Juan Mata

[Mufassir08 2,400]

I thought he was a lot better today as compared to his performance against Villa.

[G.B. 100]

In my opinion he played quite well but not as good as in the last two seasons. Be patient with him, it was only his second game of the season. Wait and see what he can add to this large squad, because now he has some others colleagues who can be as good as him, contrary to the last two years. I support him!

[bleed_blue 136]

So you criticized/mocked Mikel for his performance and compliment Mata for today. You really are ludicrous sometimes

Come back when you learn to think beyond 93% passing success rate. Football games are won by out scoring your opponents.

[Stats 7,060]

Come back when you learn to think beyond 93% passing success rate. Football games are won by out scoring your opponents.

I don't get how you have managed to say Mata done well because of Mikel not helping him. I do not see any logic in that post you previously made. I see others like Kojo and TOPTB admitting Mikel played well even though they might not be his biggest fan but you are just slating Mikel for the sake of it which I cannot understand.

[polo 18]

Mikel was good Mata was shit

[bleed_blue 136]

I don't get how you have managed to say Mata done well because of Mikel not helping him. I do not see any logic in that post you previously made. I see others like Kojo and TOPTB admitting Mikel played well even though they might not be his biggest fan but you are just slating Mikel for the sake of it which I cannot understand.

Because I can see past that 97% pass success rate hogwash. See a picture of his passes and any non biased person will tell you that the player is not going to scare any opposition.

[Melanicus 5,208]

I don't want to over-react, but Mata is certainly not having best time of his career this season.

[mac.bo 48]

Either he is not match fit or there is something in all the transfer poop? Lets hope he comes to form soon

[Sir Mikel OBE 4,920]

Either he is not match fit or there is something in all the transfer poop? Lets hope he comes to form soon

To be honest I dont think match fitness is the issue. He looked like this in the confederations cup final too.

I think this is a consequence of him not being the focal point of attacks now.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Not by any means our worst player today. Why is he being singled out?

[Jase 43,479]

Not by any means our worst player today. Why is he being singled out?

Guess everyone has gotten paranoid and/or think too much of his situation with Mourinho..

[The Skipper 20,593]

He wasn't bad but really struggled to impose himself.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

He wasn't bad but really struggled to impose himself.

Can be said about anyone of the front four today. I think we should give Everton more credit. They defended extremely well and are the main reason why our attackers could not play their game.

[The Skipper 20,593]

Can be said about anyone of the front four today. I think we should give Everton more credit. They defended extremely well and are the main reason why our attackers could not play their game.

I agree. Everton defended superbly and kept Hazard, Schurrle and Mata at bay for most of the game but all three under performed in my opinion. I think we played way too conservative in the first half - we weren't playing the high press and let Everton settle into the game way too early in the first half.

We still churned out chances though but how many of those were actually created by those three? Ironically, Eto'o and Ramires were our most creative players which isn't good enough.

Just one of those games though where things didn't go our way. I'm not too disheartened by the loss because the performance wasn't that bad and it's still very early but Mata and Hazard really both need to step up and start taking games by the scruff of the neck on a more regular basis this season.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

I agree. Everton defended superbly and kept Hazard, Schurrle and Mata at bay for most of the game but all three under performed in my opinion. I think we played way too conservative in the first half - we weren't playing the high press and let Everton settle into the game way too early in the first half.

We still churned out chances though but how many of those were actually created by those three? Ironically, Eto'o and Ramires were our most creative players which isn't good enough.

Just one of those games though where things didn't go our way. I'm not too disheartened by the loss because the performance wasn't that bad and it's still very early but Mata and Hazard really both need to step up and start taking games by the scruff of the neck on a more regular basis this season.

Honestly, Martinez just out-smarted Jose in the tactics. Everton always had a man more near the ball, especially while defending and we did not manage to take advantage of this by moving the ball quickly enough to the far side and they did very well to recover quickly.

[OneMoSalah 8,799]

When he is not sharp he becomes useless as soon as the player defending him is faster and stronger than him. Unfortunately almost every player in the epl are. So his rustiness cost us dearly today. I feel Mata had his early peak and is just not getting any better now but the season is still young and he has only played once so lets wait and see.

Wtf is this? He's not Michael Owen with his 593953 injuries and early successful career, hes just not match fit, thats all. Think some people are overreacting, in fact no doubt about it, people are.

[didierforever 7,349]

wow. simply wow. now mata is getting singled out. hazard lost the ball about 15 times to naismith/coleman, but he gets 15 motm votes. mata puts in a decent performance, is taken out at about the 55th minute but its his fault.

by the way did any1 notice how well we were controlling the game when mata was on the pitch to how we were playing when he was not. when he was on the pitch we created chances while after his sub, it was the end. we had no play, we had no tempo.

[Henrique 9,133]

Guess everyone has gotten paranoid and/or think too much of his situation with Mourinho..

The guy was the first to get the axe today.