OneMoSalah

I hope Mata scores 3 and sets up a few. Big performance like that will be a 'fuck you' to Mourinho

I think if we are going to see Mata and Oscar in the same team, with Oscar as the number 10 and Mata RW, then Hazard will have to be sacrificed for Schurrle who is more of a willing runner for team balance along with Ramires playing on the right side of the pivot with Mikel on the left side of it. Schurrle - Oscar - Mata Mikel - Ramires Mata will try and contribute defensively but won't be very useful so using Ramires' legs and energy on the right side of the pitch will help I'd say. Then it allows Oscar to come back and fill in for Ramires' if hes missed the tackle and out of position. Still prefer Mata as the #10 for his creativity but this could perhaps work.

Great article SeB, took a while to read but you know... great in depth analysis as usual! How long did this take you btw? Must of been a while....

If this is anything to go by 'A source told Sunday Mirror Sport that even the players are surprised by Jose Mourinho's treatment of the Spaniard' then its another AVB v dressing room situation.

Mikel has now scored, now he is seen as an amazing player OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG

Mata was used as a number 10 by Di Matteo so he can influence the game more and so he didn't have to do as much defensive work as in comparison to what he'd have to do on the wing. In Spain it is easier to play as a winger due to the slower tempo of the football in comparison to the English game. Mata is a mile ahead of Oscar in terms of their offensive contributions; final pass quality, assists and goals. Mourinho can get Mata to drop deeper to receive the ball from the pivot, link play better or work a bit harder on the defensive side of his game quite quickly but on the other hand he cannot get Oscar to jump in a time machine and be 24, 25 or 26 so he is better than Mata. World class is thrown around too easily these days, Mata isn't world class but neither is Oscar and I doubt he has the potential to be world class. He will be a very good player but the term world class is for players like Ronaldo or Messi or Iniesta..

Bit harsh I'd say; against Everton the goal wasn't completely his fault as Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher said after the game but he made a mistake in not getting back into position after trying to go out to Barkley (as Terry couldn't as he was too deep). Even against Basel I didn't think the goals were exactly his fault either... so the rumors will begin again if hes not in the squad tomorrow...

There is a reason to bench Oscar, hes created just 6 chances so far this season (0 assists, 6 key passes), which isn't great. Hes playing the #10 role, an offensive role where he needs to create chances/score goals as do Hazard and Schurrle on the wings. Oscar isn't creating, Hazard isn't and Schurrle isn't, we can change it up as we have the options. Mata has been the face of Chelsea FC for the last 2 years, when Oscar can score 15-20 goals a season and set up 15-20 goals a season then he deserves to be the starting #10 at Chelsea. His offensive contribution is poor in comparison to Mata's.

Apparently Mata and Luiz aren't in the squad for tomorrow. Only a report from the sun but how shits going now you never know. The axe has been swung anyhow.

Do you want to watch Mata tracking fullbacks? No of course you don't! Oscars work rate and defensive skills are better suited to playing on the wing than Mata's imo. He does more in that sense. Rafa seen this, played Oscar on the right, sure his offensive contribution sucked but Mata playing in the middle, his offensive contribution made up for it. Remember that 3-1 game under AVB at Old Trafford? Nani and Rafael were basically 2 v 1 on Cole every time as Mata was LW. Its difficult, hopefully Mourinho will rotate both though so they get a fair share of games each in that central position.

Mourinho basically pinning blame of the Basel defeat on Mata's substitution is dirty as fuck in my eyes too, saying he had duties to do, if he had duties to do (I'm guessing defensive duties) why stick him on when its only 1-0 if you want him to do defensive duties... Jose picks Lampard more or less every week and he does fuck all defensively... we lose a lot of balance with Lampard and Mata in the same team but if you say put Ramires with Mikel with Mata we aren't as bad then in terms of balance. You build around your best players, so you should be prepared to find solutions to combat their weaknesses.

Yes but he keeps mentioning we aren't winning games due to 'the change in style' and other stuff, if he's so intent on blaming our losses on this changing in style you'd think players like Mata would be playing every game from the start as he can create something from nothing, he is the creative force in our team, I get what he wants from his #10 defensively but he has the ask himself does Oscar create enough chances offensively? He simply doesn't. He links better with the pivot, always makes himself available to the ball which means the team has more options in possession but he still lacks that bit of magic.

I am very very confused with Mourinho's quotes and what looks like his opinion on Juan Mata. He has insisted Chelsea will play differently, a more possession based game where our creative players create chances and score goals, like we've been trying to implement for the last few years. So why doesn't he play the best player in our squad in a position where he scored 15 goals, got nearly 20 assists and constantly created chances for his teammates, in comparison to Oscar who scored 10 or 11 goals, got under 10 assists and didn't really create as much as Juan did? Its pretty obvious Oscar is rated highly by Mourinho due to his defensive capabilities as well as his offensive ones (which are inferior to Mata's may I add), we have more balance when Oscar plays in the #10 role but what does he do offensively that Mata doesn't? Not much but in all fairness to Oscar, hes always looking to get on the ball, make himself available, help the double pivot/center backs out when they are under pressure by making himself an option. His defensive skills are better obviously, we all know that but still in a Mourinho team a few years ago I remember he played Wesley Sneidjer every game for more or less 2 seasons despite his poor defensive contribution. Mourinho's refusal to play Mata often on the wing or as the number 10 obviously isn't because of his lack of offensive contribution as he is our joint best offensive player with Eden. I get the defensive contribution is probably one of Mata's fault but Mourinho built his Inter Milan side around Sneidjer who is a very good #10, who did fuck all in terms of defense - as Spike Spiegel pointed out to me in his thread when we were linked with him after Mou returned. Sure he had players like Cambiasso and Motta in the team with him, who are combative players who did a lot of tackling and intercepting etc but we have Ramires and Mikel who can do the same jobs to compensate for Mata's lack of defensive work rate. Even at Madrid, Jose had Ozil who was a lazy player and Ronaldo who did next to nothing in terms of defensive work but he played two aggressive players who could compensate for that in Khedira and Alonso. There is clearly something else going on with Mata and Mourinho. Oscar still has offensive work to do, he's probably been one of our better players but certainly not our best player this season. We look toothless at the moment, our strikers cannot score and our attacking midfielders are creating next to nothing, so something has to give, either Jose drops Oscar for Juan and loses a bit of stability in the team or Oscar starts opening teams up in the way Mata has done for us for the last 2 years. Mourinho has confused me in general at times. We have lacked any sort of proper style this season. He confused me loaning out Moses and replacing him with another #10 in Willian (even though he looked pretty good on his debut, he's just another #10 that can play on the wing - which isn't his even best position, why are we paying 30m for a #10 just to play him on the wing?!?!?!), in games against teams that will sit in against us and crowd out the midfield we are going to be fucked, we lack any sort of proper winger who will hug the touchline and stretch teams. He was our best option to take on with 20 or 30 minutes to go and stretch teams in my eyes. Willian, De Bruyne or Schurrle won't do the same as it isn't their natural game. We lack variation, as Ballack said the other night we had too many similar players in our team, they were all running into the same spaces, sort of restricting our play. P.S. I can't see us selling Mata, Emenalo is obviously a big fan of his, so I doubt he'll be sold as Emenalo has quite the influence these days.

Apparently Mou said he is his first choice in the number 10 position and Mata needs to adapt.

Try being Scottish, its 30 odd degrees every day over here....

Courtois is the best keeper in La Liga in my opinion (Casillas is severely overrated as is Valdes - sure both are/were great goalkeepers but recently not as good as Thibaut has been) and hes 21 or 22 years old. Cech is undoubtedly world class and better than Thibaut right now but who says that it won't' change within a year or two? Cech is either going to go next summer or the one after for sure. We'd be ridiculous to keep Cech as our first choice and let a young guy of Courtois' quality leave/rot on the bench instead... Cech is in his early 30s and Courtois is 21 or 22 or whatever, he has time to play at Chelsea for 10+ years similar to what Petr has done. Courtois is the perfect successor to Cech. I can't see Cech wanting to be a second choice GK either if he stays while Courtois is first choice. Not a chance. Someone of his quality needs to be playing.

Going to see Ross County-Hearts tomorrow free of charge with the U13s I coach and U15s... should be fun... not....

when are you never drunk Spike?

God our luck these days.... when Marin was in our squad last year he couldn't do anything (despite it being a small amount of games) and now hes on loan and excelling when we could do with that bit of spark...

I despise the wee bastards, our one shits all over the joint left right and center. I am surprised I haven't killed it yet.

Felipe Melo!?!? Fuck off Choulo ! Hes shit!

He came out and said some things about Mikel afte the game that we need to play him as he's vital to our game! Or along that lines.. man knows what hes on about

Need a good performance and result here more than anything else. None of this bullshit that we seen tonight and against Everton. Jose should bench Hazard, make him think hes not untouchable, he needs to give his all every game and perform well to be picked every week. Bring Kevin in for him and put him on the right, start Mikel in Lampard's place, give Oscar a rest so Mata can get minutes and play Ramires where Marco played with Willian staying in the team, or Schurrle coming in on the left. Eto'o can continue upfront as if Fulham play like they did against Arsenal they will leave a lot of space in behind them which is ideal for Eto'o. Also Azpi must start! ----------------------------------------- - Eto'o/Torres - ----------------------------------------- Andre/Willian- Mata - De Bruyne ------------------------------------------ Mikel - Ramires ------------------------------------------ Cole - Terry - Ivanovic/Luiz - Azpi ------------------------------------------ Cech ------------------------------------------

Thought he was good but not as good as some people made out. He gave the ball away like 8 or 9 times tonight, the most in out team. Also wasteful at times, plenty to improve on.

Not great, at times Lampard exposed him and at times he let himself down with bad ball control and passes. Still its a learning curve for him.