Juan Mata

[bushman 2,043]

Mata has lost his confidence, I feel.

Playing under pressure, being constantly badgered in the media, it certainly does not help.

[TrippingStep 336]

He's the victim of the way we are playing right now.

With the slow build-up from the back, we have difficulties to find him with a little bit of space.

With our system of the last months, our movements were made to create space for him or Ramires, Lampard run from behind.

And He can't like Oscar, William, Hazard, Schurrle make quick runs form our own-half on counter-attacks like we have seen on the last matches.

[The only place to be 11,313]

You can't judge a player's performance solely by his stats though.

BLASPHEMY!!!!

[Rapkun 668]

In my opinion, Mata should play tomorrow. I admit he was not at his best in the last game, but the next is different type of game and a player of his caliber would definitely make the difference.

[Special Juan 27,458]

In my opinion, Mata should play tomorrow. I admit he was not at his best in the last game, but the next is different type of game and a player of his caliber would definitely make the difference.

The fact we have the choice between him and Oscar is quite something. But right now Oscar is just on another level in my opinion, this game is massively crucial and if I had to choose it would be Oscar to start this. Right now he's the most complete midfielder in the country, by a mile.

[The only place to be 11,313]

In my opinion, Mata should play tomorrow. I admit he was not at his best in the last game, but the next is different type of game and a player of his caliber would definitely make the difference.

Away games where we need to defend a bit more and maybe play on the counter, then it's Oscar all the way.

Home games where we dominate possession and look to break teams down....well actually that's Oscar too at the moment. I actually backed Mata to have a stormer on Saturday because I thought that would be his style of game. Right now I think De Bruyne deserves a chance ahead of Mata.

[BlueLyon 9,359]

Its the fucking pressure that club is putting on our key player again. Thats why Mata isnt playing well enough. He is ordered to fucking play Messi esque or he will get benched and that is killing him i guess. Same happened to our strikers ala Torres, Etoo, Ba, Sturridge, Lukaku so far. Give them complete support, freedom and 5 games in a row and he will show you how good he is.

Also where has the Juan love gone dear fans??? As soon he is not playing that good, everyone forgets him and sees only how to use him as bench player, even sell him for biggest money. If he has no starting spot till end of this year, I hope he leaves because he deserves to play regular. Then, like most players we let go, he will be destroying opponents in other league or even in PL in worst scenario. Juan Mata.

[Korea 734]

Mata needs to up his performances if he expects to make BRazil next season.....

[Dion 2,476]

Its the fucking pressure that club is putting on our key player again. Thats why Mata isnt playing well enough. He is ordered to fucking play Messi esque or he will get benched and that is killing him i guess. Same happened to our strikers ala Torres, Etoo, Ba, Sturridge, Lukaku so far. Give them complete support, freedom and 5 games in a row and he will show you how good he is.

Also where has the Juan love gone dear fans??? As soon he is not playing that good, everyone forgets him and sees only how to use him as bench player, even sell him for biggest money. If he has no starting spot till end of this year, I hope he leaves because he deserves to play regular. Then, like most players we let go, he will be destroying opponents in other league or even in PL in worst scenario. Juan Mata.

I think he still has a lot of fans. I am still a huge fan of Mata and I'm hoping he can find form and return to the team as soon as possible. It's hard to defend him as a starter with the way he has been playing, though.

[Tomo 21,733]

Its the fucking pressure that club is putting on our key player again. Thats why Mata isnt playing well enough. He is ordered to fucking play Messi esque or he will get benched and that is killing him i guess. Same happened to our strikers ala Torres, Etoo, Ba, Sturridge, Lukaku so far. Give them complete support, freedom and 5 games in a row and he will show you how good he is.

Also where has the Juan love gone dear fans??? As soon he is not playing that good, everyone forgets him and sees only how to use him as bench player, even sell him for biggest money. If he has no starting spot till end of this year, I hope he leaves because he deserves to play regular. Then, like most players we let go, he will be destroying opponents in other league or even in PL in worst scenario. Juan Mata.

lol what? that's what playing at the top level is all about, their is constant pressure for anyone, to suggest that's why he isn't playing well enough is laughable, Messi is going to be under the biggest pressure of his career at the world cup next year, if he doesn't light up atleast 1, there is always going to be that question mark when comparing him to the greatest players ever (rightly or wrongly). Will that be an excuse if he doesn't perform again at a world cup? no.

We have a strong squad now and our players need to fight to play, Mata isn't going to be excempt from that because he was our best player when we finished 6th and scrapped 3rd.

Where's our love gone? it hasn't, just because we aren't whinging every time he doesn't start and creating Jose out posters doesn't mean shit. We love Mata, but we love the club more.

[Barbara 15,149]

Its the fucking pressure that club is putting on our key player again. Thats why Mata isnt playing well enough. He is ordered to fucking play Messi esque or he will get benched and that is killing him i guess. Same happened to our strikers ala Torres, Etoo, Ba, Sturridge, Lukaku so far. Give them complete support, freedom and 5 games in a row and he will show you how good he is.

Also where has the Juan love gone dear fans??? As soon he is not playing that good, everyone forgets him and sees only how to use him as bench player, even sell him for biggest money. If he has no starting spot till end of this year, I hope he leaves because he deserves to play regular. Then, like most players we let go, he will be destroying opponents in other league or even in PL in worst scenario. Juan Mata.

actually I feel the opposite happened. He was asked to play like a mere mortal - which is what he is btw - instead of being the Messi to our team. I really can't make up my mind around people comparing whoever to Cris and Messi because they're totally a league of their own, and there are only the two of them in said league. Who else scores, assists and wins as many matches for their sides that can come close to Cris or Messi? No one does. So the problem is wanting to play an amazing guy - but who's still a mere mortal compared to Messi - in a Messi role, expecting a Messi result. That's not what Mourinho's doing. That's what Rafa Benitez did and I think it's fair enough to say the results weren't Messi-esque were they? We didn't become Barça, did we? Because if anything the matches against Bayern last year showed that without Messi, Barça is only a very good team, though nothing exceptional. This season again they struggle a bit - even against sides such as Málaga - to get the things done like they're done when he's there to do them.

So 'the problem' is that Mourinho arrived and he obviously knows he doesn't have a Cristiano Ronaldo at his disposal anymore, so he demanded all his players - not only Mata - to work their tits off for the team because we don't have a player that is up to the level of Ronaldo and Messi so we can build a team around them and say 'screw their work-rate'. It's not a problem, it's being realistic and becoming more competitive.

Now if Mata can only perform as well as he did last season when the team is built around him, he will a problem here and everywhere he goes because while he's genial, a maestro and arguably the most creative player in activity (for some people here anyway), his finishing isn't anywhere as clinical as required for him to leave Chelsea and become the player that a top level team will build around. He's more of one of the biggest contributors than the guy that will win matches when everything else fails, especially because even if he assists, he will still depend on whoever received the ball to actually score.

I do believe though that teams with strikers that have clinical finishing such as van Persie or Lewa could make Mata produce much more than we do, but I don't believe ManU or Dortmund would build their teams around Mata... their teams would continue to be built around RvP and Lewandowski, except their main contributor for their main man would be Mata and that would make them all much more deadly (not that ManU has been anywhere near deadly this season, but still)

[Rmpr 8,977]

So he demanded all his players - not only Mata - to work their tits off for the team

[blu35_army 551]

form is temporary but class is permanent. so,,why we must scare...

[yuvala 2,167]

Why does every Mata related post have to go with something about Oscar ?

Both are amazing, both will get their chances, both will come good for us.

[BlueLyon 9,359]

Just a vid of how good Juan is to all those who already jumped on Oscars bandwagon. Kid is good, but not near Mata. Juan is a victim of Mou defensive tactics, he playd superbly under three different managers and is probably our most creative player along Lamps in last decade.

Its ridiculous that fans simply not value our players if they dont perform well and jump on bandwagon as soon they do.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwTEV0-F2zU

[Korea 734]

Just a vid of how good Juan is to all those who already jumped on Oscars bandwagon. Kid is good, but not near Mata. Juan is a victim of Mou defensive tactics, he playd superbly under three different managers and is probably our most creative player along Lamps in last decade.

Its ridiculous that fans simply not value our players if they dont perform well and jump on bandwagon as soon they do.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwTEV0-F2zU

This is how I know you don't know what creativity means....

Lampard =Creativity, NO. But than again, you probably think Hulk is creative

[BlueLyon 9,359]

This is how I know you don't know what creativity means....

Lampard =Creativity, NO. But than again, you probably think Hulk is creative

I guess you dont remember Lampard from couple of years ago...probably you dont follow Chelsea for a long time eh? Lampard was our driving force for ages, providing huge role in most of our attacks during years, there are different types of creative players, maybe Lamps aint Pirlo or Xavi, but to say he isnt/wasnt creative is a crime.

P.S.: and what has Hulk to do anything here?!

[Korea 734]

I guess you dont remember Lampard from couple of years ago...probably you dont follow Chelsea for a long time eh? Lampard was our driving force for ages, providing huge role in most of our attacks during years, there are different types of creative players, maybe Lamps aint Pirlo or Xavi, but to say he isnt/wasnt creative is a crime.

P.S.: and what has Hulk to do anything here?!

Being creative and getting assists are two different things.....

I Guess Cristiano ronaldo and Ashely Young are creative as a passer too.