Monitoring Oscar and Ozil’s role in the Heart of Midfield [Part-1]

Oscar is a Brazilian midfielder who was signed by Chelsea in the summer transfer window of 2012 from the Brazilian giants Internacional for £19.35 million on July 25.

In modern-day football, a central attacking midfielder plays a very important role in the game. A textbook attacking midfielder should have the vision to find passes, gel the whole team with his intelligence, attempt shots on goals from inside as well as outside the box, should have defensive abilities, and have excellent chemistry with the striker.

Basically, a central attacking midfielder should have awareness of what’s happening around him in the game, where his teammates are, where he should be, and where he needs to pass the ball. As a player, the central attacking midfield is a very exciting position to play in.

To be more precise, a CAM is an offensive attacker who is the link between midfield, defense, and attack. A central attacking midfielder should be a very hardworking individual with never-ending loads of energy, skills, and intelligence.

Oscar dos Santos Emboaba Junior:

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Oscar is a Brazilian midfielder who was signed by Chelsea in the summer transfer window of 2012 from the Brazilian giants Internacional for £19.35 million on July 25. He inherited the number 11 jersey that was previously worn by Chelsea legend Didier Drogba.

The Chelsea scouts were impressed by his stunning performances with Internacional and Sao Paulo, and especially his performance in the FIFA Under-20 World Cup, where in the finale he scored an amazing hat-trick and was named the man of the match.

In the last two seasons, Oscar became a very key player for the Blues, especially after the arrival of Jose Mourinho during Oscar’s second season at Chelsea. Because of his excellent defensive abilities and hardworking nature, Oscar made a lasting impression on Jose Mourinho, and this made the manager replace Juan Mata.

Mata had been a very key player for Chelsea in the last two seasons under Rafael Benitez and Roberto Di Matteo, having won the Chelsea Player of the Year award two years in a row. Those two were the only full seasons he was at Stamford Bridge. It’s not an easy job to replace the team’s best player.

Mourinho finally had everything he wanted after landing Costa and Fabregas from Barcelona in the summer transfer window of 2014. The arrival of another Spaniard put Oscar’s starting spot in jeopardy. Everyone expected Mourinho to start Fabregas in a central attacking midfield position and, as a consequence, demote Oscar to the bench, but Fabregas is used in a more central midfield position behind Oscar, alongside the giant of a holding midfielder, Nemanja Matic.

Now Oscar has become a very important player for Chelsea, and he has also got the privilege to wear the legendary No. 8 shirt that belonged to Frank Lampard through his 13 years at Stamford Bridge.

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In the 2013–14 season, Oscar scored eight goals in the Premier League and one in the UEFA Champions League. He had a shot accuracy of 45% in the league and 18% in Europe. When it comes to creating chances for the team, Oscar is one of the best. In his 33 Premier League appearances, he created a total of 48 chances to score goals, with an average of 1.45 chances created per game.

The Champions League stats told a similar story; he created 13 chances in 10 Champions League games, with an average of 1.3 chances per game. His passing accuracy throughout the season in the Premier League was 83%. Defensively, Oscar is a very sound player and, on average, won 41% of the duels he attempted. He averaged 2.4 tackles per game, which is a rare quality to get from a quality central attacking midfielder.

FIFA World Cup 2014 is the grandest stage Oscar has ever played. He was a very key player for Brazil throughout the campaign, where he had a good outing with his fellow forward Neymar. Oscar has made 38 appearances for Brazil so far and has scored 11 goals. In the World Cup, Oscar scored two goals, assisted two, and was surprisingly the player who won the most tackles despite being an attacking midfielder. He was put on the FIFA World Cup All-Stars team and was arguably Brazil’s best performer in the World Cup.

The table below shows Oscars work in the World Cup for Brazil.

In the current season with the Blues, Oscar is playing a very vital role and has evolved into a very good footballer. Taking his age into consideration, Oscar has a long way to go and lots of room for development. His Brazilian teammates and fans expect him to be the next Kaka, and expectations from Oscar are very high. He is also delivering a very good performance, vis-à-vis the expectations.