Chelsea's Juan Mata hopes to win back first-team place after 'fantastic' performance
Chelsea's Juan Mata hopes to win back first-team place after 'fantastic' performance
Mata's efforts were hailed by Steve Holland, but the 'Special Juan' says he just tried is best and will leave the decision making to Jose Mourinho
The Special Juan: Mata says he'll leave the decisions to Jose
Juan Mata answered Jose Mourinho’s call to stake a claim for a starting place to extend the Blues boss’ hoodoo over Arsene Wenger.
Mourinho told his players in The Emirates dressing room before the game that he wanted them to give him “selection problems” for Saturday’s visit to Newcastle.
And
after Cesar Azpilicueta took full toll of Chelsea’s second gift chance
in three days to score his first for the club and put them in front, the
“Special Juan” completed the win that made it nine without defeat against Wenger for Mourinho.
Mata,
outstanding throughout, produced a peach from 20 yards that gave Lukasz
Fabianski no chance to ease Chelsea into the last eight.
Asked is he had sent out a message to Mourinho, the Spaniard said: “I just try to play and enjoy it.
“The manager is the one who makes the decision. I will always try my best for this club. That’s what I’ll always try and do.”
Mourinho
opted out of post-match duties but assistant Steve Holland added: “Jose
said he didn’t want a flat performance but to be given headaches and
that’s what he got. Juan Mata celebrates scoring his side's second goal
Jamie McDonald
“We’ve seen that quality for Juan Mata many times before,
although maybe it’s a surprise to see it with his right foot. He has
started his fair share of games but it was a fantastic moment.”
Wenger,
seemingly unimpressed by the contribution of Nicklas Bendtner, berated
his side for contributing to their own downfall, with Carl Jenkinson’s
Matija Nastasic moment the most costly.
“It was a very tight game
that was decided on one or two mistakes,” reflected Wenger. “But you
cannot play all the games with the same players. At some stage we have
to rotate.
“When you give the first goal away in big games you
leave yourselves a mountain to climb, particularly against a team who
are good on the counter and defend well.
“We did not create enough chances but you should not be too quick to jump to conclusions after a couple of games.
“If
you take the points we have made since 1 January, it’s more than anyone
else. On a longer distance, you’ll see more of the quality of the team
than in the last two games.
“It’s difficult to swallow what
happened to us in the last week, but the mistakes are so big they can be
corrected. We have to keep the basis of our game and go into the next
one.”
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