Barbara

Oscar scoring right and left is great business for us!!!!! Our strikers aren't enjoying the art of finishing into the net much these days, so keep it up when you come back, kiddo. I agree with everyone else that the comparison between Mata and Oscar is unhealthy here these days. It was relevant when they were competing for positions because our best player in recent years was warming the bench while a promising, but not exactly world-class player was filling his shoes. That's not the case anymore, Mata is getting better (sharper) and he's contributing to the team, although he's yet to find his best form. Having Oscar performing better than he did last year is actually good for us, but there shouldn't be two Chelsea FC sides here, one pro-Oscar, another pro-Mata because at the end of the day we need both of them playing their best to improve our titles chances. Oscar is better today (imo he is slightly better for us since Mata was back in the team), Mata was better for the majority of last season... I'd rather have both playing the form of their lives if it was up to me. ivanovic is better than Cole right well, as well as Ramires is better than Lamps imo or Torres better than Ba and Eto'o. So what? It's irrelevant at the end of the day who's in better form, as long as all of them perform well and we keep winning.

dude, you seriously need to come to Brazil... I don't know what you have been reading or where you have been reading, but you must be be very, very, very bad informed. The WC will do nothing to an economy that right now is far from weakened. Yeah, we have great social differences here but we're also a 200 million-people country so it takes a while for the social difference to be less evident. Clubs such as Palmeiras and Gremio are building ultra modern (Gremio's is ready already) and brand new arenas that won't be used to the World Cup - it the club's patrimony and they're improving it. Other clubs such as Internacional and Atletico Paranaense don't have any public money on their new arenas that are going to be used for the WC. So where exactly did you get the idea that building stadiums here will leave behind scorched earth, weakened economy and mind you more impoverished population? Maybe you saw something about the protests here and jumped to those conclusions or some rubbish journalism in Germany lead you to have that opinion - but the protests were for a different cause. The people want the government to make such massive investments in education, health, infra-structure because all those areas need it. I'm sure most countries also need investments in other things. You have a completely distorted vision of Brazil's current economic scenario, of how this WC will affect us and how much money flows in Brazil's economy currently. We have social problems that are being handled and they'll take a long while to be fixed. The main reason we are like that is corruption, not investments in a WC. Also nobody here is dying as you have implied twice already. I don't know in what world do you live, but the Brazil you know and the one I live are two completely countries. I have no idea which horrible crimes were committed here for the WC - except shady business involving public money. We don't need the WC for that to happen, it happens here all the time with no WC, as I said corruption is indeed a problem, everything else you made up in your mind. link me all the articles then. I'll be waiting. I want proof. Dude, I'm the first one to talk shit about this country when shit is needed to be said, but you've been lying about it for days now and it really pisses me off. Brazil isn't a nobody land as people think. We live in a very decent democracy, we have law enforcement that while not flawless like in other countries, isn't rubbish either, human rights grow more and more here every year and I think it's decent in most metropolitan areas. We have social issues, we have corruption issues, but everything needs to be taken into context. There's no other country in the world where the work law is more protectionist than Brazil. I'll repeat no other country in the world. Protectionist doesn't mean the best and neither does it exclude issues, but it's the law and I'd say in most cities it's well reinforced. One of our main problems here is public services. Like public education from kindergarten to major - we have that, but not enough; public health for the entire population - again we have that, but not enough; infrastructure issues especially in the more isolated and remote areas (although in the periphery of big cities it also happens in a much lesser scale). Our roads suck in general, which is why they're being privatized recently. We have basic needs problems in very impoverished areas, again we're a 200-million people country, Germany is probably smaller than half our states, so it takes a while to reach it all out. I can assure those employees in the stadiums have all the human conditions to do their work, they're paid what is paid for constructors in Brazil (an acceptable wage even if low, but very, very, very far from slaver-ish). A bricklayer here makes 600 USD/month (I actually made a research to tell you that) in addition to benefits to cover food and transportation (in addition to health insurance) because that's the law and it is reinforced. So excuse me if I think that while this is low, it isn't exactly the end of the world, because unfortunately in other places in the world conditions are much worse. Those people can't be killed in their work environment without it creating a great commotion in the country. Of course work accidents happen, but they aren't as nearly common as you're thinking. I mean, probably 100 times (no exaggeration) less common than you're thinking. And there's no brutality here in the way you're implying!!!! As I said human rights are big here (although far from being flawless), it's reinforced and this is no longer a nobody's land. hasn't been for a while btw.

If some think Mourinho will make any changes in the team after the squad hasn't trained together for almost two weeks, I guess they'll have another think coming. Chances are he'll start exactly the same team that started against Norwich or with at most one of the changes he made during the match (probably Eden for André) - saved injuries. Which makes sense, as why would rotation be done after coming from international duties with no proper training on that? Also I really don't get the clamor for Azpilicueta. I feel like some fans don't fully appreciate how flawless Ivanovic has been for us so far this season. Also the guy is a tank so it's not like 14 matches (or so) under his belt in two months could have possibly wore him out. And I read someone somewhere (too many pages as this is the first time I visit the thread I guess) saying that Bertrand isn't rubbish... yes, he is we have two great players to play as RFB, but only half a player as LFB because Cole these days is half the player he used to be, and it seems he isn't up to his best physically either. And I have no hopes for this scenario to change and Mourinho to see the light and sign a new left FB because he never showed he would replace Arbeloa in RM and it's really difficult to pick the worst out of Arbeloa and Bertrand.

there was a thread open last month about another article saying that Chelsea and whoever else tried to get him and he didn't go because was waiting Bayern. I tried to find that thread and my post on it but it seems like the thread was deleted Anyway... I've said back then that Guardiola doesn't like to work with strikers like Lewa and that I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't go to Bayern because of the style Pep prefers. Back then I also said that was the small hope I had for him coming to us... but even then I believe he might choose to continue in Dortmund because in the same article he said he loves the Bundesliga, that he thinks it's the best in the world and that he wants to stay there.

I watched the match (up until he played) because I was curious to see how Felipão would do it as he's even more traditionalist than Mourinho. Who says he played Oscar as a striker or as a false nine definitely smoked spoiled junk. It was the same 4-3-3 he used most of CC with Oscar as the most advanced midfielder - although some people will say that's a 4-2-3-1 with Oscar as a #10. Oscar is top3 finisher in the squad in my opinion, his finish is really, really, really good although sometimes he thinks too much before executing it (normally easier chances), so he could be used as the player behind the striker a few times if we need as I think his finishing is up there with Mata's. As for the false 9 thing I said it before, I'll repeat it. It doesn't work with anyone else not named Messi.

@hjperdeath, your sig doesn't lie I agree with your opinion and others here. The kid will turn to us better and so far we're handling without him. I don't think he would have added much given the tactics and the style of players we have here, sure he probably would have scored a goal or two, but in the matches we lost or drew I'm not sure he would have given the kind of opposition we played. Maybe yes, maybe no. Long term is great business both for the club and for the player, and even if we pay a small price this season, I'll still support it. By small price I mean having a few more goals at the end of the season that could have given us a title or not.

and how many times does that happen in every and each of our matches? We aren't counter-attack based - yet or ever is yet to know be known - so a play that happens once in a while doesn't make up for the everyday lack of action from out pivot into making us more objective and narrow.

at least we wouldn't keep reading and listening media say our strikers are still zero'd on EPL He played as a false 9 from what I gathered people talking. didn't watch it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RM1dB0KGVw

did I miss something? Never heard of people being killed in Brazil cause of football... that would be a first. I also believe in Brazil and I'll supporting us mainly - only bc of Felipao though as he's one of the few managers I trust as CBF is the heck of corruption. I think German are faves and Belgium is my underdog

seriously... it doesn't get better than that. German's side is amazing. I'm totally behind them next year here in Brazil.

the guy contradicts himself when he says Mourinho will never enter the story as a revolutionary manager, then literally half a dozen lines below he says Mourinho contributed to bringing England into the modern world of football by leaving 4-2-2 behind them. Talk about not knowing where to stand about it. Now tell me how many managers from earlier 2000 or maybe prior to the 90's are talked til these days because they've changed the world of football and not because of the success they reached. Normally those changes happen in a larger scale than one manager doing it - and it's only natural it happens like that. Whether people want to admit it or not, only romantic idealistic people go on and on about managers who changed the sport individually. We talk a lot about the Netherlands in the 70's, we talk a lot about Brazil and Germany or Italy with her very peculiar styles, but we talk much less about managers behind those teams - in the long term like 8-10 years after their retirement or departure from the teams. When I look to football now I can't pinpoint a manager who changed it into what is now. I can see managers like Guardiola that were very successful in reliving a style that has been abandoned by decades and improved it, but I'll always look to Spain as a reference that made it popular rather than Guardiola, but maybe that's just me. this is true and something I haven't thought before. that's the transition problem I was talking about in my article. Luiz is doing this because Lamps and especially Ramires lack vision to make a more incisive transition. Good to know I'm not the only analyzer that thinks this is a huge problem for us. While Luiz makes up for the problem partially, he isn't sharp on it as much as a DLP would be. He may be in a couple of years, especially working under Mourinho, but we need our pivot to do better until we finally have a real DLP. **************************************************************** all in all a decent article, but I think he analyzed the matches and didn't offer anything about what he sees this team doing from now on. It could be because it was too early or because he isn't sure and doesn't want to make a mistake that will be busted a month later. I disagree more than I agree with his three paragraphs in the conclusion - especially when he highlights how exciting were both AVB and Robbie's plans (who thinks that in the first place, lol?). He's wrong in his assessment that Mourinho will have players to adapt to him rather him adapting to players. He wants all his players to have impressive work-rates - that was the only problem he had with Mata for example - and once they all are committed to the team like that, Mourinho will build a team that explores his players best assets. He would be dumb to do otherwise. Also I don't see Mourinho changing his strategies as many times as he suggests (from match to match). I can see him changing his plan during matches - as he did against Norwich - because things aren't working out as he expected. But I don't see us having completely different game plans depending on the opponent as often as he suggests. So far we've seen it a few times, but the way we approached the game against Spurs - especially in the second half - was very different from the way we approached ManU. The thing is this team is still in the early stages of philosophy consolidation and as the players seem to struggle at times to execute the plan, Mourinho will find himself needing to change strategies during the matches for a while until the plan settles in. I see it happening for 4-6 months, but let's say from Jan-Feb on his team will change strategies much less - except of course in games against big forces in Europe - because the tactics will have already been absorbed by the players. Now I really liked some of the articles he linked in his article. Also good reads - especially André's.

they were too busy going on and on about Chelsea's best striker being at Everton for them to bother to say a word about our top scorer or his classy finish.

let's restart. I didn't use the transition to determine who has a positive or a negative impact. I used to evaluate how well we do that and if we can improve. Did you read the part I said I didn't rate most of the transitions? The point wasn't rating them, just see how we make that transition. If you think anyone can do it, great for you. Others may want players with a better vision to do it so the attack can be more dangerous instead of doing it the predictable way or instead of passing the ball to the side and behind for an eternity before finally breaking through. A lot of things influence on that such as opposition defending, lack of space, attacking players movement, but it also passes through the vision of who starts the play, of who sees a teammate unmarked in a position that they can in fact advance towards the box and the goal. It's a blessing we have Luiz because he has a great vision, but our pivot could and should improve on it. If you think this isn't of importance 1) modern football definitely disagrees with you 2) it's an opinion you're entitled to have 3) we can agree to disagree. Also as I'm stubborn as heck (though I'm just as ready to admit my mistakes if I realize I made them), I went to Squawka and checked the 4 interceptions. One of them surely coincide with mine. Here the other three. 12:12 mark - http://www.dailymotion.com/video/k2x3NA1YhNo0y14Jl9B&start=1019 15:05 mark - http://www.dailymotion.com/video/k2x3NA1YhNo0y14Jl9B&start=1188 I don't consider these interceptions, not here, not in Jupiter. In both cases Cole touches the ball, that goes straight to an opponent, without even slowing down their attack. Sorry if touching a ball as a pass to an opponent counts as an interception for you and for Squawka, it doesn't for me. What's the point of an interception that doesn't recover possession or at the very least slows down the attack? If anything you just proved my point why contextualizing stats is necessary otherwise it'll look like Cole intercepted four balls for us, when in reality he intercepted one and in three other times he touched it before the opponent, his touch becoming a pass to another opponent to continue their play exactly from where it stopped. It's like they did a 2-1 with Cole. Now here is the best of all 21:54 mark - http://www.dailymotion.com/video/k2x3NA1YhNo0y14Jl9B&start=1596 Not only the same in the two above happens again, but this one happens at the lateral edge of the box, Cole touches the ball straight to Snodgrass foot and I won't describe the play, I'll let the commentator words describe it 'Good play by Snodgrass here and Chelsea might have a problem. Oh for sure that's a really big problem' You know which play this one happens to be? That cross to Howson who forces Cech to make that incredible reflex save and all of it started because Cole couldn't properly mark Snodgrass, but still Squawka considered it an interception, and the best part, you don't see the perfect cross by Norwich in their stats. The vids are linked straight to the marks where the plays happen, not sure if it'll work like that, but be my guest to check. I stand by my point, but as you made me look Cole's closely, you actually helped me. Since the day I've posted this article I knew I was missing one single rate because I had 148 lines in Excel and 149 in Word, meaning one line from data summary was missing in Excel where I do the individual calculation, but I didn't bother to check all 149 lines so see which one I skipped because I thought one rate wouldn't change a whole analysis (it doesn't). Such a big coincidence it was Cole's tackle at 01:57 mark, rated 4. So his updated rating is Ashley Cole: 8 (15, -12). I won't even bother to edit the main article, but thanks for that, mate.

to be honest I only answered because it's you. Anyone else I wouldn't have bothered. As for proving Mata was one of the liabilities, I would have to scout last season's matches to show, and honestly, it isn't that important. We can agree to disagree. We offered way too much space for oppositions when our pivot wasn't that great to start with, so having a player with no defensive responsibilities in the middle just made it worse. I really missed the Oscar one assist comment though. I do agree with you it's not fair comparing Mata's stats when he wasn't playing enough. Touché Cheers.

but I didn't quote you, did I? I quoted Torontochelsea and I only stated two things: 1) it's unfair to compare their stats because Oscar was struggling last season (I never said he's struggling this season because he clearly isn't) to adapt to the league. 2) I also added a comment saying that while Mata is always going to be more creative than Oscar it doesn't mean Oscar isn't creative. He is, he just isn't (or will ever be) as creative as Mata. I was harsh on Mata on this thread not because of Oscar. If anything I was defending Mourinho... Mata was a liability because he doesn't pay off as Cris or Messi do. Those are the only guys I can see being totally exempt from defensive responsibilities without exposing the team because the crazy amount of goals they score actually makes up for the liability they offer defensively. I was defending Mourinho's instance that Mata won't have a place at the team if he doesn't contribute with work-rate. I think the same about any other player. But Mata worked around what Mourinho asked him to do and ever since I've been supporting him to be in the team. I was completely against Oscar in the LW, but he's made some improvement there this season and I confess I wasn't expecting that. I said so many times in this thread that if Mourinho chose Mata to be the CAM Oscar should be benched and not moved to the LW or the pivot, but everyone ignored it or thought I was lying because you keep thinking I'm saying Mourinho should play Oscar when I haven't said that once. I did say many times the best should play and right now Oscar may be the best overall, but who knows who will be next match? I even said more than once in my posts that although Oscar is in his best moment since arriving at Chelsea he fades in comparison to Mata in his best days, but nobody quotes me on that... I said too many times Mata is the best CAM and the only problem is that he used to offer some liability, but people love to ignore that. Also this thread gives me a headache as well as this discussion. I don't think Mata is the only reason we were never competitive in the last two seasons unless when the most experienced guys drew their blood defending and Cech operated a few miracles. I think he was part of the reason and that in the systems in have in place he was a liability. It's not even his fault, it's the manager's. btw Oscar has 1 assist this season on CL and he did create chances to others... can we blame him if they didn't score (I guess it was even him who assisted Mata and he didn't score, but I'm not sure)

what does one have to do with the other? does it surprise anyone that Oscar is having a better season than he did last season? I guess not because he's more settled, more adapted because of the huge difference between England and Brazil. So my point was comparing a guy struggling to adapt and a guy fully adapted is unfair. Now what does that have to do that with Mata being a liability in the systems we had in place in the last two years? I fail to understand it. He was imo. Chelsea's appalling results in EPL prove me that, the failure to quality to UCL knockout stage proves me that. I said in one or two threads but I'll say it here with big letters and bold words. In my opinion, assessment and prediction Oscar will have this season better stats than Mata had last season in EPL because I know he's capable of doing it. And then maybe people will agree that a Brazilian adapting in English football will always have a sub par season in their first year in England because the leagues are basically the opposite of one another. I guess because they forgot how Ramires was in his first season with us... And please come quote me in 7 months. now I don't know if Mata will have better stats than he did last season because I'm not saying Oscar is or will be better than Mata. I"m saying that a fully adapted Oscar can do better than 12 goals and 12 assists. Mata may surpass himself as well, my point isn't comparing both players, just saying what Oscar is capable of doing. Actually I think he'll pass Mata's total goals in all competitions (20), although I don't think he will have more than 28 assists (the amount Mata had for all competitions). That's my assessment of Oscar's potential this season. It has nothing to do with how well or how bad Mata does right now. as for the bold part, I'm all for the best player. This season so far Oscar has been the best player not only in general, but also in the matches he and Mata started. Why people feel the need to compare and choose between one or the other is beyond me, as it's obvious the best thing for Chelsea right now is starting both.... but well if I had to choose, to answer your question, the answer would be the best currently. That answer for me is a no-brainer, anything else doesn't make sense for me.

his recovery was expected to be 3 weeks, so I guess he won't be ready for Cardiff but may be for Schalke. Mou said at most he'll be available for City.

good to know I'm not the only one. I only watch matches in Brazilian TV, but ESPN is amazing. We only have Sorin as an ex-footballer as a pundit - all others are actually journalists and I like them a lot. They'r unbiased, they talk little during the matches (a blessing - here is the 'narrator' that talks more and most time he's actually narrating the play), but in the sports tv shows they talk a lot and even when I disagree with them, they're making sense, not talking rubbish. Fox Sports though is AWFUL. They're nonsense and the narrator last match kept confusing Oscar and Ramires. Not to sound racist - I definitely am not - but how can you mix a white guy with a black guy? That's how awful the narrator was.

I added a whole paragraph explaining the transition thing as you guys opened my eyes I didn't provide enough explanation (and I found a couple of typos in the the rest, but you can ignore those). So if you can just add this paragraph just above the players rating in the site, so people can understand the transition concept and how it was showcased, I'd appreciate

I think I should have made it clear in the post that most transitions were unrated, because they were showcased just to analyse how Chelsea transitions to attack. If you guys check the spoiler section in my second post you'll see most transitions weren't rated. They were only rated when they were an excellent pass or a terrible one. Mainly I just showcased the 53 of them to see who's making the pass that crosses the midfield line or who carries the ball there and how positively or negatively they're contributing to start our attack. You didn't understand (neither I explained). The transition is actually that pass that will get the ball in the attacking half or when someone crosses it carrying the ball with the clear intent to set up the attack. All times we simply kept passing the ball around the mid-line (is that who you guys call the line in the middle of the pitch?) and didn't do anything with it, I didn't count as a transition. I counted as a transition when 1) a player passed the ball vertically and an attack was indeed started 2) when a player carried the ball over the midline and went into the final third. That's why I provided the stats... no matter how good Luiz passing is, he makes more mistakes than Lampard does, for example, also Lampard has more freedom (tactically) to carry the ball and he doesn't need to try a long pass as many times. That may be basic, but it's also very important. That's why the pivot is there and FBs as well when we have possession in the defense. They are supposed to have the minimum vision and creativity to start the attack in a smart way a few times during a match. Mourinho isn't a tikitaka manager and the style he chose for Chelsea isn't tikitaka. It's more objective and puts a lot more pressure in the opponent in the very vertical and acute plays it has. It's also a bit more based on pace (although not as much as counter-attack minded styles). So whoever does the transition controls partially the match's tempo and dictates the rhythm in the midfield. This 'basic thing' as you call it, is very important imo and I did say our pivot was statistically good, but they could have done better in the attack (get more involved in the start of the play), Ramires was slower than usual (probably tired) and made a few mistakes he doesn't normally do (defending). Lampard was also slow (his usual) and positioned himself badly in some of Norwich best chances (where they started, in their transition) giving Norwich space to advance because he wasn't marking anyone, was just a headless chicken in the mid (note I'm not saying he did this all the match, but in some plays, and some of them led to Norwich best chances in the match). Only looking at numbers like squawka provides can lead to mistaken how much a player really contributed. I think if we only see stats and don't contextualize them we are missing an important point in a match. All that said I may have made mistakes. They have computers and high-tech to provide them stats, I did it manually, observing the match deciding when a tackle is worth a 5 rate when it's worth a 3 rate, when an interception is indeed interception and not some lame pass the opposition gave in the foot of one of our players who didn't have to do anything, just exist in the pitch to receive the pass (incomplete passes to our players shouldn't count as an interception, as it was a mistake the other guy did, no merit in our player) If you look the spoiler section in my second post you'll find Cole's three contributions: an interception around the mark 1:57, a tackle in the midfield at 44:52 and a cross at 73:25. I have no idea where they found another three interceptions, if this site you checked provides the time they happened, let me know. I may have missed it, or mixed him with another player, or I simply didn't consider a rebound from someone's block or tackle an interception as well as a bad pass as explained above. If the player is standing there, doing nothing and the ball somehow goes exactly where he is either because of a rebound or a bad pass and he wasn't active in the play at all I won't give him an interception. Some will consider this a flawed system, but as the first paragraph in the article states, the point here is to evaluate players' contributions to the match, not their luck and out of context stats or plain stats. His negative contributions were 1) a sloppy pass that almost gave Norwich a counter-attack at 13:11, but that somehow Luiz was able to fix; a bad transition to attack at 38:47; that cross inside the box he allowed because of sloppy defending and Terry despite being slow could still run and do a last second block at 58:01 and finally he lost an aerial duel at 63:22. Chou, as I said I made a mistake by not saying that most transitions weren't rated, I only showcased them to evaluate who's doing our transition and how well or not they're doing it. Lamps had other contributions in the match that weren't his transitions, as I just explained to torontochelsea in this post, he positioned himself marking no one, being just a number in the midfield in 3-4 Norwich chances in the attack. He left our defense unprotected a few times as you explain so perfectly in your last paragraph here. That's why I said looking beyond the stats our pivot made many mistakes during the match. No, I'm not suggesting Luiz to be a DM - I'm totally against it - I'm saying that his good skills to make the transition (even if he makes a lot of mistakes too) is what leads people to want him as a DM. I want him to be a CB forever and ever. btw: if I edit the post here, does it edit in the site as well (not only at the forums)?

actually the spoiler content is for curiosity purposes, just so if anyone wants to know which plays were showcased, the main article itself I don't think it's that long. I also prefer Sherry's analysis because it's more practical. This is actually a deep stats thing. His is more dynamic and tactic oriented @manpe, thanks mate

thanks, Nour. I totally procrastinated it yesterday, but it's finally here. decided to add a few charts to break a bit the long texts. Data summary is here for those who may be curious about it

@,@CHOULO19, I'll do Schalke. As I'm here, please, lovelies, I just posted my new I Got The Blues. Can either of you approve it for me? No grammar review needed. Thanks in advance.