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Juan Mata


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In teams that apply high pressure, every single player has to do there bit, even Messi in Barca does.

The pivot bit is a fair point, but even when that's sorted, Mata or whoever plays AM will have to do their bit in the pressing game.

Then Mata should most definitely join one of these top clubs who won't ask him to defend. Here at Chelsea there seems to be a desire for players to put a shift in defensively - the same actually happens at clubs like Dortmund, Barca and Bayern who look for their players to work as a unit....so where's that leave Mata? PSG?

Notice though I didn't just say it was about 'defensive production' but knitting the team together. I still think Oscar does that better than Mata and it's what I liked about him when we first signed him.

We haven't applied high pressure since the Bayern game, we sit deep and wait to counter, totally different.

Mata when he has played has tracked his man, and made tackles, interceptions etc, but it doesn't seem to be good enough for some, who want him to defend like a DM.

And for the point about "knitting the team together" what good is it exactly, if our attack has still been sub-par all season?

Back to my original point, a CAM should have the freedom to focus more in attack than defending. It's the case with Silva and Ozil if we look at just PL players at comparable teams. Doesn't mean they don't help out, but it's not a measuring point like it is here.

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We haven't applied high pressure since the Bayern game, we sit deep and wait to counter, totally different.

Mata when he has played has tracked his man, and made tackles, interceptions etc, but it doesn't seem to be good enough for some, who want him to defend like a DM.

And for the point about "knitting the team together" what good is it if our attack has still been sub-par all season?

Our team attack last season was subpar as well.

MAta doesn't track his man well, whenever Mata plays with Oscar, Oscar always switches with Mata and takes care of his role on the wings for him.

If anyone that really improved in the defensive department its Hazard.

Then Mata should most definitely join one of these top clubs who won't ask him to defend. Here at Chelsea there seems to be a desire for players to put a shift in defensively - the same actually happens at clubs like Dortmund, Barca and Bayern who look for their players to work as a unit....so where's that leave Mata? PSG?

Notice though I didn't just say it was about 'defensive production' but knitting the team together. I still think Oscar does that better than Mata and it's what I liked about him when we first signed him.

PSG dont need Mata. They already have a better 10 than him there.

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Our team attack last season was subpar as well.

MAta doesn't track his man well, whenever Mata plays with Oscar, Oscar always switches with Mata and takes care of his role on the wings for him.

If anyone that really improved in the defensive department its Hazard.

I would argue our attack has been much worse this season. And last season we played with no width which everyone all of sudden hates now.

We played some great football at the start under RDM, and eventually did for Rafa also. We did struggle sometimes, but not for a long stretch like has been the case so far.

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I would argue our attack has been much worse this season. And last season we played with no width which everyone all of sudden hates now.

We played some great football at the start under RDM, and eventually did for Rafa also. We did struggle sometimes, but not for a long stretch like has been the case so far.

We struggle a lot. After a month or so, everyone knew what Chelsea was going to do and who was going to play.

Even the european games and the club world cup, Chelsea never played well.

We might of had some high scoring games, but in general, the offense was never as good as people make it up to be last season. This season, the offense has been stagnant as well, but I really dont think last season was much better.

On a side note, GUESS WHAT!

We dont hoof the ball as much this season as last season. I swear last season, Cech must of hoofed the ball up 30x a game.

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We play a hideous brand of football and we rarely threaten the opposition if they're sat deep.

Majority of our goals come from counter attacks, individual errors and set pieces. I think it's unfair to pin the blame on the team's inability to defend on Mata. Like pretty much every big club out there you want your best player to defend the least so you tinker your system in a way which exposes said player the least.

Ronaldo, Messi, Suarez, Ibrahimovic, Van Persie, Gotze, Ribery etc aren't exactly workhorses are they?

Of course you want Mata to defend in the big games at the highest level but I don't see the need against the likes of WBA and Swansea. There's no structure, contunity or style to our football and it's tough to watch.

I doubt we'll ever see a performance like the 2nd half Man Utd away in the FA Cup this season.

I don't get the point of people blaming last season's failure in Europe last season on Mata's posiitoning either. The season before he was a crucial part to our only Champions League triumph.

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Has he?

In 7 PL apps, he has 4 tackles. It's not great but i'm sure if you looked at his tackles from whole of last season when he played every game, he probably didn't even get more than 10.

No one instantly turns into a defensive guru, it's not something he's done most of his career, but if anyone has seen him for Chelsea or even Spain this season, he's trying to adapt.

We struggle a lot. After a month or so, everyone knew what Chelsea was going to do and who was going to play.

Even the european games and the club world cup, Chelsea never played well.

We might of had some high scoring games, but in general, the offense was never as good as people make it up to be last season. This season, the offense has been stagnant as well, but I really dont think last season was much better.

On a side note, GUESS WHAT!

We dont hoof the ball as much this season as last season. I swear last season, Cech must of hoofed the ball up 30x a game.

We scored goals and created chances, wasn't great free-flowing football but it was good enough to get 100+ goals.

I'd take that right now.

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Ronaldo, Messi, Suarez, Ibrahimovic, Van Persie, Gotze, Ribery etc aren't exactly workhorses are they?

Um, a few are. Messi, Ronaldo and Suarez have all made more tackles and interceptions per game than Mata has this season. Messi works his bollocks off in matches, as does Suarez funnily enough. In fact I'd definitely call Suarez a 'workhorse' although that would be a long way down the line after cunt, tosser, prick, wanker, fuckface etc.

Heynckes was credited with turning both RIbery and Robben into much more rounded players (RIbery averages more tackles and interceptions per match than Mata does too) whlst Gotze averages roughly as many tackles and interceptions per game as Schweinsteiger.

In 7 PL apps, he has 4 tackles.

And how many interceptions?

That's unfair I know, because he doesn't have any. The difference is that this time you actually looked at the stats before saying that he has been making tackles and interceptions.

And he makes HALF the number of tackles on average per game that Ozil does.

But stats don't tell the whole story. At the end of the day we have to make our own conclusions based on what we see.

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In 7 PL apps, he has 4 tackles. It's not great but i'm sure if you looked at his tackles from whole of last season when he played every game, he probably didn't even get more than 10.

No one instantly turns into a defensive guru, it's not something he's done most of his career, but if anyone has seen him for Chelsea or even Spain this season, he's trying to adapt.

We scored goals and created chances, wasn't great free-flowing football but it was good enough to get 100+ goals.

I'd take that right now.

Chelsea scored 3 goals in the month of November....... In 5 matches last season...

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Um, a few are. Messi, Ronaldo and Suarez have all made more tackles and interceptions per game than Mata has this season. Messi works his bollocks off in matches, as does Suarez funnily enough. In fact I'd definitely call Suarez a 'workhorse' although that would be a long way down the line after cunt, tosser, prick, wanker, fuckface etc.

Heynckes was credited with turning both RIbery and Robben into much more rounded players (RIbery averages more tackles and interceptions per match than Mata does too) whlst Gotze averages roughly as many tackles and interceptions per game as Schweinsteiger.

And how many interceptions?

That's unfair I know, because he doesn't have any. The difference is that this time you actually looked at the stats before saying that he has been making tackles and interceptions.

And he makes HALF the number of tackles on average per game that Ozil does.

But stats don't tell the whole story. At the end of the day we have to make our own conclusions based on what we see.

Yeah i thought he would have an interception, i've seen him step across and block a pass recently.

And i love how we're back to talking about how many tackles a CAM makes, next thing we will only be looking for strikers who can defend also.

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Chelsea scored 3 goals in the month of November....... In 5 matches last season...

Away at Swansea, at home to Liverpool, away at WBA, and home to Man city and Fulham.

Not exactly easy games, not to mention we for some reason struggle in that month.

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Away at Swansea, at home to Liverpool, away at WBA, and home to Man city and Fulham.

Not exactly easy games, not to mention we for some reason struggle in that month.

Liverpool sucked ass at that time. They won 2 games prior to the Chelsea game.

West Brom didnt have Lukaku.

Fulham........

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Liverpool sucked ass at that time. They won 2 games prior to the Chelsea game.

West Brom didnt have Lukaku.

Fulham........

In the Liverpool game we had chances to finish them off, didn't take them and we were punished.

Against West brom, we had sooo many chances in the 2nd half it was ridiculous, again bad finishing cost us.

Fulham was just a boring game where nothing happened, not uncommon over the course of a season.

The theme of last season as a whole was bad finishing, because we did create opportunities most of the time, this season though it's no chances and wait for counter.

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I think the point is whether or not Mata's inclusion in the team makes us a better or worse team.

What I personally like about Oscar is that he knits the team together well, linking defence and attack and also contributing at both ends too. When Mata was in the team at points last season, the gap between the midfield and the attack seemed massive at times and it also seemed to grow when we played Newcastle this season.

Yes he was fantastic over the past couple of years and had great stats, but did the freedom afforded him to amass those goals and assists actually make us weaker as a team?

That's the job of central midfielders. what a team essentially requires from its playmaker (AM) is chance creation and assisting goals.

he shouldn't get any credit for doing secondary task if he fails miserably in his primary duty and objective as an AM and main playmaker of the team. I don't even think he's assisted any goal at all in the league this season and that speaks volume.

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I think the point is whether or not Mata's inclusion in the team makes us a better or worse team. What I personally like about Oscar is that he knits the team together well, linking defence and attack and also contributing at both ends too. When Mata was in the team at points last season, the gap between the midfield and the attack seemed massive at times and it also seemed to grow when we played Newcastle this season.

Perhaps and you could be right but I question if this isn't something that's more a matter of your own individual preference than anything factual. An argument can be made that Oscar contributes more noticeably in defence than he does in attack. He's fantastic in tracking back and helping Lamps and Ramires to win and retain possession but he has certain glaring weaknesses that a lot of times stifles our attack. His touch is hit or miss and this becomes particularly noticeable when playing good teams that pressure high up the pitch. Against spurs Oscar was virtually anonymous offensively. He also doesn't pick his head up enough and because of that he frequently misses teammates in good positions. Also, his passing can actually be quite sloppy in the final third. I don't want to be harsh on him because he's still developing and these are all things that he can improve on, but my point is that this notion that Oscar is the type of player you build a title challenging side around simply because he's better at tracking back than Mata is inherently flawed.

On a side note - in light of this modern day expectation that offensive players need to be just as good off & on the ball, I think more discussion needs to be had on whether tracking back has become the new bench stick to judge the quality of performances. There have been games where Schurrle has contributed basically nothing in attack but because he runs around, tracking back, people will comment that he had a fantastic game. Is this now what we're using to judge our AMs on their performances? Sometimes I wonder if Oscar's ability off the ball is more of a curse than a gift. I've been watching him in the NT for a while now and it doesn't seem like he's made any improvements attacking wise. While Neymar is going from strength to strength, Oscar's contribution in attack is stagnating little by little and it seems like he's beginning to draw criticisms from some pockets of Brazilian pundits. Is Oscar's ability to help out in defence and Mourinho's insistence that he does, resulting in his offensive game being underdeveloped?

A long winded post, I know. Anyway we can certainly appreciate the good qualities that Oscar brings without being dismissive towards that of Mata's.

Yes he was fantastic over the past couple of years and had great stats, but did the freedom afforded him to amass those goals and assists actually make us weaker as a team?

It's a good point. But I think this argument assumes that Oscar or any other good attacking midfielder would naturally be able to replicate Mata's stats in the last two season if they were afforded the same amount of freedom and role. That's something I very much doubt.

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Reports in France suggest #PSG will increase their offer to €48m for Mata. Mourinho is not against the idea if #CFC use the funds for Falcao





Pastore will leave #PSG with #ASRoma interested, should Chelsea decide to sell Mata, but a summer move appears more likely #CFC (le10Sport)


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