FanPost

has Oscar Improved from last season?



On a cold champions league night Chelsea were playing Juventus at Stamford Bridge. A young kid called Oscar is making his first start, minutes later he scores two stunning goals, while in the process mugging off Pirlo and Buffon. Great things were said about this lads potential, "the new kaka" they dubbed him. So 18 months along the line, where is he now.

Last season Oscar, Hazard and Mata terrorised defences causing the birth of the horrific "Mazacar" Last season Oscar played second fiddle to Mata and was used out on the right with Juan in the middle. Playing 64 games for the club least season Oscar had a lot of match experience. So at the start of this season people were wondering what his future would be under the happy one; I personally could not see him having a future, as his performances last season were in-consistent and rational, playing better in Europe than the league. Many people thought that he was getting use to the conditions and will be the star of team next season.

So has he improved from last season? Last season Oscar recorded 9 assists and 12 goals. With the amount of games he played he had 0.1176 assists per game and 0.1875 goals per game. But he was playing out of position and was tired due to him being in the London 2012. Last season we had Ba and Torres as strikers so not many of his key passes were converted ( I don’t have that stat but if someone would like to include in the comments below then please do) but last season we scored 150 goals, that’s 51 more than this season. Now you could argue that we have played a lot more games, but last season our manager, RDM – may he forever be remembered, and the FSW. These managers are more attacking than Jose, we played our best football under RDM but defence was a weakness and one thing led another. So in came a fans favourite. FSW made the defence better and we played some good football. So due to the lack of stability and the games he played Oscar this season really should have kicked on.

But he has not, in fact he has stalled.

Let’s compare Oscar last season to Hazard. Last season Hazard had 20 assists and 14 goals. Now when you compare that to Oscar’s 9 and 12 it’s clear who is better. Hazard this season has been our out-standing forward, he has won games on his own – Sunderland and Newcastle. He has been the catalyst in our team. So how has he done this season – he currently he has 10 assists and 16 goals, 2 more goals and 10 less assists, so looking at stats has Hazard actually improved? Of course he has, he is more influential and if we had better strikers I am sure assists would be higher. Oscar this season has 6 assists and 14 goals. But here is the stat that bugs me, only 2 assists have been in the league, hazard currently has 7. Oscar last season had 5 league assists playing out of position, this season he has played almost every game in his chosen position the CAM ad has 2 league assists. 1 less than KDB; If you don’t know who he is he is the one who played outstanding against Hull and then we never heard of him again. KDB played twice and had 1 assist; Oscar has played 23 times and got 2. What a tally for our current most creative player. This is why I raise the point his 8 league goals may be impressive, but his job is mainly to provide for the strikers, he is expected to score goals as well but assists should be greater. This has been reflected in his performances this season, if we take away the 2 goals he scored in our demolition 6-0 of the gunners then try and guess when his last league goal and assist came. His last league goal came away to Southampton on the 01/01 2014, that was also the last time he got an assist, in fact his 2 assists came within 4 days of each other, his first league assist of the season was our 2-1 victory over Liverpool; which was on the 29th of December.

So Oscar statistically has been worse, last season he played 24 games league games and got 5 goals and 4 assists, this season he has had 23 games playing in his position with a decent striker (Eto) he has gotten more goals but less assists.

When watching games it is clear why Oscar is stalling, he has more goals this season scoring against Fulham, Hull, Norwich, Cardiff, West Ham, Southampton and 2 against Norwich but most of those were the first half of the season. His performance since Juan left has been noticeable, he looks lacking in confidence, when he gets the ball he waits on it, he can’t deliver THAT pass to unlock the defence, the often loses the ball while dribbling and is very indecisive, he also takes a lot of shots. He is the worse the last season, last season I can’t remember shouting at him. The biggest aspect of his game that has dribbled down the drain is his passing, it’s very poor he can pass backwards, but can’t pass forward, he look hurried on the ball and rushed. He is good in the center circle, but when in the box he is awful.

Now a lot of people may argue that he has improved this season and his stats broadly reflect Hazard, more goals but less assists. This season we have scored 99 goals, a few less than last season and Hazard and Oscar have contributed to 48 goals nearly 50%. So It’s not surprising they have less goals. But hazard is not misplacing passes, when Oscar gets the ball I get nervous, but not with Hazard.

So what’s the future with Oscar?

If it was up to me I would put him in CM, he has to do less forward work – dribbling and crossing and more dictating the tempo. He has only played there once this season against Swansea. I thought he was outstanding in this position, all he had to do was sweep up play and give the ball to Salah and Willian, him and Matic looked outstanding tighter. He will certainly be better than Ramires – that’s a whole other story.

In the end, Oscar has under-performed this season, not to say he has been dreadful, but he has really let me down this season.

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