No.10 Role

[Barbara 15,149]

If I'm being totally honest as much as I love Mata, he's not really done the business on the park so far this season, whereas Oscar has. How long is Mata going to be allowed to live off of previous seasons reputations? He has to prove that he belongs on the pitch, he's not done that this season so far.

I hope his form returns and soon, but it's not the end of the world if we have guys legitimately playing better than him. The starting XI should be picked on form, not reputation

forever and ever.

I remember it was about the same uproar when in Real Mourinho moved Ramos from right back position to central defence. Everyone was complaining, and look how it turned out for the player and for the club.

absolutely true! Thanks for bringing that up! Although Ramos sucks on both imo he sucks less in the CB position.

[didierforever 7,349]

Chelsea Football Club is not a recovery house for players who are not in form. Two can play your game

oh really? so tell me what do u do if a player is out of form. never play him until he magically gets in form after waking up one morning, or keep him benched till the season ends till he loses all his confidence.

read my post carefully. i said "yes, very true dude because CHELSEA FOOTBALL CLUB is all about developing oscar not about getting the right results and the right balance. LOL-MAX post. "

do u understand what right balance is? does right balance mean playing mata 90 minutes of every game with no consideration to his form? hell NO.

so please read a post CAREFULLY and INTELLIGENTLY before attacking a fellow poster.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

but the question is, for Kev to be there does it require Witsel to be by his side? I think that's the point. As I said in a post just five minutes ago I don't know Kev well enough to see how his holding capabilities are to play in the position and do not compromise. Also let's not forget the abysmal difference between NT and club football. What works in NT's - especially in Europe because you guys only play 5 teams and most times 3 of those teams are beyond pathetic (I personally think Belgium group to be weak as Croatia and Serbia both being way past their better years). Did he play like this for Bremen and it worked? Who was the partner in the pivot?

He did play a few matches in the pivot for Bremen and did well. But, tbh, he was so much better, both technically and tactically, than all the Bremen players that I think he would have shined in any midfield position. But I have seen enough of him to be convinced that he can be a decent cover for the pivot at the very least; definitely better than suited than Oscar or Luiz, for example.

But like I said earlier, this discussion has nothing to do with the one here because, even if he is suited for the pivot, he should NOT be played there just so we can squeeze more attacking midfielders into the team.

[meetdoscar 335]

yes, very true dude because CHELSEA FOOTBALL CLUB is all about developing oscar not about getting the right results and the right balance. LOL-MAX post.

If you are going to highlight my post highlight all of it and not incomplete sentences that give a different meaning to the whole picture i present to prove your bias towards another player else you may kindly re-write your own opinion it is allowed.

[Barbara 15,149]

He did play a few matches in the pivot for Bremen and did well. But, tbh, he was so much better, both technically and tactically, than all the Bremen players that I think he would have shined in any midfield position. But I have seen enough of him to be convinced that he can be a decent cover for the pivot at the very least; definitely better than suited than Oscar or Luiz, for example.

But like I said earlier, this discussion has nothing to do with the one here because, even if he is suited for the pivot, he should NOT be played there just so we can squeeze more attacking midfielders into the team.

but would he strengthen our pivot? I think we should always take into consideration the partners we have available for them. Khedira can play in Madrid's pivot because he has Xabi by his side. Busquets - as much as I hate him - is a great guy in the pivot. So is Schweinsteiger and it's easier to place technical players by their sides. Our guys for the pivot are Ramires, Lamps, Mikel, Essien and Marco. Playing Kev there would strengthen the zone or expose our defense more? If he strengthens the whole thing, than we can afford to have Mata in the CAM...

[didierforever 7,349]

and now i read How long is Mata going to be allowed to live off of previous seasons reputations?

and the answer to that was "forever and ever".

6 matches. 6 fucking matches out of which he startes just 2 and mata is already living off his previous season reputation.

un-fucking-believable. disgraceful.

[Ainsley Harriott 2,732]

oh really? so tell me what do u do if a player is out of form. never play him until he magically gets in form after waking up one morning, or keep him benched till the season ends till he loses all his confidence.

read my post carefully. i said "yes, very true dude because CHELSEA FOOTBALL CLUB is all about developing oscar not about getting the right results and the right balance. LOL-MAX post. "

do u understand what right balance is? does right balance mean playing mata 90 minutes of every game with no consideration to his form? hell NO.

so please read a post CAREFULLY and INTELLIGENTLY before attacking a fellow poster.

Wait for him to actually show something..

When Mata plays, THIS SEASON, the squad hasn't looked good. Oscar has been better. People need to understand that we aren't dominating games.. If we were dominating, I'd be 100% in favor of easing in Mata, but when we play we always have to scrap out results, and out of form Mata can't be put in a position to make the offense run for this team in crucial moments..

I wasn't attacking you, sorry if it came out looking like tht

[Barbara 15,149]

and now i read How long is Mata going to be allowed to live off of previous seasons reputations?

and the answer to that was "forever and ever".

6 matches. 6 fucking matches out of which he startes just 2 and mata is already living off his previous season reputation.

un-fucking-believable. disgraceful.

I was being cheeky, mate. It was a joke.

what's your name again?

anyway, I think Mata isn't big enough to have adapting a whole system around him. I think we need to find the best working system for the players we do have - all teams have areas they need to reinforce (ManUtd midfield, RM defense, Barça striker, Bayern is too dynamic to single out where they can improve, but they've been struggling this season under Pep, etc...). We need to improve our ST force and our DM, but right now we don't have improvements on either. So what does work better for us? Mourinho has to think as a team and players will have to improve - not only Mata because he isn't as flawless and genius-y to have the whole team adapting except him. That was the whole point I was trying to make. I've said many times we need him to recover, his creativity in the team is incomparable and can lead us to better places, but we need to find balance in the whole system, the whole organism like Tom said (although in different contexts). I'm not writing him off at all, mate. I just diminished him so we could try to see the big pic that is: Chelsea need changes because the last two seasons we were weak competitively.

[bushman 2,043]

According to Jose, Mata needs to play a different role, I read.

Somehow, Jose refused to elaborate on it.

He also wants to see Oscar as No. 10. Meanwhile, Chelsea are running on 3 games winless streak.

A new project, he says. Well, let´s see today about Jose´s new project.

[didierforever 7,349]

If you are going to highlight my post highlight all of it and not incomplete sentences that prove your bias towards another player

first of all, it was to show YOUR BIAS towards a player. it was to show your pre-judice.

now lets take the all of your post into consideretion

Anyhow i look at it i see more points for oscar than mata. Mata has had 2 individually brilliant seasons as our no. 10.(In which our team performed poorly in the league) Which is not even his natural position in spain and seasons we came 5th(65points) and 3rd(75points) respectively, Oscar on the other hand is just having his first season as our no.10 which is his natural position in brasil. If you really care about our team and not only mata then you may only start slagging moirinho or oscar if things are going bad in december/january. It is unfortunate that instead of praising oscar's development we are putting more unwarranted pressure on the kid by demanding an automatic place for mata despite his poor form yet we say chelsea destroys young players never giving them a chance well oscar is a kid and has been given a chance by mourinho who is criticised for not playing young players, now that he does people still criticise him.

tell me when did the national team become the criteria to select our players for club football. i mean does mikel play as a cam/cm for chelsea like he does for nigeria. if rambo conviniently dropped out of the squad like he is for brazil. no he is our first name on the team-sheet, ahead of cech, jt, oscar, mata, hazard, because we look pathetic in mid without him. let me give u a clear idea. players play 10 matches a year at an average for their nations while they play 60 for their clubs. they spend 40 weeks out of 52 with their clubs while just the remaining 12 with the NT. its the club performances that normally defines a player. not his NT performances/position.

then u say that if people only care about mata, then they will slag mou and oscar but so conviniently defend them with the youth argument, completely neglecting what our results and performances have been so far.

lastly, as i said in my previous post. CFC is not about oscar's development, its about the right results and right balance. if it means chucking out mata on the bench would give us the right result then i am 100% in but when right now things are not looking so rosy and ideal, hence we should be thinking of doing what i best for the team not for oscar.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

but would he strengthen our pivot? I think we should always take into consideration the partners we have available for them. Khedira can play in Madrid's pivot because he has Xabi by his side. Busquets - as much as I hate him - is a great guy in the pivot. So is Schweinsteiger and it's easier to place technical players by their sides. Our guys for the pivot are Ramires, Lamps, Mikel, Essien and Marco. Playing Kev there would strengthen the zone or expose our defense more? If he strengthens the whole thing, than we can afford to have Mata in the CAM...

No I don't think he'll actually strengthen our pivot at the moment. Like I said, he could be a decent cover in the pivot, especially next to Mikel. He might be able to improve our pivot in the future because his vision and long passing is miles better than anyone we have there right now, but naturally, he will need time to adjust.

[didierforever 7,349]

Wait for him to actually show something..

When Mata plays, THIS SEASON, the squad hasn't looked good. Oscar has been better. People need to understand that we aren't dominating games.. If we were dominating, I'd be 100% in favor of easing in Mata, but when we play we always have to scrap out results, and out of form Mata can't be put in a position to make the offense run for this team in crucial moments..

I wasn't attacking you, sorry if it came out looking like tht

when mata has played this season, we have DOMINATED EVERTON for 55 minutes and then looked pathetically lost when playing without him.

the only other match that mata started, he looked hopelessly unfit and it was his first minutes on the pitch with just 45 minutes in pre-season, so if we can give hazard the benefit of doubt for 6 matches, etoo for 2 etc. etc... we can give mata the same consideration too.

[Ainsley Harriott 2,732]

when mata has played this season, we have DOMINATED EVERTON for 55 minutes and then looked pathetically lost when playing without him.

the only other match that mata started, he looked hopelessly unfit and it was his first minutes on the pitch with just 45 minutes in pre-season, so if we can give hazard the benefit of doubt for 6 matches, etoo for 2 etc. etc... we can give mata the same consideration too.

I'll disagree with dominated, but we did outplay them. A lot of people want Hazard and Eto'o benched for today so...

And Mata should atleast play 45 min IMO

[Barbara 15,149]

when mata has played this season, we have DOMINATED EVERTON for 55 minutes and then looked pathetically lost when playing without him.

the only other match that mata started, he looked hopelessly unfit and it was his first minutes on the pitch with just 45 minutes in pre-season, so if we can give hazard the benefit of doubt for 6 matches, etoo for 2 etc. etc... we can give mata the same consideration too.

and then we look at the stats and the actual match Mata did little to contribute to that domination, most of it was because of André and Eto'o but let's also give the credit to Hazard, Lamps and whoever as they were also figuring in those 55 minutes. That's the kind of thing we need to look closely. We lost control of the match because André was subbed, not because Mata was... Mata contributed but little compared to André...

[jonaaibosk 191]

and now i read How long is Mata going to be allowed to live off of previous seasons reputations?

and the answer to that was "forever and ever".

6 matches. 6 fucking matches out of which he startes just 2 and mata is already living off his previous season reputation.

un-fucking-believable. disgraceful.

Well judging by the comments on here, he's the fucking messiah, despite putting in sub standard performances. Note you haven't even bothered to address the rest of my post. I've stated that I want Mata to return to previous form, but until that happens, there are a lot of folk on here who need a reality check and will have to realise that if Mata isn't performing then he is going to have to sit out games until his form comes back.

Put it this way, if you were manager of your local boys club team and young Jimmy had been POTY 2 years in a row but this season had been playing within himself and not performing to the best that he can, yet little Billy was playing really well and was much improved on previous years, would you continue to pick Jimmy and cross your fingers and hope his form returned or would you play Billy who was putting in better performances?

My original post was not about hating on Mata, look at my avatar FFS, I love Mata, it's more about what is best for Chelsea right now and what is best is protecting Mata, by not playing him when he is off form. Continuing to play an off form player will do nothing for his confidence and that will begin to rub off on the rest of the team. Mata needs to grab his chance by coming off the bench and forcing Jose to pick him, by putting in the kind if performance we know he is capable of.