Mata’s licence to roam proves he can play central Old Trafford role

Mourinho has work to do to create a title-winning team but the Spaniard is already the finished article

With 10 minutes left of this latest edition of the Premier League’s most sustained rivalry, Old Trafford shook with applause. The fourth official had just held up his board to indicate that Manchester United’s No 8 was to be replaced.

As the crowd rose as one to acknowledge Juan Mata, the Spaniard embraced a couple of his colleagues, exchanged high fives with a couple more and waved to each corner of the ground. This was less a substitution than a celebratory ovation, an acknowledgement not just of a characteristically astute goal by the Spaniard, but of an all-round personal contribution that seemed, as he made his way to the bench, to have secured three points.

As it turned out, it was not to be. A leaden-footed Arsenal were rescued from what appeared certain defeat by a magnificent thump from the forehead of their substitute Olivier Giroud. It was their one and only effort on target. Since defensive headers are not a celebrated part of his skill set, it is unlikely Mata would have been able to prevent the Frenchman’s steamroller of an equaliser.

Yet the fact the Arsenal goal came after he had left the field was somehow symbolic. Because everything good, progressive and threatening about a United performance which had largely quelled the visitors centred on the Spaniard. For a man who could never be described as big, this was the most sizeable of contributions.

Mata, Boris Johnson would no doubt insist, was titanic.

Mind, it helped where he was playing. For the first time this season, Jose Mourinho fielded a front six the sight of which United fans had long craved. It featured Michael Carrick as a deep-lying midfielder, there to tidy up, prompt and spread calm. Alongside him was the tireless scurrier Ander Herrera, busy, effective, urgent.

With those two taking the defensive duties it meant Paul Pogba could be released further forward. Although not yet anywhere near his rampaging best, he was at least – and at last – in a place where he might do damage.

And with Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford in the attack, it meant the option was available of playing long balls to get in behind the Arsenal defence, a tactic not of much use when Wayne Rooney and Zlatan Ibrahimovic are lumbering around up front.

But most of all, with Mata freed of the responsibility of playing on the wing, the system provided him with the licence to roam. And how he took it. Deft of touch, precise of pass, always looking to progress the ball quickly, Mata span around the pitch, cropping up everywhere. No longer peripheral, he embraced responsibility. When United lost possession, he worked like a dervish, closing and pressing, doing everything he could to regain the ball. At one point he even dispossessed Francis Coquelin. Which is not a sight many would have imagined witnessing as they made their way to Old Trafford.

He was, though, at his best when he had a sight of the goal. In the first half, the touch which took him past Shkodran Mustafi and bought him an acre of space was matched in its exquisite execution only by the shot he unleashed as he advanced into the Arsenal penalty area. It appeared perfect, heading hard and low for the corner of the goal.

But Petr Cech unleashed his arm to steer it round the post. It was reckoned when he was signed from Chelsea that Cech could be worth ten points a season for Arsenal. With that one save came pertinent suggestion

The system provided Mata with the licence to roam. And how he took it. He embraced responsibility

that figure might be an underestimate.

But Mata remembered how he had hit that strike. And, midway through the second half, after good work by Pogba, Herrera’s cute cutback found his countryman lurking on the edge of the area. The technique required to drill the ball beyond even Cech’s telescopic reach was exceptional. It was a corker of a goal, his third in the Premier League this season and one he celebrated with relish, running to the Stretford End to be submerged in the excited rush. Naturally in this era of killjoy officiating, it was an action deemed sufficiently subversive to warrant a yellow card.

It was a moment of enthusiasm that few had envisaged when Mourinho was first appointed manager at Old Trafford. The man who had sold him when at Chelsea was expected soon to usher him out the door. Instead, Mata has, as the season has progressed, become ever more integral, essential, vital to the United effort. Mourinho may still have a way to go to construct a side which is properly to contest the title. He will need better finishers, a more secure centre back pairing, another left back. But with Mata in this sort of form he can comfort himself that one constituent of a proper team is already in place.