Juan Mata’s exemplary numbers against Burnley suggest he may have been the wrong man to take off

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. In his place came the elbowy big man known as Marouane Fellaini who was presumably brought on to complement a change in tactics. 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. https://twitter.com/Squawka/status/792391368312258560 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. https://twitter.com/Ifynaija/status/792451174632939520 https://twitter.com/El_Abdullah88/status/792449477873459200 https://twitter.com/tonysmevs/status/792440791218155521 https://twitter.com/MarkHanna2/status/792438766027870208 https://twitter.com/themexicanlad/status/792436023775100934 https://twitter.com/Charlesdinoval2/status/792433370626154496 https://twitter.com/Carlos_Pulido11/status/792416850718011392 https://twitter.com/MarcusGhii/status/792415920023101440 https://twitter.com/PeterKeating2/status/792414589468246016 https://twitter.com/simproff/status/792412119107076097 https://twitter.com/Del_Rosso/status/792410412423712768 https://twitter.com/FlyingB0y/status/792408587758952448 Catch up with the latest episode of Football Friday Live