To say that last season was a turbulent one for Chelsea would be putting it mildly. A season full of ups and downs culminated in Chelsea winning the Europa League and becoming the first team to win both of Europe’s premier competitions in consecutive years. Chelsea also became the 4th club to win all 3 of Europe’s major trophies after Juventus, Ajax and Bayern Munich. Safe to say we have some history now…
Anyway, I digress. One of the major positives to come out of last season was the introduction of the attacking trio of Mata-Hazard-Oscar. “The three amigos” as they were referred to in some quarters of the press were a joy to watch when they were on song, with their slick inter-passing, free-flowing movement and general ability both on and off the ball. As the season wore on, Juan Mata and Eden Hazard established themselves as regulars in the first-team. However, the same could not be said about Oscar.
The young Brazilian seemed to struggle at times and even lost his starting spot to Victor Moses for a short while. The reasons for his struggles are pretty obvious (large no. of games played, first season in Europe etc.) but it doesn’t change the fact that he was, for a certain time period, consistently poor. He did eventually regain his position in the starting XI, but that was mostly due to the fact that Moses experienced a massive dip in form and that competition for his spot was literally non-existent (a.k.a Marin and Benayoun).
However, with Mourinho having confirmed that Kevin De Bruyne will be retained by Chelsea this season, Oscar’s spot in the attacking trio is under threat, and rightly so. De Bruyne had a better 2012/13 season than Oscar did. Last season, Oscar had 12 goals and 13 assists in 64 appearances, which isn’t a massively poor return, not by a long shot. However, De Bruyne had 10 goals and 10 assists in 33 appearances, which is pretty impressive. Those returns seem doubly impressive when you consider the fact that De Bruyne performed so well in a team that was battling relegation.
Aside from the stats, De Bruyne would be a better fit in Chelsea’s attacking trio given his versatility. With Mata having made that #10 position his own and Eden Hazard proving that he is most effective on the left wing, Oscar had to play out on the right a lot last season, and he struggled there. De Bruyne prefer’s playing as the #10 but is equally effective on the wings.
So what does this mean for Oscar?
It would be foolish to write off the young Brazilian, given that he has the potential to be world class. He could fight for a spot in the starting XI next season and given the amount of talent he has, he might just give Mourinho the type of selection dilemma every manager loves to have. Or… he could be used to solve Chelsea’s midfield problem.
Chelsea have lacked a midfield playmaker ever since Michael Ballack left the club. It’s not as if his absence hasn’t been felt before, but given the formation Chelsea currently employ, it’s more evident than ever that the team need someone to pull the strings from midfield. Lampard, despite his ability to pass the ball quite well, struggled to adapt to a deeper role. Ramires brings plenty of energy to the table and has an excellent work-rate, but he’s no playmaker. Oscar could well be that deep-lying playmaker Chelsea are supposedly missing.
Oscar’s game is based around playing quick, short passes to team-mates and ensuring that possession is kept, while he also has the ability to pick out team-mates with accurate long passes. In last season’s Premier League, Oscar completed 40 out of a total of 57 attempted long balls. Aside from being able to distribute the ball effectively, he can also be a goal-threat from midfield given that he likes to shoot from distance. He’s also an efficient dribbler and can thus drive forward and aid in attack whenever necessary.
Defensively, Oscar’s game is pretty sound. He always tracks back whenever possession is lost and doesn’t hesitate to tackle whenever he can. During last season’s Premier League, he attempted 86 tackles, more than double the number of tackles Lampard attempted (36). Indeed, the defensive work he put in during the Premier League game against Arsenal at the Emirates last season meant that Santi Cazorla, Arsenal’s most creative player, was unable to influence the game in any way.
Conclusion
As a winger/attacking midfielder, Kevin De Bruyne is better than Oscar, at least based on last season’s performances. However, that doesn’t mean both can’t be used in the same starting XI. Picture this: a combination of Oscar and Mikel in midfield and KDB-Mata-Hazard as the attacking trio. One can expect a devastating combination of beautiful football and plenty of goals.
24 thoughts on “Oscar vs. De Bruyne: Who Deserves That Third Spot In Chelsea’s Famed Attacking Trio?”
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Oscar is still a gem..rather mikel, ramires and lampard’s position should be under threat
This is d one of d most sensible tin av read on dis site buh u rite stupid tinz smtymz dd u guyz change admin i hope xo…
Nice 1 ..rilly lyked it
Nothing wrong with having five great players for those three spots. Or four great players for the back two mids. Nine top notch midfielders for five spots is entirely workable, and smart… considering injuries and our likely match schedule being heavy again as we work through Premier League Championship, FA Cup Championship and Champs League Championship. Quality depth will be key. It was missing last year.
well said Lampard 73, we needed back-up last season and didn’t and look what it cost us….
why not a 4-1-4-1 formation to suppose this view point you’ve made.
cech
azpilicueta ivanovic luiz cole
mikel
hazard de bruyne oscar mata
lukaku
it sure is gonna be deadly if they can maintain possession of the ball.
9ce one admin.
ℓ̊ definately support A̶̲̥̅̊ deeper playmaker Role for oscar provided he Ȋ̝̊̅§ paired with someone like mikel,who doesn’t venture forward much..
That would be lovely to see with the kraken charging with strength and will, i see ferdinad being left face down to the dust in near future distance.
Forgetting something? Shurrle?
We have a great midfied player
we need a great attacker. I know dat we have torres nd lukaku nd shurlle,’ just take a look @Wat happen last season torres cost us 50% out of 100% nt to win league.
@d end torres pay back.lukaku has nt havin champion league xperince.we need a young champion league experince striker ..wit dat we are saved.
;->;->;->
Finally, people are beginning to see what I have been shouting and commenting on this blog for ages! Oscar is a younger more rugged version of Pirlo, ok, without the freekicks but he is a born deep lying playmaker.I don’t understand why he was played wide in the 1st place, he is useless on the ball out wide, he is only useful off the ball in wide positions as he causes a threat running down the channels. Consider the few times he has played DLP, he neutralized Pirlo (which is a no mean feat) and scored twice and was good against Santi as mentioned in the blog. He also played DLP for Brazil in the confederations cup. He can play DLP in either a 4-3-3 (4-1-2-3) or in a 4-2-3-1. We better start using this guy as a DLP and stop all this noise about De Rossi
nice work but if Oscar partners Mikel, then Mikel’s game would suffer.. I would prefer see him partner Essien for experience or Van Ginkel who is disciplined, good tackles gets back possession..
I watched the Pre season games and I haven’t seen the good work of schrulle
Oscar can be used as back up to Mata, as we noticed last season wen Mata din’t play we struggled for a result, I believe Oscar can do good as our back up no 10
andre schrule????????????????
where will he play if kdb is included in line up………..
4-2-3(Mata-Hazard-Schrule)-1(Lukaku)
best according to me…………
what do you think???????
i don’t know why so many people are unappreciative of oscar. yes his game suffered in england because the premier league is not a forgiving place. even with blistering start to the season the wheels did come off for hazard. granted, he quickly regained his form. let’s be fair in ucl our best player was not mata or hazard, it was oscar. oscar has a great european pedigree. he can be great for us. he has more experience than bruyne does. and let’s not forget he was one of brazil’s best performers in confederations cup. he puts in a lot of work off the ball. hazard, mata and de bruyne do not do that much work. just because de bruyne was fantastic in a friendly doesn’t mean he should replace oscar. although i agree with the idea that oscar can be great alongside a defensive midfielder (in front of the back four), i do not think it is wise to replace oscar and get rid of MAZACAR just yet. unless de bruyne and schurrle proves me otherwise (i.e in a bigger stage and against bigger teams) i stand corrected.
First Choice:
————————-Cech————————–
Azpi———Cahill———-Luiz————Cole
——————Oscar——Mikel——————–
De Bryune———–Mata———Hazard———–
———————Lukaku——————–
Second Choice:
———————-Schwarzer———————–
Ivanovic———Kalas——-Terry——-Bertrand—
——————-MvG——–Ramires——————
Moses————–Lampard———Schurrle—–
———————Torres———————–
Third Choice:
GK: Blackman
CB: Chalobah
MID: McEachran, Essien
ATT. MID: Piazon
ST: Demba Ba, Islam Feruz
FC Porto is first team to win europa league and champions league in consecutive years and Chelsea is the first team to hold champions league and europa league at the same time.
Correct the article…
i really love this piece of football article…it is really intuitive… my view actually corroborates the writer’s view, a 4-1-4-1 or preferably 4-3-3 formation will suit this football tactics. If Mikel can up his game, then he would be relied upon to do the dirty works of interception, regaining possession and play distribution to the offensive quartets of mata, oscar, kevin and the unpredictable hazardous Hazard. My fear is Chelsea choice of manager this season, i really dont think Mourinho favors this kind of football formation and tactics, he would rather trade this idea for a steely and direct and rather old football tactics that he trust for trophies;otherwise , Chelsea would become Chelsealonia of England. These quartets are extreme blessing to any European team.
Hey Shayne
It’s me, @chelseazealot here
Just wanted to congratulate you and the insightful article. Although, where does Schürrle fit in with all of this?
Anyway, good read.
Keep it up.
Schurrle plays on the same wing as hazard, so I guess it would be a rotation among the four of them. But I would guess Chelsea play schurrle more often that kdb since he was signed for ~20 million
An article that runs after my heart…..
An intlgeilent point of view, well expressed! Thanks!
De Bruyne ofcourse he should start everygame