Juan Mata

[Ze Mario 638]

woot.. beckham?

[Roquila 1,335]

Grammar by Yoda you learned. Just kiddin. I agree with the conent of your post. Has to be a combination of Mata actually not being that good offensively, Oscar emerging and Mata not providing the necessary defensive prowess.

NEIN! Du bringst mich zum lachen! The first sentence made me laugh!

On topic: Mata is at the moment my favorite player but his recent performances didn't really gave us much to root for

[Jase 43,479]

http://www.chelseafc.com/news-article/article/3550263/title/mourinho-its-the-season-to-be-brave

One of the players likely to be given action in the coming weeks is Juan Mata who Mourinho emphasised has been unfortunate to miss out.

'I can't start matches with 12, 13 or 14 players which I would love to do because many people deserve to play and Juan is one of them, with the way he works, the way he behaves and the way we see him every day. But if I played him people would be asking me about not playing Hazard or Oscar and for these three positions behind the striker we have so many options.

'Against West Ham I left out Mata who is an international for Spain, I left out Schurrle who is an international for Germany, De Bruyne who was probably the best Belgian player in the qualification group. I left out Willian who has just played for Brazil the last two matches, so it is a good problem for me but it is hard for them and it is hard for me because I don't have pleasure when I leave them out. '

[Mustafa 885]

Here is how I see the situation. We have Oscar who has been great since he's come to the club. This year tho, he's taken his game to another level. He's been out POTY so far.

On the other hand we have Mata who has had an unfortunate (because of injury setbacks) start to the season but in my opinion Mourinho has mismanaged him. Mata only got a run of games when we were in need against Spurs and he came up with the goods in a great performance coming off the bench. Juan is a big game player. He earned his place in our next game at Steaua and he put in a solid performance. He was involved in most of our positive play and didn't put a foot wrong. He was unfortunate not to score when he hit the post in that game. Jose started Juan against Norwich the following weekend and again, Mata was good. His link up play was good he created a couple opportunities and again, Jose started him in our next game against Cardiff. This game, he was poor. Fast forward to the next game in which he was played. Arsenal away in the league cup. He watched from the touchline 2 games in a row. At the Emirates, it was as if Mata was at his best again. He looked sharp, clever feet, tricks and flicks .. And to wrap it all up he scored a fantastic goal. He played against Newcastle the next game but the entire team was shit... That being said, he was tracking back in that game and didn't really have freedom. (imo Mata was our best player in that dreadful performance) He hasn't played since.

Now, let's look at the similarities and try to make a connection between the games in which Juan was good. In the Spurs game, he was played centrally and was given the freedom of WHL and he was terrific [Got us a point]. He didn't need to worry about defensive duties... He didn't need to do that at the Emirates either. Bang ! He was excellent there too [Through to the next round]. In the Steaua game, he very good. Again, I don't remember him chasing back at all in that game. Freedom [3 points, and 4-0 win]. Norwich, he was offered that freedom, he was deployed on the right hand side but he drifted in towards the middle more often than not. When he was on the pitch we were good, but we failed to kill off the game. The Cardiff game, was the one game out all of the games in which Mata was started/offered a free role that he didn't play well.

I reckon if Mourinho put a bit if faith into Mata and played to his strengths, then we would see how good he really is. I don't think its fair/right to have Mata on the bench of 2-3 games regularly. He's too good to be a squad rotation player.

[DDA 9,925]

Grammar by Yoda you learned. Just kiddin. I agree with the conent of your post. Has to be a combination of Mata actually not being that good offensively, Oscar emerging and Mata not providing the necessary defensive prowess.

I genuinely did not see this post before posting this! Haha.

Are you Master Yoda in disguise???

He does talk as if he were addressing Luke Skywalker in every post!

[bushman 2,043]

I see the kids here are into Star Wars, lately.

Back to Mata. Read on kids.

Mata should be playing regularly for Chelsea but he is not. The question, whom to drop ?

Since Jose isn´t willing to play Mata, then Mata should ask to leave in January, I feel.

This classy guy, deserves much better than being shoved aside just because he can´t trace back defensively as Jose likes.

[Barbara 15,149]

At least he seems to be in a good mood. I was hoping he'd play today, but after Mourinho's press I guess it won't happen

x

[Special Juan 28,123]

It tells you how good Oscar is if he is keeping Mata out of the team. Saying that I don't think Hazard has been exceptional either so maybe Mata for Hazard.

[bushman 2,043]

At least he seems to be in a good mood. I was hoping he'd play today, but after Mourinho's press I guess it won't happen

x

Balaclava on, blinded by the light, going back to Spain, I read.

[Sidzeret 2,257]

At least he seems to be in a good mood. I was hoping he'd play today, but after Mourinho's press I guess it won't happen

x

Nah, that's David Luiz in the no.10 training kit

[ChelseasMessiah 304]

I'd love to see him play tonight, more than any other player.

[bushman 2,043]

I'd love to see him play tonight, more than any other player.

How about Jose´s boy Oscar ? According to posters here Oscar is the real deal, lately.

[The only place to be 11,313]

We must have different definition of the roles of a playmaker and I disagree that oscar hasn't put a foot wring this season. in fact it's a false statement as just 12 days ago before the int'l break after 2 inept performances against Newcastle and W'brom,he was one of the players fairly singled out for criticism. for a playmaker, he has barely created any quality chances and looked generally devoid of ideas in the attacking third.

With all of Oscar's "work ethic" this season, he still remains a far (and I emphasize the word far) inferior playmaker and footballer to mata. if mourinho is so obsessed with work ethic he should save some money, sell all the technical players in the squad and recruit some workhorses from the English lower league and french ligue 2. some players in those league have ridiculous engine and work ethic since the technical aspect of football is so overrated and hold little significance.

Scrap that I have a better idea, Jose should lure Mo farah and Haile Selassie. Their stamina is highly proven and would put themselves about on the pitch.

Haile Selassie was the ruler of Ethiopia - Haile Gebreslassie was an Ethiopian long-distance runner. Despite that it's still the most accurate point in your post in my opinion.

Oscar sets the tempo for our team and in a fantastic link-up man, bringing other players into the game. In fact against both West Brom and West Ham he played in Eden Hazard with two fantastic balls through that Eden failed to control on both occasions.

Against Newcastle he was on the wing and Mata had a fairly uneventful game, mainly because he seemed to be 20 metres away from the pivot at all times.

[ChelseasMessiah 304]

How about Jose´s boy Oscar ? According to posters here Oscar is the real deal, lately.

Oscar is stupendous, Mourinho himself said after our last game that it makes no difference whether he plays on either flanks or centrally, which means Mata and Oscar can - and perhaps should play together.

Mata's only problem this season is that he, other than the Cup game versus Arsenal, never got to play with players capable of playing the pivot role to our standards. If he's given a chance to play with Mikel and Ramires behind him, he would undoubtedly prosper.

[bushman 2,043]

Oscar is stupendous, Mourinho himself after our last game that it makes no difference whether he plays on either flanks or centrally, which means Mata and Oscar can - and perhaps should play together.

Mata's only problem this season is that he, other than the Cup game versus Arsenal, never got to play with players capable of playing the pivot role to our standards. If he's given a chance to play with Mikel and Ramires behind him, he would undoubtedly prosper.

Have you thought about telling Jose your tactics ?