Nemanja Matic

[kellzfresh 7,229]

Article on matic

Nemanja Matić was known as The Spider in Benfica. His extraordinary frame and defensive acumen appeared to give him eight limbs as he broke up play with ease and became a dominant figure in Benfica’s midfield. Matić was starting his first game for Chelsea in arguably the toughest location in the country against the media’s darling Yaya Touré. There is no doubt that since Chelsea’s decline in power Touré’s form against us has been a telling factor in each match. We have seen him run over our midfield and outmuscle us frequently. On Monday night Nemanja Matić changed that.

Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher were almost in disbelief as they viewed clip after clip of Matić bullying Touré. Yes, Touré still triumphed in a few battles but the war was unequivocally won by the Serbian. His power, reading of the game, tackling and drive with the ball rendered City’s powerhouse almost obsolete after an early settling in period. Matić showed he is capable of quickly regaining possession and pinging passes forward quickly and it was a welcome change of pace to both Ramires and Obi Mikel.

The fact that Matić played this well in such a competitive fixture so early into this return at the club is encouraging. Perhaps even more pleasing is that he has dispelled this myth that he is purely a holding midfielder with one performance. Matić is part of a new breed of central midfielders who are equally capable of defending and attacking, whilst playing an integral part in tactical shape. At £21m he represents an absolute steal and could prove pivotal in our title run-in. He was not content to sit and simply screen his back four – instead he decided to drive with the ball and press high into City’s half when the opportunity arose.

What impressed me most about his performance was his decision making. It is such an underrated facet of play and when combined with someone as physically imposing at Matić is hard to deal with. His decisions regarding when to press, when to hold, when to dribble, when to pass and when to simply clear were almost always right. They are such simple concepts that so many footballers overcomplicate regularly. He already appears to provide that technically excellent physical edge that we have missed since Ballack’s departure.

A few examples of Matić’s decision making:

Matic makes a perfect attacking choice to step into the space before unleashing a hellish strike.

These next clips come from @cfc_92’s Matić compilation, which is an excellent view of his performance:

Matic expertly powers past Touré to drive Chelsea forward.

[pinela_SLB 39]

Let me just get back to the beginning of my first post at talkchelsea!

I'm new around here, and just want to let you know that YOUR TEAM STOLE US! As a Benfica fan i'm felling raped after this deal! xD (...)

I guess now there are much more people convinced that i wasn't kidding! Matic was really a bargain and he his just proving at a higher level what i always knew, he's top-3 in the world in his position for the last 1,5 years.

Anyway, i don't think you've seen the best Matic yet, the game against City was good but not the best for him. Playing side by side with David Luiz doesn't uses his best characteristics, which you'll see when he plays alone in front of the defense and Ramires-Oscar in front of him. Maybe today we can see Chelsea playing like that, which i believe is the best tactic for the team.

[Thendo 1,088]

Like a boss.

The serbian James Bond?

[Mário César 975]

oh god. what a player.

[Peppen 934]

Has been brilliant so far, a few mistakes but absolutely brilliant!

[5354 204]

his commitment to the team is great.

just saw him losing the ball but he was good in attempting to recover poession quickly

[Gilvorak 3,734]

It's perhaps even insulting to label him a Defensive midfielder on his showing for us so far. He could probably play #10 if needed.

Mikel isn't as bad as everyone claims IMO but Matic is like 2/3 levels better.

Lost count of the amount of challenges he won tonight.

[Despiadado.Maleante 1,046]

10 tackles

[robsblubot 3,502]

It's perhaps even insulting to label him a Defensive midfielder on his showing for us so far. He could probably play #10 if needed.

Mikel isn't as bad as everyone claims IMO but Matic is like 2/3 levels better.

Lost count of the amount of challenges he won tonight.

Understand where you are coming from, but you've just said Mikel is just as bad... We never said Mikel should not play football for example; just that Chelsea could/should do better than him in that position.

And I agree he's just as comfortable as a deep lying CM or even moving ahead. He's a lot better than Fellaini for the same price - bargain!

[Sir Mikel OBE 4,919]

Cant believe we ever sold this guy.

Amazing footballer.

[BlueLyon 9,359]

This guy will be our most important player behind the cover. No one will realy see it, but the difference will be there. Same like Makelele.

Class player, his ball control for a 190cm tall DM is amazing. Once he settles in and gets used to league, he will be midfield general.

[Barbara 15,149]

This man is impressive.

He didn't have a match nearly as good as he did against City and still he's bossed the midfield yet again.

There were a couple of silly mistakes - but not only every player is entitled to have those, but this is a new guy, in a new and very physical league.

The way he just out-powers players with his size and strength is a pleasure to watch. He passes by them as if they were nothing, he has a great vision for a DM (or even in general), good pass. He's started some of good chances today (I remember twice, but I'll rewatch the match later and confirm it).

Amazing, amazing signing.

Damn it, we're so close of having the perfect squad. Make it happen, Mou!!!!

[Sheva. 5,373]

He was sloppy today, lost a few routine tackles and got caught on the ball 2 or 3 times.

But he still had a good game, he will only get better as he adapts more to the team.

[Jase 43,479]

Another good performance from him. A bit sloppy in possession at times but made challenges and won back the ball whenever the situation calls for it. And the plus point from Matic is that, he can also drive forward with the ball and play forward passes with the attacking players ahead of him, which speeds up our attacking play and give a little bit more variation or unpredictability, if you like, to our attacks. And like Mourinho said recently, he's a spider. He's everywhere!

[BleedsBlue 1,549]

Matic being left footed gives us great balance. His strength and vision is simply amazing.

[The Skipper 20,593]

Cant believe we ever sold this guy.

Amazing footballer.

If we didn't sell him, he wouldn't have ever got this good.

[kellzfresh 7,229]

So many tackles!!

This guy is a very intelligent footballer. He just knows how to cover up defensively for his teammates (especially hazard), knows when to get forward, releases the ball quickly.

Reminds me so much of javi martinez its ridiculous.

[Rekin 835]

If stats are to be believed (and they are, in this case), Nemanja Matic had an even better game today than against Man City.

Being a large fan of WhoScored I usually follow their numbers, and today Matic was the second best player on the pitch, securing a rating of 8,67 (Hazard had 8,9). He ended the game with 10 tackles, 2 interceptions, 5 effective clearances and winning 4 aerial duels.
What you might have missed if you only checked the figures after the game is that he acquired most of those stats in the first half (8/10 tackles came there), which was the period in which we practically killed the game.

It is really something when a DM gets this kind of ratings, Matic got 8,67 in this and 8,48 against City. For comparison, neither Mikel nor Lampard has gotten those numbers in any appearance during the whole season. Ramires has achieved it only once, while scoring twice against Bucarest (got 8,92 then).

That in combination with the fact that he has only started twice in the premier league just makes him come off completely awesome.

Oh, he also got 7,8 against Stoke.