.
 
Adnan said:
He's ok if you want to play a deeper defensive line. But if we want to play and maintain a proactive play style he will have to go along with a few others.
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Agreed, too slow to press, and once players get past him he has no recovery. Add Lindelof and Maguire are not exactly quick, and that is a big problem when we have to press. If you want to press as a team, you need players suited to it, doing it with players not suited to it wiill just be more harmful to us.

Individually he was fine, but we really need to replace him. Not getting any younger either.
 
Ace of Spades said:
Agreed, too slow to press, and once players get past him he has no recovery. Add Lindelof and Maguire are not exactly quick, and that is a big problem when we have to press. If you want to press as a team, you need players suited to it, doing it with players not suited to it wiill just be more harmful to us.

Individually he was fine, but we really need to replace him. Not getting any younger either.
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He's a big problem to us reaching the play style we aspire to reach. The longer he stays in the team the longer we will play in a reactive manner which suits the player.

I just finished watching Leverkusen v RB Leipzig and he wouldn't get into either midfield IMO unless both Bosz and Nagelsmann adopt a reactive approach.
 
He was the only player with a defensive brain but that doesn't mean he was good today, he's weak and doesn't win many 50/50s anymore, a bit sloppy on the ball and signs are showing he's declining slightly.
 
Adnan said:
He's a big problem to us reaching the play style we aspire to reach. The longer he stays in the team the longer we will play in a reactive manner which suits the player.

I just finished watching Leverkusen v RB Leipzig and he wouldn't get into either midfield IMO unless both Bosz and Nagelsmann adopt a reactive approach.
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Yeah, but then again I am glad that he is here, with the way we do business I have little confidence that he would have been replaced adequately.
 
Superb assist, runs with speed in the box and gently lays it to Maguire. He was solid in comparison to some of his teammates.
 
He wasn’t bad today but he’s part of the problem with our defence. We have 3 slow players in our defensive spine and it does not help when teams attack us.

That being said, Pogba needs to do a lot more defensively and AWB needs to do much better as well. Shaw needs to stop balls coming in.
 
Solid game but he's still too easy to bypass when he doesn't have a runner next to him.
 
Comfortably our best player yesterday.
Carrying on from end of last seasons form.
Yes we conceded a hatful of chances yesterday but matic was basically in midfield on his own a lot of the time.
 
Man Utd vs Tottenham
Useless DM for a team that wants to play expansive football.
 
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