The only place to be

I used to think this was worth a try, but now I'm not sure what the point of moving our best player this season out of his natural position is. Jose did it yesterday in order to play Mata and we looked as hopeless going forward as we did last season when we utilised these players in the same way. For me there has to be a choice between Oscar and Mata, and most times I'd pick Oscar. Yes he is tenacious enough to get stuck in to midfield battles, but why try to change something that has been working well this season? Let's go back to what was working just a week ago and see what impact that has before everyone starts panicking.

Don't think he would've made a big difference today because he would've suffered the same problems that Lamps and Rami had. I also wouldn't start him against Schalke considering the match Lamps had against them but he needs a run-out at some point. Or to get 3-4 likes by saying something that's been said a thousand times before.

Because we quite simply don't have the alternatives at the moment. I don't think there's anyone on this board who doesn't want us to buy a new midfielder or two, but as it is we don't have many other choices. Lamps and Rami have put in some good performances and I think the inclusion of Oscar and wingers makes the game easier for both of them, but it's an area we need to improve.

Yes I have. Actually Oscar doesn't. He's not started every game, he's also not finished every game. As for Mata, it's great that he helped us win in the League Cup. Oscar helped us beat Man City in the league....and he's been the best player in our squad this season so he shouldn't have been moved in my opinion. I think other players let themselves down, but in terms of the tempo of the performance I think you get something different when you select Mata over Oscar and I think that has an impact on the players around the number 10 (which is pretty much everyone because it's such an important position in our system. Oscar knots together the defence, midfield and attack when he plays that role. He drops deep to pick the ball of the defence, he knocks it around the pivot and he pops up behind and alongside the striker. When you change the person doing that job, you change the relationship every player has with one another. It wasn't the only reason we underperformed today, but I think it was one of the major ones. But that's just my opinion - I might have an agenda. Or I might have used the word agenda....once. Or someone I know used the word agenda...or maybe the word gender. Who knows?

I didn't bash Mata for everyone's failures just looked for a reason why the whole play of the team looked so disjointed. I said that Lampard had a bad game. I'm not sure I've used the word agenda today. So I'm not sure if you want to edit that post or not, but none of it seems that accurate (much like Lampard and Ramires's passing today).

I don't think it serves the discussion on this site well for people (men or women) to be denigrated as 'fanboys' because you disagree with them. Maybe she is your friend, or maybe there's something more pernicious going on here but I think it's unnecessary.

38 games last season....I know, I was surprised too.

Really? I think players have a ceiling to their talents and quality isn't contingent on game time. What Bertrand needs to do to get games is be better than he is. He seems like a nice chap and he's English so we all want him to do well but it's not like we have Luke Shaw looking for a game. He is what he is - a back-up.

Or he was moved back into his natural position, the one in which he has been our best player this season. Please don't call decent members like Barbara fanboys too. This community lives and dies by the contribution members like her make and to suggest her views (which are often well-researched and articulately conveyed) are 'fanboyism' is rude and disrespectful at best, and something much more distasteful at worst.

Because I think it's a bit cowardly to be honest and leaves a lot of room for confusion. I also think the superficiality in this discussion suggests people are only looking for likes from a reliable few rather than attempting to discuss the reasons for a bad performance.

Cech Ivanovic Cahill Terry Cole Ramires Lamps Schurrle Oscar Hazard Torres Lamps was poor against Newcastle, but I think the problem lied further forward and he was one of our best performers in the game away to Schalke. The rest of the team pretty much picks itself.

So you're just going to make insinuations so that you don't actually have to take any responsibility for them? See I've not taken the 'Lampard was shit...the end' line that others have so I might be seen as a Lampard-defender to some. Maybe you'd like to just say what you mean so that there's no confusion.

I'm not sure if it's fair to that when he plays, the gap between defence and attack just seems to grow in some games. Passing becomes sloppier, Torres becomes more isolated, the players in the pivot have less outballs and eventually David Luiz starts lumping balls forward from defence. But this was just like the Everton game, and so many other games from last season. He and Oscar just don't seem to be able to co-exist with one another in the same way they do with a Schurrle, who just does his job and sticks to the wing.

Fuck me....he played 18 long balls today. That's twice as many as any other player bar Cech.

You should name these people. Personally I think he was awful but the next question is why? This was a return to the bad old days of our pivot, when Mata was largely used as the number 10. I think that had a massive impact on the tempo of our performance, which puts greater pressure on Ramires and Lamps in the pivot.

That requires knowledge of the alternative, which neither of us does. He has been, a number of times.

When you put him on the right-wing, that can happen. Jose obviously decided to take a punt on putting Oscar in the position he's been most effective in and removing the largely ineffectual Mata. I think that was the right decision.

Not in the match I saw. Sorry, not going to argue this point.

Mata has had plenty of time as the sole playmaker and whilst he's been our best player, we've under-performed. Football isn't about picking the best 11 players, but picking the best team. Today we moved our best player this season onto the wing and chose last season's number 10 - we got a performance straight out of last season.

No-one is stopping you from pointing that out. I certainly think he was wrong to include Oscar, Mata and Hazard when Oscar has been our best player this season but even the best managers make mistakes. Mata may well have been working his butt off (I don't think he was) but if that doesn't have an end result then he's just pissing in the wind. Mourinho ended up with the team we probably should have started the match with and we'll learn from this and move on. Good managers like Mourinho make mistakes and average managers like Pardew get lucky. That's sport.

Mata might be the better player, but we've been a better team with Oscar. He's a different type of playmaker and might be better suited to the style of football we're trying to play.

Trying to hook a few with that post.

Because Mourinho tried to revert to the same tactics we've had great success with this season with Oscar in the number 10 position. It was the right move in my view we had so little urgency in the first half. He got it wrong today but he'll learn from it and we'll be a better team for it.

He's still the same player. Should not be moving Oscar to accomodate Mata.

No mention of Pardew 'tactically raping' Mourinho? Not even an unsolicited over the clothes fondling? If you select last season's team, you're going to get last season's performance.