Nemanja Matić was one of the best players on the pitch when Chelsea finally ended Manchester City’s dominant home form with a gritty 1-0 on Monday Night Football. The Serbian put in a fantastic shift full of energy, power and steel. Chelsea’s midfield was key in their defeat of Man City with Ramires, Matić and Luiz dominating the usually amazing Sky Blue midfield. Couple this with Mourinho’s tactical ability when it comes grinding out good away day results and the perfect storm was created at the Etihad.
Mourinho decided to omit the usually top drawer Oscar from the Chelsea starting eleven and handed the reins over to Ramires, Luiz and Matić. All three of these players were vital in defeating the City midfield but the recently arrived Matić was the key man and was a worthy winner of the Man of the Match award. Starting the Serbian may have seemed like a gamble with this match being his first Premier start in his second spell for the club but it certainly paid off.
Serbian Superman
Matić was vital when it came to Chelsea defending their own box with a total of nine successful clearances against City. The Serbian international also won 75% of his tackles and 50% of his ground duels. Adding to this the former Benfica man won 75% of his aerial duels. Matić was a busy boy in terms of closing down and disrupting the City midfield and committed three fouls during the game – receiving a yellow card for his troubles. The central midfielder won possession back in his own defensive third on three occasions and did the same in the middle third of the pitch too. Matić was decent on the ball as well, with a 60% dribble success rate.
Matić was also important when it came to Chelsea keeping the ball and formulating attacks of their own. The Serbian completed 85% of his passes with 56% of those going forward and just 4% of those passes going backwards. The midfielder favoured both the left and the right equally with 19% of his passes going left and 22% going to the right.
Matić was completely accurate in his own half with a 100% pass completion rate in his own half. He also posted a very competitive pass success rate in the Man City half with a figure of 80%. Matić’s passing was also decent in the final third with a pass completion rate of 67% in the attacking third of the pitch.
The Chelsea central enforcer wasn’t particularly active in the shooting department with just the one shot taken against Man City goalkeeper Joe Hart. That one shot was off target but it did ping off the angle between crossbar and post with extreme power from over 30 yards out – Joe Hart was well beaten. Unfortunately this meant Matić posted a 0% shooting accuracy.
Tactical Display
Matić absolutely emphasised everything Mourinho wanted to do on Monday night by launching into a tackle every 22.5 minutes in a bid to break up play alongside the energetic Luiz and Ramires. Matić was active in the air too by jumping into an aerial duel every 20.17 minutes. Amazingly, Matić was involved in a ground duel every 5.63 minutes and was successful in a ground duel every 12.86 minutes.
The signing of Matić is an unbelievable signal of intent by Chelsea aimed at the rest of the league’s big boys. Arsenal especially, who signed nobody and probably have the weakest squad in the top three, should be afraid of Chelsea’s determination to overhaul them. This could be the signing that wins Chelsea another Premier League title, watch this space.
