Wanderers coach Stajcic calls Mata’s agent ‘cowardly’ after criticism

Western Sydney Wanderers coach Alen Stajcic has branded Juan Mata’s agent “cowardly” after the Spanish World Cup winner’s representative criticized his client for his lack of game time since joining the A-League side in October.

The 36-year-old midfielder has twice in five games since signing from Western Sydney as a free agent, prompting his spokesman Fahid Ben Khalfallah to describe the Wanderers’ treatment of Mata as “disrespectful”.

Stajcic attacked Ben Halfalla after Mata came on as a substitute for the Wanderers in Saturday’s 4-2 defeat to Sydney, which left the former champions languishing in 10th place in the 13-club A-League standings.

“His agent does not control the team,” Stajcic said.

“I don’t have to talk to agents when their players aren’t playing. Frankly, I think his comments were inappropriate. They were cowardly, and they were cowardly for a number of reasons.

“To be honest, I only spoke to him (Ben Khalfalla) two or three times in my life and he told me about how many of his players that he has in Australia have been mistreated by coaches.

“They were criticized and abused emotionally, physically, etc., and he never opened his mouth to defend his player, and his player in this case was on the bench, and that’s disrespectful. I think his comments were cowardly.”

“If he had had the courage, he would have stood up for his players even before last year when they were in the same positions they were around the world.”

Mata came off the bench in the 58th minute of the derby with the Wanderers trailing 3-1 and assisted Marcus Antonsson for his side’s second goal before Patrik Klimala sealed Sydney’s victory eight minutes from time.

“Juan came on and had some good chances,” Stajcic said.

“Obviously it was a tough game. He controlled the game a little. There were moments when he could have played a little better.”

“But at the moment he is an important player for us. There were times in the game when we needed him and he did good things. So it’s up to him to make a contribution when he goes on the field.”

“He did some good things today. So we want to have more of them.”