The little magician, the maestro, el matador. You know exactly who I’m talking about. The one, the only, Chelsea’s very own Juan Mata Garcia. Recently nominated for the PFA Player of the Year Award, it would be considered a crime if he doesn’t receive the award. Even though he may not be the Premier League’s top scorer, Mata has easily been one of the best players on Chelsea and in England. Of course, Bale and Van Persie’s goals are bound to get in the way of reason.
We seem to be unable to perform when Mata’s not on the pitch. Are we dependent on him? Perhaps, but we really can’t blame the team for that. Not when Mata brings such energy and inspiration even if he’s not having the best day. With 18 goals and 31 assists in all competitions this season alone, it’s easy to say that Juan has been a steal. Its remarkable that a player who has been at the club for such a short time is already preferred in the centre attacking midfield role to Frank Lampard who, of course, is one of the best players so ever sport Chelsea blue.
Unlike Oscar and occasionally Hazard (with all due respect to these players), who recently seem to have a great effect on a game when brought in as a 2nd half substitute, Mata consistently creates chances and space for our other attacking players, forwards, and even defenders (just look at Terry’s goal at Fulham). Mata who is gifted with great vision is at times, unfortunately, one step ahead of his teammates. He does, however, show great link up play with Hazard, Oscar, and Torres in particular. Despite receiving assists from other players, both Torres and Mata have scored some amazing and important goals from work from each other. Torres unselfishly has gifted Mata with goal scoring opportunities while Mata has more than reciprocated the favour. Although not a Chelsea game, the connection between Mata and Torres in the Euro 2012 final was out of this world. They seemed to be on a wavelength above and beyond their teammates when Torres, after scoring his goal unselfishly and wisely passed the ball, despite having a good shooting chance, to Mata who finished a goal he wouldn’t have missed if he was sleeping with no legs.
After reading an article which more or less put the blame for Torres ‘low scoring’ (absolutely ridiculous as 19 goals for any striker is considered a great season) on the selfishness of the midfield. However, if you examine our Mazacar combo, each player knows he can score goals. Hazard is known for spectacular goals and being able to hold onto the ball for inconceivably long amounts of time. Oscar has made an impact with his tricks, skill and outstanding European goals. And Mata, can hold onto the ball, move around defenders like their cones in training, score, but most importantly, foresee when it’s best to take the opportunity himself, or pass the ball onto another player, be it Torres or Petr Cech, if he were in the position. Mata is hardly Gerrard or the rest of Liverpool who seemed perfectly happy passing the ball to Torres no matter what ridiculously impossible position he was in. With all due respect to the legend Stevie of course.
Of course, like any human beings (I’m still waiting for confirmation that he’s not from some football planet deep in outer space) Mata does have a weakness. “Weakness you say? Off with her head!” Before you gather your pitch forks, Mata’s weakness has nothing to do with talent or skill. It is, essentially, his size. He is a bit of a lightweight and lacks the power to bully defenders in the way Yaya Toure can. This isn’t a huge concern though. Look at Leo Messi (who I feel more than confident in comparing with Juan), who could very be described as large or robust influences the game by his presence alone. Just being on the field during the 2nd leg of the Paris Saint Germain match intimidated the defenders enough to create space for their equaliser. With some grooming Mata is bound to become this type of player.
Much speculation has been given to David Luiz and his ablilty to take over the reins as captain once John Terry and Frank retire, but has no one considered Mata? Yes, David is hugely influence, charismatic and made purely out of talent and potential for captaincy, but Mata is more than able to carry about the same role with his more humble approach.
At only 24, Mata is looking to be one of our best buys in recent years, and the future of Chelsea Football Club is looking so bright, we’ll have to start wearing shades.
Keep the Blue Flag Flying High!
I beg to differ on Torres’ “great” season…a top player of his worth shld b vying for d goaleador award in almost every competition we r into but reverse is d case. He only marks d register wit some goals n switches off….(Even d Zorres mode aint working for him anymore).
oh common though i love mata i would lie if i say that he has 31 assists this season.the stats on wikipedia are not correct. It is written on wikipedia that mata has 14 assists in the premier league while everyone knows that he has actually 12. These stats on wikipedia need to be revised..do chek the stats on goal.com i think it’s 18 goals and 21 assists actually. No david luiz is more of a leader than juan mata. David plays with extreme passion and he isn’t afraid to take risks.he is just special. Juan also has lots of qualities but he is too shy and everytime he gets bullied by players he stays quiet. he is just to shy to captain chelsea
yeah the goal scoring record of torres is very poor. people are saying that he has scored 20 goals and it’s a pretty good record for a striker.certainly i would have agreed if he played only like 30-35 games..but torres played 58 games and in other words he is bagging 1 goal in every 3 matches. his goal scoring rate is very very poor for a top side! we are not swansea or west brom, we are chelsea for god’s sake!
I think Mata will get the Ballon d’Or in a Chelsea shirt, 2 to 3 years from now, but I still prefer Luiz to become captain once Lamps and JT retire, but Mata is top-choice for the vice-captain role.
The MATAmost MATA
Torres definitely has not had a gr8 season.. but it would be stupid t9 say that he has had a poor season.. Our team has been inconsistent including him.. y?? Cause there is no stability. We need to keep a manager for m9re than a yr and the team will be more consistent once they stick to a style of play.. Everyone including Torres will improve a lot.. 19goals is not a poor season at all. Its a decent season considering how inconsistent we have been all season.
Fernando Torres(20 goals) has scored more goals in all competitions in comparism to Wayne (17 goals), Tevez (17 goals) and Aguero (16 goals). El Nino hasn’t had the best of season obviously but he surely has had a much improved season in Chelsea Colours. Moreover, Torres is too isolated up top, even Legendary Didier had physically strong supporting cast in Anelka, Malouda, Kalou, Lampard etc
Dude,i canr believe u just said Torres is always isolated up front…ourr formation leaves him wit 3 musketeers striving hard to feed him d ball always. This dudes never leave him up front alone(I’ve never noticed dat)….he just needs to do more on his positioning, run-ins,shooting n attempt less of dribbles n crazy passes(wherever he ends up next season) …
Have a look to see how many goals S.Fletcher is on now, got to 20+.Also how is barkley doing out on loan?1 last thing, have a look at Adryan from flgaenmo in brazil a top class kid only 17/18maybe 19 on urs he could be that something special u need.
to become one, and for them to show how much they loved each other and God. You may remmeber their engagement session from a few months ago! There were so many special moments through out the day. I hope you enjoy my
Look Rusty, I truly appreciate what Fernando brings to the table. He is a top 3 player when in form, possible the tops. I also empathize with your plight, you are trying to build and rise back up chart. I think there are several views to look at this situation from;a) from a purely pragmatic standpoint we can see that Liverpool is financially not well off right now. They made a very nice move in picking up Suarez and I am very happy for you. You lost Babel, who if recollection serves, was not on the top of the hit list anyways by a Reds view. You need depth, seriously a lot of depth. Buying 1 additional striker is not going to right the ship, you need at least 2 more plus a plethora of midfielders, fast attack wingers and a 2nd row of depth in the back line. By selling Torres, you get a remarkable price for him right now and can use that money to rearrange the pieces for a 2011-12 campaign. b)from a 1st party point of view Chelsea really are enamored with him, I’m amazed at how well we cover our negotiations as this was not even discussed until a day ago. I love the guy, he would be a huge transition piece to our future and he would fit in well at the team I believe and especially with a manager with the personality of Carlo.c)from a 3rd party point of view, Torres appears totally burned out at Anfield. He does not have fun, he does not smile, he appears to have no passion or desire. I do think he will always hold a special place for Liverpool but it appears quite possible that the ship has run it’s course. He after all, requested that negotations be opened up and that Liverpool work in earnest to see him moved. It wouldn’t crush me not to see him at the Bridge but I think he is too magnificent of a talent not to be at a top club playing with/against the best competition for the best silverware. That is not a slam to you, really. But it will be 2 years now that Liverpool have not been in Champions or contending for the top of the league. A player’s career is short and after what happened to him last year I think he realizes that even more so and feels the urgency to accomplish what he can while he can.I really think this was a calculated move by Liverpool front office. I have been on the message boards in England today and every scouser fan I read is horribly emotional just like the issue with the buyout, just like the issue with Hodgson. You need to put emotion to the side. This is a business move for the club. Liverpool is the one who leaked this to the press as it has been confirmed that it is a Liverpool source who announced this and verified the merit to Torres wanting the club to negotiate with Chelsea. Chelsea do not go and “tap up” players. We keep our negotiations as quiet as possible. By doing this press release it does 3 things for Liverpool;1. sends the message to all other candidates they have been interested in that they are in a position to move now and will be serious as again they need depth more than just one player2. they announced this just post the completion of the deal for Suarez which to me is very shrewd business. It indicates that this has been a predetermined plan and knowing if they announced this before the agreement was in place Ajax could have increased their demand by several million.3. and most importantly, it covers their respective arses from the public backlash of scousers who we have all witnessed being totally irrational and emotional. They need to make sure that people have absorbed this to a certain degree before the trigger is pulled otherwise they will be doing crisis control all over again.Hang in there Russ and remember the story of the wise man and the little boy.
Thanks again for all of the suggestions. There is some really good stuff here and I’m sure we’ll try to make it to some of these restaurants and bars. My boyfriend lived in NY for four years but it’s been a while and things change there so rapidly, your suggestions are very much appreciated. I’ve heard great things about Williamsburg and Brooklyn but we won’t be making it out that way on this trip. Maybe next time!Anon: I’ve heard about Angelica’s Kitchen. It sounds amazing, especially if your southern family went for it!Anon: The Library sounds great. Just our kind of bar. It’s going on the list!Melissa: Wow, thanks! We’ll mostly be around the LES so I’m taking your notes with me. Sounds great.Angelique: No problem, your blog is great! Ben: Thanks for the tips! Vegan Paradise is going on the list. We don’t have any “fake meat” restaurants here and I always enjoy them. Ryder: Thanks! I’ve read about that place and we love bars with a great history. Cassidy: Thanks! We won’t be making it out to Brooklyn on this trip but I’ll save yoru note for next time.Daily Coyote: No. I wish! I’ve heard the Chelsea Hotel is amazing. We have a friend with an apartment in Chelsea who is out of the country so we’re taking it over for the weekend. Umm… I guess staying for free beats out the Chelsea Hotel. ;)WendyB: Thanks! I’ll be sure to throw your name around freely where ever I go. ;)Tali: OMG! Thanks so much. We’ll mostly be around the LES so these are perfect. The Local 138 sounds like our kind of place.Chelsea: GOBO is going on the list! Hopefully we’ll make it there.
@ chantallebyron. Check your info before using it has facts for an article. El Matador has 18 goals and 21 assists in all competitions.
that’s i am talking about..
Hazard is there who used to play as a forward and he is in top form…so Mata or any other team will definitely chose someone to pass who has been in excellent form not smn who is out form…so every pass will not be available in torres foot to score goals
he has to strive to get the ball which he has been doing for some games before he played against Liverpool…
guys dont be too much of dependent over torres…this is his decent form and i know he is gonna be in some top scoring list for next season!
as far as I like him as Chelsea player. He’s selfish sometimes
Just an honest typo on my part. 31 assists is pushing it for any player but 21 is still a fantastic statistic.
Woah! I’m really enjoying the template/theme of thiis website.
It’s simple, yeet effective. A lot of times it’s very difficult tto get
that “perfect balance” between usability and appearance.
I must say you have done a excellent job with this. Also, the blig loads very quick for me
on Firefox. Superb Blog!