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When Nemanja Matic joined Manchester United from Chelsea, everyone knew United were getting the benefit of the deal. The Serbian wasted no time in making his presence felt at Old Trafford and immediately attained cult status among fans.
His timid nature and quietness were restricted to the sidelines alone, on the field, he was an experienced warrior who turned out to be one of the signings of the summer.
Unfortunately for him, United did not win any trophies in his first season, something that did not justify the value of a signing worth its weight in gold.
If there were any critics of Matic last season, they would be answered over the summer. Nemanja Matic returned from the World Cup carrying an injury that required emergency surgery, ruling him out of preseason and the start of the new Premier League campaign.
Any questions of his value to Manchester United was settled by their lackluster display in his absence. United was poor in the preseason, and even though they won the first game of the new Premier League season against Leicester, their vulnerabilities were exposed at the Amex Stadium.
Brighton tore them apart, highlighting the lack of steel in the middle of the park and sending United fans all over the world into depression. However, more than anything else, the loss exposed why United needed their unsung hero from last season back as soon as possible.
Nemanja Matic has resumed training, but the game against Brighton had arrived too soon for him. As such, here are four reasons why Manchester United will be hoping that their Serbian will be ready in time to face Tottenham Hotspurs on Monday night.
#4 Experience
Matic has played 159 Premier League games so far. Compare that with the current United midfield. Fred has just joined the Premier League and Pereira is a novice. Paul Pogba has played 62 games.
The main problem in the United midfield has been the lack of experience. With the retirement of Carrick, the United midfield has been deprived of Premier League know-how and it is up to the Serbian now to pull this midfield together.
Matic has consistently played over 30 games in each Premier League season since 2014/15. He has been involved massively in four Premier League seasons, winning two Premier League titles.
Sadly, United don't have such a wealth of experience in their ranks anymore. He is not a proven goalscorer from midfield, although he does have five goals and 17 assists in the Premier League in total, along with 115 shots, with 30 of them on target.
He is more sound defensively, and it is what United desperately need right now.
With Fred providing the fluidity and Pogba the panache in the midfield, it will be up to Matic to provide some conventional wisdom to complement and complete the United midfield. He will know when to press and when to withdraw, he will know when to hold on to the ball and when to unleash the wings.
Matic with his experience will be the one that makes the United team tick.
#3 His Passing Ability
Matic has a total of 9362 passes in the Premier League in total, averaging around 58.88 passes per match. He has 586 accurate long balls and has attempted 21 through balls as well.
Interestingly, last season, Matic played 2601 passes, the highest in the United team by a mile. His closest teammate on the list was Paul Pogba, who had 1721 passes. Matic registered the sixth most passes in the Premier League as well, and at the fifth position, with only 92 passes more, was Kevin De Bruyne.
Matic also had 3117 touches on the ball in 2017/18 Premier League season. Valencia with 2364 passes was closest to him at United. Once again, his stats put him sixth n the list of highest touches of the season. Valencia, at 19th, was the only other United player in the top 20.
United require someone with such passing ability to keep the midfield functional. Pereira has been doing a commendable job so far, but to be fair to the youngster, he has a long way to go and deputizing under Matic this season will do him a world of good.
With the presence of Matic, Fred, and Pogba, United will have that pillar to fall back upon and the source to initiate their attacking gameplay. Once Matic, with his passing masterclass, joins this United midfield, Manchester United will instantly look a lot better.
#2 Defensive Steel
Nemanja Matic has committed 180 fouls in the Premier League to date and has been yellow carded 27 times and red carded twice. He has 395 tackles in the Premier League in total, with a success rate of 72%.
He also has 284 interceptions, and 328 clearances. He has recovered the ball an astonishing 1230 times and has won 944 duels. In all his time in the Premier League, he committed just one error which led to a goal.
Last season, Matic had 64 interceptions, the highest in the United team. Ander Herrera with 34 was the closest to him from midfield. He was ninth in the whole of the Premier League in the number of interceptions. From the top six clubs, only Kante had more interceptions than him.
Matic registered 70 tackles last season, again the highest at United. Valencia, with 57, was the closest to him in the team. Matic conceded only 33 fouls last season, fewer than Kante (41), Fernandinho (41), Xhaka (57) and Bakayoko (50). If you leave the brilliant Kante aside, only Xhaka had more tackles than Matic, highlighting Matic’s stellar tackle success rate.
Matic also had 13 blocks last season, third in the United team behind Smalling and Jones and Herrera with six was the closest to him from the midfield. He also had 56 clearances, tied at sixth in the United team along with Bailly, behind the defenders, with only Pogba with 25 clearances coming close to him from the midfield.
Matic is the defensive steel United require in the middle and they need him to be ready in time to face Spurs because United will desperately need him on Monday night.
#1 Assured Presence
Matic adds a calmness to the middle of the park that flows through the team. Matic also knows how to win, he has won 100 of the 159 games he has played in the Premier League.
Last season, Matic had 36 appearances in the league. Only David De Gea with 37 appearances had featured in more games than the Serbian f the Red Devils. Matic played a total of 3119 minutes. Once again, De Gea with 3330 minutes was the only one in the team who played more than the Serbian.
Lukaku, with 2869 minutes was next on that list. Pogba, with 2151 minutes was the next midfielder on the list. It shows the importance of Matic in this team last season. Matic was the first name in the team sheet when fit, he is Mourinho’s midfield general and he was indispensable to the Manchester United team last season.
Unfortunately, the Serbian has been sidelined with an injury since the end of the World Cup and has missed all the preseason games and the first two Premier League games of the 2018/19 season.
Having to cope with his absence since preseason has been United’s biggest setback this season, and United are understandably desperate to have him back. They need his steel, his controlled aggression, his passing fluidity in the team, but more than anything else, they need his presence in the team.
United need Nemanja Matic back to be a team again and get their season running.
