Oscar

[Stingray 9,441]

The brilliance of Oscar is his simplicity. He makes things in such a simple way. You rarely see him doing those flashing plays. He makes superb plays by playing it in a natural, simple way.

That makes him so special in my eyes because that's hard to do.

His brilliance is not his simplicity â it's his intelligence. And that intelligence is being illustrated by that simplicity of his. In that aspect, he kinda reminds me of Zizou. 9 times out of 10, he will keep things simple ; but the tenth time, he will do that flashy play which is quite effective (while Zizou does his "roulette" (don't know if it's the right term in english), Oscar seems to do his backheel). And just as the great playmakers, he knows when to pass the ball, or when to wait and hold down the play, and not overdo things â that assist shows it perfectly.

When you add to that intelligence, his volume of play (work rate, involvement in the game, and mobility both in attack and defense) and his defensive capabilities, you just know that this guy is graven to be a n°10 ; our n°10. That's why I strongly believe that we just have to play him as our n°10 (if we keep playing in a 4-2-3-1 formation).

I agree 100 %. But .... We have three super intelligent amc's that are just warming up - age and experience wise. They also all three of them bring something different

. Mata - that in between the line playing and a pass, the explosiveness and creativity of Hazard, the calmness and timing of Oscar...

I hate these kind of discussions because it makes you choose a little between three maginificent players, really. I even refuse to make comparisons , i think for the future.

I hope we find a way to make it work together, to create something in which all three of time can shine like they should.

If that is not our endeavour .... We will have failed.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[termninja 5,290]

The problem we have at Chelsea is this: Whenever Hazard plays in the middle, he is a BEAST, whenever Mata plays in the middle, he is a BEAST, whenever Oscar plays in the middle, he is a BEAST. Nice little headache Mourinho will have.

Wow I remember the days when our best number 10s were Benayoun and Anelka To have those 3 now is something incredible when you look at it from a bit of a different angle. And we can say that all 3 of them are among the top 10 in the world as number 10s

[Styles 9,790]

His brilliance is not his simplicity — it's his intelligence. And that intelligence is being illustrated by that simplicity of his. In that aspect, he kinda reminds me of Zizou. 9 times out of 10, he will keep things simple ; but the tenth time, he will do that flashy play which is quite effective (while Zizou does his "roulette" (don't know if it's the right term in english), Oscar seems to do his backheel). And just as the great playmakers, he knows when to pass the ball, or when to wait and hold down the play, and not overdo things — that assist shows it perfectly.

When you add to that intelligence, his volume of play (work rate, involvement in the game, and mobility both in attack and defense) and his defensive capabilities, you just know that this guy is graven to be a n°10 ; our n°10. That's why I strongly believe that we just have to play him as our n°10 (if we keep playing in a 4-2-3-1 formation).

Perfect description of Oscar. I think 4-3-3 will solve a lot of problems.

[Mufassir08 2,400]

I think 4-3-3 will solve a lot of problems.

I agree.

[Barbara 15,149]

Perfect description of Oscar. I think 4-3-3 will solve a lot of problems.

I agree.

I said so the other day in one of the other threads. If we keep players we have we must play 4-3-3 as I don't think 4-2-3-1 is really effective if we don't have a world class "1" and at least another world class playing in the "2" but adding speed and depth. It's only two adjustments, but they sort of kill, overload the amazing "3" we have.

[Hkibou 622]

I wonder if the best way to play Mazacar is very near to each other, like a deathly trident in the middle.
When one of them runs deep or wide, the two others stay close to give more options to the holder of the ball.

It would require very forward fullbacks (Azpi and Cole fit the profile) who would keep making runs behind the lines of defenses. It would mean quite an unorthodox formation, which could be very efficient if mastered :

Given the caracteristics of Mata, Hazard, Cole, Azpi it seems only natural that the team will lean a bit toward the right flank. Azpi is more forward minded than Cole (doesn't mean than Cole will have to play with a leash though !), and Hazard is able to occupy more defenders when running toward his left flank than when it's Mata.
What's very threatening in that formation is that Mata, Hazard, Oscar can constantly interchange their position without losing any efficiency !

KDB as supersub would fit right into one of the three roles of the trident. Schurrle i'm not so sure. More as a replacement to Azpilicueta then. But he would have to work on his defensive game.

[BlueLyon 9,359]

I wonder if the best way to play Mazacar is very near to each other, like a deathly trident in the middle.

When one of them runs deep or wide, the two others stay close to give more options to the holder of the ball.

It would require very forward fullbacks (Azpi and Cole fit the profile) who would keep making runs behind the lines of defenses. It would mean quite an unorthodox formation, which could be very efficient if mastered :

Given the caracteristics of Mata, Hazard, Cole, Azpi it seems only natural that the team will lean a bit toward the right flank. Azpi is more forward minded than Cole (doesn't mean than Cole will have to play with a leash though !), and Hazard is able to occupy more defenders when running toward his left flank than when it's Mata.

What's very threatening in that formation is that Mata, Hazard, Oscar can constantly interchange their position without losing any efficiency !

KDB as supersub would fit right into one of the three roles of the trident. Schurrle i'm not so sure. More as a replacement to Azpilicueta then. But he would have to work on his defensive game.

I quite like that formation, it looks solid in defence with 3 cbs and De Rossi (however I would prefer more mobile dm like Vidal or Witsel if there would already be 3 CBs). Attackers like Mata and Hazard are quite shit defensively, but with working striker ala Cavani, it could work. One last thing is that such formation would work only if both wing backs (Cole and Azpi) could run up and down whole game effectively with pacy defending and crossing. Think of Alba or Alves here. Azpi isnt as fast and Cole is not able to run like mad anymore...and both have only decent crossing.

[Hkibou 622]

I quite like that formation, it looks solid in defence with 3 cbs and De Rossi (however I would prefer more mobile dm like Vidal or Witsel if there would already be 3 CBs). Attackers like Mata and Hazard are quite shit defensively, but with working striker ala Cavani, it could work. One last thing is that such formation would work only if both wing backs (Cole and Azpi) could run up and down whole game effectively with pacy defending and crossing. Think of Alba or Alves here. Azpi isnt as fast and Cole is not able to run like mad anymore...and both have only decent crossing.

I too like this formation, it's one of my favourite, and it guarantees some spectacular games. The problem is with the defenders though, who have to be extremely careful not to get caught in the offside trap, and always stay in the line. It's more difficult for the two last defenders (in my case Mangala - Ivanovic) because they're further apart from each other and have to cover the sides more than usual. That's why i'd rather have the third defenders behind the other two, which makes him oretty much the only one to care about offsides, but in Chelsea case it would be shameful given Luiz' skills as false n°6.

I feel it's the formation which uses Chelsea players in their best way, except for Cole as you pointed it (not quite agree for Azpi, i see a good future for him as a Dani Alves kind of rightback).

[The Skipper 20,609]

I too like this formation, it's one of my favourite, and it guarantees some spectacular games. The problem is with the defenders though, who have to be extremely careful not to get caught in the offside trap, and always stay in the line. It's more difficult for the two last defenders (in my case Mangala - Ivanovic) because they're further apart from each other and have to cover the sides more than usual. That's why i'd rather have the third defenders behind the other two, which makes him oretty much the only one to care about offsides, but in Chelsea case it would be shameful given Luiz' skills as false n°6.

I feel it's the formation which uses Chelsea players in their best way, except for Cole as you pointed it (not quite agree for Azpi, i see a good future for him as a Dani Alves kind of rightback).

You could have Luiz as a libero sweeper, Beckenbauer style.

[Hkibou 622]

You could have Luiz as a libero sweeper, Beckenbauer style.

Yes he would be great at it (that's why Barca want him) but it doesn't resolve the off side issue. The libero sweeper is quite free in his vertical movements on the pitch, he can ba at any times either ahead of the two other DC, between them, or behind both of them. Which makes it harder to read for Mangala and Ivanovic, very difficult to master, because it requires too much synchronization and knowing of your partners. In their first months it would be catastrophic.

[The Skipper 20,609]

Yes he would be great at it (that's why Barca want him) but it doesn't resolve the off side issue. The libero sweeper is quite free in his vertical movements on the pitch, he can ba at any times either ahead of the two other DC, between them, or behind both of them. Which makes it harder to read for Mangala and Ivanovic, very difficult to master, because it requires too much synchronization and knowing of your partners. In their first months it would be catastrophic.

For sure. Implementing the libero into the system would require some serious game time but if done properly it can be devastating.

Besides, if Luiz did play as sweeper and found himself pushed forward, you could have De Rossi dropping in at CB to create a 3 man defence which would then alleviate the a few of the difficulties in implementing that sort of system.

It's a shame the libero role has practically died because no manager has the balls for it anymore.

[Rmpr 8,977]

It's a shame the libero role has practically died because no manager has the balls for it anymore.

It has nothing to do with not having balls, the 'new' offside rule completely killed any possibility of playing with a libero...

[Hkibou 622]

For sure. Implementing the libero into the system would require some serious game time but if done properly it can be devastating.

Besides, if Luiz did play as sweeper and found himself pushed forward, you could have De Rossi dropping in at CB to create a 3 man defence which would then alleviate the a few of the difficulties in implementing that sort of system.

It's a shame the libero role has practically died because no manager has the balls for it anymore.

You could implement the libero into the system as you say, but it would mean that Luiz is in no way considering the defensive line into consideration. He cannot be held responsible for any offside mistake of the defense.

It'd be Mangala's and Ivanovic's job to maintain a straight last defensive line if Luiz is upfront helping the birth of the next offensive, and on the contrary to be aware any time Luiz crosses their line in the other direction, and then support him the best they can defensively.

I too mourn libero sweepers. I really had hopes when I saw Ancelotti making Thiago SIlva his top priority, he had the talent as a tactician and the perfect squad players to implement the system. Silva, Matuidi and Ibrahimovic as a backbone is just perfect for that. It's a shame Silva won't have the chance to play libero sweeper, the beast he would be in that role... Mindblowing even to think of it.

[The Skipper 20,609]

It has nothing to do with not having balls, the 'new' offside rule completely killed any possibility of playing with a libero...

That hugely contributed to it, definitely, but I feel it could still be implemented if the system and the right players were available.

[Rmpr 8,977]

That hugely contributed to it, definitely, but I feel it could still be implemented if the system and the right players were available.

Hmm, maybe, but I am very skeptical...

[Rmpr 8,977]

Btw, Oscar won two of ESPN BR's traditional prizes for Brazilians that play in Europe!

Best Player in Europe 12/13 - Oscar

Best Goal in Europe 12/13 - Oscar 2nd vs Juve

Best Revelation/Surprise in Europe 12/13 - Dante

[Rmpr 8,977]

Oscar just told ESPN him and Mata are really close friends, they are even next door neighbours at the same building Luiz has that stupidly amazing penthouse!

[Rmpr 8,977]

[Peppen 934]

Oscar just told ESPN him and Mata are really close friends, they are even next door neighbours at the same building Luiz has that stupidly amazing penthouse!

Link, mate?

[Rmpr 8,977]

Link, mate?

No, it was on a TV program on ESPN BR!