Not Quite Super: Appreciating the Enigma of Chelsea’s Current Number Eight

Around four years ago I received a text message from my brother. This was not unusual. I receive a lot of text messages from my brother.

This particular text was memorable, however, and I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately. The text message concerned the once very promising, now very enigmatic Oscar. The London Olympics were taking place and featured the 2012 edition of an abundantly hyped, Neymar-led, Brazilian men’s soccer team.

The AC Slater to Neymar’s Zack Morris on that team was Chelsea’s then recent signing, Oscar. Oscar probably more closely resembled Screech in body type, but comparing a professional athlete to Screech seems insane.

What Oscar lacked in physical stature, he made up for in raw skill. I don’t remember the exact words my brother text me (I’m sure there was enough excitement induced profanity to render them unsuitable to post anyway), but they were most definitely the words of a person who felt he had just witnessed something special.

My brother and anyone else who watched Brazil play Egypt in their opening match of that tournament, did, in fact, witness something special.

In the ten seconds that preceded the ball rippling the back of the net for Brazil’s second goal, Oscar embodied virtually every one of the plaudits that greeted his Chelsea signing.

Those ten seconds began with a long pass played by Brazil defender Juan Jesus toward, presumably, the Selecao striker. Because Brazil’s striker on this day was not Yao Ming, and was instead the mere 6-foot-1-inch Leandro Damiao, the ball sailed over its intended target’s head. This gave Oscar a chance to showcase his pace.

A smartly angled sprint to the left of Damiao allowed Oscar to breeze past a hapless Egypt defender, and put his foot on end of Juan Jesus’ errant pass. Oscar’s first touch was a clever one. With Egypt’s keeper Ahmed El-Shenawy bearing down on him, Oscar pushed the ball wide enough so El-Shenawy couldn’t reach it, but not so far wide that El-Shenawy didn’t still stumble after it like a Brazilian tourist whose consumed too many Caipirinhas.

Oscar’s next trick was to run back onto the ball as it was rolling toward the end line, and center a precision pass back to Damiao who eagerly launched a shot into the net’s top corner.

Pace. Cleverness. Precision. In ten seconds. Ten seconds that prompted my brother, and surely more than a few other Chelsea fans, to text an incoherent scramble of words and exclamation points to their loved ones.

I’ve been thinking about this text message lately because it was indicative of the specific mix of excitement and optimism that swirled around Oscar during his early days at Chelsea.

Excitement and optimism, if present at all in discussions concerning Oscar this offseason, were words exclusively referenced in the past tense.

A player once thought to be an integral part of a new era of flash and flair at Stamford Bridge was reduced to transfer rumor fodder this summer. And not even headline-grabbing transfer rumor fodder. Perhaps the most damning thing about Oscar’s perceived lack of importance at Chelsea this offseason was that the suggestion of him leaving the club registered little more than a collective shrug from Blues supporters.

Attacking inconsistency has plagued Oscar’s time at Chelsea. In 2012, Antonio Conte was likely left scrounging the back hallways of Stamford Bridge for vending machines to purchase enough water bottles to fling after the Brazilian scored two goals (one brilliant) against his Juventus team. Unfortunately, great attacking displays like the one his new boss witnessed firsthand four years ago haven’t been standard for Oscar.

The 2015–16 season was disappointing by most metrics for Chelsea, but even with that caveat, Oscar’s contributions (or lack thereof) stand out. He scored only three league goals last season, his lowest total since joining Chelsea in 2012. It was the second consecutive year his league goal total failed to match the previous campaigns’.

Young players (Oscar was a youthful 20 years old when he signed with Chelsea) ideally improve with age and experience. If judged exclusively by his scoring output, Oscar is actually trending downward.

Despite this lack of reliability in front of goal, there has been an element of Oscar’s play that’s been surprisingly beneficial to Chelsea’s midfield. Two league matches into the season, and Oscar is currently leading the team with seven tackles. He has found himself in the top five of that statistic since putting on a Chelsea shirt.

This is not how Oscar’s Chelsea career was supposed to play out, though. Oscar joined the Blues the same transfer window as Eden Hazard, and the pair, along with the already present Juan Mata, was going to meld tiki-taka ethos with west London chic, and Chelsea were going to ooh and aah their way to trophy after trophy. The role of Oscar as an industrious midfielder whose primary contribution is being really good at tackling was not part of the script.

Well-timed challenges may not prompt someone to excitedly send text messages, but they can play a crucial role in helping a team win matches. The time start appreciating the player Oscar actually is, versus criticizing him for not being the one he was supposed to be may have arrived with a certain Italian to Stamford Bridge.

Antonio Conte has lined Chelsea up in a 4–3–3 formation for the majority of the team’s first two Premiership matches, and against West Ham in particular, Oscar has thrived as part of a three-man midfield.

The 4–3–3 formation places Oscar in a deeper role, and puts less burden on his sporadic, if sometimes magnificent, offensive skills and allows for a greater showcase of his defensive abilities. Oscar can still advance into attacking areas — like he did against West Ham to play a glorious backheel to Branislav Ivanovic that nearly resulted in a Chelsea goal — but the necessity for him to produce scoring chances isn’t nearly as great as it was for him playing the number 10 role in a 4–2–3–1 formation.

This is Oscar circa 2016. Not quite super like a previous wearer of Chelsea’s number eight shirt, but still effective. For Chelsea supporters, that should be something worth appreciating.