Chelsea FC ended the match against Stoke City with 3 more points, furthering their lead at the top of the Premier League table. Before the jubilation of Loic Remy’s winning goal, Chelsea ‘s star striker, Diego Costa, was bitten by the injury bug once again and subbed off.
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The Blues’ once heir apparent to central midfield, Oscar, was taken off at halftime by manager, Jose Mourinho. It was a somewhat surprising move, even for Mourinho, who is not afraid to make aggressive changes to his side in pursuit of 3 points.
In his postgame conference, the Chelsea gaffer said, “I don’t think he had a bad performance, I just think he was not good enough, which is a huge difference,” according to the Independent. Chelsea’s no. 8 has failed to score or assist on a goal since January. It is just over a year since Juan Mata was shipped to Manchester United with the expectation that Oscar would be the midfield general for years to come. Since then, Oscar has shown flashes of brilliance, but those have been too few and far between of late.
The 23 year old midfielder has scored just 6 goals in the Premier League this season, and started 24 matches. Now is the time to cash in on the Brazilian. This summer transfer window should see a few big-name attacking players, as well as defenders, available for the right price. The Chelsea wish-list is said to include Juventus attacker Paul Pogba, Shakhtar Donetsk midfielder Douglas Costa, and Jordan Henderson of Liverpool. A farfetched dream for Blues supporters would be breaking the bank for 100 million pound-plus attacker Gareth Bale from Real Madrid, but I won’t get my hopes up.
The time has come for Oscar to move on. Mourinho chose to hold onto Oscar over Mata last campaign due to Oscar’s willingness to track back and defend as well as being able to pick apart defenses with his passing and goal scoring ability. I will forever remember Oscar’s Champion’s League goals against Juventus in his first season at Chelsea as the absolute brilliant strikes they were.
With that said, it is time for Roman Abramovich to find the attacking midfielder we are lacking to put us over the hump of the Champions League. Chelsea possesses world-class midfielders on the roster, but lack goal-scoring midfielders, besides the Belgian-phenom, Eden Hazard.
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A Champion’s League starting 11 with Hazard, Pogba, and Willian, behind Diego Costa would be one of the most formidable attacks in world football. Oscar has let his emotions get the best of him out of frustration. In Chelsea’s second leg tie against Paris St. Germain Oscar was involved in dustups with Marco Verratti among others, including the controversial sending-off of Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
The player who has had difficulty scoring and staying on the pitch for a full 90 minutes, is now losing his cool on the pitch. At just 23 years old he may have his best football ahead of him, and perhaps a move this transfer window will see a resurgence in form and confidence for Oscar, as seen with Mohamed Salah and Kevin De Bruyne. Until then, Chelsea need to find a way to win without leading goal-scorer Diego Costa available for selection. Hazard and Remy cannot do it on their own, and Oscar needs to earn his starting position and solidify his Chelsea future, or start to audition for his new club next season.
Next: Oscar Challenged Jose Mourinho's Tactics, Was He Right?