Oscar

[supporter 3,088]

Oscar vs New York Red Bulls (Pre-Season) 2015 HD 720p (50 FPS)

I hope that Oscar can definitely explode professionally this season because this season he will be able to be training with us since the first day of the preseason, something that in the last seasons he could not do.

Regards.

[laeth 527]

Thought he looked great today. Lovely passing.

[Gilvorak 3,734]

Yeah, he looked right at home in that CM role. Can see him playing that role permanently in the future.

[termninja 5,290]

Saw some great passing from him. You could see from his penalty how much confidence he has now. Great stuff, I hope he keeps it up throughout all of season.

[CurlyHairLikeLuiz 1,625]

The thing is, when Oscar actually plays CM instead of doing that role in the no 10, people like him. It's only because others see players with flair like Isco in that role that they think Oscar is poor, but he really plays like he does to allow Cesc freedom.

[iseah100 5,612]

Our new Lampard. Been saying he should be a deep cm, looks good there tbh.

[kellzfresh 7,229]

Please stay in the CM, it's your calling. All that defensive ability and awareness to position yourself for the team goes to waste in the AM.

[Bir_CFC 3,455]

He did look very good in the midfield. Very comfortable to be exact, like he's born to play there.

However, it'd have to be a 4-3-3 type of midfield, can't expect him to succeed in a 2-man pivot. Really it's the same case for Cesc as well.

[petre.ispirescu 4,928]

Some great passing from deep, that ball for Cuadrado had assist written all over it.

[Adnane 1,101]

Well, looks like we got our decent CM after all

4-3-3 gives us more balance and keeps Cesc protected, since he's the guy opponents target on our 4-2-3-1.

[lionsden 4,689]

He was really good. Made a few brilliant passes which admittedly caught me off guard.

[CurlyHairLikeLuiz 1,625]

Well, you can't say Mourinho didn't experiment. We ended the game with a midfield 3 of Oscar-Ramires-Willian.

And the biggest surprise? It worked.

I'm pleased for Oscar, he's not ready to play in 2 man midfield but if everyone looks at him as playing as a CM suddenly his value among you increases.

[Barbara 15,149]

He was really good. Made a few brilliant passes which admittedly caught me off guard.

lol, you made me laugh for real

I've been saying for a while we work better in a 4-3-3 and that I can see Oscar growing into our new Lampard (not as a legend, I just mean the position and role in the team) and that maybe that's what they have in mind too keeping him with #8. He gives more options and protection and pressing quality to our midfield (compared to a Matic-Fabregas pivot). With Cesc having someone else by his side, not only he has another outlet for when he's pressed by opposition, but he also has a bit more freedom, as Oscar could protect him the same way Matic protects our defense. Oscar is very effective decreasing opposition's space and that could feed our counterattacks pretty well.

So in an ideal scenario, Cesc plays ahead of both Matic and Oscar for some matches and in other matches by Oscar's side in front of Matic. Oscar's good reading of the game defensively as well his never-ending willingness to press (something we've been lacking from the whole midfield as a whole, I don't get why), relieves Cesc's job, as it's shared by three instead of two, but it also gives Cesc more space (which he needs) and freedom. If Oscar improves his passing, we'll have not only Cesc feeding our attackers, but eventually Oscar too. In possession we have more options coming from the deep and without the ball we have a more effective pressing.

He needs to improve his long range passing for him to be as effective as Lamps, but he showed some glimpses of it before. As always stated, what he misses the most is consistency. If he doesn't get it, it won't get him very far.

But the reason I don't see us playing 4-3-3 is once again our right side. If we play 4-3-3 who's going to cover for Ivanovic? Mourinho needs Willian attached to Iva's hip so we don't have a highway for opponents in our right flank, in a 4-3-3 is nearly impossible for Willian (or anyone else) to do that effectively.

A midfield of those three (Matic, Oscar and Cesc) should be enough to give us stability to defend well, if we didn't have a kamikaze RB, who defends with his arms behind his body at at least 2m away from his opponent. I'm depressed.

[nadavTKL 1,787]

I dont get why people talk about formations (4-3-3, 4-2-3-1) as if you pick one and thats it, thats your system, like its FIFA or FM. Oscar and Cesc switched positions in attack quite a lot in the first half of last season, and we still played 4-2-3-1 on paper.

And why Willian cant help Ivanovic if we're playing 4-3-3? what is the huge difference?

[Unionjack 7,531]

With him being a nippy bugga and IMHO offers more upfield defensively thann offensively. (Altho yes he does have great moments) it might just be worth putting him next to Matic and Cescy. Thats what the preseason is for. experimenting. I hope the lad does have his best season cause not one of us want him to fail. not if they support Chelsea. We dont want any of the lads to it just that a couple just arent at the standard we really need them to be at.

[Barbara 15,149]

I dont get why people talk about formations (4-3-3, 4-2-3-1) as if you pick one and thats it, thats your system, like its FIFA or FM. Oscar and Cesc switched positions in attack quite a lot in the first half of last season, and we still played 4-2-3-1 on paper.

And why Willian cant help Ivanovic if we're playing 4-3-3? what is the huge difference?

because 4-3-3 is exactly to give the three attackers more room to attack. How can he be that if he has to limit his actions to be able to cover Iva? He has great stamina and is very fast, but still, it'd be counter productive. You have a more solid/stacked/robust midfield behind you so you can focus more in the attacking. If we have a player like Willian among the attackers, the interchange could also happen between him and one of midfielders. I agree the game itself is more fluid and not as fixed as the system, but it's still the team's philosophy.

Of course they'll switch positions and of course at moments we'll look like another system, but 4-2-3-1 and 4-3-3 are worlds apart in how the team is organized in the pitch and what is expected from midfielders and attackers. It changes their roles. As long as we play with Ivanovic in the RB I don't see how we could master 4-3-3 as neither Oscar nor Fabregas are fast and imposing enough to stop wingers before they're faced with Iva doing his ridiculous man-marking.

Had we had Luis and Azpili (will never understand why we never tried that), they could alternate going up, or even be a little bit limited (especially Azpili), but Oscar and Cesc would offer more options going up. They could try more vertical football (Oscar would need to keep up with the good passing, and we all know he switches between good and awful with the frequency he breathes in and out), they could link up with Hazard, alternate between going up and staying put all while without having to have Iva at the back of their mind. The problem isn't how much Iva goes up, it's how he comes back and how he decides to mark his man in the defensive phase.

In a perfect world, Oscar would be able to play his Lampard part, Cesc would have more freedom and room to spot runs, to link up, to put in his mesmerizing pass and use that superb vision of his. Hazard would have a little bit more freedom to attack, Costa could be more well fed and we could have Willian, Remy or even Falcao as the other third attacker. Those three in the middle would have to ace their pressing, it wouldn't expose our slow midfield/defense as much as it is exposed sometimes and we wouldn't be held captive of a defense that is easily exposed if not protected by 3-4 players. I don't know, I see a lot of benefits coming from switching to a 4-3-3 and few problems. The thing is imo is impossible to do it for long amounts of time (most of the matches, most of the season) because of how Iva plays. Iva isn't the only problem we have, but Mourinho's insistence on playing him, especially partnered by Cahill as the RCB, really costs us, but he just won't think of something else because of Iva's personality, his goal contribution and set-piece presence. If it wasn't for that and he actually stay put more times and had a better approach on how to mark his men, he wouldn't cost the team.

Cahill just costs for the lack of technical quality to an independent CB. He needs as much protection and support as possible to look good.

[Madmax 9,219]

[supporter 3,088]

Oscar seems to be better this season. We have spent two preseason matches and he is having a good performance, better than last year, more relaxed and with more maturity in the grass. I wish he can continue like this because we really need someone like him.

Regards.