Juan Mata is far too nice a fella to kick a water bottle in the direction of the dugout, but surely even he must have been a little bit pissed off when he saw the number 8 flash up on the fourth official’s board on Saturday.
With roughly 20 minutes to play and Burnley firmly under the cosh, Jose Mourinho made the decision to remove Mata from the fray.
On in his place came the elbowy big man known as Marouane Fellaini, who was presumably introduced to complement a change in tactics after Ander Herrera was sent off.
But when you take a look at Mata’s statistics from the game, it makes Mourinho’s call to withdraw him all the more baffling.
Seemingly, Mata had been enjoying the perfect game and hadn’t put a foot wrong for the 70 minutes.
Juan Mata's game by numbers vs. Burnley:
100% pass accuracy
100% take-ons
100% tackles won
50 passes
7 chances created
6 shots pic.twitter.com/gOl9gL8MPt— Squawka (@Squawka) October 29, 2016
He was quite literally the focal point of everything good about United’s play but it wasn’t enough for ‘The Special One’ who felt the need to change things up.
It’s safe to say that Fellaini didn’t enjoy as flawless a game as Mata because the Spaniard’s numbers were almost unbeatable.
And the strange call did not go unnoticed by United supporters who were rolling their eyes at the most recent sighting of the ginger afro.
Mata's sub baffled me. He was running the show when Mourinho pulled him out for Fellaini.
— Aiby (@Ifynaija) October 29, 2016
https://twitter.com/El_Abdullah88/status/792449477873459200
https://twitter.com/tonysmevs/status/792440791218155521
https://twitter.com/MarkHanna2/status/792438766027870208
Mourinho shocked me today when he took Mata off and brought FELLAINI on. One was our best performer and the other's a tree
— Hussein (@themexicanlad) October 29, 2016
@ManUtd why sub @juanmata8 for fellaini? #mata was the best united creative player bt far to day @MourihnosUnited fail fail
— Charlesdinovalentino (@Charlesdinoval2) October 29, 2016
https://twitter.com/Carlos_Pulido11/status/792416850718011392
Can we all be truthful and admit the fact that mou has improved United a lot.. He just makes silly mistakes..eg Mata out…Fellaini in
— PAPI GABBY¶🇳🇬🇳🇬 (@Blaqqmarcus) October 29, 2016
Don't want to badmouth #mourihno already but the substitutions were a bit baffling, particularly #Mata for #Fellaini. Harsh red too #mufc
— Peter Keating (@PeterKeating2) October 29, 2016
#Fellaini had no business in the game, I don't understand #Mourinho 's tactical ingenuity anymore,had no reason to take #mata off #MUFC
— ƐĿ мαяqυιηє (@simproff) October 29, 2016
That craziest thing about todays game was Mata coming off for Fellaini. Mata's stats where brilliant.
— David Ross (@Del_Rosso) October 29, 2016
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