🇷🇸 Nemanja Matic

[Oscar 441]

He is capable of a good defensive shift (liverpool) , has athleticism and technique. He is fast for a man of his size.

Being fast and having good workrate is not the same thing.

Ramires is probably the fastest guy on the team and can put a better shift defensively and can wreak more havoc as b2b than RLC can.

[DYC. 7,542]

Yaya is quality, but he is also City achilles heel. He represents why they struggle in Europe. Teams that take the game to city will find that Yaya is huge liability defensively, and cannot influence a midfield against quality midfield opposition. PL is different story since barely any team has the quality to play proactive against them, and the quality of midfield is not there. Or is controlling the midfield in the game plan of most managers in the PL.

Isn't it funny how Yaya has bossed games in the PL but has looked so ordinary in Europe? Tactically, he's just not there. He has technique, plenty of it, but he becomes crippled when he has to really think (to be a step ahead) and think quick. Cesc is like that. It's sad because Yaya would be such an amazing midfielder if he did have that. Legendary even. Touré is kind of like the Zlatan of midfielders, but Zlatan has a more impressive body of work over a 10 year span.

RLC has a lot to prove so I think it's very premature to rate him so highly or give him so much praise. I would like to see him given a chance though. But the idea of him alongside Matic and Cesc could easily not work.

I was always very vocal about strengthening midfield and was very sad it didn't happen. Mikel and Ramires simply aren't up to scratch (Ramires is a cool option to have in your squad though) and the weaknesses of Matic and Cesc were visible for a very long time. Pogba wouldn't have helped imo, in terms of creating a great midfield three. Wrong type of player as he also has troubles off the ball. And he's not as nearly commanding in possession as his hype and price tag suggests. A diamond in the rough and he was never a realistic target anyway.

The ball was dropped in this area, no two ways about it. But Mourinho is paid so much money because he is supposed to be able to do more than a 'normal' manager so coming up with a solution is completely on him.

[Blue_Fox_ 2,086]

How? RLC doesn't have the workrate of neither oscar or rambo. The speed/stamina of rambo and the ability to press like Oscar..

If anything, having him would expose Cesc more because of his lack of workrate defensively.

Don't think so.

Matic has better positioning and strength than Fernandinho, however, that is all I would say. To me, a fit and inform fernandino is more important to City than yaya is now.

One simple answer, No. To both of your posts. If anything replace Cesc with Oscar or Willian in a mid 3, but RLC has to be there alongside Matic.

And a Matic on form is simply world class.

[robsblubot 3,595]

Don't think so.

Matic has better positioning and strength than Fernandinho, however, that is all I would say. To me, a fit and inform fernandino is more important to City than yaya is now.

fernandinho is a toure - just not as good

[Stats 7,146]

So, now Verratti can play in the pivot and Cesc cannot???

Well based on this season, not that well, especially against teams that press him. He is not as good as holding on to the ball as Verratti is and seems to be bullied of it more easily. It is because Verratti is a better defender as well and they have much better balance. In a 4-3-3 I think he would be quality. I don't mind him in the pivot for Saturday for instance because all they are going to do is sit back I assume but games where teams take it to us, with constant pressing he is a little more exposed.

[BlueLyon 9,359]

I would say both Matic and Cesc are to be blamed, both have gone down in form as individuals and both have gone down in form as a team.

Cesc is shit in defense, but Matic is a shadow of himself too.

Whatever the treatment Matic is getting is plain shit tho. Iva, Cesc and others have been no better than Matic yet they dont get the treatment.

Seems Mou is looking for someone to blame and he found one in Matic. But long term that is bad, if we sell him he will get back in form somewhere else.

Matic is in bad form but Mou management and dealing with this problem is terrible to say at least.

[Pacquiao 1,834]

There is big difference between playng as a winger and as a DM. There is difference in dribbling past some players and pass, and to be the connection between the defence and the attack. F8ck sake, it's like trying to explain the positions in football to my girlfriend...

I can agree with you for that he is in bad form, so are and many other players in our team who still play every week,despite this fact...

again what on earth are you talking about???

[Pacquiao 1,834]

http://www.goal.com/en/match/manchester-city-vs-chelsea/2043057/ratings

"Did not play badly on an individual level but was let down by those around him in the middle as City came by time and again."

http://www.whoscored.com/Matches/959776/Live/England-Premier-League-2015-2016-Everton-Chelsea

8.6 rating in a game where we lost 3-1.

http://www.whoscored.com/Matches/959762/Live/England-Premier-League-2015-2016-Chelsea-Crystal-Palace

2nd highest rating in the team.

so exactly when was he awful?

60minutes of newcastle? 17 against porto or 20 against soton? a total of 100 poor minutes of football has made him AWFUL?

i am sorry, but the fact that most on here can see that matic is nowhere near the problem should be a good enough indicator.

so he wasnt our best player in all 3 games then was he? enough said

[manpe 10,861]

Whatever the Reason - I think we are all agreed 4-2-3-1 is no longer a viable formation

I would move to 4-4-1-1 with Willian/Cesc sitting in behind Costa

Matic and RLC in the middle and Hazard / Pedro out wide

That would be a little better IMHO and wouldn't leave us exposed in the middle between defence and midfield.

Matic could effectively play in the Makalele role and RLC with his athleticism could be the runner (box to box)

I doubt we would ever see this formation though - especially as I would have Azpi on the right and Baba on the left

4-4-1-1 is just another way of saying 4-2-3-1.

[didierforever 7,349]

so he wasnt our best player in all 3 games then was he? enough said

enough said???

so, not best player = awful???

[killer1257 3,282]

Obviously,Matic does deserve to be criticized,but people have to keep in mind that players like Cesc and Ivanovic tend to lose very much balls and both of them are not able to defend. Matic is the man,who has to cover Iva and Cesc and that is not possible for any player.

Of course,Matic makes weird passes sometimes and it seems that he can´t do anything with his right foot,but still,if he loses the ball,Cesc and the other players should be able to deal with that and win the ball back.Matic was never the man,who never misplaced passes.He always did them,but we in general were played much better football during the last 2 years,so it did not matter much because Willian or whoever won the ball immediately back again.

Furthermore,people also forget that Matic played a good match against Arsenal,even when Arsenal had all men on the pitch.As a matter of fact,Matic played good due to the fact that Oscar was also winning his tackles,so he of course benefited from it.If Oscar could always perform like that,Matic would have a much easier job and he could concentrate more in doing what Matic does best and that is winning tackles,making intelligent passes and winning headers.

Oscar seems to be a player,who never heard of the word consistency and Cesc,we all know it,can´t win tackles.

The best possible formation for me would be a midfield of Cesc,RLC and Matic.

Cesc would get his freedom back,RLC and Matic would be winning their tackles and both are capable of playing good passes.RLC is also a great dribbler and he is faster than both Matic and Cesc,so he could give us the speed in midfield and make some Yaya Toure bulldozer runs.

Sadly,Mourinho sees RLC as a number 6 and Matic is in big trouble,while Iva can relax on his status as our new captain,leader,legend.

[Pacquiao 1,834]

enough said???

so, not best player = awful???

no you said he was our best player in the 3 games you mentioned, and he wasnt.

[didierforever 7,349]

no you said he was our best player in the 3 games you mentioned, and he wasnt.

he was against everton and city. he was one of out best players against palace.

so instead of trying to digress, why dont u talk about what u had said about him being AWFUL!!!

[Pacquiao 1,834]

he was against everton and city. he was one of out best players against palace.

so instead of trying to digress, why dont u talk about what u had said about him being AWFUL!!!

because i already have. Matic has been simply awful this season, being the best or one of the best of a very bad bunch in a couple of games also doesnt change that

[didierforever 7,349]

because i already have. Matic has been simply awful this season, being the best or one of the best of a very bad bunch also doesnt change that

sure dude. sure. whatever helps u sleep at night.

[Rhino's Skin 972]

no you said he was our best player in the 3 games you mentioned, and he wasnt.

well the problem is that he posted websites that gave Matic reasonable high marks and praise and used that as the argument.....and you if you wanted could go to other websites such as the Mail, Mirror etc etc and most probably dig out different marks and not so good comments about the same player in the same match.

My point being is that bringing media sports writers point of view into a debate of whether a player had a decent game or not is meaningless.

Why dont you both watch the said matches again in their entirety and rethink through your opinions based on what you see rather than what a sportswriter puts down because you are just going round in circles and its now a 'he said that, he said this' and misquoting all the time debate.

[Pacquiao 1,834]

well the problem is that he posted websites that gave Matic reasonable high marks and praise and used that as the argument.....and you if you wanted could go to other websites such as the Mail, Mirror etc etc and most probably dig out different marks and not so good comments about the same player in the same match.

My point being is that bringing media sports writers point of view into a debate of whether a player had a decent game or not is meaningless.

Why dont you both watch the said matches again in their entirety and rethink through your opinions based on what you see rather than what a sportswriter puts down because you are just going round in circles and its now a 'he said that, he said this' and misquoting all the time debate.

i dont know why you are telling me this, my opinion is from what i have seen with my own eyes this season, i havent used any sports site to check his ratings.

[Rhino's Skin 972]

i dont know why you are telling me this, my opinion is from what i have seen with my own eyes this season, i havent used any sports site to check his ratings.

because the matches were a little while ago and you called Matic 'awful'

The other poster disagreed and used media to back his point about Matic.

My suggestion to watch again because in all likelyhood you have actually forgotten parts of the match was for you both to re assess your opinions.

My opinion on Matic in the said matches is that he was not awful....but he wasnt our best player in a bad bunch either due to his lack of game management, etc. and thats me having been at the games and just rewatched them on playback over last few days

[Gilvorak 3,734]

Seems people think he's not bad because they hate Cesc and Ivanovic. So Mourinho's just randomly singling out a player he was beaming about in 2014 right? Playing awful for Serbia is just our imagination. It's far too easy to play through our midfield and Matic is the number one culprit for our woes no doubt about it.

[Oscar 441]

fernandinho is a toure - just not as good

meh. I get the analogy, but unlike Youre, Fernandinho has good workrate/stamina.

Well based on this season, not that well, especially against teams that press him. He is not as good as holding on to the ball as Verratti is and seems to be bullied of it more easily. It is because Verratti is a better defender as well and they have much better balance. In a 4-3-3 I think he would be quality. I don't mind him in the pivot for Saturday for instance because all they are going to do is sit back I assume but games where teams take it to us, with constant pressing he is a little more exposed.

As much as I rate him, if he played for us in the way we utilize Fabregas in the big games I think he would struggle. PSG play to his strengths while in big games we don't play to Fabregas strengths in big games.

Yeah, I never said they were similar players. My point was that PSG utilize him to his strengths while we only utilize Fabregas main strengths in games against much inferior teams. When we play teams with similar qualities like PSG, he is not played in his favoured position while Verratti is. Fabregas is a dictator, not a chaser.

I get you like him, I do to but stop overrating all the positions he can play in to an effective level. Yes, DM and CM he is comfortable in. If you played him consecutively in AM against good teams he would find it difficult to influence a game and you are not getting the best out of him.

He may have those traits that Fabregas does not but once again my point stands, you put him in no.10 in our position and he strugges. I recognise he has those aforementioned strenghts but like Fabregas the game would pass him by because you are putting a dictator in the no.10 role which means unless you have a like for like replacement you will struggle to get the ball. Verratti would be no difference to Fabregas although I do acknowledge your points that he has those abilities Fabregas does not. However can you imagine him playing a no.10 role for us with Matic and Mikel behind him. He would do all the chasing, put in tackles but the amount of times he touches the ball would be very limited becasue of the struggle we would have to keep possession.