Nemanja Matic's brilliance vs Sheffield United explained
The 31-year-old scored no goal, made no assist, lunged in no scoreline-saving tackle but nonetheless, he produced a highly acclaimed performance based upon simplicity. Basically, he was Nemanja Matic at his finest.
If you read about Nemanja's strengths on WhoScored, it gives you a slim list:
- Aerial duels
- Passing
- Blocking the ball
This might seem inadequate for a seasoned midfielder of a top team but that's exactly what Man United need.
The Serbian didn't have to rely on his aerial prowess against Sheffield, a physical team on the whole but timid on the day. But he excelled at the other two components.
Matic didn't hesitate to launch a long ball forward accurately picking out Bruno Fernandes and cutting off half the opposition.
He was nimble with his feet in tight spaces, too. In one episode he beat three opponents and dinked the ball to Bruno on United's half thus starting an attack.
There was also another moment of ingenuity from our midfield general. Here he could easily give it to Marcus Rashford or Luke Shaw and yet he found Bruno with a slashing pass that left two opponents helplessly craning their necks.
This move allowed United to attack centrally, an issue we'd encountered in the Spurs draw.
Matic was also commanding his teammates telling them to shift positions. Here he signals to Aaron Wan-Bissaka to drift wide while he sets another attack in the opposite direction. Now United have more width going forward.
Defensive duties were on offer, too. Crunching tackles aren't Matic's style as he prefers smart positioning to physical involvement. Chris Basham is preparing his strike from outside the box but a split second later the towering Serbian blocks his view out completely defusing the situation.
Speaking of Nemanja's positioning, he was our deep-lying playmaker and at times, he was the closest player to David De Gea.
Matic's penetrating passing of high accuracy (96%) and intelligent reading of the game helped Pogba and Bruno thrive higher up. The two chief creators felt a shield-like presence behind them and could focus on their thing.
A composed outing for the Serbian that should boost Ole's confidence in his selection for the key part of the season and also push our younger players forward.
Comments
He does everything even when it seems like he's not doing anything. Top class!
Matic is my guy! Thanks for the analysis