Jean-Philippe Mateta is currently at the Olympics with France and after a 3-0 opening game win, French media have reacted.
As the entire Crystal Palace squad gear up for the US Tour, Jean-Philippe Mateta is instead in Paris at the Olympics playing under Thierry Henry’s management.
This will be frustrating for Oliver Glasner, who would have much rather had his star striker at Copers Cope preparing for the coming season.
But this isn’t how things are going and now Mateta has made his first appearance at the Olympics as France won 3-0. On the scoresheet was Michael Olise, weeks after his move to Bayern Munich, showing us all why he’ll be missed.
Here is exactly how the French media responded to his performance which wasn’t as impressive as his warm-up outing vs Paraguay.
How French media have responded to Mateta’s performance
Mateta started France’s opening game of the tournament and failed to impress while doing so.
France might’ve run out 3-0 winners over the USA but French media were far from convinced about Mateta’s performance.
Maxi Foot gave the Palace No.14 a match rating of just 3.5 and explained: “A disappointing performance for the forward of the French Olympic team. In a collectively complicated match, the Crystal Palace player was too easily cut off from the ball by losing the majority of his duels to American defenders. Very discreet, he did not weigh enough on the debates with only an unframed distant shot to take action before half-time.”
Another French outlet Ouest also slammed Mateta with a 3/10 match rating: “A difficult match for the Crystal Palace striker. A single ball hit after thirty minutes of play, two created far-fetched opportunities, a difficult connection with his attacking partners and above all a lot of technical waste.”
Finally, English-speaking French outlet GFFN gave him a 4/10 rating and wrote: “The Crystal Palace striker was living off scraps throughout the game. He struggled with an in-possession shape that rarely found a pass into his feet and it was hardly surprising that he could not provide a bigger impact on the match.”
From the sounds of things, it’s more an issue with Mateta not fitting into Henry’s system, at least not against the USA, rather than him struggling in general.
Mateta’s stats vs USA tell the full story
Against the USA in Paris, Mateta lasted until the 71st minute before he was withdrawn having made a grand total of seven touches.
One touch every 10 minutes or so shows that he really didn’t have a chance of impressing given he couldn’t get on the ball.
Mateta has two shots on goal with none hitting the target, was offside once and was dispossessed once.
The Frenchman was more impactful off the ball, with one clearance, two defensive actions and a duel won for his country.
He looked a million miles from the Mateta we’ve come to adore at Selhurst Park, let’s hope he finds his feet next time out for France.
