Looking at him today I think Jose made the right call - he just doesn't muck in the fulllength of the park.  Fine if that's what you want but not what Jose expects.

Edited October 26, 201411 yr by Bloo

I felt sorry for him today to be honest the moment he left chelsea he went down hill :(

He is a big flop for United,payed a lot bought as a panic buy never really settled in.Loved him at Chelsea and i thought he would be the next big thing for us,his corners at both UCL and Europa league finals provided the goals but he decided to leave and i wouldn't take him back.

He is a big flop for United,payed a lot bought as a panic buy never really settled in.Loved him at Chelsea and i thought he would be the next big thing for us,his corners at both UCL and Europa league finals provided the goals but he decided to leave and i wouldn't take him back.

 

To be honest, i don't think he has been a big flop for them really. He still has 8 goals in 21 games with them which is pretty decent. I think his main problem at United is that he isn't dominating games like he was for us and his assists tally is pretty low too. The goals are still there for him but he has moments in games when he is anonymous.

I thought he was poor yesterday and his work rate has not got any better.As heart breaking as it was to sell him it was the correct decision.I think he will move on and good luck to him when he does.

He was really was non-existent yesterday. I think hindsight says that we made the right choice to sell Juan despite how emotional it was at the time. His decline in the past 18 months has been significant. 

 

I think he needs a rejuvenation away from Manchester United to find his great form again. I won't be shocked to see him leave Manchester United in the near future and head elsewhere away from England all together.

I was a big fan of Mata when he was with us. He was just what we needed at the time but when Jose came back some players needed to give a little more or change the way they played a little bit and Mata just couldnt (or wouldnt) do that.

We sold him for a sh*t load of money and it seems like it was the right plan.

I think Mata would be fantastic playing in Italy where the game is a bit slower.

Selling him for that much was a fantastic bit of business. 

 

My honest feelings about Juan Mata (who was a great servant for this club in a bad moment).....he needs a team built around him to get the best out of him, but no team with title/European aspirations will do that because he's not one of the very few players in world football that you would do that for (Messi, Ronaldo....that's about it).

 

Great individual talent in a team sport.

He's still a light weight, one dimensional flair player.

What reception did he get?

 

I read this on twitter

He didn't celebrate at all when RVP equalized yesterday. He still bleeds blue. Top lad!

He didn't celebrate at all when RVP equalized yesterday. He still bleeds blue. Top lad!

 

Because he knows manure needed a last minute equalizer so they wouldn't lose. He is not a delusional dirty red manc.

Nice man is Juan

Lovely bloke, was great for two years...but yesterday showed why Jose is paid the big bucks to make big decisions...he showed balls to sell a fans favourite and now few will argue against it...£37m too...Utd won't get that back

Lovely bloke, was great for two years...but yesterday showed why Jose is paid the big bucks to make big decisions...he showed balls to sell a fans favourite and now few will argue against it...£37m too...Utd won't get that back

 

 

Add luiz to that (although many more considered him to be a good deal then Mata)

Kinda scary to think that the 87m raised from those three sales directly pays off Costa, Hazard and Fabregas, 

Juan Mata was clearly our best player for the 2 seasons he was with us. And he was a really good ambassador for the club as well; I really enjoyed reading his intelligently crafted weekly blog.

 

However it was clear that he would never fit Jose's system for the issues that have already been raised above. £37m was far too much money to turn down for someone who had become at best an impact sub. Whilst I do think that he would have won us a few more points last season with some goals and assists, I think it's clear to see that we have improved significantly as a team with Fabregas as our main creator.

 

Not gonna lie though, part of me still misses Mata. I feel like his career is stagnating at Man U where he's clearly the back up to Wayne Rooney. Sure he's scored some nice goals but I just don't see how he fits into their setup. It's almost as though Mata is 'lost in the wilderness' a little bit. If Juve's interest is serious then I think he needs to strongly consider joining them. The pace of the Italian league would suit him and in the Juventus system he wouldn't have to worry about defensive duties given that they have Pogba, Vidal and Marchisio for that in midfield.

Edited October 28, 201411 yr by Celery1989

If he stayed i think he would become a big player for us.,but never really wanted to be number two for Oscar.

Correct and smart decision, pity for Mata he's not even playing Europa league.

Still would prefer him over Oscar but i understand why Oscar plays and why Mata was sold.

Still would prefer him over Oscar but i understand why Oscar plays and why Mata was sold.

I changed my mind recently but I used to prefer Mata over Oscar as well and I didn't understand at the time why Jose did the same??! But it makes sense now

Fantastic player, and it was impossible not to like the bloke.  His reaction when Drogba scored in Munich showed just how much it all meant to him, and he single handedly carried us through two years of rather turgid displays.  I'd hate to think where we'd have been without him!

 

Today, however, we are a better team without him.  I know that sounds contradictory to what I've posted above, but we really are a better overall unit without Mata in the team.  In the game against Man U at the weekend past, there was a moment where Mata saw Hazard o the ball.  Hazard was about to face Di Maria in a one on one situation, and Mata (perhaps in an attempt to show Jose that he can track back?) tried to come and help Di Maria out by closing in on Eden.  Hazard just danced through both of them!

 

I actually hope he leaves Man Utd, he's wasted there.  Plus I like him too much to root against him

Think he suffers from the same problem as Shirley

 

Mata can make an effort to track back or close someone down, and he usually does/tries despite what the mainstream thinks about him but he doesn't do it in cohesion with the rest of the team and it just leaves spaces open for the opposition to exploit. Combine that with the fact that he's pretty immobile then it can be like playing with 10 men at times when you don't have the ball. He can rush up to close some one down but as soon as he gets turned or dribbled past, then he's a big liability, like that example you just mentioned.

 

Shirley is a pretty good athlete but that's probably a big reason why Mourinho prefers Willian over him as well. Shirley will run his socks off up and down the pitch but if he isn't doing it in unison then it just leaves gaps all over the place, plus he can be occasionally be guilty of ball-watching...but you have to keep in mind that a lot of these players came from clubs where they probably didn't need to worry about half the stuff Mourinho tries to instill on them. So he's a work in progress whereas I think Mourinho eventually came to the conclusion that Mata couldn't be changed.

Edited October 31, 201411 yr by MTF

He's coming home

I expect a good reception