Player Focus: Oscar's winning performances deserve credit

You have to feel slightly for Oscar. Barely has the Brazilian put a foot wrong since moving to London from Internacional 16 months ago, and yet the vast majority of any focus surrounding the Chelsea ‘number 10′ role has been on Juan Mata‘s astonishing absence rather than Oscar’s presence. It is much more common to see complaints and criticism regarding José Mourinho’s decision to omit Mata than it is praise for deploying Oscar there instead. With Chelsea third in the table, though, behind second-placed Liverpool only on goal difference and just four points off top spot, surely the Portuguese manager – and the Brazilian youngster – deserve rather more credit.

Oscar’s place in the team is usually attributed to Mourinho’s preference for a defensive-minded player in behind a lone striker, and while his greater work rate without possession certainly plays a part, his attacking input is largely underestimated.

This weekend at Upton Park he netted his fifth Premier League goal of the season to make him the Blues’ highest goalscorer and better his tally for the whole of the last campaign (4) in 22 fewer appearances. That goal also puts him into the top 10 across the whole Premier League, alongside Manchester City’s Álvaro Negredo and only 1 behind the supposed star of the season so far Aaron Ramsey, though little has been made of Oscar’s performances. Possibly because his goals – and maybe his performances too – haven’t been all that spectacular.

Aside from the wondergoal he scored against Juventus last season, he hasn’t showcased jaw-dropping shooting ability all that often despite scoring fairly consistently. His goal at West Ham this weekend was another that didn’t set the world – or even the game – alight, but was a strike unstoppable due to its precision and placement rather than its power. And maybe that goal summed up Oscar as a player; unspectacular but still undeniably exceptional.

Oscar picked up his highest WhoScored rating since joining Chelsea against West Ham this weekend (8.89), but then again, his performance was overshadowed by Frank Lampard‘s brace and man of the match display against his former employers (9.62). Oscar had 3 shots, Lampard had 7; Oscar made 3 key passes, Lampard made 4; Oscar scored once, Lampard twice. It is not that Oscar’s statistics are below par, he is just rarely the main one to stand out.

Do not by any means underestimate just how good he is, though. Against West Ham his rating was good enough to win the man of the match award in 86 of the 120 Premier League matches so far this season, and he was just unfortunate that Lampard stole the show on that occasion.

He has become a key player for Chelsea, despite a lot of people’s conceptions, in an attacking sense. He has had more shots (26) than any other player for the Blues, ranking behind only Samuel Eto’o for shots per game (2.9 to 2.2), but that is to be expected, while he is behind only Eden Hazard for successful dribbles per game (2.3 to 1.2). Creating space for himself and timing runs into and around the penalty area have proven an effective means of goalscoring for the youngster as he continues to grow into the role.

Deployed out wide against Basel last night, Oscar was wholly ineffective, but that is not his favoured position and it was a poor performance from the entire Chelsea team as they failed to register a single shot on target for the first time since WhoScored started taking records in 2009.

Not a typical ‘number 10′ in the way that Mata is, Oscar is yet to assist a goal in the Premier League this season, but with 17 key passes he is behind only Eden Hazard (27) and Lampard (18) at the club. It could be that only two of those have created ‘clear-cut’ goalscoring opportunities that fans are still calling for Mata to be recalled; while the Spaniard laid on 14 such chances last season, if you project Oscar’s total after 12 games over a full season he would make it only to 6. Of course, that isn’t a scientifically sound method, but the difference is sufficient enough to be fairly significant.

When looking for a player to occupy that role in a top club, fans usually want someone who creates plenty of chances and is thus exciting to watch. Mata is exactly that and is unquestionably a better creator than Oscar. He was also a better goalscorer than him last season but Oscar looks to be adding goals to his game, and for Mourinho, whether the fans like it or not, there is more to take into consideration.

While the Blues are the fourth highest scoring team in England’s top flight, they have the second best defensive record, conceding just 10 goals in twelve games, and Oscar is certainly playing his part. Only compatriot Ramires is making more tackles per game (2.9) than him (2.7) for Chelsea, while of all Premier League players that play in as attacking a position as Oscar only Pajtim Kasami (3.3) can boast a better tackling rate. Furthermore, Oscar is doing so high up the pitch; only Adam Lallana has regained possession in the final third of the pitch more times this season (13) than Oscar (10).

Comparatively, Mata has averaged just 0.6 tackles per Premier League appearance this season, and has yet to make a single interception in nearly 7 hours of league or European action. He, Hazard, Schürrle and De Bruyne all leave something to be desired without the ball. The performances of all four have generated ‘defensive contribution’ as a statistically calculated WhoScored weakness, something that Mourinho values higher than most. With Hazard and Schürrle more suited to the wide roles, the former Real Madrid manager has favoured a player who does more defensively but still provides a goal threat in a central position.

The differences in attacking input of the rivals for that starting berth under Mourinho are noticeable, and there are few on the planet better in that role than Mata. However, we know that Mourinho prides himself on a team built on solid foundations.

In his first season in England in 2004/05, Chelsea set a record that remains unbeaten for the best ‘goals against’ tally in a Premier League season (15), thus obtaining more points than any other team has ever managed (95). There is little to no chance of either record being broken this season, but the point remains that Mourinho is justified in sticking with Oscar.