[情報] 馬塔:我們有能力奪雙冠 + 保四
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2304941/
We don't have to choose... We can win trophies and get top four, says Mata
By Matt Mcgeehan, Press Association 12:49 GMT, 6 April 2013
Juan Mata hopes Chelsea can savour success on three fronts at the end of a
tumultuous season.
The Blues face Sunderland in the Barclays Premier League tomorrow, where
much of the attention will be on Paolo Di Canio's debut as Sunderland
manager and their bid for survival.
The impact of relegation would be marked on the Black Cats, who replaced
Martin O'Neill with Di Canio, but the consequences if Chelsea miss out on
a top-four place and Champions League qualification are unthinkable for
those at Stamford Bridge.
Rafael Benitez was appointed interim boss after Roberto Di Matteo's side
became the first holders to exit the Champions League at the group stages.
Benitez has steered the Blues into the FA Cup semi-finals and a commanding
Europa League quarter-final first leg lead in the space of four days and
captain John Terry has urged the Spaniard to turn his focus to the Premier
League.
Mata is greedy for the Blues to achieve all three targets.
He said: 'Our objective for the season is to win these two titles and to
get into the Champions League. That is very important. We still have a lot
to play for this year.
'Winning a title this year could be very important, but Chelsea is a club
that deserves to be in the Champions League every year and obviously it is
our primary objective every season to be in the top four.
'The ideal thing would be to do the little double and get into the
Champions League. Why can't we do that? We know it is difficult. We are
still alive in the Europa League (after beating Rubin Kazan 3-1 on
Thursday night), we are in the semis of the FA Cup and in the league we
are in a Champions League position. We can do it, and we believe we can do
it.'
The Sunderland clash is Chelsea's fourth game of six in 16 days, but first
in the Premier League since the defeat at Southampton which saw the Blues
slip to fourth place in the table.
Benitez was criticised in many quarters for his team selection, but
rotation is a must with a congested calendar which Mata believes is only
positive. Should Chelsea reach the Europa League and FA Cup finals, they
will have played 70 games this season.
Mata, who has made 52 appearances for the Blues this term, added: 'That is
good news. It shows that we are going a long way in every competition. Am
I tired? Not at all. I'm absolutely fine.
'The job Rafa is doing is for the best for the club. He is trying to win.
We still have a chance to win two trophies and my opinion is we can do
that, and we can turn this into a good season, one which will make the
fans happy.'
Fernando Torres is Chelsea's only eligible striker in the Europa League -
Demba Ba is cup-tied after representing Newcastle earlier in the
competition - so is set to drop to the bench tomorrow in preparation for
the second leg with Rubin Kazan in Moscow.
The much-maligned Torres scored a double on Thursday.
'I'm very happy for Fernando to score twice,' Mata said. 'He deserves all
of the goals he scores and everything good that happens to him. He is
training really well, working hard for the team and we are all really
behind him and highly delighted for him.
'Are we favourites? There are other teams that deserve that title: Spurs
can still win in the away leg in Switzerland and Benfica recorded a great
win against Newcastle. Every side can win the competition.'
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2013/apr/05/juan-mata-chelsea-
gianfranco-zola
Juan Mata, god of the goal assist, seeks to join Chelsea's pantheon
Dominic Fifield, Friday 5 April 2013 23.37 BST
List the workload he has taken on since last summer and Juan Mata,
momentarily wide-eyed, performs a comical double take. The shift began in
Ukraine in July with a goalscoring cameo appearance for Spain in the final
of Euro 2012. It mercifully bypassed Chelsea's pre-season tour to the
United States to take in La Furia Roja's strangely anaemic participation
at the Olympic Games instead, then lurched into a club campaign that has
seen the pursuit of eight different trophies in as many different
countries.
Throw in a couple of World Cup qualifiers and international friendlies in
Panama and Qatar and his tally stands at 60 games. "How many?" he asks, as
if confirmation might suddenly have offered a revelatory explanation for
all those aches and pains that had been mystifying him for weeks. "But am
I knackered? No, no, not at all. Sure, it's been a busy season, but I feel
the desire to play more and more. I'm still fresh."
It seemed churlish to point out he was also Chelsea's most used outfield
player last season with 58 appearances and, drifting further back, had
spent the previous two summers winning Uefa's player of the tournament at
the European Under-21 Championship and, for good measure, a World Cup. It
has been a while since Mata had an opportunity to catch his breath. He is
the constant.
Thankfully for Chelsea and, most likely, regrettably for Sunderland on
Sunday, he remains constantly outstanding. It says everything about the
impression the 24-year-old has made that when he is absent, like at
Southampton last Saturday, the side feel diminished. Just as remarkable as
the number of games is the impact he makes: he has 18 goals, which is
eye-catching enough before it registers that his beautifully clipped cross,
converted by Fernando Torres against Rubin Kazan on Thursday, was his 31st
assist of the term.
To offer some perspective, only six top-flight clubs – one of them being
Chelsea – have scored more than the 49 goals to which Mata has
contributed this season. There has been no second season syndrome, no hint
it has clicked with opponents how to stamp out his threat. The Spaniard
may not win the PFA's player of the year award this season, presumably
because Chelsea have not carried all before them as they had hoped, but he
merits being in contention.
The comparisons with Gianfranco Zola, acknowledged as the club's greatest
player, are bold but justified.
"He was so good, so talented, just magic to watch," Mata says. "To be
considered like him in any way makes me so happy. But Gianfranco Zola
achieved a lot more than I've done so far in my career. What he did here,
the reputation he has here, is something I'd like to try to emulate.
Everything I do is about improvement. Last season went so well for me, my
first at the club after changing everything: my life, my football, from
the Spanish league to the Premier League. But it's stepped up again since.
"Maybe the yoga I do helps me to play as much as I do. It certainly gets
you in the right frame of mind, stretches and relaxes you. But my game is
improving, too. In terms of confidence, I'm still growing, but it's easy
to do that when you're enjoying yourself. It's vital a player feels
important in the team and, personally speaking, all the managers I've
worked with here have given me that backing and confidence. They have told
me to control games. I had it from Andre Villas-Boas, from Robbie Di
Matteo at the beginning of this season, and I've felt the confidence of
Rafa [Benitez]. It means everything to feel important for the side."
His success will warm the hierarchy. Chelsea boast a lavishly funded and
slickly run scouting operation, and were familiar with Mata's progress at
Valencia long before they beat Arsenal and Liverpool to secure his
services for £23.5m in the summer of 2011. Carlo Ancelotti had been made
aware of the Spaniard's potential recruitment prior to his dismissal as
manager that May, but the new man, Villas-Boas, preferred to target Oriol
Romeu and Raul Meireles as priority additions. It was Roman Abramovich who
pushed to pursue Mata as a third, bonus buy. The perception may be that
players are often purchased on the owner's whim, but it is the exception.
Regardless, it was inspired. Mata is clearly no flat track bully, either.
He has scored against Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United
this season, adding assists against all three as well as against Shakhtar
Donetsk and Liverpool. He is arguably far more integral to the team than
either of the veterans, John Terry or Frank Lampard.
"I don't know about that," he says. "I wish I was Frank Lampard right now.
He's a legend at this club. But I just try to do my best. I don't know if
my game can influence the game of the team and how we play, but I just try
to help with my football, for my team-mates and the club."
The optimist in Mata has not been perturbed by the merry-go-round in the
dugout. Rather, he has used the time he has spent with each of his
managers, whether interim or permanent, to learn and improve.
"I consider myself lucky to have worked with each of them. Andre, Robbie
and Rafa are all good people even before you consider they are great
coaches. I've picked up different things from them all. Andre helped me
settle. He gave me confidence as well, put me in the first XI, made me
believe I belonged. He showed me age is not an issue: he had experience of
success at 33 or 34, and he helped me settle into English football.
"Robbie communicated on a personal level, talking to me all the time and
impressing on me how important I was for him and his system of play. He
changed my position, put me in the middle so I became more like a second
striker. That's a big step forward.
"With Rafa, I'm playing more like a striker still, which has given me the
chance to add more goals and assists. He's always telling me to push
forward, forward, forward. None of us knows what will happen next, who
will take over in the summer, but this is not the time to worry about
that. We have too many games, and two trophies still to focus on. What we
have to be is 100% committed to the club and to Rafa. He is doing his best
for Chelsea."
But do Chelsea suffer as a result of their short-term managerial
recruitment?
"These things depend on the will of the club. You can stick with one
manager and have no wins, no trophies, or you can have so many different
managers and win a lot. It comes down to the players, to the desire, and
the way the club likes to behave. Their philosophy. What is true is the
kind of player we have here, in this squad and in this dressing room, has
been and continues to be successful. They have won, and we have won, many
important trophies over the years, like the Champions League last season.
The club knows that."
There remains the scope for more silverware to be won this season. Chelsea
take a two-goal advantage to Moscow for next week's Europa League
quarter-final against Rubin Kazan, and face Manchester City next weekend
in the FA Cup semi.
The need to finish in the top four has been impressed on everyone at
Stamford Bridge, but this mess of a season can still be transformed into a
thing of beauty. Whatever happens, it will remain a stepping stone towards
a future Premier League title challenge.
"If we can finish in the top four, after ending sixth last year, that
would mean we have more consistency and is a step forward," Mata says.
"We've learned from what happened last year [when only four of the last 10
league games were won as the cup competitions served as a distraction] and
won't make the same mistakes again. We know we have to be playing in next
season's Champions League.
"But if we can win, say, the Europa League, it would have been another
great season for the club. They have never won that trophy before. Neither
have I and there are so many things I still want to win: the Premier
League is one. We are a present and a future team. We have so many players
who have been here a long time and have won a lot of trophies, but we have
a good mix in the dressing room with young players who have come in, like
me last season, or Oscar this. This club, and this team, has a bright
future and, next season, one of the most important aims will be to win the
title again. I want to do that here.
"I look back on these two years happily. I know I said the first 12 months
I had here were the best of my career but, since then, I have won the
European Championship with Spain so it's not been too bad. Everything has
gone right so far: trophies, my life here in London, growing as a person.
But this is only the start."
Mata may already have claimed everything from a World Cup to a Champions
League but he has plenty still to achieve. The onerous workload is being
rewarded.
--
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We All Follow The Chelsea, Over land and sea (and Leicester)
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