🇪🇸 Juan Mata

[Backstreet09 499]

She is fit.

I'd hit it

Should win Player of the Season IMO. I didn't see the City game so I can't make say what I thought about his performance.

He won't win it, and he was totally invisible in the first half, showed his class in the second, had a lot of chances to create something for us, but meeer it just wasn't the day .

[didierforever 7,349]

they were among his worst games. no doubt. no matter what excuses you want to find for that. Every attacking player prefers to have the ball more often than not, still Kalou, Lampard, Drogba, Ramires performed superbly in these matches. it happens you have less of the ball against better opponents and are marked by good players. Still a top player should deal with that. For me having 9 touches is not a good performance for an outfield player. One decent cross does not make a decent performance.I think this goal was 99% courtesy of Drogba's incredible will than of mata's precision. Drogba had to take 10 steps towards the first post to get to that corner, which was intended for Lamps.

accepted he was not the man of the match but their is only so much he can do. the bayern match was a poor showing by the whole team and till the 87th minute even DD was no threat. our main threat was mata who saw most of the ball we had and tried to create something out of absolute nothin. plus in the barca match if you say kalou had a good performance but not mata. mata played his part as a defensive winger as much as kalou. just because he was not involved in a goal does not make his performance bad.

[Jase 43,479]

they were among his worst games. no doubt. no matter what excuses you want to find for that. Every attacking player prefers to have the ball more often than not, still Kalou, Lampard, Drogba, Ramires performed superbly in these matches. it happens you have less of the ball against better opponents and are marked by good players. Still a top player should deal with that. For me having 9 touches is not a good performance for an outfield player. One decent cross does not make a decent performance.I think this goal was 99% courtesy of Drogba's incredible will than of mata's precision. Drogba had to take 10 steps towards the first post to get to that corner, which was intended for Lamps.

Oh dear. I know we are criticizing Mata's performance against the big teams here but is there any need to actually say his corner wasn't meant for Drogba and it was for Lampard instead? Yes, Drogba had to move to get onto the header but it seems that you also forget to mention Lampard had to move towards the ball too. When Mata took that corner, it was meant to be put into a space where one of our players, in this case Drogba, can attack the ball and it was in front of him. If you are just gonna whip a corner into where a player is standing, then you are unlikely to win the header because there will be somebody marking you.

And just a note on his performances against Barcelona. Think some of us here discussed last time that Mata should have never played in those 2 matches because the game plan we deployed was never suitable to his style of play. If we are just gonna defend and defend and defend and play on the counter, then we shouldn't bother playing Mata at all since his abilities won't be exploited to the fullest. Speaking of exploiting his abilities to the fullest, while I do acknowledge that he hasn't exactly played well in games against Man City, Juventus, Atletico etc, some people are conveniently forgetting the other good games he had against United, Spurs and Arsenal.

Really, if we are gonna criticize his performances against City, Juve, Atletico etc, then think we should really be looking deeper into the issue. In those games, we were practically a shambles especially against Atletico and nobody exactly turned up for those games. Additionally, by constantly sitting so deep just to defend against those said teams, it's never gonna help Mata. Even when he gets on the ball and in turn over situations, he can't really play forward because the other players are so deep and by the time they get up the pitch, the opposition would already have parked their bus and it meant less of a chance for Mata to play any incisive passes etc. The point here is that Mata's performances in those games(and others) suffered as a result because the team as a whole just did not turn up. Mata is a great player but he can't do it all by himself if we are just gonna setup so negative and/or the others don't even bother to turn up for the matches. On the other hand, when we do turn up and decide to play positively, then Mata(and others) have shone just like in the matches against United(despite the defensive mess!), Arsenal and Spurs.

[Mustafa 885]

Poor game. He really struggles against City because they're a very strong team. He was very poor and should have been subbed off.

Struggles ??

Should win Player of the Season IMO. I didn't see the City game so I can't make say what I thought about his performance.

Your Welcome

[Jase 43,479]

*speechless*......

[Backstreet09 499]

*speechless*......

Just missing Bieber there

[Hutcho 8,443]

*speechless*......

I have been watching that gif for far too long lol.

[Jase 43,479]

When lollipop meets Mata...

[The Mak 4,459]

Oh dear. I know we are criticizing Mata's performance against the big teams here but is there any need to actually say his corner wasn't meant for Drogba and it was for Lampard instead? Yes, Drogba had to move to get onto the header but it seems that you also forget to mention Lampard had to move towards the ball too. When Mata took that corner, it was meant to be put into a space where one of our players, in this case Drogba, can attack the ball and it was in front of him. If you are just gonna whip a corner into where a player is standing, then you are unlikely to win the header because there will be somebody marking you.

And just a note on his performances against Barcelona. Think some of us here discussed last time that Mata should have never played in those 2 matches because the game plan we deployed was never suitable to his style of play. If we are just gonna defend and defend and defend and play on the counter, then we shouldn't bother playing Mata at all since his abilities won't be exploited to the fullest. Speaking of exploiting his abilities to the fullest, while I do acknowledge that he hasn't exactly played well in games against Man City, Juventus, Atletico etc, some people are conveniently forgetting the other good games he had against United, Spurs and Arsenal.

Really, if we are gonna criticize his performances against City, Juve, Atletico etc, then think we should really be looking deeper into the issue. In those games, we were practically a shambles especially against Atletico and nobody exactly turned up for those games. Additionally, by constantly sitting so deep just to defend against those said teams, it's never gonna help Mata. Even when he gets on the ball and in turn over situations, he can't really play forward because the other players are so deep and by the time they get up the pitch, the opposition would already have parked their bus and it meant less of a chance for Mata to play any incisive passes etc. The point here is that Mata's performances in those games(and others) suffered as a result because the team as a whole just did not turn up. Mata is a great player but he can't do it all by himself if we are just gonna setup so negative and/or the others don't even bother to turn up for the matches. On the other hand, when we do turn up and decide to play positively, then Mata(and others) have shone just like in the matches against United(despite the defensive mess!), Arsenal and Spurs.

Thank you!

People are forgetting that we didn't have a pivot. And in the big games, we never have a pivot, because our pivot is fucking atrocious.

So how the hell is Mata supposed to even touch the ball if the formation is 4-0-3-1? Because that's what it's like, it's just a massive gap between defence and attack. No fluidity, nothing.

If you look at the big games Mata has played well in, then you can see that either the pivot wasn't pressurised (Arsenal away and the 1st United game in the FA cup) or he was well supported in attack (United league match). You can also see that for the games he didn't play well in, Juve, Atletico, City, etc. our pivot was demolished or the rest of the team didn't show up. The correlation is not a coincidence.

Ok, he can't hold up the ball well at times or becomes overrun under pressure, but he isn't a playmaker. He's just our most creative player at the moment. There's a difference. He's more of a second striker if anything.

And to argue his corner in the CL final is the most petty and pedantic thing I've ever fucking read on these forums. How much of a difference Didier's goal would've been if Robben scored that penalty eh?

[Jase 43,479]

Juan creepy Mata...

[Mustafa 885]

I have been watching that gif for far too long lol.

Sergio Ramos' legs

[Styles 9,790]

Struggles ??

A 12 second clip isn't indicative of good performances against City unfortunately.

[Mustafa 885]

A 12 second clip isn't indicative of good performances against City unfortunately.

Im awarer of that... but it on the other hand shows that he is capable of tearing Man City apart with his skill and Sundays game shows he can play passes over the top towards the strikers just didnt happen for us because Vincent Kompany thought it was fine to try and strip Torres ....

[Jase 43,479]

http://espnfc.com/news/story/_/id/1415403/rafa-benitez-reveals-juan-mata-is-behind-chelsea%27s-formation?cc=4716

...Benitez admitted he was surprised at how exquisite Mata's technique and turns were in four-on-one training possession games.

"The quality he did was amazing. He did it in a video with the national team. He's done it in training here, two or three times... I won't say [who]. He did it in training today, and he's done it in other sessions as well. Game intelligence is key. He's very clever, he finds space and has quality, vision."

In case you're wondering what Benitez was referring to...

(warning: the music is rubbish!)

Mata apparently did that to someone in training. Gotta wonder if it's Torres(random).

[xPetrCechx 13,570]

Juan Mata has played 117 games with no break since August 2011. Respect!

[NiclasCFC 2,582]

Juan Mata has played 117 games with no break since August 2011. Respect!

He had a break at the start of this season mate

[xPetrCechx 13,570]

DON'T TOUCH OUR MAGICIAN!!!

[BlueLion. 21,491]

One of the few footballers with his feet on the ground.

[Despiadado.Maleante 1,046]

Nominated along with hazard for pfa player of the year

[Despiadado.Maleante 1,046]

Nominated along with hazard for pfa player of the year