A THREAD.
Against West Ham @GNev2 made a comment after 33 mins about Matic “seeming to take about a thousand touches every time he gets it”. Also plenty of people on Twitter have been critical of Matic’s performance, some of whom will have heard Gary’s comments.

When Gary said this, Matic had just taken 5 touches before passing. This is ONE incident though. This THREAD looks at the validity of Gary’s comment. Had Matic been taking too many touches on a regular basis up to that 33rd minute. Also, is there a reason he did on that occasion.

20 seconds in, Matic collects a loose ball with plenty of opponents around him, takes two touches to get into a position to pass. HAS to go back, too many opponents around him to take a risk.

Still in the first minute and this time he takes 4 touches before passing. He could only pass quickly to Pogba, everything else is too tight. It’s arguable that a quick pass could set the tone, but look how many players are drawn centrally. It leaves Fosuh with acres of space.

2 and a half minutes, one touch to steady and a quick pass to Bruno. Bruno immediately shifts it to Greenwood. It’s the type of passing that we’ve had some joy with recently in opening up defences, not on this occasion though.

This could get boring for some, so much of it so simple, but don’t forget, we are only checking if he takes too many touches. This is dead normal, the one touch he takes allows Lindelof to make at least ten metres up the park before he gives it him back.

He wants to get the attack going quickly but Maguire doesn’t give it to him. He then gives a first touch pass to Bruno and a quality third touch pass to Greenwood between players. His touches are necessary to open the angle up and Utd get into a dangerous position.

This is first of 4 passes he plays to Rashford in the half hour. Watch the outcomes. In the 6th minute a good line breaking pass puts Rashford into a dangerous position if he takes it under control. Please DON’T let Rashford’s stupidity detract from the quality of Matic’s pass.

30 seconds later Pogba has 2 on him. Matic can’t pass there. He takes 4 touches while making about 20 metres. There’s an opponent close to Rashford who comes in field to help block Matic’s run. That leaves Rashford space, then Matic passes. Quality play, the touches are necessary

In the photo the West Ham player who is right next to the ref was running much nearer to Rashford while Matic was running with the ball. Matic does the right thing. Only 30 seconds after Rashford let one through his legs he just boots this one up in the air. Check the last video

6 mins gone, if he gets it out of his feet quickly it might be on to Greenwood. The avenue is closed up by the time he looks that way. In front of him there are ONLY West Ham bodies. He goes left to Williams with his third touch, then with one touch. Can’t lose it cheaply though

Don’t forget this is all about holding it too long or not. Here his first pass he tries to squeeze through a small gap, and fails. No harm done, it comes straight back. PLUS it’s a second touch pass, then shortly after, a first touch pass.

This pauses as Matic receives and looks forward. In a tight space in front of him, 4 white shirts and 2 red. All 3 touches are necessary before passing to his only option, Williams. He supports Williams, gets it back, looks forward, but again Williams is the only genuine option.

Matic passes to Rashford just to get it back. He’s “lending it” to him as they say. Just by giving it and getting it, other avenues might open, players move. For the 3rd time in the first 8 minutes Rashford’s terribly sloppy from a Matic pass. Matic must be scratching his head.

Ninth minute and Matic takes 5 touches before passing. There’s perfectly sound reasoning though. He’s in the centre, they don’t want him going through the centre so they all close in. It leaves space on the flanks and a lovely ball puts Fosuh in a dangerous position.

12th minute. Pogba is the obvious pass. There’s space to run forward into though. It’s being over critical if you think he should pass this quicker. Nothing wrong with making 20 metres quickly, then passing to Pogba, who’s still in space, but now in their half instead of ours.

This might look like he should pass quicker. Look at the situation. The camera angle doesn’t help, imagine what Matic sees. Our back 4 and Matic and Pogba are in our half. He’s looking for a forward pass. In their half he will see 9 white shirts and 4 red.

In the last clip also bare in mind the only quick pass he had was Williams on the touch line, but when trying to break lines you are much better with the ball more centrally in the field. He’s looking forward all the time and only passes to lindelof when opponents approach him.

Matic to Bruno who tries a rash pass to Martial who is tightly marked. 2 other defenders are close to Martial who will quickly converge on him if he gets it. Far from playing too slowly, I’m sorry, but this shows lack of patience. Bruno should just play back to Matic.

Slow build up might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but if Martial happens to hit the top corner it would be a great goal all round. Matic carries forward, “lends it”to Rashford, looks forward, nothing is on, has to go back to Pogba. Gets it again and feeds a lovely ball to Martial

From very same the goal kick from Martial’s shot, West Ham try to play out. Matic intercepts and at the same time plays a lovely volleyed, FIRST TIME, pass to Bruno. Matic seems to be everywhere and involved in everything worthwhile to me.

I’m just over half way through a thread about @GNev saying on 33 minutes that Matic was taking too many touches every time. 18 mins in he’s played lots of 1, 2 and 3 touch passes so far. When he’s taken more touches there’s been a reason and not necessarily been a wrong decision.

I’ll continue this thread tomorrow to cover the last 15 mins leading up to Gary’s comments. Matic has been involved far too much to cover it all at once. 18 mins in, he’s played really well in my opinion. Only held on to the ball when necessary, or with good reason. C’MON UNITED

19th minute and so far, on the odd occasion he’s taken a few touches, it was not only acceptable but probably the correct decision. He passed at the right time. Here again, Utd probing for an opening and he passes 2nd touch.

Only a few seconds later he makes an interception with his body, but never quite gets it under control in order to pass. Should perhaps do a touch better here, but if this is one of his worst involvements, surely heavy criticism is over the top.

22nd minute he passes to Rashford on his 4th touch. Is it at the perfect moment though? Rashford’s just come off the line and into a pocket of space. Matic gives him a good ball and he goes on a run that on another day might develop into something.

There are right and wrong times to pass quickly. Here Matic could pass quickly to Greenwood. He’s marked and would probably only give it back to Matic anyway. It would still develop into something though, if only Pogba passed quicker to Fosuh. A definite moment to pass quickly.

27th min, 2 fourth touch passes and a fifth touch pass sounds slow. Maybe it is. But is it right or wrong? West Ham have massed behind the ball and surely it’s about the right ball ? He eventually gets Rashford into a great position, but it’s taken off him like candy off a baby.

27th min still, Matic plays a quality first touch pass to Martial’s feet. Great turn and pass by Martial, Bruno takes a silly shot with his weaker foot. Rashford’s in oceans of space to his left, he should definitely use him. Bruno puts an apologetic arm to Rashford afterwards.

This would be a fantastic moment for Utd. Bruno could easily slide it past the full back and Rashford could be in full flow and inside the box when taking his first touch. Disgraceful by Bruno. In so many of these clips Matic seems to do really well, only to be let down by others

28th min and a beautifully weighted, 2nd touch pass in to Bruno. It’s a tight area of play with midfielders coming back at Bruno and defenders not far behind. Both he, and Matic, know that if his touch is perfect and he passes instantly, it could be a dangerous moment.

After we lose it there, around half way we have a terrible 5 minutes leading up to Gary’s comment. They break from there and maybe should get a corner. We get the goal kick and then they press us really well. We can’t get out. Plus, when they win it back, they turn into Brazil.

They get a free kick via Fosuh then knock the ball all around the field for a full 60 seconds. It finishes with Bowen about to have a shot and Matic (coincidently) steps in to block. They get a corner and the pressure continues.

From the corner they head it wide for a dead ball. They press us again and win it back very quickly. With the aid of 3 deflected passes they keep it virtually another minute. This time 57 seconds. For 5 mins leading up to Gary’s comments, we hardly get a kick. Chasing shadows.

After a 57 second passing move they misplace one that goes for throw. Only a minute earlier they’d kept it for a minute. I’m sure Matic is aware that we need to get a foot on the ball, to get some control of the game. The last thing he will do is play a risky pass at this moment.

Less than a minute later and the “thousand” touches comment. First he plays a 2 touch pass, then gets it again. The first thing he does is glance forward. There’s a time to play quickly, this isn’t it, there’s nothing worthwhile on.

Then he could use Williams, but Bowen is closing in on him, as is Rashford’s man on him. He decides against it and turns back in field. It’s too risky to try it to Pogba and he goes back to Maguire. It would be great if worthwhile quick passes were on, but they’re not.