🇷🇸 Nemanja Matic

[MrExcalibur100 7,124]

Surely one of the best CDM/CM in the world atm?

Up there with Gundogan(when fit), Bastian, Kroos, Witsel, Alonso, Modric, Biscuit(yes he is good)...etc

The best. No other one has a combination of his defensive skills, interception/blocking skills, physicality, anticipation of danger, passing range and playmaking skills. His long legs also allow him to cover an incredible amount of ground. He's deceptively fast. One moment he's at the center of the pitch, the next he's by the left wing. He generally covers more ground than Ramires and actually makes clever "steals" on the opposition in possession, unlike the Brazilian.

[MrExcalibur100 7,124]

Jorge Jesus: "To me Matic is the best defensive midfielder in the world. Currently, he doesn’t have an equal."

http://afootballreport.com/post/73522592694/zero-to-hero-the-rise-of-nemanja-matic

[kellzfresh 7,229]

Alonso has been gash this season Kellz. Matic > Alonso this season.He has had many poor performances especially against the good sides and is a weakness for Madrid if we face them in the CL. Besides, Matic's defensive game is naturally much better than Alonso's ever was. Though Alonso's long passing range is still something to behold, Matic is no amateur in that regard as well as we've seen already. In 2014, I will take Matic in my team ahead of Xabi. Also ahead of Schweini (he is more CM, though he is obviously functional at DM) who has struggled to get into Guardiola's side. At least until Alcantara got injured.

I haven't watched alonso this season but last seasons alonso is still > matic.

He combined tackling with xavi level passes.

Matic is still no 1 in tackling, he's ridiculously good at that, but even though he's contributed directly to goals with good long passing, he still doesn't control the midfield as well as alonso offensively. But he'll get there.

[MrExcalibur100 7,124]

I haven't watched alonso this season but last seasons alonso is still > matic.

He combined tackling with xavi level passes.

Matic is still no 1 in tackling, he's ridiculously good at that, but even though he's contributed directly to goals with good long passing, he still doesn't control the midfield as well as alonso offensively. But he'll get there.

You are right when you say Alonso's long-range passing ability is unrivalled. He is the best long-range passer I've ever seen in football and that's what made him such a unique player.

[Ze Mario 638]

Alonso has been gash this season Kellz. Matic > Alonso this season.He has had many poor performances especially against the good sides and is a weakness for Madrid if we face them in the CL. Besides, Matic's defensive game is naturally much better than Alonso's ever was. Though Alonso's long passing range is still something to behold, Matic is no amateur in that regard as well as we've seen already. In 2014, I will take Matic in my team ahead of Xabi. Also ahead of Schweini (he is more CM, though he is obviously functional at DM) who has struggled to get into Guardiola's side. At least until Alcantara got injured.

whatt?? poor against good sides? i dont watch RM frequently, but based on what i saw when they against atm and barca, alonso have the ability, in very tight position (because hard pressing) he kick the ball the way our luiz kick our ball randomly into opponents area. the difference is the ball that alonso kicked get to bale or cr7 or maria's feet. yes matic's def is better than alonso, but alonso's def not bad either. the only thing alonso lacked is concentration, as he often did fouls in late minutes game. imo alonso still (slightly) better than matic in terms of CM.

[MrExcalibur100 7,124]

Decent compo on Nemanja for CFC

[MrExcalibur100 7,124]

whatt?? poor against good sides? i dont watch RM frequently, but based on what i saw when they against atm and barca, alonso have the ability, in very tight position (because hard pressing) he kick the ball the way our luiz kick our ball randomly into opponents area. the difference is the ball that alonso kicked get to bale or cr7 or maria's feet. yes matic's def is better than alonso, but alonso's def not bad either. the only thing alonso lacked is concentration, as he often did fouls in late minutes game. imo alonso still (slightly) better than matic in terms of CM.

Let mee just clarify. Xabi Alonso is a brilliant player but his poor form against the good sides this season has been well noted. It's not entirely his fault though. It has a lot to do with Ancelotti's ultra-offensive 4-3-3 that has no natural protection to the back four. A midfield trio of Xabi Alonso, Modric, Isco/Di Maria is very risky. Even Xabi Alonso said that 4-3-3 the way Madrid play it is too open against strong opposition.

http://deportes.elpais.com/deportes/2014/03/21/actualidad/1395433899_528944.html

Xabi Alonso is still a great player but Madrid have badly missed Khedira. Alonso can't do the defensive job on his own. He is not that type of player.

[Styles 9,790]

Am I the only one who thought he was poor yesterday? Just as bad as Ramires in my opinion.

[Leif 6,006]

lets sell him

[The only place to be 11,313]

Am I the only one who thought he was poor yesterday? Just as bad as Ramires in my opinion.

He had a tough game but he's still in his first few months back at the club. Would've preferred Frank or Luiz alongside him yesterday because the game looked so disjointed at times.

[Styles 9,790]

He had a tough game but he's still in his first few months back at the club. Would've preferred Frank or Luiz alongside him yesterday because the game looked so disjointed at times.

Agree that he absolutely needs somebody else alongside him, Ramires does not help matters at all.

Matic's pressing is very good when the rest of the team is pressing hard as well but sometimes he leaves huge gaps right down the middle of the pitch and he doesn't have much recovery pace.

I like a lot of what he has bought to the team but against Crystal Palace where he tired badly and turned the ball over a lot and yesterday he has started to look a little ordinary after a very solid start.

[Ze Mario 638]

Am I the only one who thought he was poor yesterday? Just as bad as Ramires in my opinion.

he was my motm in that ugly match

[The Chels 2,502]

Agree that he absolutely needs somebody else alongside him, Ramires does not help matters at all.

Matic's pressing is very good when the rest of the team is pressing hard as well but sometimes he leaves huge gaps right down the middle of the pitch and he doesn't have much recovery pace.

I like a lot of what he has bought to the team but against Crystal Palace where he tired badly and turned the ball over a lot and yesterday he has started to look a little ordinary after a very solid start.

He's almost been embodying the team's problem: against Sunderland, Villa and Crystal Palace, the smaller sides, he was poor and gave the ball away too much; against the bigger sides he's been much better. His stamina does appear to be a problem though and he is only playing 1 game per week hmm... I'm worried about the Liverpool game too because their pace could cause him issues - in that sense a mobile CM who has great stamina seems like a good partner for Matic, but Ramires has to be the worst top-level CM of that mould you could think of!

[Henrique 9,133]

Am I the only one who thought he was poor yesterday? Just as bad as Ramires in my opinion.

I think it was on par with most of his performances for us, if the result was different, people would be here saying he is monster.

[Strike 7,489]

I think it was on par with most of his performances for us, if the result was different, people would be here saying he is monster.

no pal. most of the times he's been lot better

[Henrique 9,133]

no pal. most of the times he's been lot better

Thats up to your opinion. For me what was different yesterday was the result, and again that was a game when the team had to take the initiative and had a lot of ball possession, and as I said before, I believe Matic is not the ideal player for this kind of situation. You are fooling yourselves if you think its a question of who are playing alongside him.

I just have to remember you what people thought about Mikel until some time ago:

http://www.talkchelsea.net/_/articles/john-mikel-obi-the-keystone-r132

This is one of the most "liked" posts in this forum so far. Mikel never was the "keystone", he has always been a limited DM in many aspects, but he definitely is not useless, he can be useful in some ways.

Matic is now the new darling, the easiest path is to join the "he is a monster" behavior. Actually TC became a place for extreme opinions in recent times: a player is a monster, or a player is useless, a player is one of the best in the world, or a player is shit, thats one of the reasons you always find pathetic things like the ironic "lets sell him" every single time a forum member point a player is not playing that well, or the "lets sack him" every time someone say Mourinho got the tactics wrong.

[Strike 7,489]

Thats up to your opinion. For me what was different yesterday was the result, and again that was a game when the team had to take the initiative and had a lot of ball possession, and as I said before, I believe Matic is not the ideal player for this kind of situation. You are fooling yourselves if you think its a question of who are playing alongside him.

I just have to remember you what people thought about Mikel until some time ago:

http://www.talkchelsea.net/_/articles/john-mikel-obi-the-keystone-r132

This is one of the most "liked" posts in this forum so far. Mikel never was the "keystone", he has always been a limited DM in many aspects, but he definitely is not useless, he can be useful in some ways.

Matic is now the new darling, the easiest path is to join the "he is a monster" behavior. Actually TC became a place for extreme opinions in recent times: a player is a monster, or a player is useless, a player is one of the best in the world, or a player is shit, thats one of the reasons you always find pathetic things like the ironic "lets sell him" every single time a forum member point a player is not playing that well, or the "lets sack him" every time someone say Mourinho got the tactics wrong.

that is a really bad comparison apart from the bit about the forum treating matic as god.

Matic is better than mikel. he's better in a game where chelsea are counter attacking but i don't think he's that bad when chelsea are taking the initiative and trying to create openings plus Matic is a DM not a playmaker or a great box to box midfielder

[xPetrCechx 13,570]

"I can say that we gave our best, I saw after the game that every player was sad because of the result," Matic told Chelsea TV.

"We tried, we fought until the end for the result, until the last minute, and we were unlucky not to win. Everybody knew how important it was for us, this game, but that's football.

We must focus on winning the Champions League.

[Henrique 9,133]

that is a really bad comparison apart from the bit about the forum treating matic as god.

Matic is better than mikel. he's better in a game where chelsea are counter attacking but i don't think he's that bad when chelsea are taking the initiative and trying to create openings plus Matic is a DM not a playmaker or a great box to box midfielder

I'm not comparing Matic to Mikel in terms of quality, but just saying people overrated Mikel in the past, saying he was really good, while he was limited. Now people think Matic is football god, while he is not.

About the fact he is a DM, I don't agree with people who believe that a player must be DM to play as DM. Essien and Ballack, both played in that position, but they were not considered "pure" DM.

[The only place to be 11,313]

that is a really bad comparison apart from the bit about the forum treating matic as god.

Matic is better than mikel. he's better in a game where chelsea are counter attacking but i don't think he's that bad when chelsea are taking the initiative and trying to create openings plus Matic is a DM not a playmaker or a great box to box midfielder

A few people thought Mikel was great and would continually state his importance.

SeB was the main proponent of his, but he hasn't uttered a single word since Matic was signed. The rest of Mikel's defenders have shut up too and picked other 'favourite players' now.