Juan Mata

[Rubber bullets 1,183]

Oscar isnt the only one either. Today when West Brom were breaking on us to get the third goal their player had an easy pass which was shut down in flash by Wilian running back at full speed.

Willian has clearly shown that he deserves that winger spot over Mata, and Schurrle has been just as impressive when given chances.

I think he is of the opinion, at least from the Newcastle game, that Mata's performance dragged them down. Would have been harsh to drop them based on that when he made the change to bring Mata in.

If we are going to be really honest Mata should not have started that Newcastle game based on that performance vs Arsenal. Nice goal, but it was a pretty unimpressive besides that. Even more so was him displacing Schurrle who was very good vs Manchester City the week before. Other than Hazard getting the benefit of the doubt, Mourinho has been pretty fair with his selections and rotation.

Then what about the likes of Lampard, Hazard being absolutely clueless on the ball or Ivanovic killing off every attack we make because of his useless abilities on the ball when trying to cross it? How is that not considered dragging the team down yet Mata is the only one who picked out for this? While Hazard and Lampard both play again today and again both are either under par or pure crap.

Again, selective favoritism

[Sir Mikel OBE 4,742]

Ofc Oscar isn't the only one. Willian has done well, deserves to start. Schurrle has done well, but he's not starting because clearly Mou favores Hazard. Mata is not a winger, only role for him is CAM, like Oscar. Oscar can have 2-3 bad games and still keep the CAM role while any 'not-spectacular' performance from Mata gives justification to bench him for a few games. Oscar DID deserve to start up untill around now, but that's not what I'm complaining about.

Because Mata can only play in one position, and when he does not play well, we have more than adequate players who can play.

[yuvala 2,167]

Because Mata can only play in one position, and when he does not play well, we have more than adequate players who can play.

But why can Oscar have 2 bad games and still play while mata has to play amazing just to get a few mins?

Why can Hazard have a lot of bad games and still be selected?

Why can Lamps be shit and still be selected? same goes for Iva...

[Gilvorak 3,734]

Just play Oscar and Mata in the same team. Move Oscar to CM and Mata in the AM spot.

We need desperateLy Mata's creativity. Tired of all the bullshit.

[Korea 734]

But why can Oscar have 2 bad games and still play while mata has to play amazing just to get a few mins?

ITs simple...

Mata isnt a Mourinho player.....Nor is Luiz.

I said this a million times prior to Mourinho officially coming over.. Mourinho likes specific players..

[sutro 1,026]

Whats all this mata and oscar cant play together bs?

How many times did we praise the mazacar thing last season?

Oscar on the cm and mata on the am, we are wasting a football genius, and on top of that i bet hazard will start shining again also

[Sir Mikel OBE 4,742]

Then what about the likes of Lampard, Hazard being absolutely clueless on the ball or Ivanovic killing off every attack we make because of his useless abilities on the ball when trying to cross it? How is that not considered dragging the team down yet Mata is the only one who picked out for this? While Hazard and Lampard both play again today and again both are either under par or pure crap.

Again, selective favoritism

Lampard is there to pass from defence into attack. If Van Ginkel didnt get hurt I am sure Lampard would see the bench more, but as of now hes the only player who can really do it for us there.

Ivanovic is a defender. The fact that he is viewed to start of our attacks is a flaw in the system.

Schurrle should start over Hazard, but Hazard is the type of player who can turn a match at any time.

Whats all this mata and oscar cant play together bs?

How many times did we praise the mazacar thing last season?

Oscar on the cm and mata on the am, we are wasting a football genius, and on top of that i bet hazard will start shining again also

Mazacar was terrible.

[Rubber bullets 1,183]

Lampard is there to pass from defence into attack. If Van Ginkel didnt get hurt I am sure Lampard would see the bench more, but as of now hes the only player who can really do it for us there.

Ivanovic is a defender. The fact that he is viewed to start of our attacks is a flaw in the system.

Schurrle should start over Hazard, but Hazard is the type of player who can turn a match at any time.

Mazacar was terrible.

What about Mikel, Ake, Essien?Considering how poor Lampard has been you might as well give them a try and see what happens. But they hardly get a run of games but Lampard is constantly picked.

And considering that we lack width and rely on our full back for it. Then Ivanovic must do better in attack. But evertime he gets the ball are attack stops dead. We have a fantastic RB who does that in Azpi and if Ivanovic can't do it then he should be put at CB where he is actually suited for.

We are being very inconstant on who should be picked and why they should continuously keep getting picked no matter what their performances are like.

[Sir Mikel OBE 4,742]

What about Mikel, Ake, Essien?Considering how poor Lampard has been you might as well give them a try and see what happens. But they hardly get a run of games but Lampard is constantly picked.

And considering that we lack width and rely on our full back for it. Then Ivanovic must do better in attack. But evertime he gets the ball are attack stops dead. We have a fantastic RB who does that in Azpi and if Ivanovic can't do it then he should be put at CB where he is actually suited for.

We are being very inconstant on who should be picked and why they should continuously keep getting picked no matter what their performances are like.

I think something may be up with Essien as for reasons hes not playing in the league.

I dont think Mikel can link attack and defense with passes. He seems content to use Mikel as a destroyer and game closer. Ake was a benitez prospect.

I agree with you though that Azpilicueta should be on the right. Hopefully we can secure a left back in the next 2 windows so that Azpilicueta can be in his best spot, and Ivanovic can be back in the middle.

[chelseathebest 150]

But why can Oscar have 2 bad games and still play while mata has to play amazing just to get a few mins?

Why can Hazard have a lot of bad games and still be selected?

Why can Lamps be shit and still be selected? same goes for Iva...

Clearly Mourinho favours some players over others...

We desperately need Mata's creativity. We've become so predictable. No one is talking about Mata on the RW, Mata is a 10 and he should play there.

I know he is the man to give us some magic, something Oscar can't.

Mourinho just needs to give him a run of games and Mata will do the rest.

[Barbara 15,149]

why I'm not surprised the only thing discussed here is Oscar vs Mata when both have been useless for us in the last few games?

Now it's the moment a lot of fans have been waiting and I dare say wishing for - Oscar isn't playing well enough, so their man can have a chance and take back his position.

I do hope your plans included Mata killing the games for us because right now the only thing it warranted was both being useless. Mata had chances and never made good use of them and all sort of excuses have been given to him. Even Hazard is being brought to the conversation now because bring only Oscar isn't enough. Why don't you bring Willian too?

I said it before the match, I'll say it again, right now our AM selection should be Willian + 2. All other guys deserve stick for their presentations and can we for the love of gosh stop with 'he needs to start matches' bullshit? Do you know how Willian guaranteed two consecutive starts? By doing something out of the 10-20 minutes he was getting in October and in matches like the one against Newcastle. And that's a guy who had no match rhythm, had to adapt to a very physical league and arrived way after everyone else in the group. He had much more reason to struggle than Mata does and still he made better use of those few minutes at the end of the matches to show he can be useful. He isn't close to his best, he isn't close to Mata's best, but he showed us that you can use those few minutes to turn around a situation. Mata didn't and I can't understand why he's given all sort of excuses in the world. Most matches he played with Oscar he spent around 60% of the time playing as the CAM while Oscar was in the LW (way to destroy our best player's momentum then, but no word is going to be said about it). I even did a measurement about that in one of their matches... it's there with all the data to back it up. So not only Mata did nothing as a CAM to regain his position, but Oscar was moved to the wing, lost his momentum and now we have two out of shape players. Well done.

Now I'll go to Oscar's thread criticize him because that's where he should be criticized, not at the expense of Mata - who's got nothing on his corner except past glorious days, and reading all those posts that's all I can conclude from that. Because Bale - who I don't think is anywhere as good as Mata - just went throught the same thing at RM playing minutes, dealing with an injury (in addition to adapting to a new team and league) and he found a way to capitalize it, and is now winning matches for Madrid, assisting and scoring. But those normal situations in football teams don't apply to Mata when it comes to Chelsea fans because people think he should be assured starting at all matches because he's been POY twice, because he's creative and smart even if didn't deliver anything this season. The same example with Bale could be said about many others... just look at Arsenal, but Mata can't. He's special. He's the really Special One here...

And before I get a bunch of posts about defending Oscar, etc... go to his thread in 10 minutes when I'm done talking about him.

[Mouri_Matic 560]

As the day goes on, it looks like either Mata or Mourinho will have to leave the club. Looking like Mata atm but if we continue our horrible form then Jose should be worried

[Sheva. 5,373]

I said it on another page before but, before Mata joined the club we had a clear problem with creating chances, it's why we went out and spent 23m on him. And since then while the issue hasn't been completely eradicated - because you still need something from DM and on the wings.

Mata has more than done his fair share of creating chances for others, and when Torres wasn't scoring, he added goals to his game and had a quite ridiculous season - stats wise - last year. 20 goals and 30+ assists.

In tough games against the likes of Stoke, West ham and West brom at home in previous seasons, Mata has almost always had an assist and helped us open the door.

Mourinho needs to make him an important part of the team again, because he still has a major role to play for us. He can be a liability in big games when you need people working hard and defending, but that's why we have all those other AM's.

But there are games for players like Mata, and yesterday was one of them.

[Jase 43,479]

[Milan 17,835]

[Rmpr 8,977]

I think he deserves more playing time, our other AM's arent exactly lighting the world on fire right now, so it is not more than fair to give him a real chance!

[Jase 43,479]

I think he deserves more playing time, our other AM's arent exactly lighting the world on fire right now, so it is not more than fair to give him a real chance!

A real chance that includes a run of games in the starting XI and arguably in the No.10 position...

[Jase 43,479]

The Fantasy Football Club: Chelsea's Juan Mata picks #One2Eleven