Tortilla9

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2011/aug/22/juan-mata-chelsea-sid-lowe The subsequent departures of Silva and Villa saw him become occasional captain and take increasing responsibility for creativity: his passing is crisp, his movement intelligent and his timing impeccable when it comes to arriving late to finish or dashing beyond the defensive line. He has scored 28 goals over the past three seasons. Last season he scored eight and provided eight assists, creating 74 chances. On average, only one player – Real Madrid's Mesut Ozil – created more goalscoring opportunities from open play. At the end of the season, Opta built a team of the season: Mata was one of only two non-Madrid or Barcelona outfield players included, alongside the Málaga winger Santi Cazorla. Nominally playing on the left, Mata likes to drop inside and become involved. "I am not," he says, "an old-style winger stuck right out on the wing and limited to running at people and getting crosses in. I like to drop inside, and get between the lines. I tend not to try to take people one on one; I believe in movement, interchange, and being vertical [incisive]." With Valencia there was great mobility among the line of three behind the strikers and this summer's U21 European Championships, at which Mata provided more assists than anyone else as Spain were proclaimed champions, revealed his capabilities in a more central role. He had become the complete playmaker. It is those qualities that Chelsea – and Fernando Torres, aware of the potential benefits to him – were so keen to add.

Funny how transfers are. Torres when he left Atletico Madrid signed for Liverpool and came back and said goodbye officially with the blessing of Atletico. Mata the same thing with Valencia. Torres with Liverpool not so much.

Here I thought Gourlay was just sitting in his office eating pies. Go figure.

Nurse asked if Mata was any good. I'm pretty unimpressed with the media in the US but reading the English football media I wonder sometimes. There seem to be so many public biases that are never questioned.

You guys follow the BBC more than I do. Is Howard Nurse for real? He said on twitter: Juan Mata on his way to sign for Chelsea - is he any good?

So he hopes.

The image of the Bull and the Matador - very Espana there.

Everybody will pass him the ball. It's the Chelsea way.

Who cares that he doesn't say a peep to the English media as long as he's working behind the scenes. Casa de Torres is going to be a hopping place.

Isn't Oriol the "Bull"? lol

That is pretty sweet looking.

I don't care if it beats it as long as it works and we see some creativity and goals. Whoever at Chelsea is responsible for making this happen -

Been following @VCFCentral on twitter which talks about all Valencia matters (didn't even mean that pun) in English. They think it's a good deal for both parties and they're glad to see Mata Sr go.

Is it ok to admit I'm as excited as a kid on Xmas with Juan new arrival?

Juan's official website www.juanmata10.com http://translate.google.com/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=es&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.juanmata10.com%2Findex.php%3Fseccion%3Dnoticias%26id%3D672

Cannot wait to see the new boys presented on Tuesday. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come - either you're part of AVB's evolution or you're a bystander.

Do any of us really think that will happen?

I love Fernando Torres and I'll defend him to the bitter end whatever that is because I don't think he turned to sh*t overnight or just because he joined Chelsea. He knows that he is measured by goals, bottom line, and he wants to score. I want him to score and I think everybody else does too except maybe DF. That's why it makes me shake my head watching him play wide or play deep to get involved when he is a striker. Not saying he should never do those things but somebody, anybody look for one of his runs and feed him the damn ball early once a half. Is that too much to ask?

Football Spy preview of Mata from the Mirror http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/opinion/blogs/football-spy/Chelsea-Arsenal-transfer-Juan-Mata-Valencia-what-fans-can-expect-by-David-Cartlidge-article788075.html

It is official, hell has frozen over. @johncrossmirror Torres subbed but thought he had decent game. There. I said it. #CFC's best quality right now is their spirit. WBA unlucky to be pointless.

It's People so don't know how accurate. http://www.people.co.uk/sport/2011/08/21/mata-set-to-join-chelsea-after-torres-bombarded-star-with-text-messages-102039-23359860/ "Chelsea’s case was given a huge help by record signing Torres being in regular contact with his Spain team-mate. He was desperate for the Mata deal to go through, so has been calling and sending SMS messages to his pal." We're desperate too.

Not you.... I had to edit my post. I know we all post some clankers at times but ... smh.

Don't know the answer to that but can they hurt?

The team came back and while it wasn't pretty and there's a lot of work to be done, they got 3 pts. That's about as positive as I can be.

Read it somewhere that its the Chelsea time warp. Time advances but nothing really changes. I'm still hoping for the evolution of change to occur under AVB but a lot of things still look very much the same. I hope for a Mata, a Modric, or players like them. I hope they are incorporated into the team and we can see something positive moving forward. Not expecting huge changes but to see the game end with the exact same lineup as last year except for Bos was weird. Still the same issues as last season.