Nemanja Matic

[robsblubot 3,595]

3 hours ago, Blue-in-me-Veins said:

Both Mikel and Chalobah cannot, I repeat, cannot, be as horrendous as Matic. I refuse to believe either player has the ability to make our midfield even worse than it is, than when Matic is playing. 

Said it in the summer aswell, the club should have let Matic fuck off to Juventus.  

that's the problem with the grass is always greener... it's a causation that is simply not there. Same thing happened just this week with Fabregas...

Honestly, there is an ageless saying in football that when a team has bad results, the best players are always the ones who did not play. Because in the mind of the supporters, this or that player "couldn't possibly done any worse than X." Did you not see how well Oscar did against Arsenal?!

Note that "not done any worse" is also not good enough... we need players who would do VASTLY better than the ones currently playing... including Matic.

 

[LAM09 7,043]

I have no idea what his role is in the first XI. Does almost nothing on either side of the ball.

[Blue-in-me-Veins 4,067]

1 minute ago, Robguima said:

that's the problem with the grass is always greener... it's a causation that is simply not there. Same thing happened just this week with Fabregas...

Honestly, there is an ageless saying in football that when a team has bad results, the best players are always the ones who did not play. Because in the mind of the supporters, this or that player "couldn't possibly done any worse than X."

Note that "not done any worse" is also not good enough... we need players who would do VASTLY better than the ones currently playing... including Matic.

 

 

To be fair, your probably right. Every unseen/untried combination of players on the pitch ultimately becomes the solution to all our problems. 

Ivan/Cahill/Matic/Oscar/Willian.... seeing these guys play week in week out is just... it's just so depressing man. 

And seeing the board place so much trust in those players like their prime Drogba/Lampard/A. Cole/JT is just mind-boggling. 

[Beepu 1,714]

That City game where he dominated the midfield seemed like ages ago.....

[Beigl 1,387]

The thing that makes me cringe about him is his slow backtracking like he doesn´t even care. As midfielder he should have a good stamina to go up and down the pitch in a decent pace, but look at the game yesterday he basically strolled back when Arsenal hit us on the counter, leaving Kante and our horrendous defence sometimes even outnumbered against their pacey players. Even a 34 year old Lampard would look like Ramires next to him when it comes to energy. I don´t know why Conte wants him to be his number 8, because he clearly isn´t athletic enough to fill this role, not to mention his obvious lack of technique going forward. I think he could have done a job in a double pivot next to Kante, but as I said he is clearly useless at attacking and playmaking. I mean even Oscar would have been better yesterday, as the Brazilian has much more energy and atleast knows how to press opponents. 

[CHOULO19 24,332]

The problem is not in him alone neither does replacing him even with the best box-to-box midfielder in the world solve our issues.

That said, I am just SICK of watching Matic take 3 touches and a full 5 seconds in the middle of our transitioning, only to choose the wrong pass and then even misplace that! 

[The Skipper 20,609]

The only position for him is as an anchor man DM imo. 

[Topico 165]

11 hours ago, Beepu said:

That City game where he dominated the midfield seemed like ages ago.....

It was 2,5 year ago...

[communicate 2,703]

6 hours ago, CHOULO19 said:

The problem is not in him alone neither does replacing him even with the best box-to-box midfielder in the world solve our issues.

That said, I am just SICK of watching Matic take 3 touches and a full 5 seconds in the middle of our transitioning, only to choose the wrong pass and then even misplace that! 

I still don't get his role in Conte's tactic. I thought he played there to protect Hazard but not sure that is the case.

He is not a box to box mid but he is playing position where a box to box quality is required, so is it his fault or the managers fault

 

[LDN Blue 7,903]

By far the most retarded player on the pitch yesterday, what the fuck is he still doing in the team.

[The Skipper 20,609]

@CHOULO19 how would you describe the role Marchisio had under Conte in the midfield three? Similar to this?

[CHOULO19 24,332]

2 hours ago, communicate said:

I still don't get his role in Conte's tactic. I thought he played there to protect Hazard but not sure that is the case.

He is not a box to box mid but he is playing position where a box to box quality is required, so is it his fault or the managers fault

I think I get what Conte wants and that is a central midfielder on either side of Kante to cover for either winger and to funnel opposition towards Kante. 

But Matic does not have the pace to press or to cover for Hazard nor does he have the technical ability to aid in attack. 

 

1 hour ago, LDN Blue said:

By far the most retarded player on the pitch yesterday, what the fuck is he still doing in the team.

Who are you? I've never seen you this upset before!

[LDN Blue 7,903]

5 minutes ago, CHOULO19 said:

Who are you? I've never seen you this upset before!

 it's truly become infuriating! They need to at least give a f*ck if they're going to be this shit.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

1 minute ago, The Skipper said:

@CHOULO19 how would you describe the role Marchisio had under Conte in the midfield three? Similar to this?

No, no. Not even remotely. I really hope that that is not what Conte wants from Matic because I have never seen more contrast between two players in the same position that Matic and Marchisio. Marchisio lacks physical strength (and can be very moody) but he has one of the best techniques on the ball I have ever seen. Juve fans say he is unable to score an ugly goal.

In terms of the role I don't see many similarities as the systems and even tactics are completely different here. The defensive objective at Juve was to protect Pirlo in the middle while here it seems more to protect the wings and push play inside. On the attack at Juve the emphasis was on diagonal passes to the wing backs and runners into the box while here it's....frankly I still don't know what Conte wants but we seem to be focusing on runs from Eden and his link up with Diego from the left and Iva overloading on the right.

Does that answer your question? Probably not, but what can you do

 

9 minutes ago, LDN Blue said:

 it's truly become infuriating! They need to at least give a f*ck if they're going to be this shit.

It is, especially when Conte refuses not just to bench but even to just sub him off. Even when he switched to 3-5-2 he still took of Cesc and kept him on. I really can't understand what role Conte sees Matic is contributing... 

[LDN Blue 7,903]

1 minute ago, CHOULO19 said:

It is, especially when Conte refuses not just to bench but even to just sub him off. Even when he switched to 3-5-2 he still took of Cesc and kept him on. I really can't understand what role Conte sees Matic is contributing... 

Like I understand there was desire to keep hold of him through the Juventus rumours and it is apparently true that he did fancy a new challenge. But if that's the reason he's in the starting XI, to keep him happy, then it's ridiculous. I can't see what he's adding, Kante's covering the defensive work. Matic is static, he's inept going forward and his running style leaves a lot of questions. He looks awkward when he goes forward, posture reminds me something more along the lines of Jordan Henderson. And you know if you're compared to Henderson how bad one is