Juan Mata

[duo11bluecl 207]

Did OK tonight, no cutting pass that slide the defence open or anything but good safe passes, tried a few long one, usually mishit. Overall OK, but he will probably get better as he fits into their system more in the coming matches

[Korea 734]

Mata almost got an assist and tap in goal...

But, not really that influential imo.

[calculatingInfinity 1,443]

Didn't do much at all, but then neither did anyone else on that team... Cardiff was just even worse.

[Jase 43,479]

In a way, it's like seeing your ex girlfriend that you still love, dating and being happy with the guy you've always disliked the most.

I did support this deal since the rumors started because it seemed reasonable. To me it still seems reasonable, but I have to say to be honest, it does hurt to see him in red like that with all the United punks cheering him on as if they liked him nearly as much as the Chelsea fans did...

*sigh* Just couldn't stress enough how painful it is and not right to see him in THAT red shirt!!

[sutro 1,026]

I have kinda mixed feelings, i want Mata to do good but i want him to do bad.... Doesn't make sense i know.

I just want him to do bad, harsh but i dislike his current club to much for him to do good

[Hostedenis 556]

Didn't see the game. I watched Southampton vs Arsenal, and YES, le arse drew and thus we can come level with them (overtaking them on goal deficit) tomorrow.

So I don't know how Mata did but my fantasy premier league account says he got an assist...

[Land 331]

Pretty quiet game from him.Was expecting more considering it was Cardiff and RVP was their CF.

[Korea 734]

Didn't see the game (I watched Southampton vs Arsenal, and YES, le arse drew and thus we can come level with them (overtaking them on goal deficit) tomorrow so I don't know how Mata did but my fantasy premier league account says he got an assist...

omg, the young solo effort counted as an assist?

[Chelsea? 892]

Yea he got an assist? Also, funny how all my love for him has dissapeared so rapidly. I think in about 2 more weeks I'll even start to dislike him

[Alan Partridge 1,124]

Who cares if he got the assist, it's what he does he will get loads

[-Kaplan- 410]

[HD3D 1,038]

how did he do?

He was average.

But the United fans still seem pissed because the team's overall performance was still not impressive.

It's too early to tell but it seems Mata will do little to change that.

City will massacre them.

[gary gordon 1,777]

If Mata couldn't beat city with us, what makes anybody think he'll beat them at United? City have 11 ball players, United have 2 decent strikers, 1 MF, a half decent keeper and 7 wastes of oxygen. Cunts like cleverly and smalling wouldn't even make our reserves.

[Styles 9,790]

Mata got another one of those 'assists' that actually isn't an assist.

He passed the ball to Ashley Young who cut inside two players and smashed it in from 30 yards.

A fantasy football assist but not one in real life.

[The Mak 4,459]

Not a great game from him...looked like he was still trying to cope with the step down!

[Jase 43,479]

Pardon me for being delusional or sentimental or whatever you want to call it but I would really love to see Mata return to the club in the future. It's just doesn't feel right seeing him in other colors, never mind red.

[bababoom 4,478]

Dan Lavene (Chelsea Writer for the Fulham Chronicle) wrote this Article today, thought it was pretty good.

www.footballscores.com/superblog/no-laughing-mata-for-sellers-chelsea/

No Laughing Mata for sellers Chelsea

Tears were shed as, after six months of speculation, Chelsea finally parted company with Juan Mata. But why did Jose Mourinho oversee the sale of Chelsea's most popular player of the last two years?

Mata had served Chelsea very well at a time when the club had quite different aspirations within its grasp – whether or not the ownership will care to admit it. In the two full seasons in which he coasted to the title of Player Of The Year at the club, Blues came 6th and 3rd in the Premier League.

Which is not to say cup competitions did not make it one of the most glorious periods in the club’s history – with Mata delivering the two most garlanded assists of that period. But in those two years, Chelsea managed an average of just under 70 league points a season; whereas in Mourinho’s first spell at the club, the average was just under 90. On form so far, Chelsea are heading for 85 this season – almost entirely without Mata.
Mata suited very well a series of managers of frankly limited tactical ability: who were able to set up their teams for him, and tell him to go out and do his thing. By giving him freedom, the rewards were sublime to see – even if Chelsea underwent their least consistent spell of the last decade.

All of which is why he is the perfect buy right now for United.

But we all know Mourinho’s Chelsea is one of greater Premier League aspirations than that of Andre Villas-Boas, Roberto Di Matteo or Rafael Benitez. Or, indeed, the Manchester United of David Moyes. Mourinho expects a far more drilled formation and performance, where no player is allowed the luxury of brilliance over teamwork.

And, like it or not, results say Mourinho is right. We can never know for real how Mourinho would have dealt with a player like Gianfranco Zola, the player to whom Mata is most frequently – and, probably, most accurately – compared. But, on the one occasion in which the two Blues legends were forced together into the same match, the Sardinian (by then aged 38) was used as a 63rd minute sub by the Portuguese.

It was clear from the off that Mata did not have the attributes Mourinho most desires. He doesn’t have the pace that the very best clubs in Europe expect of a forward player; he doesn’t have the height or bulk Mourinho believes is mandatory for top performers in the Premier League. Just look at the buys he has made to improve the side: the hulking great giant Nemanja Matic; the cheetah-like Mohamed Salah.

Mata was never going to be either of those players.

Just like Zola, Mata is more than just a footballer.

They broke the mould when they made him: a cultured, stylish, intelligent man; who behaved less like the brash, spoilt footballers of now, than like the person most of us would secretly like to be. That, as much as his brilliance on the pitch, is why his departure from Chelsea has caused so much dismay.

Mata will do well at United – I’m sure of that. But I’m also sure that, however hard it is to take, Chelsea will do better without him than they managed in the two years he was a mainstay of the team.

[Sheva. 5,373]

Pardon me for being delusional or sentimental or whatever you want to call it but I would really love to see Mata return to the club in the future. It's just doesn't feel right seeing him in other colors, never mind red.

He will end up back in Spain next, imo.