Juan Mata won Chelsea’s Player of the Year award in his first two seasons at Stamford Bridge but was subject to speculation as Jose Mourinho left him out earlier in the season, but the Spaniard believes he’s beginning to find his best form.
The 25-year-old scored Spain’s second goal in their 2-0 win over Georgia last night as they booked their place at the World Cup finals in Brazil next summer.
Following the match Mata expressed his delight that his side have made the tournament, says he is starting to find his best form and things are fine at Chelsea. Many publications printed numerous stories suggesting his days in West London were numbered but he argues that it’s difficult to hit the ground running when you’re injured during the pre-season.
Mata said:
“I am very happy to win, to qualify first mathematically and to go out and score.
“In the last qualifiers it has been very difficult to score because it has been tight.”
He added:
“I’m fine, I’ve been playing several games and I think I am at a good level.
“I feel fine. When I had a difficult time that was in pre-season due to injury.”
Oscar has occupied the number 10 role in Mata’s absence for most of the games so far this season and the Brazilian has been bright, has significantly upped his work-rate and Mourinho must be delighted with his progress but Chelsea have lacked the edge, quality of attacking possession and that little bit of magic that Mata so often provides in relation to their attacking play so I’m looking forward to seeing him on the pitch more often than not from now on.
To me it looks as though Mata has definitely worked on his game when we’ve seen him so far this season. He’s looking to press a lot more and work harder for the team off the ball, but this must not come at the expense of his attacking play.
