SeB

But because in order to touch the ball he has to leave his upfront position, the last games he did not have any good provider to adress him crosses and good relays

Seing Meireles playing almost everytime in first intention makes me happy, his movement is impressing without the ball

In French we say chèvre, in fact I should have said "goat"

How to sink your career by Asamoah Gyan... He was one of the best strikers in the Prem last season, but like many others he is money driven... It's a shame because last season I did find he has everything that can dream a striker... Anyway we wouldn't have to fear him if he would have played today. Bendtner is a sheep, but the only problem that I see is that he is still an aerial threat, not that he is good in the air but his team mates could be tempted to target him with aerial balls. Hope that Larsson and El Mohammady will continue to miss the rare cross they attempt

May you prefer the *.gif version ? :eyebrows:

I did not know where to post it but Brendan Rodgers just lost his dad so he won't be at the Emirates today.

And the fact is that number of goals Torres did score at Liverpool were coming from long balls on the wings, things that does not characterizes Chelsea. After that, when he had to play 3 games a week it had consequences on his playing style because he couldn't make such runs anymore plus because he did often play injured. That's why he is struggling, he comes to a club where the playing style is completely different and he has to recover his real playing style and not this bad evolution that made him static and less present in the game of his last months at Liverpool

You are completely right, Drogba really is an UFO, an incredible striker who can do such a lot of things on his own. Torres is not that kind of player, regardless of his price tag, he needs support like he did have at Liverpool when he was excellent

The ITW comes from the La Liga's website, I did not find it there otherwise but I didn't really looked for. I did read that in the Guardian yesterday http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/sep/09/fernando-torres-chelsea-juan-mata It's a less explosive way to present the thing, but we cannot really blame Torres for saying that. Of course, Torres is not the victim, the wrongs are shared between several players and due to the surrounding ot the team for 6 months

Even without license, he can not do worse than Bryan English these last months

But we are OK I said above that now there is Mata and Sturridge, there would be no problems anymore. Now there can be support and pace & good deliveries, and maybe also the most important thing: team mates on the same wave length and on the same technical level. I do completely agree with you, my aim wasn't to argue that Torres is a victim and it's all the fault of the team (the midfield...). It's just that since he arrived, a lot of people did judge him whereas he wasn't at his best and in the best conditions to be judged. The fault was shared, no unique guilty because it was up to a global number of things and an environement. We are OK, now it's up to him, no problem with that Otherwise I didn't say that Torres was our best player by far since the start of the season, I just wanted to mean that considering the options available and the form of others, considering that the team has room for improvement and was/is not near to it's best ; Torres was at the moment the best solution, or the less worse About the "ego satisfaction" sometimes it's a general impression that I have, I did not target anybody but I also may be wrong.

At the point the lone striker has to leave his position to touch the ball there is necessarly a fundamental problem. Anyway Torres is not a victim, he is just misjudged by the what I read everywhere, a lot of people look at the "problem" in a tabloïd way, not considering evident things and bashing him for stupid things GodZola is completely right, some people seems to want him to crash himself just to satisfy their ego I do agree with you about Sturridge/Anelka, but otherwise, the what I want to see is if these 3 players (JM10, Nico and Danny) can play together because of their way of playing

But Torres' first touches has always been average, what did make the difference in the past was his speed in short distance to put his defender away. I think the problem is wider and is a combination of things. The fact is that he needs support around the box, and considering he has one, suddently it frees a lot of things especially in his mind, then his confidence, then what he tries on the pitch. So he is better Everytime he did have this support last season he played well, it's a shame that he didn't score at Copenhagen by example... Anyway this "Dane"Torres is completely able to score 18-20 goals in a season so when and if he has support I really don't worry about his future success. And of course I do agree with you, considering there are players such as Lukaku and Sturridge who want/deserve to play, then they have to be considered and it's the most obvious thing in the world

You lift a good point :goodpost:

But tell me who could have donne better than Torres in the 3 first games of the season ? He plays in a team with no movement, no pace, no good deliveries, no direct support, an awful winger who invents or discover every week a worse choice than the week before (maybe because il voit rien), another who wants to play sitting in a chair. There is a reason why Torres is upfront Drogba since the start of the season, I'm sad to say that but Drogba is completely out of form, we saw this against Norwich, he has no success in whatever he tries, he seems heavy, his controls and first touches are awful... As I said before, Torres is not out of form anymore like he was the whole last season. Now he had his first holidays for almost 10 years, the club did bring him a special fitness coach (at the start of July), he was increasingly gaining form during the pre-season and did look very sharp against Rangers and Stoke... Since these two games, the matter is a collective issue, a tactical issue... Not a personal state of fitness. He does just foots the bill of the provisional weaknesses of the team

You are completely right, it's so much easier to bash Torres ! Torres really is the scapegoat of the lack of movement and speed of the team... Anelka is neither Chuck Norris than Torres is, if he wants the ball whereas he leads the attack, he also has to leave his position upfront and we face the same observation: no more movement around the striker, no presence in the box, no quality deliveries especially crosses etc.... Unsurprisingly I won't be surprised if the detractors of Anelka then if he leaves too often his forward role ; are the same who blame Torres now without coherent reasons Slapping Torres now (but I think that thanks to Mata's arrival and Studge's return these times are behind the team) is not tackle the whole problem at its base, it's just hit the vulnerable part of the shortcomings of the team

Someone did remind that Rambo is suspended in Champions League, so I wouldn't be surprised if Romeu replaces him numerically

It was with Kevin Davies, Elmander was on a flank. But I do agree, he can organize the play behind the striker and he likes to have free license. Anyway I think he can do like Anelka and have a large license to cover the entire width of the pitch behind Torres. In 2010 by example, Drogba was excellent upfront but he was even better with such a great provider than Anelka is so I think the plan to play Sturridge behind a forward such as Torres is not a bad idea. The only problem is to wonder if Sturridge and Mata can play together, against Norwich, Mata used to play on the entire width and at Bolton, Sturridge did also so... It's not a matter of level or confidence, if we play the same lineup than against WBA, no support for Torres, you can give a lot of games to Torres and you can also wait long to have a decent performance for him. The only matter about him is to provide him direct support like he did always had at Liverpool when he was on fire. Mata or Sturridge can be this support. Torres seems to be fit now, the only problem is that if he wants the ball he has to leave his position and to come on the wings or lower on the pitch to play relays with Lampard and Bosingwa... After that he replaces himself straight into the box but what do you want to do with no player able to give a decent cross, who is tempted to give the ball to Mikel to switch the play ? In front of a wall and standing at the top of a static team, he could have be bought for £150m and having won 3 times the lottery in a row, he can't do miracles... And even if he has a decent crosser, he is not likely to repeat the header he managed to do against Norwich because he has never been a player who has the impact to play a duel in the air and win it between 2 Premier League level CBs (meaning that all Prem CBs are necessarly good in the air). Drogba or Lukaku seems more likely to be able to do so He needs direct support very near around the box, nothing less or more... You speak about the old Torres, but he wasn't made of nothing, he had some support. The fact he hasn't any now implies the consequence that he irretrievably looks far from his best level

You will find everything there: http://livetv.ru/fr/allupcomingsports/1/

I do agree, Ramires deserves to be in the lineup whatever happens. But I can't really see Bosingwa without Ramires, but at the point that we are sure of Rambo's presence there's no worry to have And I also do agree with the width, its very clear that AVB wants to break with Carlo's instructions to give free license and allowing the players (who said Malouda ? ) to cut inside everytime and not using the wings. I think it was very clear against Thailand, we could see Anelka's positionning with the real impression that Villas Boas wanted him to behave like a true wing player, thing he did pretty well that day

Maybe Villas Boas did think that Yossi is not that useful on a wing because he cuts inside everytime, and because he is not as versatile than Meireles in the midfield... AVB's decision was certainly driven by the ability of Meireles to play deeper in the midfield. It's a pity that it was mainly a matter of spots available, on the contrary it would have been possible to keep the 2

Because the main reason of Bosingwa's revival (among the better relashionship with AVB than with Ancelotti) is the presence of a player who can cover him when he gors forward. Without cover, Bosingwa is a headless chicken who leaves the St Mark's Square behind him. Look at Ramires's heatmap against Norwich: http://www.guardian....1f0tjGM89BA0243 And Mikel is needed because of his tactical understanding that makes him switching between the CB or filling the spot left by a defender who goes forward. He is not at the top of his form, but it's understandable, his personal matters and the new role that Villas Boas wants to give him plays big part in that. However he is our only defensive minded player (considering that Romeu is not ready yet) so we need him, especially with Luiz who likes to go forward

If there is Bosingwa, then it means Rambo on the pitch If there is Luiz, it's Mikel's services who are needed. All that for the good balance of the team Anyway Meireles just arrived, he trained whith a part of the squad (you can tell me than neither Anelka nor Torres did trained with the full squad) so I would be surprised if he starts the game

You remember the success at Chelsea of the last man who did kick Kalou out at half an hour ? In the absolute your lineup is not insane, but right now it's really rushing choices that are not necessarily appropriate

I don't really mind about Lukaku's presence, he will have the opportunity to shine the next years (and even in the second part of the tournament). The fact Kalou can play is a really good sign that the club want to increase his worth, with all my respect to the corrupted UEFA Champions League, for the standing Chelsea gain for the recent years ; the group stage became like a health walk for us. I don't mind if Kalou scores goals against Genk if we can kick him out to a Bundesliga club for £8m instead of £5m