Juan Mata

[Korea 734]

Instead of buying Schürrle/Willian and keeping KDB when we wasn't even gonna be part of this team we should have simply brought in a top midfielder so our best player from the last 2 years doesn't have to be sacrificed.

Juan Mata was never in Jose plan.... Mata was always going to get sacrificed eventually....

Whether it was Willian, Schurrle or whoever, he was going to bring someone else in...

It's really going to be sad and painful but for his sake, I hope Mata leaves and go to a club where his abilities can be maximized so he can really flourish. There is not much point of keeping a player where his and the manager's strengths and preference are not compatible. Would rather just have the club buying players that fit into what Mourinho wants really. *sigh*

And what club is this? What big club is going to maximize Mata skillset and hide his weaknesses?

[Thistle 77]

There was a moment in the game where someone went to play a through ball to a sprinting Mata. It was intercepted easily by a Saints player and you Juan threw his head back in dismay. The old Mata would have just jogged on but you could see it click in his brain that he had to get the ball back so sprinted and forced the defender to play the ball quicker than he would have liked. Nothing major but it shows the impact Jose is having on him.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

I have to agree there has been many plauers dropped particularly David Luiz and he hasn't reacted like that.

Ah come on, we all know Mata hasn't been treated like those guys. Players like Luiz still get a lot of match time and are actually part of Mou's squad. Mata's just being played because he's there and he's usually now always the first to be taken off. It's different.

[Tomo 21,733]

Ah come on, we all know Mata hasn't been treated like those guys. Players like Luiz still get a lot of match time and are actually part of Mou's squad. Mata's just being played because he's there and he's usually now always the first to be taken off. It's different.

Mata's started quite a lot recently, apart from the big games, which admittedly must be a concern for a player of his calibre.

Azpilicueta also, wasn't getting games (outside the Carling Cup) until mid October, he made the odd appearance off the bench, but that was it.

[Vybz Kartel 1,613]

To be honest he has been unlucky of late, if I think of Etoo's missed chances from palace, torres last night and many other games he might have at least 6 assists this season. Also guys dont forget tht Southampton have played 5 games in 3 weeks with a really weak squad depth.

[Barbara 15,149]

I understand frustration alright - although I'm not a professional player - but what he did yesterday was a spectacle, an pathetic display from someone who didn't have a right to question his superior's choice. Had Oscar and Willian not played well, it still wouldn't give him the right to react the way he did in a public way. He looked like a spoiled child who didn't get his way. Poor, little Juan Mata, right?

Gimme a bloody break. I get he's frustrated, but how many professional players you see doing that? Not many, because they're professionals. Do you guys react like that in your work/school when things don't go your way, when someone gets a higher grade, wins the promotion, gets a raise or simply when you're criticized? So why does he have a right to do that publicly and we must be understanding? He has a right to feel whatever he wants, but to show it like that? It may be his right, but I still disapprove of it.

And here's the worst thing, he hasn't even been having a great match, he was a reliability defensively in the right AND IN THE MIDDLE simply because the conditions (weather and opposition) didn't favor his style. So what that childish spectacle was about? If you're having a good match and just being unlucky - like Torres was, for example - you have a point (I still don't approve the public reaction). But if you've been not special, created absolutely nothing, what's your claim or right? His only nice play was the 1x1 with Hazard. Many other players did the same in many occasions, some of which even today linking up (Ramires x Torres, Oscar x Willian, Hazard x Torres, Hazard x Oscar). So what? Now the guy barely touches a ball and does the obvious thing which is to give the ball back to the advancing player literally in front of him by a couple of yards and somehow that's a lot of key passes? I'll give his fanboys something, he had a 100% accuracy pass which is insane, but not all that important if he did nothing with those passes. Mikel has nearly 100% (and the eventual 100%) in some matches, but when did he change a Chelsea's match with his passes?

I'll never defend that kind of pathetic, childish, inappropriate, unprofessional, bratty, not-entitled reaction from any player.

But I was actually surprised by some other stuff I read here today. It seems Mourinho, who's been trusted by the club owner and directors to make us thrive has an agenda to make a player fade, so he can force his way out without getting stick from fans and media? Not only this is outrageous, but it's a very naive. Even when he breathes, Mourinho brings a lot of controversy, attention, hate, judgment and whatever from fans, media, rivals, etc... Hazard had to play most of last game in the right wing and played part-time centered. Oscar has been in both wings and centered, same as Willian. Many other players had adapted in their careers, but special little Mata can't go back to play in the position he's played for years before joining us because that completely detracts from his quality and just reveals Mourinho's maleficent agenda of destroying Mata's career at Chelsea... honestly? I'm too old for this shit.

And to add a few stats: Mata has started more matches this season than Mikel, Schurrle, Willian, Eto'o and about the same (exact the same or one less match) than Luiz or Azpilicueta, and two less than Cole, to mention only players that started more regularly. He's played 828 minutes which is about the same as Azpili and Torres (so maybe José is bitter about Spain because he's Portuguese and because of how RM and Spanish media and fans have treated him, so he doesn't favor Spaniards ) and he's played more than Luiz, Schürrle, Mikel, Willian, Eto'o all of which played 700-something or 600-something minutes and none decided to give a show to the cameras when subbed. I'm adding this because when the only place to be and some other people raised a point that many other players were dropped or subbed and didn't react like that, they were 'corrected' by some others saying that wasn't the case with them. Now you have the stats to back that up.

Mata had enough time and chances he just didn't do much of them, in the wing or centered. He simply doesn't fit. There's nothing wrong with him, he just doesn't fit the system, many others wouldn't either. He doesn't seem to have a great adaptability and although he's brilliant, his brilliance is limited by a few conditions that must be met otherwise he doesn't work and tend to disappear, at least that's what I've gathered from all of this.

Until today I didn't have a problem with his attitude, only his fanboys' when they put him ahead of Chelsea (like many did today) or people thinking they're his agent or his father. Now I'm as disappointed at his reaction as I was at Oscar's dive. I want to believe both players had uncharacteristic slips of behavior, that don't show their character.

[blu35_army 551]

Mata = Lavezzi + Matuidi..........Deal???

[Strike 7,271]

^ he may have played those minutes but he hasn't been treated at all like Azpi or Luiz.

this is a sad situation in the club atm. i would sell him off in the summer for good money. then invest that on someone who fits the pressing system here

[Barbara 15,149]

^ he may have played those minutes but he hasn't been treated at all like Azpi or Luiz.

this is a sad situation in the club atm. i would sell him off in the summer for good money. then invest that on someone who fits the pressing system here

so should he be given special treatment? Wasn't he treated in a professional way by Mourinho? Wasn't he given chances and dropped according to either circumstances (injury, lack of form, bad matchup for his style, etc) or not being better than the options just like everyone else? What about the strikers and Mikel?

I really am tired of all kind of excuses being given to Mata to forgive him from all his faults, but at the end of the day each of us will see his situation in a certain way. He hasn't been missed - which is the naked truth - in the team. We didn't perish in the attack because chances of goals weren't created - Hazard leads that stats according to people who like this stat. We failed because of finishing. Many players missed sitters or score-able goals, so I really don't think we miss Mata. We could always use the player he's used to be and we'd thrive if he did, but he doesn't seem to be able to adapt, to fit and honestly I wonder if he isn't depressed, demotivated or whatever. He just doesn't look like that guy that will turn this around and get riled up or hyper motivated and boom, just explode. He seems like that guy that will get quieter and quieter (not in a positive way) and hopefully without little outbursts of inappropriate rage/frustration.

[Strike 7,271]

so should he be given special treatment? Wasn't he treated in a professional way by Mourinho? Wasn't he given chances and dropped according to either circumstances (injury, lack of form, bad matchup for his style, etc) or not being better than the options just like everyone else? What about the strikers and Mikel?

I really am tired of all kind of excuses being given to Mata to forgive him from all his faults, but at the end of the day each of us will see his situation in a certain way. He hasn't been missed - which is the naked truth - in the team. We didn't perish in the attack because chances of goals weren't created - Hazard leads that stats according to people who like this stat. We failed because of finishing. Many players missed sitters or score-able goals, so I really don't think we miss Mata. We could always use the player he's used to be and we'd thrive if he did, but he doesn't seem to be able to adapt, to fit and honestly I wonder if he isn't depressed, demotivated or whatever. He just doesn't look like that guy that will turn this around and get riled up or hyper motivated and boom, just explode. He seems like that guy that will get quieter and quieter (not in a positive way) and hopefully without little outbursts of inappropriate rage/frustration.

why special treatment? Oscar has done well so far. Not like we've missed Mata but he's a player of real quality. sees passes where others don't. i understand his frustration and would like to see the club sell him off to a foreign league for decent money rather than play him in games against Palace, Swansea etc.the reaction to being subbed is nothing like Mata so far at Chelsea. He has been professional right through this whole thing and I'm sure that was just a one-off. No point having a go at him for that

[didierforever 7,349]

pathetic??? really!!! he showed dismay on being subbed. has he given a public statement. has he gone to the press saying "i am disappointed at my game time and the position i am playing in". NO.

stop overreacting on every little thing. just cos u love oscar does not give u the right to critisize everything on mata. he was a professional yesterday. can professionals not get disappointed on their performances, on the decisions been made by their managers or the refs? or would u have robots playing for us.

mata's reaction showed that he wants to be out their and be a part of this club's success. their was another guy who threw tantrums like this, today he is the fucking LEGEND of this club - DIDIER DROGBA.

so please stop this childish character assassination of mata.

[rantdeville 195]

My, how quick some are to turn on our tiny Spaniard for wanting to play for us.

Wish him the best, though, as his future is likely best spent somewhere else as long as Mourinho is here.

[Kieran. 6,317]

I really don't feel sad when I think of Mata leaving tbh. 40m or so to be spent on a striker or midfielder sounds pretty decent to me, while we still have Willian, Hazard, Oscar and Schurrle. I would probably bring someone in the mold of Moses, solid wide player who wouldn't complain about being a squad player.

[Stingray 9,441]

it wasnt. its a normal reaction. which players have been dropped?

Cech, Cole, Azpi, Torres, Mikel, Cahill, Luiz.

Eto'o, Ba, Schurrle.

Essien.

Plus KDB

[kellzfresh 7,229]

I really don't feel sad when I think of Mata leaving tbh. 40m or so to be spent on a striker or midfielder sounds pretty decent to me, while we still have Willian, Hazard, Oscar and Schurrle. I would probably bring someone in the mold of Moses, solid wide player who wouldn't complain about being a squad player.

We have traore

[kellzfresh 7,229]

I don't think mata will find it as easy as people think to walk into any team in europe and starting matches behind the striker.

PSG play 4-3-3 or 4-4-2

With ibrahimovic or cavani on form and playing in the center he has no chance of playing centrally.

He will end up playing in the wings, and if he couldn't adapt here, its not looking good because he has lucas moura and lavezzi to challenge

At Bayern and Barca he'll be on the bench. Madrid sold ozil because of workrate, mata doesn't stand a chance. Dortmund don't have money, manutd have rooney playing there and even kagawa (another player that is only good in one position) can't get there ahead of rooney. Tottenham don't look like getting into champs league, liverpool have to get into champs lge to get him, and if suarez and sturridge are both fit he may still have to play in the wings.

His options to get matches for world cup don't look good unless dortmund break their bank or another team changes their system to 4-2-3-1 just for mata.

And on top of this we are still not sure if del bosque will start him for spain if he still wasn't a starter after his best ever year last season.

[Spike 12,049]

Well this is the first time in his career that he has been in this situation. Can't really blame him for not knowing how to react. It's obvious he just wants to play football, this isn't an issue of money or anything else that can be seen as petulant. I can't be angry at him for just wanting to play football and be a part of the grand scheme of things.

[TrippingStep 336]

Only his set-pieces skill will be missed if he leaves.

Last year he had the best stats of his career but don't forget that the player playing behind the striker in the Benitez system is often having his best stats in his career (Gerrard), the striker, wingers work and movements giving the space he needs to play.

Last year, we had only Hazard, Mata, Oscar and Moses (as a substitute) to play in the three behind the strikers.

I was seeing he way he played under Di Matteo in the league the year before Oscar and Hazard were coming and it wasn't that impressive, Oscar and Hazard can drive with the ball to draw defenders and creating space for other players, Mata can't do that.

And in the last matches, it seems that work have been done with Oscar starting a run behind defenders when the ball is arriving to Hazard for a one touch ball trhough.

In Swansea, first time ball through form Hazard to Oscar nearly worked, against southampton, it happened two times.

Hazard and Oscar can do that and interchange their role of passer, runner while with Mata Hazard, Hazard has to be the runner.

Hazard Oscar William are more flexible, better to break away from pressing in their own half and make 40-50 meters run for 7-8 seconds action and two three quick passes.