The selection of a player - of course! - depends on what options are available! Would Matic be an automatic starter in every top team in the world? Of course not! But he'd fare well in many... can't say the same of others... and it's not mikel only - Ramires too.
That's exactly how I feel about your opinion about him... [emoji4]
Good to know you also don't care about market value... that's precisely the part I found illogical about your opinion.
Once again, Ivanovic has not been great, what does that say about the ones on the bench? So, you trust the manager for selecting Mikel - despite his pretty low key history at the club - and then you say he is wrong (both him and Jose) for selecting Ivanovic? I have to believe they all see that there are no other viable option for the position... otherwise the club would be a joke.
Matic would struggle to start at several top clubs with the way he's played the last year.