I honestly don't think there's a player in the world who wouldn't look lost at the moment.
Juan Mata | 2013/14 Performances
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) is joined by CEO Duncan Drasdo and Financial Director Andy Green from the Manchester United Supporters Trust for a special episode on all things behind the scenes at Old Trafford including a brief history of MUST and their aims today, views on INEOS and Sir Jim Ratcliffe so far, and the Old Trafford regeneration.
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I honestly don't think there's a player in the world who wouldn't look lost at the moment.
We got a player who was surplus to requirements and are now wondering why it isnt working out for us?
Moyes couldnt get the best out of Kagawa why would Mata be any different?
Moyes couldnt get the best out of Kagawa why would Mata be any different?
He looks nothing like the player we had for 2 and a half seasons, it cant just be the system. He was a lot more than a few assists and neat passes, he scored a lot and won games, he has looked very average lately and short on confidence now.
Great player but so far his performances are suffering because of our system and over reliance on width.
I have been vindicated again... UNFORTUNATELY. He will turn it around once we get rid of the horrible Moyes and his goons.
So far, more nothing football has been produced by him today.
He was working his arse off today trying to do something, the only thing he needs to do more is SHOOT.
The Moyes effect.
I think this is partly true which us why I think even if we get Kroos, Gundogan, Shaw and all the other muppet targets our football won't improve much, if at all, but I didn't think Mata was awful today. He had some very good moments.
If he had the balls to shoot today I've had called it a good performance. He had a few shaky moments in the first 5 mins but after that he passed the ball well and tracked back well.
The movement or lack of it from Rooney and van Persie at times was what alarmed me. His head is up looking for a pass but it's just never on. This may have been a terrible decision from Mata particularly if his manager doesn't change soon.
The movement or lack of it from Rooney and van Persie at times was what alarmed me. His head is up looking for a pass but it's just never on. This may have been a terrible decision from Mata particularly if his manager doesn't change soon.
People would take you more seriously if you weren't such a drama queen at times. They'd appreciate your expertise
That could be a post from a Dortmund fan, written about Kagawa at anytime in the last two years.
It really is a worrying trend that such obviously talented and quality players are looking so ordinary when they come to United.
People would take you more seriously if you weren't such a drama queen at times. They'd appreciate your expertise
So what you're saying is I often turn out to be correct but should not rub this fact in the noses of those geniuses who ridiculed me?
Not really, when you turn out to be correct, it would be better not to act like a superior know-it-all because when you're wrong (which happens a lot tbh) then a lot of people will take the piss.
Like many predicted, the exact same problems kagawa had. Yet it's not the system...
Glad we have him as the next manager will surely have us playing great football if it's a positive thinking manager who isn't British. We just need to get rid of one if the strikers or make them accept that they won't be starters always in their positions like now, and play mata in the #10 position.
Glad we have him as the next manager will surely have us playing great football if it's a positive thinking manager who isn't British. We just need to get rid of one if the strikers or make them accept that they won't be starters always in their positions like now, and play mata in the #10 position.
You're not even funny.
I love your transformation from shy, tiptoeing newly promoted nestling throwing around green smilies to this internet hardman. You're learning how to be a standard cafite.
He wasn't good today. But not surprisingly considering that no one was making any runs into space and Rooney got in his way all the feckin' time.
A panic buy by the club to aid a manager who is clearly drowning.
If Kagawa would have played like Mata today or Adnan he would have been tried for war crimes by some in here.
Not that I am blaming the players mind.
Not that I am blaming the players mind.
Yup. When you have two different players in Mata and Kagawa both looking ineffective, surely it's a problem with the system and to a certain extent, our players' unwillingness to make any sort of runs?
But Kagawa doesn't suit the league etc etc.
This is, again, nonsense. You're trying too hard, but credit to your humdinger of a post. You come off as capricious and very delicate to me. Anyway, re-read your original post:
Mata hasn't been great for us. There hasn't been one game in which he's performed to a level of great quality with us. That doesn't, however, mean he's been a nothing player. A nothing player is a player that doesn't do much. That tag doesn't connect with him at all. To add to this, if we're taking stats at face value, which I strongly oppose, then he has created 20 chances in 7 games for us and created three goals. Not bad for a nothing player.
The Ozil comparison is a poor one. He's not been at Arsenal for a season and he's the figure that Mata is being compared to? Really? The problem with your thinking is that you completely disregard the problems that are associated with your system. A system that has been efficacious in acting as a barrier should be at the top of your list to blame. Re comparison: it should be Kagawa that Mata is compared to. The main difference? One has played in more consecutive games than the other. The main similarity? Both have struggled because of Moyes' reluctance to help them out.
:facepalm: hate seeing talented players look so lost out there. at times mata was screaming for the ball in OPEN SPACE....nothing
Feel sorry for him. He needed to really hit the ground running to have any chance of making Spain's squad and that's just not possible in our current setup.
In the current system I think he's going to prove to be a failure at the club. He's short on confidence and the way we play is entirely different to what he's comfortable with. My concern when we bought him was that Moyes isn't comfortable managing those sorts of players. At the moment that's being borne out.
Hi everyone,
I’ll be very honest: in a day like this it’s not easy to write the blog. I even thought it would be better to keep quiet and not to write, for I know many fans are really upset now, and so are us. On top of that, however, there is a commitment I made to update the blog every week. So far in these two seasons I haven’t failed to do it one single time, and I won’t fail in the future either. No matter how sad things may look. The storm will pass and the sun will rise again. I have no doubt. Besides, no one said this would be easy, but this is football. It gives you fantastic moments but also very hard times you have to cope with, when you have to show pride and professionalism until the end. And when all this is gone I’m sure I will be a more mature footballer.
I have to say that our week at the training ground had been good and we were very hopeful ahead of this derby. However, the day of the match everything went bad. It was a tough defeat and I want to tell you that we will give everything we have in order to forget about this in the remaining games.
And there is a very important one around the corner. We know the history of this club and its achievements, based on a winning spirit. That is what we need to beat Olympiacos and get through in the Champions League. As you know I cannot play in the Champions any more this season but I’ll be backing the team in Old Trafford as any other fan. If we score in the first few minutes, I think we can make it with your help. There are no words to describe your support in the stadium. In games like yesterday it makes me mad not being able to give you what you deserve. I know there is nothing I can say right now, but at least I want you to know how I feel.
I would like to reward your loyalty by announcing the winners of the five shirts of last week’s contest on Facebook. I know it wasn’t easy to find theright answer: Indonesia, Thailand, India, Brazil and Vietnam. They are:Tri Phan, Chaaban Barakat, Dani Tutti, Melanie Crumpton, Spencer Dean Hoon.
Thanks to all for participating and for your unconditional support. I hope next week will be much better.
Big hug,
Juan
I want to hug him.
An absolute waste of money if we continue playing like we are. I hope we get someone in who'll manage to get the best out of attacking line-up, which on paper, should rival the best in Europe. It's embarrassing how bad they look together.
OMG
He is speaking to us in poetic code
'The storm (Moyes) will pass (sacked) and the sun (United) will rise again. I have no doubt (he is on the case).'
I now believe that everything will be OK.
He is speaking to us in poetic code
'The storm (Moyes) will pass (sacked) and the sun (United) will rise again. I have no doubt (he is on the case).'
I now believe that everything will be OK.
Shock surprise. Signing good players doesnt automatically improve the play massively.
His blog posts are a thing of beauty.
I think his performances lately have been harshly criticised. He looked good in the second half, as he always does in the second half when we switch him centrally.
Nice article and tbf it was nice to read something positive... at least until he met Moyes .
http://eplindex.com/51200/mourinhos-matter-mata-rapidly-discounted-importance-juan-mata.html
Mourinho’s Matter with Mata: The Rapidly Discounted Importance of Juan
Mar 19, 2014 @JoelOberstone 268 Views 0
“I’m sorry I couldn’t make Juan a stronger player.”
Not the selection of words one would enjoy any manager choosing to use to describe you. It’s understandable, then, that Juan Mata got the hint that his future was no longer with Chelsea.
So, on January 26th, Juan Mata made successful his escape from Chelsea and approved a £37.1m transfer deal to Manchester United. No longer would he be asked to patrol the outer reaches of the Chelsea right flank and to track back and mark opposing players, tackle, attempt 50-50 headers and ground balls, and make clearances and interceptions. Well, maybe not as often as demanded by Jose Mourinho standards, that’s for sure.
ADVERTISEMENT
Let’s face it. It was not a love affair between Jose and Juan. It was, by all accounts, the most bizarre of situations. Consider the backdrop of the past two seasons for Juan Mata.
Juan Mata was not just a good player for Chelsea. And he was not merely a starter. Mata was voted Chelsea’s Player of the Year for the past two seasons.
Prior to the arrival of The Special One, he was able to flourish under Andre Villas-Boas, Roberto Di Matteo, and Rafa Benitez—three very different managers that ran three markedly different football systems.
Yet across all of these different football styles, Mata was always the centerpiece running the Chelsea attack—the number 10 central midfielder linking the ball between the passes coming out from the back and the attacking wingers and forwards. Times were very good for Juan.
But that all changed, and changed abruptly when Jose Mourinho returned to manage Chelsea. Suddenly, Mata was a third wheel, the part that didn’t fit. He was simply the player that didn’t get it.
Not only was Mata no longer a starter, it became normal that come game time, he was an unused commodity and, seemingly, a forgotten body lost somewhere in the far reaches of the substitute seats, if even included on the roster. It had almost become a game. Where’s Mata?
With Mourinho’s 4-2-3-1 system, where the midfield were expected to also track the opposing full back up and down the pitch and defend, or to be able to spring forward on a lightening fast counter attack—something that Mata characteristically does not do—Hazard, Oscar, and Ramires were preferred. Worse, after that trio, Schürrle and Willian were often next best in line. How bad could things get?
There is no question that Mata is extremely talented on the ball, but the consistent criticism by Mourinho and others is that he just does not have the skills needed in the new system. Are these fair characterisations?
Just how poorly has Mata performed this season compared to the cadre of preferred Mourinho alternatives? Was he the bottom rung on the ladder and did it make sense that he was primarily occupying the substitutes bench during the games prior to being jettisoned off to Manchester United or not?
To get a better handle on this situation, I’m going to compare the other Chelsea midfield performances and Mata’s composite performance through the current 29 games of the EPL season.
Let’s see what unfolds when Juan Mata’s efforts are held to the light against Hazard, Lampard, Ramires, Oscar, Willian, Mikel, and Schürrle, using a handful of Opta metrics that include (1) defending, (2) passing, (3) possession, (4) creativity, and (5) attacking.
First, let’s get an appreciation for how much action each player has seen this season in terms of game minutes because that will have an impact on the productivity level of his performance numbers. Only the Chelsea data for Juan Mata will be included in the analysis. Clearly, Mata’s limited opportunities will impact on the total production numbers he garnered in this analysis so it will be important to pay special attention to the efficiency metrics such as accuracy and “minutes between event” measures.
Defending: Ground 50-50’s
There is very little doubt that Eden Hazard excels amongst the Chelsea midfielders in both quantity and efficiency of winning 50-50 ground duels. It is also easy to see why Ramires, Oscar, and Willian are starting as many games in midfield as they are when it comes to getting “stuck in”, since their performances are also relatively strong. However, even though Mata does not shine in this metric, his performance is far from worst in the group: his minutes between balls won are superior to Schürrle, Lampard, and almost as good as the hard-nosed Mikel! He probably can’t be characterised as hard-nosed but a powder-puff he is not.
Defending: Aerial 50-50’s
Mata’s aerial defending is almost non-existent. Even taking into account his paucity of game minutes, his time between encounters is glaringly low. No argument here. He certainly is not making much of a contribution defending in the air.
Defending: Tackles
Almost all of the Chelsea midfielders exhibit proficient tackling skills, with the surprising exception of the rather infrequent number of tackles that Eden Hazard is involved in. All of the players have good to excellent tackling efficiencies of between 70-88%. Juan Mata’s productivity of tackles is one of the lowest, however, his tackling efficiency is one of the highest (86%). Still, due to the small sample sizes, no statistical difference in performance is detectable among the array of players.
Passing: Open Play Passes
You’d better sit down. One of the stars of the show is Juan Mata. He and Mikel both generate impressive combinations of both quantity of completed passes and completion percentage in open play. Schürrle is the only midfielder whose accurate completion numbers are a bit low (about half those of Mikel and Mata’s). In fact, a comparison between Mata’s 88% and Oscar’s 82% reveals that there is a statistically significant difference between the two. More specifically, this 6% difference did not likely occur as an accident: the odds are in favor of Mata by about 312 to 1 that this difference is real!
.http://eplindex.com/51200/mourinhos-matter-mata-rapidly-discounted-importance-juan-mata.html
Mourinho’s Matter with Mata: The Rapidly Discounted Importance of Juan
Mar 19, 2014 @JoelOberstone 268 Views 0
“I’m sorry I couldn’t make Juan a stronger player.”
Not the selection of words one would enjoy any manager choosing to use to describe you. It’s understandable, then, that Juan Mata got the hint that his future was no longer with Chelsea.
So, on January 26th, Juan Mata made successful his escape from Chelsea and approved a £37.1m transfer deal to Manchester United. No longer would he be asked to patrol the outer reaches of the Chelsea right flank and to track back and mark opposing players, tackle, attempt 50-50 headers and ground balls, and make clearances and interceptions. Well, maybe not as often as demanded by Jose Mourinho standards, that’s for sure.
ADVERTISEMENT
Let’s face it. It was not a love affair between Jose and Juan. It was, by all accounts, the most bizarre of situations. Consider the backdrop of the past two seasons for Juan Mata.
Juan Mata was not just a good player for Chelsea. And he was not merely a starter. Mata was voted Chelsea’s Player of the Year for the past two seasons.
Prior to the arrival of The Special One, he was able to flourish under Andre Villas-Boas, Roberto Di Matteo, and Rafa Benitez—three very different managers that ran three markedly different football systems.
Yet across all of these different football styles, Mata was always the centerpiece running the Chelsea attack—the number 10 central midfielder linking the ball between the passes coming out from the back and the attacking wingers and forwards. Times were very good for Juan.
But that all changed, and changed abruptly when Jose Mourinho returned to manage Chelsea. Suddenly, Mata was a third wheel, the part that didn’t fit. He was simply the player that didn’t get it.
Not only was Mata no longer a starter, it became normal that come game time, he was an unused commodity and, seemingly, a forgotten body lost somewhere in the far reaches of the substitute seats, if even included on the roster. It had almost become a game. Where’s Mata?
With Mourinho’s 4-2-3-1 system, where the midfield were expected to also track the opposing full back up and down the pitch and defend, or to be able to spring forward on a lightening fast counter attack—something that Mata characteristically does not do—Hazard, Oscar, and Ramires were preferred. Worse, after that trio, Schürrle and Willian were often next best in line. How bad could things get?
There is no question that Mata is extremely talented on the ball, but the consistent criticism by Mourinho and others is that he just does not have the skills needed in the new system. Are these fair characterisations?
Just how poorly has Mata performed this season compared to the cadre of preferred Mourinho alternatives? Was he the bottom rung on the ladder and did it make sense that he was primarily occupying the substitutes bench during the games prior to being jettisoned off to Manchester United or not?
To get a better handle on this situation, I’m going to compare the other Chelsea midfield performances and Mata’s composite performance through the current 29 games of the EPL season.
Let’s see what unfolds when Juan Mata’s efforts are held to the light against Hazard, Lampard, Ramires, Oscar, Willian, Mikel, and Schürrle, using a handful of Opta metrics that include (1) defending, (2) passing, (3) possession, (4) creativity, and (5) attacking.
First, let’s get an appreciation for how much action each player has seen this season in terms of game minutes because that will have an impact on the productivity level of his performance numbers. Only the Chelsea data for Juan Mata will be included in the analysis. Clearly, Mata’s limited opportunities will impact on the total production numbers he garnered in this analysis so it will be important to pay special attention to the efficiency metrics such as accuracy and “minutes between event” measures.
Defending: Ground 50-50’s
There is very little doubt that Eden Hazard excels amongst the Chelsea midfielders in both quantity and efficiency of winning 50-50 ground duels. It is also easy to see why Ramires, Oscar, and Willian are starting as many games in midfield as they are when it comes to getting “stuck in”, since their performances are also relatively strong. However, even though Mata does not shine in this metric, his performance is far from worst in the group: his minutes between balls won are superior to Schürrle, Lampard, and almost as good as the hard-nosed Mikel! He probably can’t be characterised as hard-nosed but a powder-puff he is not.
Defending: Aerial 50-50’s
Mata’s aerial defending is almost non-existent. Even taking into account his paucity of game minutes, his time between encounters is glaringly low. No argument here. He certainly is not making much of a contribution defending in the air.
Defending: Tackles
Almost all of the Chelsea midfielders exhibit proficient tackling skills, with the surprising exception of the rather infrequent number of tackles that Eden Hazard is involved in. All of the players have good to excellent tackling efficiencies of between 70-88%. Juan Mata’s productivity of tackles is one of the lowest, however, his tackling efficiency is one of the highest (86%). Still, due to the small sample sizes, no statistical difference in performance is detectable among the array of players.
Passing: Open Play Passes
You’d better sit down. One of the stars of the show is Juan Mata. He and Mikel both generate impressive combinations of both quantity of completed passes and completion percentage in open play. Schürrle is the only midfielder whose accurate completion numbers are a bit low (about half those of Mikel and Mata’s). In fact, a comparison between Mata’s 88% and Oscar’s 82% reveals that there is a statistically significant difference between the two. More specifically, this 6% difference did not likely occur as an accident: the odds are in favor of Mata by about 312 to 1 that this difference is real!
and the rest...
Passing: Final 3rd Passing
The most important passing skill needed by any midfielder is in the attacking third of the pitch. Again, Mata exhibits stellar performance in both efficiency and quantity along with Eden Hazard. There is little to separate the performance of these two as they both distance themselves from the rest of the group with little separating them. A statistical comparison with Mata and Hazard reveals that, due to the smaller sample size of passes in the final 3rd, along with the smaller, 3% difference in completion percentages, the difference was not significantly different.
Creativity: Dribbling
Mata’s 76 minutes between successful dribbles and 61% success rate places him second to Eden Hazard’s dazzling production numbers (almost 4 successful dribbles per game). His ball skills are dazzling, but in Chelsea’s new 4-2-3-1 system, priority is relatively lower than in, say, Rafa Benitez’s attack.
Creativity: Crossing
Willian (90) and Oscar (88) produce the most crosses, however, Mata does almost as well (75) and beats both with a higher completion accuracy. Lampard also achieves an extremely high accuracy of 40% and is competitive in terms of production level. Conversely, Oscar and Hazard are not strong performers in this category. Ramires, Mikel, Oscar, and Hazard all have accuracies on the low side (17%) and require a large amount of time between a completed cross; Ramires is even less productive, requiring an average of more than 3 games (309 minutes) to generate a single completed cross.
Further analysis with this metric shows that Mata exhibits statistically superior performance to both Oscar and Hazard in crossing the ball. More specifically, Mata’s 15% completion rate advantage over Oscar’s (32% to 17%) yields a statistically significant difference with odds of about 39 to 1 that it could have occurred accidentally. In other words, believe it, Mata crossing performance is reliably superior.
Creativity: Chances and Clear Cut Chances Created
Chances created are very similar to assists. They measure a scoring opportunity created by that may or may not end in a goal. It is a chance created by a shot on goal. Conversely, clear cut chances are situations where it is assumed to be very close to a “sitter” or “sure thing.”
Again, both Eden Hazard (79) and Juan Mata are the top performers in terms of productivity (quantity) for these metrics. And, again, Mata creates both measures more frequently than any other midfielder in the Chelsea squad.
Creativity: Assists
Assists are the measure of a player creating a chance that ends in the ultimate payoff—a goal. Midfielders must create goals for other players. Think of it as the gold standard for judging the midfielder. It’s their bread and butter. For Chelsea, the top performance is the 7 assists by Eden Hazard. Wait a minute! Who is that generating 5 assists in second place? Juan Mata, that’s who. Only Hazard takes less time to create an assist (364) than Mata (417). Compare this to Ramires and Willian, who generate an assist about once every 1200 to 1300 minutes—that’s about 2 per season!
Attacking. Goal scoring
The last metric is the ability to score goals. It is almost viewed as frosting on the cake for many midfielders if they are great at “creating” for their teammates, however, the best are expected to score as well as to direct the attack of the team. Here is where Eden Hazard shines. He has generated 13 goals so far this season and is actually the leading goal scorer for the team. Of course, that is largely due to the failure of Chelsea’s front line to create much of an attacking threat, Jose Mourinho’s resistance to add any front line firepower during the transfer window and to continue to rely upon the relatively anemic production of Samuel Eto’o, Fernando Torres, and Demba Ba. This metric is also the one that pinpoints the impact of Mata being played on the wing instead of his desired central location. His inability to challenge and take on defenders and his reluctance to even attempt shots is highlighted in this measure. Consider these two measures: 677 minutes between shots on goal with a shooting accuracy of only 18 percent!
Conclusion
If you contrast Juan Mata’s current seasons with that of his stellar last season in which he scored 13 goals along with 20 assists from his central midfield position, you might question why Jose Mourinho felt the need to move Mata to a new wide midfield position that would require skills that he does not particularly possess.
Juan Mata does not have great speed. Never did. He is not a hard-nosed defender who is skilled at getting stuck in—never was. And he is not particularly renowned for his endurance and work rate, although it is adequate. He is not your man for managing the right wing in the Mourinho 4-2-3-1 system that requires a lightening fast counter, essential in the counterattack that Chelsea now require in their matches.
Clearly, Jose Mourinho must have anticipated the impact in performance this would have on Juan Mata. Placing Mata on the right wing established a self-fulfilling prophecy of doom.
At the end of the day, Jose lamented, “I’m sorry I couldn’t make Juan a stronger player. I’m sorry I couldn’t make him happy.”
But I am, somehow, suspicious that Jose had decided early on that Juan would not be able to able to perform adequately in his new role—it was much more like a situation of fait accompli. It simply seemed that Jose never wanted Juan Mata as his number 10. Oscar was his preferred pick from beginning.
So it was bye-bye Juan. You are just not good enough. End of story. Except for what have we found.
Most of the numbers we have just examined here at the EPLindex show that Juan Mata is often among the middle to the top performer in a number of the metrics we have assessed. In fact, he seems to outperform some or most of the other midfielders in more than a few of these categories!
More specifically, Mata’s creativity measures were among the best of all Chelsea midfielders. Even his passing, goal assists, chances created, clear-cut chances created, and crossing skills were either the best or one of the best out of the entire array of Chelsea midfielders.
Jose Mourinho can make whatever reasons he would like to justify getting Juan Mata off the Chelsea payroll but he will have to do it in the face of what the numbers say.
Sure, Jose feels terrible that he couldn’t make Juan Mata happy. And heaven knows he tried. And I’m sure it broke Jose’s heart. Because Jose is just that kind of caring guy. Really, he is. As you can plainly see.
Passing: Final 3rd Passing
The most important passing skill needed by any midfielder is in the attacking third of the pitch. Again, Mata exhibits stellar performance in both efficiency and quantity along with Eden Hazard. There is little to separate the performance of these two as they both distance themselves from the rest of the group with little separating them. A statistical comparison with Mata and Hazard reveals that, due to the smaller sample size of passes in the final 3rd, along with the smaller, 3% difference in completion percentages, the difference was not significantly different.
Creativity: Dribbling
Mata’s 76 minutes between successful dribbles and 61% success rate places him second to Eden Hazard’s dazzling production numbers (almost 4 successful dribbles per game). His ball skills are dazzling, but in Chelsea’s new 4-2-3-1 system, priority is relatively lower than in, say, Rafa Benitez’s attack.
Creativity: Crossing
Willian (90) and Oscar (88) produce the most crosses, however, Mata does almost as well (75) and beats both with a higher completion accuracy. Lampard also achieves an extremely high accuracy of 40% and is competitive in terms of production level. Conversely, Oscar and Hazard are not strong performers in this category. Ramires, Mikel, Oscar, and Hazard all have accuracies on the low side (17%) and require a large amount of time between a completed cross; Ramires is even less productive, requiring an average of more than 3 games (309 minutes) to generate a single completed cross.
Further analysis with this metric shows that Mata exhibits statistically superior performance to both Oscar and Hazard in crossing the ball. More specifically, Mata’s 15% completion rate advantage over Oscar’s (32% to 17%) yields a statistically significant difference with odds of about 39 to 1 that it could have occurred accidentally. In other words, believe it, Mata crossing performance is reliably superior.
Creativity: Chances and Clear Cut Chances Created
Chances created are very similar to assists. They measure a scoring opportunity created by that may or may not end in a goal. It is a chance created by a shot on goal. Conversely, clear cut chances are situations where it is assumed to be very close to a “sitter” or “sure thing.”
Again, both Eden Hazard (79) and Juan Mata are the top performers in terms of productivity (quantity) for these metrics. And, again, Mata creates both measures more frequently than any other midfielder in the Chelsea squad.
Creativity: Assists
Assists are the measure of a player creating a chance that ends in the ultimate payoff—a goal. Midfielders must create goals for other players. Think of it as the gold standard for judging the midfielder. It’s their bread and butter. For Chelsea, the top performance is the 7 assists by Eden Hazard. Wait a minute! Who is that generating 5 assists in second place? Juan Mata, that’s who. Only Hazard takes less time to create an assist (364) than Mata (417). Compare this to Ramires and Willian, who generate an assist about once every 1200 to 1300 minutes—that’s about 2 per season!
Attacking. Goal scoring
The last metric is the ability to score goals. It is almost viewed as frosting on the cake for many midfielders if they are great at “creating” for their teammates, however, the best are expected to score as well as to direct the attack of the team. Here is where Eden Hazard shines. He has generated 13 goals so far this season and is actually the leading goal scorer for the team. Of course, that is largely due to the failure of Chelsea’s front line to create much of an attacking threat, Jose Mourinho’s resistance to add any front line firepower during the transfer window and to continue to rely upon the relatively anemic production of Samuel Eto’o, Fernando Torres, and Demba Ba. This metric is also the one that pinpoints the impact of Mata being played on the wing instead of his desired central location. His inability to challenge and take on defenders and his reluctance to even attempt shots is highlighted in this measure. Consider these two measures: 677 minutes between shots on goal with a shooting accuracy of only 18 percent!
Conclusion
If you contrast Juan Mata’s current seasons with that of his stellar last season in which he scored 13 goals along with 20 assists from his central midfield position, you might question why Jose Mourinho felt the need to move Mata to a new wide midfield position that would require skills that he does not particularly possess.
Juan Mata does not have great speed. Never did. He is not a hard-nosed defender who is skilled at getting stuck in—never was. And he is not particularly renowned for his endurance and work rate, although it is adequate. He is not your man for managing the right wing in the Mourinho 4-2-3-1 system that requires a lightening fast counter, essential in the counterattack that Chelsea now require in their matches.
Clearly, Jose Mourinho must have anticipated the impact in performance this would have on Juan Mata. Placing Mata on the right wing established a self-fulfilling prophecy of doom.
At the end of the day, Jose lamented, “I’m sorry I couldn’t make Juan a stronger player. I’m sorry I couldn’t make him happy.”
But I am, somehow, suspicious that Jose had decided early on that Juan would not be able to able to perform adequately in his new role—it was much more like a situation of fait accompli. It simply seemed that Jose never wanted Juan Mata as his number 10. Oscar was his preferred pick from beginning.
So it was bye-bye Juan. You are just not good enough. End of story. Except for what have we found.
Most of the numbers we have just examined here at the EPLindex show that Juan Mata is often among the middle to the top performer in a number of the metrics we have assessed. In fact, he seems to outperform some or most of the other midfielders in more than a few of these categories!
More specifically, Mata’s creativity measures were among the best of all Chelsea midfielders. Even his passing, goal assists, chances created, clear-cut chances created, and crossing skills were either the best or one of the best out of the entire array of Chelsea midfielders.
Jose Mourinho can make whatever reasons he would like to justify getting Juan Mata off the Chelsea payroll but he will have to do it in the face of what the numbers say.
Sure, Jose feels terrible that he couldn’t make Juan Mata happy. And heaven knows he tried. And I’m sure it broke Jose’s heart. Because Jose is just that kind of caring guy. Really, he is. As you can plainly see.
He hasn't looked ordinary at all. In a seriously underperforming side he regularly looks like one of the best players on the pitch. Sign of a top player.
He'll be one of the main players in the recovery and will be a crucial part of the side for years.
He'll be one of the main players in the recovery and will be a crucial part of the side for years.
People seeing what they want to see again instead of what's actually going on.
He was arguably our worst player against Liverpool. He's had a few ok-ish games so far and a few poor ones.
He's a liability on the left or right when we don't have the ball and doesn't show nearly enough to justify moving him into the centre ahead of Rooney.
It's not even like he doesn't cover the ground. He does, but then apart from standing vaguely in the way he becomes a non entity.
Moyes seems to want Rafael to cover the entire right flank on his own to compensate, which is fine against West Brom or Crystal Palace. Not so fine against Liverpool...and not so fine when it's Chris Smalling or Patrice Evra instead of Rafael.
We've spent £40m on a player and our manager clearly hasn't put any thought at all into how to fit him in the team.
He was arguably our worst player against Liverpool. He's had a few ok-ish games so far and a few poor ones.
He's a liability on the left or right when we don't have the ball and doesn't show nearly enough to justify moving him into the centre ahead of Rooney.
It's not even like he doesn't cover the ground. He does, but then apart from standing vaguely in the way he becomes a non entity.
Moyes seems to want Rafael to cover the entire right flank on his own to compensate, which is fine against West Brom or Crystal Palace. Not so fine against Liverpool...and not so fine when it's Chris Smalling or Patrice Evra instead of Rafael.
We've spent £40m on a player and our manager clearly hasn't put any thought at all into how to fit him in the team.
He must be played in the AMC role. Playing him on the wing against strong opposition is just asking for trouble.
Sure against lower league opposition, where we are dominating the ball we can get away with it, allowing Mata to roam. We generally can recover positions and get the ball back quickly enough to not worry about the open space it leaves.
Against strong teams they will expose that weakness.
Moyes must be strong and decide to drop 1 striker out of Rooney or RVP for the benefit of the team. Playing both is not working and is making the rest of the team imbalanced.
Sure against lower league opposition, where we are dominating the ball we can get away with it, allowing Mata to roam. We generally can recover positions and get the ball back quickly enough to not worry about the open space it leaves.
Against strong teams they will expose that weakness.
Moyes must be strong and decide to drop 1 striker out of Rooney or RVP for the benefit of the team. Playing both is not working and is making the rest of the team imbalanced.
It would if Mata was playing for Moyes. As things stand he's not even trying, he's not playing for the manager. We need to get rid and replace him with someone who will. Chop and cut.Shock surprise. Signing good players doesnt automatically improve the play massively.
There's a reason players like Mata, Kagawa, RVP etc look so ordinary in our current system. Its not because they've turned into average players overnight.
Dont know whether you're serious or not but it doesnt even matter whether Mata cares about Moyes, he's fighting for his WC spot and will thus give it his all. What wont happen is that he'l somehow perform at great levels in the current system.
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