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Matic

Sexyfootball said:
I don't see anything in Matic's game that  Nathaniel Chalobah couldn't do better. I think he makes the team to give us some physical presence ... we are quite a small team these days (Dave,  Moses, Kante, Hazard, Pedro).
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I see people say this a lot (if you're referring to Matic) and I think they say it purely based on his height because for a big guy he could get dominated by my gran. He rately wins headers, barely puts in a tackle. 

Marco Verrati for instance - tiny guy, but an absolute monsterous presence on the park, all over the place flying in to tackles, getting stuck in to the opposition sometimes cynically, but that's what you want in a midfielder someone who battes. If you don't have that ala Fabregas you need to bring something else to the party i.e. Brilliant on the ball. Matic brings nothing other than being tall.

KonaKai Blue said:
This guy had a terrible terrible game. I haven't watched the game back but did Matic run into Kantes path when he was on the counter losing us possession  which immediately led to Arsenals opener? Jheeez you know its bad when people who watched on t.v. and those in the stadium knew he had a terrible game.
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He did have a terrible game but no that was Costa who pre-goal was also crap.

 
abramovich said:
I actually wouldn't mind him being another Mikel. Meaning someone who won't mind being a backup, won't create tension in the dressing room and will perform adequately when called upon.
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I think he would mind being in a "Mikel" role.  Wasn't he insinuating that he wanted to leave the club at the beginning of the season? However, regardless of him minding or not, it might be a challenge to sell him due to his wages unless Mourinho really wants him.

 
I think all things considered he's had a very good season, he's been a key part of a Premier League winning squad which shouldn't be forgotten, although many will remember the poor performances first (and there were none greater than last night).

Matic is a very good shield to have in front of a defence - he's relatively safe in possession, he's positionally very disciplined and he generally covers ground well. There's a reason we've conceded the second least number of goals in the league, and its because we're consistently difficult to break down. His weaknesses have been exposed by the better teams in the league, however. He's slow to release the ball which often hinders our attacking moves, he looks uncomfortable controlling a ball not played to feet, and he doesn't have the pace to catch players if they break through that line.  

Xhaka had the beating of him yesterday, as have many of the top teams central midfielders this season, and its too key an area of the park to concede if we want to push on and progress next season. We've had to rotate Cesc and Matic to suit the occasion, but in reality we need a player capable of offering quality at both ends of the park.

Its a position we need a new starting player for before any other, and I'd be very surprised if we go into next season with Kante alongside Matic or Cesc. If Matic leaves, which I think he should, he can hold his head high - he's been a mainstay in two title winning seasons, which isn't something many players can boast. 

 
spadefx said:
I think all things considered he's had a very good season, he's been a key part of a Premier League winning squad which shouldn't be forgotten, although many will remember the poor performances first (and there were none greater than last night).

Matic is a very good shield to have in front of a defence - he's relatively safe in possession, he's positionally very disciplined and he generally covers ground well. There's a reason we've conceded the second least number of goals in the league, and its because we're consistently difficult to break down. His weaknesses have been exposed by the better teams in the league, however. He's slow to release the ball which often hinders our attacking moves, he looks uncomfortable controlling a ball not played to feet, and he doesn't have the pace to catch players if they break through that line.  

Xhaka had the beating of him yesterday, as have many of the top teams central midfielders this season, and its too key an area of the park to concede if we want to push on and progress next season. We've had to rotate Cesc and Matic to suit the occasion, but in reality we need a player capable of offering quality at both ends of the park.

Its a position we need a new starting player for before any other, and I'd be very surprised if we go into next season with Kante alongside Matic or Cesc. If Matic leaves, which I think he should, he can hold his head high - he's been a mainstay in two title winning seasons, which isn't something many players can boast. 
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Great comment. I would further state that it was a problem of formations as well: in big games we should just play a 3 man midfield, otherwise top teams are able to match our system quite easily. wrt Arsenal, Xhaka and Ramsey is better than what we have since Matic and Fabregas are not that good in a midfield pair so should have played a 3 to have an extra body in there like we did vs Liverpool (similarly to what you said about having a player who needs both qualities of matic and fabregas), or like when we changed the system vs Spurs in the semi final.

 
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MANoWAR said:
Great comment. I would further state that it was a problem of formations as well: in big games we should just play a 3 man midfield, otherwise top teams are able to match our system quite easily. wrt Arsenal, Xhaka and Ramsey is better than what we have since Matic and Fabregas are not that good in a midfield pair so should have played a 3 to have an extra body in there like we did vs Liverpool (similarly to what you said about having a player who needs both qualities of matic and fabregas), or like when we changed the system vs Spurs in the semi final.
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I agree. Either that or we need a top class ball player who also got great legs, grit and physique alongside Kante because both he and Matic leaves a lot to be desired on the ball sometimes. We need that one player centrally who's able to dictate the tempo of a game in these big games and that could be Fabregas when we play 3-5-2 but if we want to persist with 3-4-3 next season and we only have two central midfielders we need a better ballplayer there.

 
Matic doesn't seem very strong to me. Poor in possession at times and for a tall guy he is useless at heading the ball.

Has to go in the summer in my opinion.

Thank you for two league titles, Nemanja.

 
EdinburghBlue said:
I see people say this a lot (if you're referring to Matic) and I think they say it purely based on his height because for a big guy he could get dominated by my gran. He rately wins headers, barely puts in a tackle. 

Marco Verrati for instance - tiny guy, but an absolute monsterous presence on the park, all over the place flying in to tackles, getting stuck in to the opposition sometimes cynically, but that's what you want in a midfielder someone who battes. If you don't have that ala Fabregas you need to bring something else to the party i.e. Brilliant on the ball. Matic brings nothing other than being tall.

He did have a terrible game but no that was Costa who pre-goal was also crap.
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Yes it was Costa who collided with Kante, just Lady Luck. Kante runs horizontally just as Costa looks to make a break from defence.

I didn't think Costa was crap, he scored even with Mertesacker trying to pull him back by the neck. perhaps unlucky not to get a second.

Matic wasn't great yet his midfield partner Kante was just as poor and hardly able to make even a simple pass at times.

Arsenal did a number on us, I assume they watched the replay of us United and Spurs and worked out where to close us down for maximum effect.

 
He hasn't played a single game like the world class DM that he was in 14-15 since then, I didn't watch him play in Benfica but it's looking like he is a one season wonder.

He hasn't been terrible this season but what the hell happened to the Matic who ruled the entire midfield by himself so well that Cesc did not have to lift a finger defensively.

 
sonic90 said:
He hasn't played a single game like the world class DM that he was in 14-15 since then, I didn't watch him play in Benfica but it's looking like he is a one season wonder.

He hasn't been terrible this season but what the hell happened to the Matic who ruled the entire midfield by himself so well that Cesc did not have to lift a finger defensively.
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Was he ever really that good? I know in his first season back he played well, but maybe we are all remebering him being much better than he was, simply because it was different from Mikel.

 
It won't happen anytime soon but Xhaka is the only player I would conceivably replace Matic with. The rest are just pretenders to Matic's throne.

Imho Conte was to blame for Matic's poor performance (we were outnumbered in midfield by Arsenal)

 
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the special one said:
It won't happen anytime soon but Xhaka is the only player I would conceivably replace Matic with. The rest are just pretenders to Matic's throne.

Imho Conte was to blame for Matic's poor performance (we were outnumbered in midfield by Arsenal)
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Now I know your just doing this on purpose.

 
dkw said:
You just had to take it too far didn't you.....
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By suggesting Conte was to blame for Matic's poor performance? If so granted I could have been more subtle with my words and apologise if you (or anyone else) took offence.

 
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Unfortunately, we have to sell him this summer. He can be great DM for top teams and we can make a good deal. 

 
the special one said:
By suggesting Conte was to blame for Matic's poor performance? If so granted I could have been more subtle with my words and apologise if you (or anyone else) took offence.
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No, by mentioning Henderson...

 
dkw said:
No, by mentioning Henderson...
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I'm not seriously suggesting we should sign Henderson (though fwiw I would take him as unlikely as that is).

If we sell Matic who do we replace with? Apparently we're trying to sign Bakayoko, but could he rival Matic's 8 assists this season (Matic also ranked 40th in this season's squawka player rankings, one of only a few CMs to "score" that highly)? Do we risk Kante/Bakayoko who between them only have 4 assists this season?

My point is, I'm all for selling Matic - but only if we can replace with someone who will actually improve the team. De Rossi? Mascherano?

 
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