Oscar

[AndersonBLUE 819]

This guy runs a lot but it is more like a headless chicken than doing anything. Ball just gets played around him a lot of the time. Even Burnley can do it.

[zolayes 14,489]

This guy runs a lot but it is more like a headless chicken than doing anything. Ball just gets played around him a lot of the time. Even Burnley can do it.

you couldnt be more wrong .. he is one of our more intelligent players.

[Polo7 3,496]

Dumb posted and dumber likes, now we dumbest to complete the cycle.

You the same guy who said kagawa is better than mata. Enough said.

[sherry33 234]

You the same guy who said kagawa is better than mata. Enough said.

Well they both play for the same team

[Barbara 15,149]

people fail to recognize/understand that it's better to have two hybrids players than a pure #10 and a pure #8: we have better coverage with a #10 that can play like a #8 and we have the surprise/dangerous element with a #8 that can play #10. In an unexpected situation, Oscar can recover the ball for us as he did for Costa's goal and Cesc can come and give passes like the ones he gave to Schurrle and Iva. The chemistry, the complementing and complimenting makes it harder for the opposition to figure us out. We have a morphing midfield - just the way I love - where players have more than one role and responsibility. It feels like instead of a line of players simply moving forward or backward we have a bunch of players that move circularly up and down, I don't know how to explain in English properly but imagine a fixed lined moving up and down the pitch, you identify the position each player plays and you move your own to mark, attack, stop them.

Now if those players are exchanging not only positions but roles all the time the movement isn't only vertical, but horizontal and circular as well so instead of the same targets being in their expected positions you have them interchanging and moving towards you as if a triangle had come to life. That's much harder to mark and pass by than a fixed line.

Oscar can and hopefully will improve his offensive contribution and passing in general. Cesc hasn't disappointed me at all with his tackling, quite the opposite, he's working his socks off on and off the ball, Matic is a very complete #6 with technical quality to come ahead and contribute too. If they were ever so fixed as the traditional #6, #8 and #10 - given that none of them is that fast (all of them lack some relevant amount of pace, although they can sprint sometimes), the exchanging is not only a differential, but nearly a need. If they're isolated in their initial position, being a bit slower than we would have wanted, we'd have problems when we're dispossessed, as they're covering one another all the time, one will always be somewhere he wasn't two seconds ago to confuse the opposition.

I do think we need to drill those exchanges better (as I said, I thought Iva was a bit exposed against Burnley), but chemistry comes with time, I'm not worried at all.

[Sidzeret 2,257]

This guy runs a lot but it is more like a headless chicken than doing anything. Ball just gets played around him a lot of the time. Even Burnley can do it.

Sorry, mate. I don't know how you got Oscar confused for Rami from the latter half of last season. Oscar provides stability and fluidity in the midfield with his work rate and is almost the link between defense and attack most of the time by him dropping deep. Not to mention all the tackles and interceptions. I reckon Jose can bring the best out of both Fabreags and Oscar with that set-up. Ridiculous, that headless chicken comment.

[Special Juan 27,099]

Dumb posted and dumber likes, now we dumbest to complete the cycle.

Leave it out will you. I know you are probably trying your hardest to fit into the most controversial category but you really do need to calm down at times.

Simple advice for you, take it please.

[Chelsea? 892]

I think people look on Oscar from wrong angle. He might look like #10 and be positioned there on tactical board before games, but once the game actualy starts, everything he does is what #8 would do. Tracks around the whole midfield, make quick passes, create space and drag players on himself, so that others have more options in attack. Even does fair share of tackles and interceptions aswell. But people cant get over that tactical board before game and still think Oscar is #10. And obviously, because that is not his role atm anymore, he wont score or assist, make dribbles in attack etc, and people will be dissapointed.

From tactical angle, Oscar had nearly perfect game vs Burnley, he was amazing #8. But if you judge him as #10, he had awfull game. But thing is, that wasnt his role in quite a few games recently, however people cant get over that.

In conclusion, Oscar has potential and talent to do alot more at #10, but that is not his role atm. I would prefer a bit more powerful and faster #8, ala Essien (if he existed), but Oscar as #8 wasnt bad either considering he switched positions alot with Cesc, he worked for others, to make play as fluid as possible.

I dont think Oscar will ever be that real #10 tbh, but the main question is if he can raise the form and then keep it wherever he plays for us in this season.

But A number 8's role isn't to pass the ball backwards and get out the way offensively. People aren't judging his poor performance because he played poorly as a 10. He played poorly period. I've never seen a guy play like Oscar has done and stayed in ANY team's starting 11. I think his role in this team fits him perfectly. I can't see any other coach in the world that would value Oscar more than Jose. He just needs to get back to being productive like he was early last year.

[Chelsea? 892]

In our system, the #10 is mostly going to be Willian or Oscar, someone who works hard and puts defensive work in that allows Fabergas to go forward more. I am fine with that.

so why not just put Cesc forward and play another DM? Oscars role isn't to just be a placeholder for Cesc. Have you forgotten he can actually be productive offensively too?

[Chelsea? 892]

This guy runs a lot but it is more like a headless chicken than doing anything. Ball just gets played around him a lot of the time. Even Burnley can do it.

hahaha. even as a guy that isn't happy with Oscar form for chelsea since Mata left, I found that to be too much.

Considering Oscar's game style, playing against a parked bus is probably not gonna show case his talents. He wants to run around, defend and play on the counter. He loves space and Burnley was never gonna give any of that. So maybe against teams that open up a bit, he will play to his full potential. Look at all of Oscar's high moments at Chelsea; they were mostly during Counter like situations.

[Dion 2,476]

so why not just put Cesc forward and play another DM? Oscars role isn't to just be a placeholder for Cesc. Have you forgotten he can actually be productive offensively too?

Because Cesc plays better and impacts the game way more from deep. I've always thought his best position was there and Mourinho seems to think the same from his declarations and from the way he's employing Fabregas. Why should he play CAM when he's better at DLP? Or even better, when he can choose whether he wants to be deep or advanced adapting throughout the game as he deems fit while also making it harder to mark him out of the game?

Besides, Oscar isn't there to facilitate Cesc only. Haven't you noticed that Hazard has been drifting towards the middle and has been given way more freedom since the pre-season? There must exist a player whose job is to mitigate the gaps that are inevitably going to appear when there are these many players leaving their positions. Guess what, one of those players in the last game was Oscar. He's not fixed at the CAM position and IMO the way we're attacking with all these interchangeable positions is an amazing style to confuse the opposing defense. And we also can't have every fucking player on a free role or with freedom to roam around every now and then, so it's only natural that Oscar is going to be sacrificed somewhat. My only qualm with Oscar is that his quality on the ball and offensively has been declining steadily, with few games as exceptions, in a blue shirt and I can't play blind nor won't warp the facts to pretend it isn't happening. I still consider him one of the most tactically intelligent players on the squad and probably one of the most suitable to fulfill the task of covering the holes in our formation, but that shouldn't excuse him of being almost null on creativity.

And I'm not talking about number of assists or goal here, there can only be one assister and one goal scorer in every goal from a team of 11, but I wanna see a better offensive impact when we're in possession and he's not covering for Cesc - no more side or back passes, I wanna see audacity and courageous effort from Oscar when he has the ball.

[Chelsea? 892]

Because Cesc plays better and impacts the game way more playing deep. I've always thought his best position was there and Mourinho seems to think the same from his declarations and from the way he's employing Fabregas. Why should he play CAM when he's better at DLP? Or even better, when he can choose whether he wants to be deep or advanced adapting throughout the game as he deems fit while also making it harder to mark him out of the game?

Besides, Oscar isn't there to facilitate Cesc only. Haven't you noticed that Hazard has been drifting towards the middle and has been given way more freedom since the pre-season? There must exist a player whose job is to mitigate the gaps there are inevitably going to appear when there are these many players leaving their positions. Guess what, one of those players in the last game was Oscar. He's not fixed at the CAM position and IMO the way we're attacking with all these interchangeable positions is an amazing style to confuse the opposing defense. And we also can't have every fucking player on a free role or with freedom to roam around every now and then, so it's only natural that Oscar is going to be sacrificed somewhat. My only qualm with Oscar is that his quality on the ball and offensively has been declining steadily, with few games as exceptions, in a blue shirt and I can't play blind nor won't warp the facts to pretend it isn't happening. I still consider him one of the most tactically intelligent players on the squad and probably one of the most suitable to fulfill the task of covering the holes in our formation, but that shouldn't excuse him of being almost null on creativity.

And I'm not talking about number of assists or goal here, there can only be one assister and one goal scorer in every goal from a team of 11, but I wanna see a better offensive impact when we're in possession and he's not covering for Cesc - no more side or back passes, I wanna see audacity and courageous effort from Oscar when he has the ball.

I agree that Oscar is tactically one of the smarter players we have. He really just needs to be more productive on the ball. I think that's where the whole debate is at.

[AndersonBLUE 819]

Sorry, mate. I don't know how you got Oscar confused for Rami from the latter half of last season. Oscar provides stability and fluidity in the midfield with his work rate and is almost the link between defense and attack most of the time by him dropping deep. Not to mention all the tackles and interceptions. I reckon Jose can bring the best out of both Fabreags and Oscar with that set-up. Ridiculous, that headless chicken comment.

Oscar was as bad as rami in 2nd half last season. He is the weak link in this team. Has been for a while now. Until he actually starts contributing to goals and assists that is. I didn't see him do much if anything against Burnley. It's all well and good making a tackle in the opposition's half but he doesn't do anything with the ball. He's not terrible but he definitely is the weak link.

[hjperdeath 2,226]

If you don't understand his role, you can't call him weak link. Probably the last person to be left out of the team-sheet...

[meetdoscar 335]

You actually have to be intelligent to understand and appreciate oscars qualities else when he plays flashy he is great but when he is effective(generally or in attack) without being efficient directly in attack he is bad. Mourinho once said oscars talent is amazing and so it is because he has very many qualities more so i dare say than any member of our squad despite not being the best at anything of which he is still quite young to be exceptional (he isn't messi). When he was in good form last year he never had any two identical matches because the quality he brings to every match when he plays well are hardly if ever the same consecutively. For example those who say he played well against burnley for one reason will say he played well against leciester tommorrow(if he does) for a different reason. I'm eager to see him in maturity because the quality is not in doubt only the maturity is expected which will bring about frequent good and high level performance of different varieties.

What I don't understand is that some people love to hate his efforts. Ballack was quite less creative and scored less than oscar for chelsea despite offering great balance and he was liked a lot as far as I know. Now ballack was a man but oscar is a kid still learning. I like our team as it is with three playmakers Oscar,fabregas and hazard now I want to see how our midfield evolves because I think after burnley oscar,matic and cesc became our starting midfield for majority of games.

He wasn't near his best towards the end of last season but he played very well in europe and I doubt if playing well would have helped our sorry strikers form because mata couldn't either though he might have looked good for himself. Costa will score goals with and without help from AMs at least that will help during a bad patch and he will not always be under pressure(same for hazard) but will develop hugely under less pressure. Chelsea is a massive club even for a brazilian wonder kid.

[The Skipper 20,593]

What I don't understand is that some people love to hate his efforts. Ballack was quite less creative and scored less than oscar for chelsea despite offering great balance and he was liked a lot as far as I know. Now ballack was a man but oscar is a kid still learning. I like our team as it is with three playmakers Oscar,fabregas and hazard now I want to see how our midfield evolves because I think after burnley oscar,matic and cesc became our starting midfield for majority of games.

I understand what you're trying to say and agree with some parts but the Ballack analogy is a very poor one, because Ballack has always operated from a deeper position than let's say the number 10 role; Ballack was an 8, sometimes deployed as a 6, and people have always thought that Oscar was a traditional number 10. It's only since last season where people started to pick up that he doesn't have the creativity a traditional number 10 has and that his role on the team is more rounded.

People associate the number 10 role with creativity but people need to understand that in our system, it isn't the main job of our number 10. As I said in an early post, Oscar's role in the team is a lot more tactical, about balancing the midfield and being the link (i.e. creating triangles and stuff) between our more creative players all around the pitch. I'm not expecting Oscar to be our main or one of our main creators anymore - that role has switched to Fabregas and Hazard. Dare say, I'd put him level with Matic in his creativity level, and his tactical role in the team.

[TorontoChelsea 4,064]

I understand what you're trying to say and agree with some parts but the Ballack analogy is a very poor one, because Ballack has always operated from a deeper position than let's say the number 10 role; Ballack was an 8, sometimes deployed as a 6, and people have always thought that Oscar was a traditional number 10. It's only since last season where people started to pick up that he doesn't have the creativity a traditional number 10 has and that his role on the team is more rounded.

People associate the number 10 role with creativity but people need to understand that in our system, it isn't the main job of our number 10. As I said in an early post, Oscar's role in the team is a lot more tactical, about balancing the midfield and being the link (i.e. creating triangles and stuff) between our more creative players all around the pitch. I'm not expecting Oscar to be our main or one of our main creators anymore - that role has switched to Fabregas and Hazard. Dare say, I'd put him level with Matic in his creativity level, and his tactical role in the team.

I agree and while it's disappointing for Oscar's individual potential, it's what is best for the team right now. I also think that despite filling his role, he is maybe the most replaceable of the starters. Willian or even Ramires (if we wanted to go more defensive) can provide the same sort of thing so Oscar needs to play well to keep getting regular starts.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Am I the only one who thought he had an excellent match?!

Yes, someone should remind him that he can actually move when the ball is at his feet, but that did not take away one bit from the great shift he put in on Monday. He was the engine in the team that kept the game flowing at the tempo we wanted. His interchanging with Cesc was crucial to breaking down the Burnley defense as was his quick one-touch passing.

I am almost certain he will start tomorrow.