United still to find killer instinct Mata
Manchester United midfielder Juan Mata admits his team must find their cutting edge after a frustrating start to the Premier League season.
United’s season-opening 4-0 demolition of Chelsea is already a distant memory after Saturday’s 1-1 draw against Southampton showed the flaws in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side.
Daniel James’s brilliant opener was cancelled out by Jannik Vestergaard at St Mary’s. Even Kevin Danso’s second-half dismissal for Southampton could not inspire United, who have just five points from their opening four matches.
United also blew the chance to win at Wolves when Paul Pogba missed a penalty in a 1-1 draw, which was followed by a shock 2-1 home loss to Crystal Palace.
“Two points dropped. I think we have to come to these kind of games and win and come back to Manchester with three points or the feeling is frustration and two points dropped again,” Mata said of the Southampton game.
“When you score the first goal and you have the ball and you seem that you are having the tempo of the game, you need to kill [it off] and score the second goal and then the game is more or less done.”
Those comments echoed Solskjaer’s complaints about United’s lack of killer instinct and Mata knows the team need to up their game.
“We started the season really well against Chelsea at home, winning 4-0, great second half, I would say and after that, at Wolves we felt we dropped two points,” the Spaniard said.
“We lost against Crystal Palace at home which we shouldn’t accept and it shouldn’t happen again, and today another two points dropped.
“We need to find this consistency and try to win and add three points after three points and that’s our main objective. I think we are deserving more in almost every game but deserving is not enough: you have to get it,” he said.
At the same time, Solskjaer said winger Daniel James’ instant impact in the Premier League is a result of his humility and hard work on the training ground and he is setting an example at the club for others to follow.
James, signed from Swansea City during the close season, opened the scoring in Saturday’s draw at Southampton when he cut into the box from the left and fired a rocket into the top corner that gave goalkeeper Angus Gunn no chance.
It was James’s third goal in four matches, making the Welshman United’s top scorer this season ahead of the more experienced forwards Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial who have two goals each.
“I think he’s an example for everyone,” Solskjaer told reporters. “He’s our top scorer and that comes from his personality, his habits.
“He’s humble, he works hard and he knows he can improve. He’s come in and made an impact ever since day one in training.
“He made a recovery run [against Southampton], won the ball, went forward... He knows he could have scored a few more and we’ll work with him to get his quality even higher.
Mata also praised the 21year-old James.
“[It was a] very good goal, a fantastic finish,” Mata said. “He’s a very hard-working player.
“He gave us a lot on the wing and even in the second half, when everyone was a bit tired, he was still sprinting and giving very dangerous crosses.”