LDN Blue

Haha come on, that's a bit unfair. All players go through that "lack of confidence" phase, all the best players of past have. Great thing about confidence is, it can come back in an instant.

Well you speak of a loss of pace, but I think there is a psychological barrier there. We're not giving him much to chase really, when we do, he does go for them. Look at how he chased Luiz's ball last night, sure his touches were poor, but his determination to win that ball was evident.

Disagree highly. He's 26 and is suffering from lack of confidence. If Carlo can sort Torres out psychologically we'll see him recapture that deadly form we paid £50million for. He showed that in his last days at Liverpool under Dalglish Clarke. Once we get the service to him right, he'll start to shine. It just takes one goal to start a wave.

When Torres is on form, this is him. A soloist at the best of times. He will come good, he's a natural finisher and a player with plenty of skill and determination. Give him a break..

"Picked up a calf-strain on international duty" And we were never told till now

Would like to hear the chant again, the one our away fans sang for a solid 10minutes.. Nanananana

Patience.

Yeah I get you, but I don't see any of ours players leaving. Torres signed a 4-year contract and we're not letting him go just like that. You might have a point with Lukaku, but who knows, maybe he will sign for the love of the club. If we win the Europa League, no-one can say anything. As for your question, well.. When Liverpool won it in 2005 and finished 5th, they put up a protest and managed to get into the qualifiers with Everton. I think that was a one-off and the rules have been solidified now. But it is a very good question. We won't get booted out, but they may scrape in.

Well, yes. That way we can cope with having a midfield that's more possession based than creative. Mikel, Ramires, Essien & Lampard can rotate, Josh can come in & maybe Clifford. The management must decide on the formation they'll proceed with next season, and buy accordingly. But I don't want them to go on a spending spree. Buy the players where we have gaps, but make sure they're young for a long-term future. The clubs should says a maximum 2 players above £20million, or 4 players above £15million. Anything more and we run a risk of breaching this FFP.

If we win the Europa League I won't mind

I want him to start firing next week vs Copenhagen

Yeah it is, your options are suitable. You missed out Melchiot though (not that I would've voted for him either )

Petrescu - Desailly - Carvalho - Cole Terry is a great leader, a club legend. But I think the other 2 were better centre-backs in terms of pure defending. Would've gone for Chopper too, but never saw him play properly so can't comment. Right-back there's no contest, Petrescu any day. Same for left-back, Ashley Cole is the best we've ever had. Hopefully one day we'll consider Luiz, Ivanovic & Van Aanholt :eyebrows:

Disagree, I think Drogba's finished. Thanks for everything, you've been important in the last few years, but time for you to go. Priority if finding a strike partner for Torres now.

4-3-3 works, if you have pure wingers. Anelka is not a winger, but got by on that pace he had. That's gone now. Malouda was great last season on the left, but now, he's gone back to that same infuriating player we say back in 2007/08. Zhirkov is nowhere to be seen either, and probably wouldn't get his chance at left-wing. Sanchéz would be a good one if we're serious about playing 4-3-3, so that's the right-wing sorted. Now we need a left-winger. And before someone says it, Kalou is not a winger

Agree with most these points. Wouldn't mind seeing Josh get his chance, not saying he's our messiah, but can't hurt to give him some minutes now can it.

Haha don't get happy, we'll see the same 4-3-3 with Drogba. Not sure what's worse

Cup-tied.

I really don't understand why people are making this out to seem like the worst game we've played this season. I'd say it's one of the most insightful, so many positives we can pick up from it, with the level of improvement we've shown in the 2nd half I'm not that worried about 4th. An attainable target imo.

No Torres so this will be a standard Drogba sulk-fest

With that kind of comment, don't bother.

Yeah wingers are a problem, but I was glad Ash & Ivanovic covered for our so called "wingers" on that front. Cole's definitely showing that attacking charisma he'd been lacking over the last month or 2, and Ivanovic/Luiz show they can handle themselves on the right. Malouda, imo, justified why he was dropped in the last few weeks, he's showing that same player we resented in 2007/2008. I think he needs to give 4-4-2 another chance. Ramires & Essien showed great improvement tonight, add in Mikel for cover & Josh as that wildcard. We've got something to work with. Your last few lines are a reflection of my feelings too. A win would've been great but considering we're not chasing the title now, a draw isn't the worst thing that could happen. We have games coming up where we can accumulate the points needed to capture 4th. Good luck to teams trying to break down this defence

Can't justify that comment. Carlo didn't stop Torres's horrid time, it was lack of service from the midfield. Lampard couldn't get his passes through, Malouda kept shooting from long (thus wasting chances) and Anelka went back to his usual non-positional self. Perhaps the personnel of the squad can be blamed on him, but at the end of the day, it's up to them to be intelligent on the ball, something they didn't do today.

Am I the only one looking at the positives? Luiz is brilliant. If Kalou looked up once or twice, he would've seen Luiz in the box, ready to strike the ball into the back of the net! Total Football . Torres is showing signs of improvement, his movement was better than Drogba ever puts in! If he got the ball more, it would've been a beautiful night for him. A sound night for our defence (still think Mikel needs to be there) and 0-0 was a justified result. If we carry on being so sounds in our half, we can work on the attack without having to worry about defence. Positive signs for Chelsea