Should Mata play vs Barca

[CHOULO19 24,332]

I suggested this in the pre-match thread, and the game yesterday convinced me even more of it. We need to bench Mata against Barca. He couldn't defend and Xavi and Busquets got past him as if he weren't there. Yes he is our best chance at producing anything, but it's not like we will have the possession to creat much. I'd play Essien instead of him.

Cech

Iva-Cahil-JT-Cole

Essien-Lamps-Mikel-Rambo

Meireles

Drogba

[CHOULO19 24,332]

I'd play:

Cech

Ivanovic - Cahill - Terry - Cole

Mikel - Essien

Ramires - Lampard - Malouda

Drogba

In a predominantly 4-5-1 system. Ramires and Malouda are our most athletic wing players, and Malouda's defensive discipline and understanding with Cole is very, very good.

That looks good on paper, but Mikel and Lamps have been brilliant together the last few matches and have developed some good understanding with each other, I wouldn't break up their relationship at holding midfield.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

If you draw the midfield five up as:

Ramires - Lampard - Mikel - Essien - Malouda

You'd see I'm breaking up no partnerships at all

[capriccioso 2,545]

Let's go back to EURO 08 and play 4-1-4-1:

1.

2.,26.,24.,3.

12.

7.,8.,16.,21.

11.

[Badboy 1,526]

I don't want to see Mata play against Barca at the Nou Camp because we're not going to have a lot of possession. Mata is effective against the 90% of teams we need to break down, Barcelona are part of that 10% who will not give the ball away cheaply and on the rare occasion they do we need to take full advantage on the counter attack.

[Jase 43,479]

Don't think he should be playing next week. The game plan in which we are gonna use against Barcelona doesn't suit him one bit and we may need more attacking threats from the right than just the left like last night.

[didierforever 7,349]

mata had 9 touches in the whole game. 9!!!!! xavi had 137 and you can bet all your money that mata wont get many more at nou camp too. he is a creator and has that normal urge of going ahead which wont work. i say shield iva for the final. play essien insted of mata on the right to take some presure of iva so that he does not get a yellow and miss the final. whoever we play in the final will habe ronaldo or ribery on the right and i dont wanna see bosingwa try to defend against them.

cech

iva cahill terry cole

essien mikel lamps ramires

raul

drogba

[ulsterchelsea 3,213]

I wouldn't if we are to play the same way as last night, it doesn't suit his game

[Jype 6,398]

Mata only touched the ball nine times yesterday so he's not really that effective when defending deep against Barca. I'd bench him and If Barca get a goal or two then think about bringing him in because we have to score but if the plan is to keep the game at 0-0 as long as possible with occasional counter-attacks then there's no point starting Mata.

Sturridge defended admirably against Valencia on December when we used similar tactics to yesterday's match so if he played with such mentality next week I would give him a start as he could be crucial to our counter-attacks along with Ramires and Drogba.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

I can understand the opinion why he shouldn't, Barca's marking tactics mixed with hint of fatigue almost nullifies his presence.

That being said Mata has the ability to create something out of nothing. He showed it against Tottenham where he was fairly ghosting until that little chip put in to play Ramires through on goal. It's something he's got in his locker and he has a willingness to backtrack. All of this added up means Mata should definitely be on the pitch when it comes down to the Nou Camp.

[Kojo 4,676]

Not at all

Cech

Ivanovic-Cahill-Terry-Cole

Mikel-Lampard

Ramires-Mata-Sturridge

Drogba

Barcelona will expect us to defend and sit deep again, we can't do it again.

Our advantage: Barca didn't get an away goal, and we are 1-0 up.

Best one is, is no away goal for Barca, we need the quality upfront to score, if we score once against Barca, then we have a huge advantage. Score another goal... we are pretty much in the final imo, but don't write Barca off like that. Because we still need to defend really well. We need to attack more than we did in the last match, because Barca will expect us to park the bus.

[Thor 2,117]

Why fix something if it isn't broken is the expression I'll stick with here. Why change anything? The possession was 75-25 in favour of them. Not like it's going to be 95-5 at Camp Nou. We stopped them from scoring, we can do it again with the same team.

Mata should indeed play. He's one of our better players at holding the ball up and maintaining possession. Another reason I was shocked to see Kalou on instead of Malouda or Sturridge. Sturridge is fantastic at creating and keeping the ball. He could be important in this next fixture as a substitute.

[ulsterchelsea 3,213]

Why fix something if it isn't broken is the expression I'll stick with here. Why change anything? The possession was 75-25 in favour of them. Not like it's going to be 95-5 at Camp Nou. We stopped them from scoring, we can do it again with the same team.

Mata should indeed play. He's one of our better players at holding the ball up and maintaining possession. Another reason I was shocked to see Kalou on instead of Malouda or Sturridge. Sturridge is fantastic at creating and keeping the ball. He could be important in this next fixture as a substitute.

its a stick or twist match really. Hard to know what to do because I think the element of surprise could work as barca will be expecting us to do the whole defensive thing again. Maybe hit them all out attack from the kick off for a while to shake them up or as you say stay with the tried and tested defensive style. But what if they score? Do we sit back and try and get extra time and pens? Bit risky

[Bir_CFC 3,455]

I don't understand why people want to bench Mata and play such an ultra-defensive game. You can't expect us to keep a clean sheet at Camp Nou. WE HAVE TO SCORE 1 in Spain.

What you guys don't realize is that without Mata on the left wing, you are inviting even more pressure from that flank too, cause no one is gonna worry about Kalou while we are on offence, whereas Mata will surely suck in 2 or 3 defenders everytime.

The only player I would replace Mata with is Malouda, not Kalou. We have been very lucky with the amount of times Kalou has lost a ball on the counter which in turn begins their counter. It happened 3-4 times against Spurs in the first half and it happened once last night too, but we got lucky.

A counter with Kalou, is a counter for the other team waiting to happen.

[didierforever 7,349]

remember your own history and we dont need to look very further back to see suicidal tactics deployed. napoli were in search of an away goal and after ac milan got there away goal they started to attack thinkin they can get an even better edge and in both the cases the teams comitted suicide. they attack better and we defend better. lets stick to our guns, park the bus, and if we can stop them till 45 minutes they will try somethin fantastic (like last night when barca started crossin the ball), and then hope for a good counter and a goal. but we should start by parking the bus.

[HRiver 1,512]

To think of starting with Kalou instead of Mata in a Champions League semi final at Nou Camp is insanity. That's all I have to say.

[Sheva. 5,373]

I'd play the same exact team as the first leg, only exception is Sturridge for Mata.

We're going to have like 10% possession, and when we do have the ball we need quick outlets out wide = Rambo and Danny!!

[Thor 2,117]

its a stick or twist match really. Hard to know what to do because I think the element of surprise could work as barca will be expecting us to do the whole defensive thing again. Maybe hit them all out attack from the kick off for a while to shake them up or as you say stay with the tried and tested defensive style. But what if they score? Do we sit back and try and get extra time and pens? Bit risky

I'm just not getting the "Oh, it's Camp Nou now, they're definitely scoring goals there" attitude. Says who?

I'd like to see Sturridge play. Ramires was killing them just with his pace on those long balls. If we get Sturridge in there, who is probably our most technically proficient player in the squad with the ball at his feet, I think it will cause them even more problems. He just needs to understand to track back and get into those gaps, to make it easier to defend.

I'm sure some have mentioned it, but prior to this game I was sure that we'd have to play Torres in this second one and live off the counter, but it's got to be Drogba. When we do get the ball, we need someone who can hold it. With Ramires and Sturridge on the wings, I think it would lead to great link up play, and Drogba is sublime at finding the gaps as he showed last night as well. I remember the ball he played to Kalou right at the end, and I was thinking to myself, if that had been Sturridge, he would have been quick enough to get there before the Barca player.