I think your underestimating just how good Mata is mate.
The side put out was better than the Liverpool side that tore QPR apart at their place. How you didn't win is mind boggling and the blame rests with the players
Its not about Mata. Brilliant as he is, those two are hardly average players.
But he can't cross and he likes to cut inside and shoot way too much for a out and out winger.
Says it all that his best performances have come when playing on the right side when he is left footed (I think)
I love Mata. I think he's one of the best players in the league at the moment and there's a reason I went out and got him on the back of my shirt after I saw him play a few games.
Like Mike said, it doesn't matter how good he is, the other two should be able to beat teams like QPR. It's a bit like saying that Barca should still be able to beat people if they played Thiago instead of Xavi. He's obviously not as good, but he should still be creaming whoever is bottom of la Liga.
Either of them should be good enough to beat QPR though. I'm not asking them to replicate the amazing creative power of Mata in all the biggest matches, but against such limited opposition, they should both have more than enough to pick the lock.
Pretty sure he is right footed.
In a tense derby game you can't get away with resting your best players. If Espanyol was bottom of La Liga they wouldn't rest Messi, Xavi and Iniesta. If Everton was bottom of the league Liverpool wouldn't have rested Suarez, Sterling and Gerrard. And that is my argument, players and manager deserves slack.
Oops. He still cuts inside a lot and cant cross. :-/
He should be able to get away with resting them. The derby game adds a lot of pressure but QPR have been ***** all year. It's not even that they were bottom, it's that you could have beaten QPR at the weekend with our youth team. They have been diabolically bad.
The fact that it was a derby game didn't really matter either. QPR didn't put in some superhuman performance to beat us, we were just terrible. We were at home so it's not like our players were feeling the wrath of the majority of the fans. If you look at it from a manager's point of view and you see that Mata and Hazard look exhausted, Lampard seemed to be brimming with desire to play and Marin needs more minutes, you think: I'm going to rest these guys soon and rotate. You look at the fixture list:
Away to Southhampton. They've just drawn with Arsenal.
Home to Swansea. They're a good side and they could cause problems vs a weakened team.
Away to Stoke. Difficult game.
Home to Arsenal.
Away to Swansea. Our best chance of getting silverware.
When do you rest Mata/Hazard. When you play the team that's lost almost every game, plays like **** and is last in the table. Especially if you're at home. The bottom line is that we played awfully last night, which is why we lost. The derby factor was minimal, and if Barca rested those players when they had a tough run coming up and key players were looking jaded, vs a bottom placed Espanyol, put out Sanchez, Fabregas and Tello and lost, then Barca fans would have a ******* fit at the players because that team should still have romped Espanyol. You can't just put your best side out week after week during the festive period then through all of Jan, especially not when you know that your key man struggles if overplayed.
Torres definitely needs a rest. I think someone on WAGNH pointed out that Torres' best spells have all come when he's had the rest to move more quickly and react faster.
It would be stupid to rest them if we didn't have 3 perfectly good replacements on the bench screaming out for minutes.
I would be staggered if he got a rest, he is Rafa's love child.
The fact these lads are young suggests they could and should be playing 3 times a week? They are at the peck of their fitness.
Here's a set of stats for the "Luiz is better in midfield than Mikel" believers. People argue Mikel never plays the ball forward (which is a lie but nevermind) Luiz only completed 38/53 attempted forward passes, not great. You may then argue at least they are long passes and not 5 yards only, 1/6 successful long balls says it all. Basically he is giving away possession far too much and far more than Mikel ever does. Whether you think he only passes sideways and backwards (which is wrong) or only passes short or slows up play he keeps hold of possession and I'd take that any day of the week!
Pretty much this - where next for Chelsea manager Benitez? | Footballscores.com
I have a love-hate attitude towards Rafa, some of the things I disagree with (last nights team selection) but if I take my tinted glasses off I can see he's a top manager and probably the best we can get right now. And for the next few years unless we provide stability (Ha! I hear you cry) what top manager would risk his career by coming to trigger happy Chelsea?
There's a reason Rafa gets paid to manage a football club and I don't.
Can you name two managers who's career has been ruined since leaving Chelsea?
Avram Grant and, er...
******* Scholari, just had to randomly get the Brazil job again for no reason :'(
If sport was just about fitness players would reach peak and stable form at 22. It's not as much about physical side of things, it's about dealing with intense pressure , high stress enviroment and constant mental pump-up.
Unless you're Paolo Maldini you can't function like that 365 days a year at very young age without having it come back to bite you in the *** at some point. Players start recover slower, burn out, have bad form swing or injury. Some can even develop stage fright -- remember (the real) Ronaldo at World Cup 1998 crashing mentally before the final game? 4 years later he matured as a player and dominated the tournament.
I thought people were advocating to try Luiz alongside Mikel (when he gets back), as a sort of box-to-box mid, not replacing Mikel. At least i did.
Pretty much this - where next for Chelsea manager Benitez? | Footballscores.com
I have a love-hate attitude towards Rafa, some of the things I disagree with (last nights team selection) but if I take my tinted glasses off I can see he's a top manager and probably the best we can get right now. And for the next few years unless we provide stability (Ha! I hear you cry) what top manager would risk his career by coming to trigger happy Chelsea?
There's a reason Rafa gets paid to manage a football club and I don't.
Pretty much this - where next for Chelsea manager Benitez? | Footballscores.com
I have a love-hate attitude towards Rafa, some of the things I disagree with (last nights team selection) but if I take my tinted glasses off I can see he's a top manager and probably the best we can get right now. And for the next few years unless we provide stability (Ha! I hear you cry) what top manager would risk his career by coming to trigger happy Chelsea?
There's a reason Rafa gets paid to manage a football club and I don't.
You've all dodged my question, what top manager? Not what type of person or why they'd join Chelsea..