The Blues earned their only 2nd away victory this season at Upton Park against West Ham United. And that comfortable looking 3-0 victory was in large part thanks to Frank Lampard who scored a double against his former club. Jose Mourinho gave the England international more freedom going forward in this game since Mikel was back in the pivot shielding the back four as he does best.
Also a goal from Oscar who was tripped inside the box for Lampard’s first penalty striker sealed a great resounding win for Mourinho’s men ahead of a trip to Switzerland before the team faces against FC Basel in the Champions league. Let’s look at some key points as to what we learned from Saturday’s game.
Lampard looked comfortable with more advanced role as always:
The 35 year old legendary midfielder scored two goals one from the penalty spot and another with a trademark fashion by arriving at the box at the right moment. The return of John Obi Mikel to the starting line-up prompted Jose to allow Super Frank more freedom upfront and the decision couldn’t have benefited any more as the man of the match ended the match with a brace. This perfect win might influence Mourinho to play Mikel in the same role in the pivot against the dangerous counterattacking Basel as we saw in our opening day shock in the Champions league.
Jose Mourinho made no mistake in his starting 11:
The Portuguese boss didn’t make any regrettable errors by masterminding a comfortable three points for the blues in what otherwise would have been a pretty hard fought battle against the hammers. It is been a real trouble to deal with their direct, long playing style last season in this corresponding fixture. But, Mourinho avoided what would have been a disappointing occasion of not winning a game in three fixtures which he deemed would have been ‘unacceptable’
Title charge is back on track for the Blues:
Chelsea are well in good position to fight for the title come the end of this season as we lay 3rd in the table just behind 2nd placed Liverpool in goal difference. Arsenal’s win against former third placed Southampton means we are still 4 points off the league leaders. That’s a gap that can be reduced since we have a comfortable upcoming fixtures than Arsenal. And the prospect of getting past Liverpool won’t be much of a challenge since our strong squad in-depth will come into benefiting us for the hectic 6 game schedule between Nov. and Dec. The games going into the new year from that point on will also be crucial coupled with group stage games of the Champions league which we are in a good position to finish as front runners in no. 1
Here some main points from the game we witnessed Legendary Super frank striker his 206th and 207th strikes for the Blues to lead us to comfortable win. Thanks for reading and please let us know of what you think and what you learned yourself from this game. Follow (@FahmiCFC) on twitter!
What I learned:: Mourinho got hatred for mata, he should give some players less defensive work like he did to hazard against westham which will bring the best outter mata…good game all thesame especially in 1st 45mins
wrong. Hazard worked very hard both offensively and defensively. He was quick to cover up Azpilicueta when West Ham was in possession, and then broke quickly with his runs when chelsea countered. Quite surprised that we played 4-3-3 instead of 4-2-3-1 but I guess thats the reason why we won so comfortably.
I would use mata in home games where teams park the bus against us.
I would use Mata in all games – he won the player of the season for 2 seasons not because he should be a benchwarmer…. and he also won players player of the season… pretty much Mata’s skill speak for himself. Mourinho may have won a lot in the past, but last season he didn’t accomplish anything at Real Madrid and he had Ronaldo in his team. I’m not saying I know how to manage but if Mourinho starts doing bad and Mata stays on the bench, I’m pretty sure he’ll go off packing. Abrohimovich even likes Mata….
Mourinho himself said post-match that Hazard didn’t have a lot of defensive responsibility and he was very comfortable because of it
Did we use 4-3-3 now? Didn’t look like it to me as Oscar played mostly central. He went wide few times, but I think he played CAM yesterday. I think Mou played 4-2-3-1 with Ramires on the right, but he ended up playing centre
A few points to clarify here:
1. Mata and Oscar have different playing style. In terms of creativity and vision, Mata might be slightly better than Oscar, but in terms of closing down and work rate, Oscar is whole lot more better than Mata. Thats the reason why Oscar is preferred ahead of Mata. Don’t get me wrong, I love mata as much as anyone else, but analysing from a neutral point of view (without any preference because of past glory or contribution), Oscar offers more than Mata.
2. The reason why I said Mata is more suitable to be used in home games because his low work rate is not so obvious, and his creativity and vision can be utilized more.
3. Indeed Jose said Hazard were given more freedom, but based on my observation he still covered Azpilicueta a lot during the game. Of course, thats just my observation.
Mata is a better no.10 and that is that.
Honestly, I don’t know what Mata needs to do to impress Mou. It cant be cos of form as Hazard hasn’t been convincing either. But he still gets 90 minutes. Oscar has been brilliant, but the 4-2-3-1 formation can accomodate all three of them. I am tired of Mou.
The Mata, Oscar and Hazard can no more play together cos is long that that happened and the last time we did, we lost the game. Nevertheless, and I am think Mou should give him to prove himself.
I miss Luiz and mata
you plastic fans get your asses out of Chelsea, cant you read between the lines????? we have lost or drawn 90% of the games Mata has started this season, Mata is a brilliant player but he has to do what the manager wants if he wants to play, Willian is good, KDB is good, Schurle is also awesome,there is only 11 players who can play at a go,any of you will be foolish to say he should leave out Oscar, but if it was me i would play Mata as № 10 and Oscar as a deep laying play maker alongside Ramires, then play Hazard and Willian on either wings….
The main problem is that we have too many plastics fans who complain even when we win. When he came to support the team they are silence in the stadium. Mou has to come out and criticise his own supporters. unbelievable!!
Why after 3 years he has no physically?? What mata bring to Chelsea this year so far? It is easy to say you want to play week in week out but he cannot play when we play against DEFENSIVE TEAM, who sit back like Newcastle and west brom did. The only way to solve the problem is 4-3-3 like we did yesterday again West Ham.
glory hunters enjoy the doom of people they once sang their praise.is funny 2 see how glory hunting fans insult a player that won champions league,fa cup & europa league 4 us.mata needs ur support & real fans dont enjoy the failure of their players,manager & the club.cfc 4 life.
what i learn, we need mikel for the other midfield players to express themselves full and i did not miss mata or luiz
yes, I didn’t but I think David luiz can replace lampard.
i wld like to say mou’s team selection was spot on and every player justified his selection but truth be told oscar is not a better playmaker… He plays for himself….. Oscar and hazard doesnt pass the ball 2 strikers…. Willian and mata do that better…. Mou is doing an unforgivable sin if we loze mata and luiz in january… I can only co sign sellin mata if messi is comin to chelsea… Luiz got no worthy replacement in this planet…. Mou must give mata game time…… He want to kill mata like he did with quaresimo, kaka, iker…….
I don’t agree man. Mata is a brilliant player, but Oscar is the better playmaker IMHO. Most of Mata’s assists in the past seasons have been from set pieces. My issues with him have been his slowness to pass the forward. Oscar passes quicker. Oscar scores not cos he’s selfish, but cos he positions himself, kinda like Lampard. Mata is an attacking midfielder, Oscar is a playmaker. I agree with you though that Mou is ruining Mata’s career.
“Mou is ruining Mata’s career”: mata himself ruining his carer. we have lost or drawn 90% of the games Mata has started this season. Mou has not the choice.
While we played a good game, I don’t entirely agree with the selection. What exactly was Ramires’ role in yesterday’s game? He was supposed to be out right, but ended up playing CM and overworking Ivanovic. A true winger like Schurle or Willian or maybe even Mata should have played that game. We got away cos West Ham didn’t use Downing much, if not, Ivanovic would have struggled. I hope everyone sees that Mikel is indispensable to Chelsea. This game was comfortable cos of him, not really cos we were too brilliant or anything.
Well spoken! People saw Lamps play well because of the strong presence of Mikel and Ramirez falling back to help in the pivot! I’m honestly not comfortable with Lamps playing week in week out. He is a legend that should be respected. If we had played a better organized team, then our weaknesses would have been exploited. Mata and Oscar shouldn’t be compared, they are two sides of the same coin. Mata hasn’t been good this season owing to match rustiness.
yes bla bla bla. Always complain even when we win. if it is not mata, it is benitez, and so on….we don’t need plastic fan. yesterday we play 4-3-3. It is the same way who bring us success in mou first term.
I think the reason why we won the game so comfortably is because we played ramires instead of a right winger. Very interesting to see that Ramires was playing in a midfield trio that consist of lamps and mikel, and Oscar is given the right winger role but to be honest, his got the freedom to move around, not just by sticking to the right. West Ham, like anybody else thought we would play a double pivot system, but with that tactical surprise of midfield trio, West Ham didnt know how to react and you can see the amount of space that we had and the amount of forward balls we played.
But you are right, because Oscar got the freedom to move around, Iva was exposed and quite a number of times downing exploited that left flank. However, as a left footed player playing on the left wing, the most he could do was to cross the ball, but there was no striker in the game to harm the back four. I think mou took that into consideration and fielded that line-up.
So, tactically I think mou was spot on, with his selection and also tactics.
Yes we won the three points, but had we faced an organized team the scoreline would have been different. Lamps shouldn’t be playing all 90mins game-in game-out. You talked about him and Mikel in the pivot but forgot that Ramirez was also in the game. Lamps shouldn’t run out steam before the likes of de Bruyne is given the opportunity to showcase what we know he already possess. Before long Juan Mata may begin to feel uncomfortable and…Mou isn’t rotating the team and everyone is not having a share. There is a report we want to go for Falcao, I’ll rather suggest we monitor the greatest player of all time: Lionel Messi. There are unconfirmed reports he may want to ply his trade else where.
This is utter bullshit. So basically it doesnt matter if we win or lose, you will still crib if your fav player is not playing. If a manger gets sacked we say AB does not support the manager and that there is too much player power. When the manager benchs a player, we still crib. The fact remains that every player justified their selection. The manager got the tactics and the formation right. Hence we won comforably. Also we have a midweek champs league game coming up.. so we need to tinker with our players. So just grow up and njoy the victory.
No one is not enjoying the victory. We just want to be a club that lives up to its potential: by winning all matches. An easy way of doing this is playing your best players. There’s nothing wrong with fans expressing concern if a certain player isn’t given a chance. This is why Lukaku I delivering the goods elsewhere: he wasn’t given the chance and was shipped elsewhere. Maybe you will love it if Mata requests transfer in January
mata can go because we have lost or drawn 90% of the games Mata has started this season. why after 3 years he has no physically?? What mata bring to Chelsea this year so far?
MAN OF THE MATCH: Oscar and yet people are talking about mata. In last 2 saisons mata were “Chelsea best player”, we finish 3 and 5 behind the leader with 15 points between. SOME of Chelsea fans are so c(rap.
I like Mata… and Luiz.. but I support my team.. when they play well I congratulate them.. not talk about players who are benched. Simple as that.
it is unbelievable that people still complaining even when we win:
The main problem is that we have too many plastics fans who complain even when we win. When he came to support the team they are silence in the stadium. Mou has to come out and criticise his own supporters. unbelievable!!
why after 3 years he has no physically?? What mata bring to Chelsea this year so far?
MAN OF THE MATCH: Oscar and yet people are talking about mata. In last 2 saisons mata were “Chelsea best player”, we finish 3 and 5 behind the leader with 15 points between. SOME of Chelsea fans are so c(rap.
I don’t understand why people say that it was Easy win, West Ham were poor: I don’t agree because we made West Ham play bad. Sam was expecting same like newscatle: 4-2-3-1, but we play 4-3-3. I think 4-3-3, same old must be field against team who refuse to play and play defensive football.
hey u anonimus… U seem to b content with a win over a week west ham… U are e only plastic fan here… Chelsea is not playin to e best of what they have….. U cant say mata played 10 percent of e matchs we won… How many matchs did he play this season…. We want to watch chelsea win matchs and a coach who doesnt talk of 11 mistakes…. Thatz a steel coach for u??? If we win we like it but stil we need to correct some of e things… Obi proves haters that hes e man for e job….
Mata is a very good player buy I don’t know why he finds it very difficult to play the way Mou wants him. In all sincerity, Oscar is very good at defending as everyone saw in yesterday’s match. That nonetheless, I think Mou should consider playing Mata in a less defensive role to safe his
career. It will be very painful if we lose Mata to our competitions as we did to Sturridge who later came back to hunt us. We ne
we won & we must first celebrate our victory.what i learnt
1)jose was spot on in team selection & tactics
2)mikel is the best holding midfielder we hav
3)mata needs 2 leave cfc b/cos jose hate him.
4)oscar & lamp were fantastic.
up chelsea,up jose,up all chelsea fan.
Playing Larmpard and Ramirez without Mikel leaves chelsea defence without cover because Ramy and Larms are forward minded including Luiz.
OH MOURINHO, Why r u treating MATA so badly? U r nt playing him and u still wanna hold on to him. Mata is a class act and we shdnt treat him like trash bcos Mou said so. We shd sell him to PSG bcos loaning Mata is an insult. I would miss Mata, if he leaves. Jose’s brand of boring football nt getting my vote.
Luiz is another Star, we r nt talking abt. He is lacking game time too, r we gonna loan him out too? Jose, u r such a fantastic Man manager, so they say.
Aguero -10 goals
Sturridge- 9
Suarez- 9
Remy-8
Giroud- 7
RVP-7
Lukaku -7
Rooney- 6
Ramsey- 6
Yaya-5
Negredo- 5
Oscar- 5
Lambert- 4
Benteke- 4
Bony- 4
Hazard- 4
Where are Chelsea Strikers?
How can you win the league without your strikers firing?
Jose, u still have lots to do.
i have said this before, loaning Lukaku away and allowing the likes of Ba to stay was a big mistake
If all of you that you can do the job be go nd bring your civi please 4 god sake leave this man a lone let him do is job if everything go wrong you people er not the one 2 be sake everybody should close there mut nd let this man hv peace of mind 2 work support chelsea not a players chelsea is big than any players
I love Mata so much! and lets be honest guys, Mourinho has given Mata all the chances, but he has not played much to the benefit of the team, why should Mou stick to him at the expence of the team, and trophies??
I mean if someone who plays on the same position is adaptinge better to the required style, and in turn benefits the team, why not utilise him. If Mou had bowd down to your pressure and play our favourite Mata and still end up on position like 6 as of now, the same us wud be saying Kou be fired!!!
Come on grow up!!!
I agree with one view though. Mou should try using Mata in the 4-3-3 so that he doesnt track back that much, and lets see how he performs…
Where are you getting your stats of losing or drawing 90% of games Mata started from?
Chelsea have played 19 matches in all competitions so far, and Mata has started only 8 times. In 8 starts with Mata, we have won 6 times and lost 2 times.
HULL- Mata didn’t play -W
MAN u- Mata didn’t play- D
Bayern- Mata didn’t play-L
Aston V- Mata starts- W
Everton- Mata starts- L
Basel- Mata didn’t start(Sub) – L
Fulham- Mata didn’t play- W
Spurs- Mata didn’t start (Sub)- D
Bucharest- Mata starts- W
Norwich- Mata starts- W
Cardiff- Mata starts- W
Schakle- Mata didn’t play- W
Man C- Mata didn’t play-W
Newcastle- Mata starts- L (After he came off, we lost)
Schakle- Mata didn’t play- W
West Brom- Mata didn’t play- D
West Ham- Mata didn’t play- W
Capital One Cup
Swindon- Mata starts- W
Arsenal- Mata starts -W
Here you have it- Mata has only started in 8 games that’s about 42% of all Chelsea matches. He won 6 games in 8 starts, that’s a 75% winning ratio. Where r u getting your facts of 90% losses or draws, cos Mata hasn’t even played up to 50% of games for the blues
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