I actually thought Oscar was poor on Sunday, unless he was playing to specific instructions. There was none of the usual creativity, and he gave the ball away uncharacteristically. I'm probably banging my head against the wall, but I would like to see Jose give Mata a chance according to form, but he appears to have given up on him ?

Oscar had one of his worst games for us at the weekend. I noticed this and posted about it.

The reason for this is that he played wide right instead of his usual central role:

Etoo
Hazard Oscar Willian

On sunday we played:

Etoo
Hazard Willian Oscar

This did not suit Oscar at all. And even though some say Willian had his best game for us, it reduced the effectiveness of Oscar too much.

He was subbed and then Rameires pushed over to the right.

Jose clearly likes players who tackle back, and Willian certainly did that on Sunday.

Mata is going to give you none of that. Zero.

We would have to change the team to accommodate that luxury.

Again what has what the club saying have to do with anything?

Clubs say stuff all the time.

We are not after that player and 10 minutes later he walks into the training ground.

The Manager has our full backing while talking to another 5 different managers.

They are saying what they are saying because if for example we thought he was worth 30 million we would remember what they said and offer 37 million.

Its called being intellegent

I agree, Oscar didn't play well on sunday. It does seem to be that he's excused by Mourinho if he has a below-par game, whereas Mata has to play really well in every game to not be dropped again.

Yes, I agree about Sunday. But I thought the whole point about out three amigos style was that they would be continuously interchanging during the game. Didn't seem to work for Oscar in that particular game, as you say.

The tactics on Sunday were very different to our tactics lately.

I would have said it was maybe our worst performance of the last few weeks. Its what Jose does bettter then anyone. He spoiled the game with getting 3 points in mind and it worked.

It was because Jose played him out of position.

Jose likes his players even when they playing badly to stick to his tactics.

Its not how well the player is playing its how he follows his orders to the letter that gets Jose's trust.

Joey Cole will tell you that

He's had below-par games when he's played in the central role this season too. Besides that, he played on the right enough times last season, so it's nothing new to him. Mata's been played out of his favoured position too this season.

I agree with you.

Mata just doesn't have the pace and maybe not even tactical awareness to do what Jose wants which is to press, tackle and harry the opposition when you don't have the ball. Mata can't do it, therefore he will rarely get an opportunity IMO.

Just look at the difference in Hazard this season. His getting involved more and pressing and winning the ball back has given him the confidence to then run at defences and shoot more often than he did in the past. Hazard is a much better player under Mourinho than he was before.

That's what Jose wanted from Mata but Mata is more of a quarterback player, slicing defences open with killer passes but not defending. He also slows the game down significantly, giving the opposition a chance to organise themselves again and this is not the way Jose wants to play. He plays high and he plays fast, building quickly from a solid defence. I honestly think Jose gave him a fair crack of the whip, but he's a luxury that the team just can't afford, much as I love him.

I think he'll end up at PSG or Athletico. Spain is probably perfect for him as it doesn't have the speed of the premiership.

I hope he doesnt go to Utd, even for £40m. He will strengthen them considerably. Sell him to a Spanish club. Athletico would be ideal and give us a swap deal with Costa, or Falcao from Monaco, or Cavani at PSG.

If he can be swapped for Rooney or falcao, that would be a result.

Agreed. Though i'm resigned to him leaving after this season we'd be absolute mugs to sell him to Man U.

Yes because he will have no say in where he goes.

So what if he strengthens Utd?

We should only worry about what goes on at one team and that's Chelsea.

I would have hoped by now we should be above worrying about what one player we no longer need can do. That's a small team mentality

I don't get how Rooney would work in Chelsea's team as it stands. He plays off the striker in a 4-4-2 or 4-4-1-1, I don't think he can play as an out-and-out striker can he? Surely we need someone like a Suarez or Falcao. What am I missing?

He can and has scored loads in the Premier League there.

Rooney's best position IS as an 'out-and-out' striker. People have always seen him as a deep-lying forward, but his limitations in that role are all too apparent.

Trust me, he would be great for Chelsea.

United have been the dominant team in Engliah football for the last 20 years. They might not be doing so well at the moment under Moyes, but they can't just be written off as a major rival that easily. The last thing we want to do is help them out of their slump by selling them a player as good as Mata who could quite potentially become one of their most important players for the next few years. We're not talking about selling them some mediocre bit-part player here. Even if he's not first choice for us currently he's still a damn good player.

It's not a small team mentality at all. It's just common sense that you don't strengthen your main rivals. If Courtois wanted to leave, would you also have no problem with us selling him to Man City then?

Thank you both. I'm still not sold, but if Jose thinks he's the answer, I'm not going to argue.

I think that would be a good result for you.

I have never considered him what I would call an "out-and-out" striker either, but you must know the player better than I do. I always thought he dropped deeper and involved himself in midfield because it was his more natural position, even in his younger days with Everton ?
Actually, I would say the same about Suarez despite him scoring a ton of goals. By "out-and-out" striker, I think most people think of that type of player as just a target man, someone who can hold the ball up and also find the back of the net. But there's much more to both Suarez and Rooney than that ?

Don't get me wrong, Rooney likes to 'get involved'. Because of this, he'll often drop deep.

However, if you make it clear that he's the furthest forward, he'll be in the right position more often than not. Play him as the focal point, and he'll score 30 goals a season.

Yes, I get your point.
One of the things I admired about his game in his younger days was his appetite to get involved at every opportunity..even recklessly at times. It almost seems a waste to just stick him up front, but if that's where he can do most damage, that's where he should play.

This is what confuses me about Jose returning.

W are led to believe that one of the reasons why Jose was sacked was because Roman was getting bored with our style of play.
Over the past couple of years he gives shed loads to spend on players to make us more exciting and attractive to watch, but he's now happy to see us go back to being a pragmatic team again.

I don't think pragmatism and playing attractive football are necessarily mutually exclusive. We did play some lovely football during Mourinho's last spell, despite what opposing fans might say.
Mourunho just cuts his suit according to his cloth, as they used to say. He looks for opposing team's weaknesses and sets out to exploit them. The difference this time around is that he hasn't quite got the players he can rely on in every position.
He expects every player in the squad to know their job and play according to the dictates of the game without being told what to do. Thats not a lot different to the way the great Liverpool teams of old used to operate really, the personnel could change but they continued seamlessly like a perfectly tuned machine.