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Matic analysis against West Ham and why his criticism is unjustified
I'm seeing alot of people criticizing Matic about his performance against West Ham and how he takes so many touches and slows our play down. I'm going to breakdown why he was one of our better players against West Ham and why he's our most important player.
Matic against West Ham had a steady game. He got on the ball alot and made a couple crucial blocks and covered Williams who was struggling alot. He had a pass accuracy of 91.7% highest in the team and had the most touches and most blocks.
The left side didn't complement Matic because when he would give it wide Williams is naturally right footed which meant every time he came inside the ball went straight back to Matic. He also got the ball to Rashford countless times who was so wasteful on the ball.
Matic takes alot of touches to give himself the best option. Most of the touches leads to simple passes, however it allows him to play the passes in between the line with way more disguise as the opponents won't expect it.
We already have so many players who are wasteful in possession so I actually like Matic taking his time on the ball. It allows him to pick the best pass which often benefit our forward players.
Matic off the ball work is another thing that always gets overlooked. His positioning and ability to sense danger is second to none. He's always covering for players who are out of position. We look a way better defensive side with him in the side.
Matic is a holding midfielder. His job is to shield the back four and set the tempo of the game. The last few games our more creative players Pogba and Bruno have been poor. That's not on Matic he did his job relatively well against West Ham yet he got alot of the blame.
Whenever Matic has an off day his performance is often exaggerated to another level. People will solely blame him for other players looking poor. Matic will always be the fall guy and that's the sad reality.
Lastly the reason why were even in the conversation for top four is because of Matic. His protection and composure on the ball has helped our whole team. The balance he gives us makes him our most important player.
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