Juan Mata

[The Mak 4,459]

Could we please ignore the Manc who has nothing better to do on the day his club makes a record signing other than to troll Chelsea fans? If not, ban him or something so people aren't tempted. The day is bad enough without having to see his shit in here.

[Chels 238]

This thread has everything,

From nutters going way over the top, it's the same as a member of your family dying lol fucking hell.

It's depressing and hilarious at the Same time... Oh and throw in a few cunt's slagging off Mata.

Mata along with lamps you are one of the most cultured and intelligent footballers we have ever had at our club or even the prem a real gent which is very rare.

It's been a pleasure watching you play and thanks for everything you have helped us achieve we will never forget.

Sorry it didn't work out.

I wish you luck in the future when Madrid or Barca purchase you in a year or two.

Right back to business, lets win this prem.

[Martina 210]

Mata is an introvert, deep person and he surely sees a lot of importance in his relationships with people. Mou is complete opposite - ruthless, goal-oriented extrovert, who doesn't care how he gets what he wants.

Many players say the opposite - that he is a very caring person (Lampard, after his mother died and José sent him texts every day is just one example). Even Balotelli (today): When you are in Mourinho’s team it is a family…

No need to make him look like a cold, heartless person, surely. Sometimes things don’t work out - but José is the accountable one, the one with the ultimate responsibility for the club and that means he must make difficult decisions.

[Jase 43,479]

Chelsea fans grieve for Juan Mata, their Spanish Zola

Another (emotional) piece on Mata, this one in the Telegraph. :cry:

[Leif 6,006]

Juan make Leif sad. Juan make Leif eyes wet.

[sdrcfc 461]

The importance Mata has been to Chelsea has shown through the last couple of pages in this thread, how Juan man can cause this much of an uproar speaks wonders of his ability, as well as his personality.

[didierforever 7,349]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QY8dq0Bn6Kg

his full first interview for THOSE guys!!! poor quality though.

[BlueLyon 9,359]

When describing his talks with De Gea; when are you coming, how will you arrive? with a helicopter? With a bicycle? Haha that made me laugh in this shit times...what a great guy we lost...

The more I think he is United player, the less I imagine it...he just doesnt fit in...like Messi in Real team...I mean WTF? Even some ManU fans think this is wrong, that he is great player, but he is Chelsea bound and should never wear red kit...

[Zola's Flick 57]

Got to be honest guys, I am absolutely devastated by the news of Mata going to Manchester United. It is arguably Mourinho's most unjustifiable decision ever, to phase him out to the point of no return and, thus, a move to a rival of ours.

I simply cannot get over it, as much as I tell myself to do so. He was a joy to watch for us, our best player in his time here as backed up by his awards at the club, and the trophies we won in the process.

Whatever you do, don't blame Mata. He has been forced out. It is a World Cup year, and he needs to be playing. Man Utd can clearly offer him that, but so should we, because as well as Willian has done lately, he is no Mata.

So sad

[Styles 9,790]

What a lovely message from a classy guy. Mata :tophat:

[LAB 1,030]

This is so depressing... I keep telling myself "deal with it".

BTW This new colour doesn't suit him at all.

[sdrcfc 461]

I never thought on Christmas day our Mata would be gone in a month.

[The Mak 4,459]

From Juan's YouTube channel a few weeks ago. His 2013:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHKOP5GPC0g&feature=c4-overview&list=UU_WoyWJ6cx9LEhGohfPi-3g

[The Mak 4,459]

Chelsea fans grieve for Juan Mata, their Spanish Zola

Another (emotional) piece on Mata, this one in the Telegraph. :cry:

Shit, I've reached my limit for this month so I can't see it.

Any chance you could paste it in here for us mate?

[sk21 11]

Whatever you do, don't blame Mata. He has been forced out. It is a World Cup year, and he needs to be playing. Man Utd can clearly offer him that, but so should we, because as well as Willian has done lately, he is no Mata.

So sad

well thats some wrong information you have got there. mourinho made it extremely clear that he wanted to keep mata but mata forced an exit.

[Tomo 21,701]

I dont know why its widely assumed Mata and Jose dont get on, Jose has only ever praised his attitude and individual quality while Mata has took to his blog to thank Jose.

It was the same at Inter, he let Ibra and Vieira go (and the latter got his game time significantly reduced under Mou) yet both wax lyricals every time they talk about Jose.

Off the pitch im sure they got on fine but its like he said on football focus once the players accept the club comes first, then everything is good.

[Cech's helmet 220]

Mata is probably the nicest guy in football after Zola. the last 6 months, he was miserable. I think if we look at this deal in a humane way, the lad deserves to be happy again. he didn't want to leave but he had no choice. it's ridiculous how Jose treated him, he didn't deserve being left out all of a sudden. I don't blame him for leaving, I blame Jose; because like it or not, he destroyed his career here. fingers should be pointed at him when Mata does well with united. he obviously didn't want to leave, we forced him out.

[Superblue 6,353]

You were always going to be a better team with or without Mata. You can't really use that as reasoning to justify the Mata situation. Mourinoho is a top manager - there was a place in your team for Mata if he really wanted to keep him. We all know it. Why lie to yourself. He's been given chances you say? After being frozen out for long periods, and made to know that Jose doesn't want him around? It's a bit hard to become a world beater under those circumstances.

I see where you are coming from with his style of play - yes we have a problem with him and Rooney, IF we play wingers. We could go for an interchanging 3. Even if Mata is put out on a wing, he is more than capable of playing as an inside forward. He won't be running down th wing and crossing. He'll be effective there. We aren't Chelsea either, we won't need to rely only on Mata. Rooney and RvP are more than capable of doing deadly damage alone. So building the team around Mata really isn't necessary for us.

We don't rely on Mata otherwise he would be playing and we wouldn't have sold him. Unless you're talking about last season?

In that case we did rely on Mata because we built the team around him. He was given a free role basically to be our creative hub and when Benitez was in charge, he even played higher up the pitch effectively as a shadow striker to Torres. His stats last season were phenomenal.

However his first season was nowhere near as good as this. Hazard statistically had a better first season than Mata. This will partly be down to his first season in England but it is also important to consider in his first season he played predominantly on the wing. I think his first season was also a little overrated by us as Chelsea fans because we were pathetic that season finishing sixth and he can't help but stand out alongside the likes of Malouda and Kalou! Even winning the Champions League, with the exception of the corner for Drogba's goal in the final, he made almost no impact whatsoever during our run.

Mata is a superb player - the closest thing we've had to Zola. However Jose is making the right decision for the club. To be consistently successful I don't think we can have a team built around to accommodate Mata within it. In fact, there are very few teams at the very top of European football who have their team built around a classic 'no 10' playmaker anymore, such as Kaka, Deco and Zidane. Most of the top teams nowadays look to use pace, particularly out wide.

If you want to get the most out of Mata (i.e. his stats from last season) he must play centrally behind the striker and the team built around him to play to his strengths. If so, what happens to Rooney? If you're planning to play Mata out wide, you lose a lot of his output immediately, lose width, lose defensive support for that side of the pitch, and basically will have paid £37m to play a central playmaker out on the fucking wing. If that is Moyes' plan he might as well have brought Salah!