It was not long back when the trio dubbed as the ‘MaZaCar’ were believed to be the most devastating trio in world football. But since Rafa Benitez took over reigns, the trio was not deployed in every game together. 2 out of the 3 were chosen for each game. But that wasn’t too bad afterall, as Victor Moses had his moments here and there, and his direct wing play was only healthy for the team. Where Juan Mata and Eden Hazard continued to progress with time, the same cannot be said of the third one, Oscar. He had a great European debut, against Juventus, probably scoring one of the goals of the season. He had a few more impressive outings, all were European ties. In the Premier League he goes back to being just ‘average’, and this wasn’t noticed much because of the creativity and beauty that Hazard and Mata brought into our game. We would be lying to ourselves if we tried to believe Oscar has been doing well. We have to address this problem at the root level, to ensure that his career doesn’t go haywire because of our negligence.
From a scale of Great – Decent – Average – Okay – Poor, Oscar has been ranging from Decent to Okay in recent weeks, ofcourse he wasn’t the worst we had on the pitch. But when you look at his team mates, Juan and Eden, they always had their rating from Great to Decent, and that is exactly what we expect from Oscar too.
When Oscar was brought into the team, we didn’t know exactly what the lad was capable of, what his specialty was, chuck that, we didn’t even know what type of player he was and where he fitted in our team. He was the star central attacking midfielder for Brazil, and that is where he made his name for his club too. But here in Chelsea, that position is owned by Juan Mata, and there is no denying that Juan is at the best form of his life when played over there. So Oscar is deployed in the right/left wings, where he seriously looks unhappy and just not himself. And this has affected his game even when he has been given the central role. He is just unable to raise his game to the next level many times.
I wouldn’t dare say a thing about his contribution ofcourse, wherever he is played, he runs his heart out for the team. He is up there attacking, back there defending, in the centre, supporting, and so on. His passing is composed and easy to the eye, his positioning is excellent and despite the thin frame, he has bullied many players off the ball at times. But by pretending that this is all we want from this lad, we are not only overlooking a player who could well form the spine of the team come 3-4 years, but also might end up resulting in the disastrous dip in the form of a player, who could even out run Eden Hazard, Juan Mata and others into not only becoming the best player in Chelsea, but also the best player in the world. So it very well become very important to realize this problem and find out some way to help Oscar express his game more and more into the team.
It needs both, the manager’s, as well as his own contribution to make sure that his talent doesn’t go wasted. First of all, the manager needs to boost his morale and provide him a permanent role in the team, like most of our players do. I am not saying a permanent starting role, but a position that will be made his own whenever he is played. All players are not David Luiz or Ramires, who could give their best regardless of where they are deployed. Some players are unable to adjust to the different roles. Oscar seems to be one of those guys, but he is not all inflexible, and the manager needs to build on that. And on a personal level, Oscar needs to understand his own potential and make sure that he plans on getting to his best as soon as possible. And also he needs to looks at Juan Mata and Eden Hazard for inspiration, as he very well describes that type of football players. He needs to work hard on his shooting and ensuring that he gets productive in the games, either scoring goals, or assisting, or alteast having dominance is passing or some category else. He needs to be a master of something, rather than a Jack of all trades.
Believe me, I couldn’t care less about stats and numbers, but for this lad to be recognized among the best, he has to have the number do the talking. Otherwise, he will end up being another Ben Arfa, who can’t be denied as being talented, but since he lacks the numbers and stats for himself, he will always be counted as something missing. I am of the view that Ben Arfa is better than Isco, however, the fact that Isco has stats to his side means Ben Arfa will always be one step behind of his competition always. The same goes for Oscar, stats and figures are necessary to make him one of the most dreaded!
It all is well laid out to our next manager, he already has a really out of the worldly talented squad at his disposal, as the kinds of Victor Moses, Eden Hazard, Juan Mata, Cesar Azpilicuetta and Oscar have not even hit the prime of their forms, and they are already threatening the best of defenses, while the kinds of Ramires, David Luiz, Mikel, Demba Ba, Gary Cahill, and others are improving themselves game after game and might very well become the seniors of the squad very soon, and ofcourse we have the natural ‘big’ players in the likes of Petr Cech, John Terry, Ashley Cole and possibly Frank Lampard and maybe Michael Essien too by the next season. And let’s not forget the kinds of Joshua McEachran, Islam Feruz, Lucas Piazon, Nathan Ake, Chalobah and some others are very well waiting for a chance to pounce on a chance to entering the first squad as soon as possible. Bringing in two to three more players (one or two star ones, the rest could be utility players for squad rotation) will do the best for the club, and with us already having three players who could be very well challenging for the ‘BallonD’or’ and ‘Best Player’ in the next couple of years (I think you know who I am talking about), the future is surely shining bright for the club.
Thank You for reading this article, please leave your views in the comments section below. Cheers! KTBFFH!
the guy x a bit tired and drained he needs time. i think he shud replace lampard indat position
isco doesnt have stats on his side..he has 11 goals and 4 assists..for an attacking midfielder it’s not outstanding..look at juan 18 goals and 20+ assists..the same goes for eden 12 goals and 18 assists..but isco deserved all the praise because when he plays you see that he makes the difference though he is not scoring or assisting goals..
You often contracdict yourself, tell me how you want Oscar to get up to the standard of Mata and Hazard when he does not play often with them. Oscar does not have any problem rather that fat fool RAFA is his problem. Go and watch oscar in the almighty Brazil national team and see what he is doin there.
Bingo!!…you are right.
Mata and Hazard knw they have a hold in this team..as for Oscar..he knws dat he is d no.10 for the Brazilian national team..and u can see the difference there whenever he plays for Brazil..a completely different and one of the more influential players for Brazil along with Neymar..Give him a season or two to adapt 2 the premier league and m sure he will be as gud as Xavi is for Barcelona as far as influence and passing goes..P.S-i see a bit of Xavi in him..:D
there is no problem with him…. he is still a kid, in his first season in england. dont forget he joined directly from brazil not from spain or italy or france etc…. give lad some time, and with time i will say a couple of seasons. he has abundance of talent, and we have witnessed. he is always working hard for the team. he will learn with time and will be a world beater in 2-3 years. be patient.
Exactly!!..that guy has played almost 60-65 games in the past 1 year for club & country…the kid is just tired a bit…he’s going to be a beast in a couple of years
I so much appreciate this article that i’ll love to chip in this lovely way of using oscar.I expect Oscar to be brimming with confidence by the time next season starts if certain things that i’ll be mentioning here are followed by our next manager;(i)Since Oscar likes playing centrally,i’ll like him to be deployed besides Mikel at the base of the midfield creating and dictating the pace of the game and try to mix it with the other attacking 3 atimes thereby making our 4-2-3-1 becomes flexible and change to 4-1-4-1 once in a while during the course of the game.(ii)His coach needs to work on the level of his confidence more to make him very useful next season.(iii)Him coming to the base will allow De Bryne(my favourite) into the first 11 and you can imagine what this can generate for us!.(iv)since Oscar already knows how to mark very well,plays centrally and have eyes for passes,his bulk should be worked on before next season and makes him a perfect pair of Mikel,Ramirez or Romeu.
Wow!! perfect, I sometime think exactly like this…I have seen a lot of games De Bruyne has played at Bremen this season and this guy has impressed me a lot…If you talk about the talent MAZACAR have, its immense, loads of talent but whatever they lack De Bruyne completes it….If we use De Bruyne at the wings, we are going to get a lot of good crosses & with Lukaku upfront its just going to be amazing…another thing with KDB is that even he possesses the talent of playing along with Mikel, I see the Next Xabi Alonso in him at that position…we should do all we can to keep these 4 players at Chelsea for years to come
Oscar is not a winger,his best position is AMF,well since its bn occupied I think he should be drafted into the pivot,
the main problem with oscar is he hasnt had any sort of break since the start of 2012, when he started the brazilian league season, in june he went straight to the olympics mid season and then joined us and hasnt stopped since not to mention the constant games we have and travelling with the brazil squad i hope he gets a good rest over the summer and if he does i believe we will see a completely different oscar next season
Oscar will replace Lampard in his position next season.
Point of correction Benitez is the problem not Oscar. He should be used in Lampard’s position instead of the wing. I hope Mourinho can solve this for us next season.
I think the article is abit dramatic, Oscar is brilliant maybe not in the past 5 or so games but that is mainly from fatique, consider he has played over 50 games for us, he played in the olympics, he plays for his national team now during the off season he will take part in the confed cup, when does the boy rest? As for his position I preffered what Di Matteo did with the trio, under him non of them had a position they were drifting around as it suited them and they were brilliant many defences had no clue how to deal with them, alternatively put Oscar in Mata’s position Mata is just as devastating when he cuts in from the wing or as many suggested play him along side Mikel or Ramires. But i think the article is abit of an exaggeration of Oscar decline, give him two weeks off and tell me it wouldnt make a difference.
My advice to Oscar is that just try yourself to fit anywhere..we love you playing
Oscar precisa ganhar massa muscular para aguentar dividida. Espero que na próxima temporada ele se adapte a Premier League. Acho que a pré-temporada de 2013/2014 vai fazer bem a ele.
Go Blues!
The Lad nees more time to adpart to Premia legue football. The game are too much and keepon coming. If you look at Hazard, he come with a bang and had a deep in form now his to on top of his game and he (Oscar) will be soon. Hope we will setle for the best manager next season.
I am not saying that he is having problems that are serious at the moment, however, it needs to be addressed as he wont like playing second fiddle for long.