Juan Mata

[Jase 43,479]

I don't know if people are being selective on Mata and seemingly chosen to focus more on his weaknesses rather than positives. Yes, there is no doubt that Mata's main weaknesses now are his tame physical strength and poor defensive work off the ball BUT these are aspects that he can still improve on, yet I can't understand why the way people have been talking is as if he can't do that. It's not like he has some attitude problem and shown that he can't be helped anymore! Additionally, the thought of some people saying the form Mata shown us last season was his best and he can never get better feels somewhat hilarious. Last season might arguably be his best season ever in his career but is that the best he can offer? No. What he has shown is his astonishing consistency in producing quality assists and attacking play in the final third but there is still more to his locker in that attacking play aspect.

What Mata did for us last season was great especially when you consider we can't even retain possession to save our lives and constantly retreated to defend first and when he did get on the back, we saw how great it can be. Imagine if we can fix our midfield problems, keep the ball like 80% of the time in match especially against the lesser sides and be more aggressive on the ball, what can kind of crazy damage can Mata do on the opposition working with the likes of Hazard, Schurrle, Oscar, KDB etc? You have people banging about how Mourinho's return will improve this player, improve that player but when it comes to somebody like Mata, it's suddenly all negative thinking and having thought he won't get any better than what he has shown so far. Hilarious.

And seriously, I don't know if people have been well and truly spoilt by watching too much of Hazard or players like him who is flashy on the ball, has the flicks and tricks that has caused some people to seemingly devalue Mata all of a sudden and this is a similar situation with Oscar. Granted Mata may not be like Hazard when he's on the ball, the ability to run at pace with the ball at oppositions' players, dribble past people etc but there seem to be an issue of people not appreciating the brilliance in simplicity sometimes.

[kellzfresh 7,229]

It's an interesting thing because one of the reasons I thought Mourinho wouldn't come back here is having a team built around Mata. Everything that Mourinho generally loves, counter-attacking, defensive solidity, quick movement, Mata is not. What Mata has is incredible vision, an excellent touch, and is a good finisher. Whereas Ramires strikes me as a perfect Mourinho sort of player, Mata doesn't seem to fit. Of course, Mourinho could always adapt his style to fit Mata better because he is our best player. It will be very interesting to see.

Mourinho will surprise people next season. Im very sure he'll improve the defensive contribution of mata. After all, hazard wasn't good at defending under RDM but under benitez look how he improved defensively. The same thing happened with ozil, he was horrible defensively before mourinho made him incredibly good defensively. So im backing mourinho to make mata even better than he already is

[Jase 43,479]

Mourinho on Mata (when speaking about formations)...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2013/jul/16/jose-mourinho-chelsea-fernando-torres

"With Mata, I need to get to know him better. I like sometimes to play with what I call 'wingers with the wrong foot' – right-footed men on the left and left-footed men on the right. He is the only left-footed player we have when we want to play with a winger on the right side, but the competition is hard. We will have Schurrle, De Bruyne, Mata, Oscar, Hazard and Moses for these three positions and so we have many more options than Chelsea had in the last year. These are crucial positions for me. I like these players to play with high intensity so to have five players for three positions is, I think, brilliant for me. It's fantastic."

[The Skipper 20,593]

Seems like Mourinho has plans to play Mata on the right flank?

[Hkibou 622]

He speaks of 5 players for 3 positions. 4 - 2 - 3 -1 it is, then ?

[Chelsea? 892]

Mata on the right will work better than Oscar on the right.

[Hkibou 622]

Mata on the right will work better than Oscar on the right.

I'd like to see Oscar vs Schurrle on the left, Hazard vs KDB in the middle and Mata vs Moses on the right.

Seems balanced to me, and quite lethal.

[Chelsea? 892]

Jose from same article posted above

"We will play 4-2-3-1 in the first game, my favourite system, though sometimes I change the triangle and play with one in front of the defenders and two players up," Mourinho said. "Other times I play with double midfielders and a No10. This is a team where we have not one or two but three or four players who like very much to be a No10: [Kevin] De Bruyne likes it, Oscar likes it, Mata likes it, [Eden] Hazard likes it. It is a natural system for all these players to play.

"But in another match I could change it. If we are losing, we might need to have two pure strikers. It is something we will work on because I would like to have this capacity to have it ready to play, independent of the players we have. Naturally, we will have four at the back and in my team, the attackers are attackers. Some guys say we play 4-2-3-1, blah blah blah blah, and sometimes the attackers have a defensive job so it is more like 4-5-1. But it is not 4-5-1, it is 4-3-3.

[Chelsea? 892]

I'd like to see Oscar vs Schurrle on the left, Hazard vs KDB in the middle and Mata vs Moses on the right.

Seems balanced to me, and quite lethal.

yea I remember Mata being very influential the few times he played on the right for us and the Olympic Spanish team. But Eden is much more effective on the left for us, and Oscar should be tried in the middle.

[mediator 2,026]

I'd like to see Oscar vs Schurrle on the left, Hazard vs KDB in the middle and Mata vs Moses on the right.

Seems balanced to me, and quite lethal.

I would say Hazard vs Oscar in the middle, Schurrle vs Moses on the left, and KDB vs Mata on the right in stead

[The Skipper 20,593]

I would personally say Hazard vs Schurrle on the left, KDB vs. Oscar in the middle and Mata vs. Moses on the right.

[Bir_CFC 3,455]

Mou seems to def like the idea of Mata on the right which means more of Oscar in the middle

[Bir_CFC 3,455]

I would say Hazard vs Oscar in the middle, Schurrle vs Moses on the left, and KDB vs Mata on the right in stead

So Oscar and KDB on bench? At least one should be starting ahead of either Schurrle or Moses imo.

I would personally say Hazard vs Schurrle on the left, KDB vs. Oscar in the middle and Mata vs. Moses on the right.

No Mata at all in the centre?

I would say:

Hazard vs Schurrle on the left

Oscar vs Mata in the middle

Mata vs KDB on the right

Moses backup to the above 5.

[The Skipper 20,593]

So Oscar and KDB on bench? At least one should be starting ahead of either Schurrle or Moses imo.

No Mata at all in the centre?

I would say:

Hazard vs Schurrle on the left

Oscar vs Mata in the middle

Mata vs KDB on the right

Moses backup to the above 5.

Well yeah, of course Mata will play in the middle, that goes without saying but even if he does start on the right he'll probably dynamically rotate in game with whoever is in the centre but I'd like to see him get started on the right flank if Mourinho can implement that sort of system and get an effective production from him as it gives the likes of Oscar and KDB a chance to really develop more.

[The Mak 4,459]

Well yeah, of course Mata will play in the middle, that goes without saying but even if he does start on the right he'll probably dynamically rotate in game with whoever is in the centre but I'd like to see him get started on the right flank if Mourinho can implement that sort of system and get an effective production from him as it gives the likes of Oscar and KDB a chance to really develop more.

It'd be nice to see something like a Hazard-KDB-Mata combination then. As KDB seems to have next to no weak foot, those three rotating around would be fucking insane!

It also means KDB could just switch wings with whoever and whip in one of those magical crosses of his.

[Jype 6,398]

I would personally say Hazard vs Schurrle on the left, KDB vs. Oscar in the middle and Mata vs. Moses on the right.

Yep, definitely this. De Bruyne can play very well on the right flank too so I'd play him ahead of Moses there if needed but if everyone were limited to just one position, I'd go with your selections.

[JDY 1,290]

These sort of options will certainly be a dent to Moses' dream of playing for Barca

But seriously, so excited to see the destruction our attacking trio's can cause, whoever ends up starting. Exciting times.

[NishC300 1,865]

Some of these rumours are truly very stupid. Why would we ever give Mata + cash for Rooney? We would never even give Mata for Rooney!