Tortilla9

I broke my media blackout to read the article since its BBC. Forgot about Shearer. To his credit he wasn't as negative in this article as he has been in others. He's still a jerk. Calvo: "I'm convinced this is a sporting thing and not a mental thing. Fernando is a very strong person. If you give him any task, he sees it through to the end. When he was a youngster at Atletico, you could see he would become a special player. He was very intelligent and always tried to help other players. He was an example to everyone at the club." Having joined Chelsea mid-season, the Spaniard has struggled to develop any chemistry with fellow strikers Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka or creative midfielders like Frank Lampard, Ramires or Florent Malouda. (This is all true except the creative part.) Calvo: "At Liverpool he was always looking to get on the shoulder of defenders and look for spaces in behind, whereas at Chelsea he keeps coming towards the ball because he has other forwards around him. Chelsea don't need to build a team around Torres but they need to adapt their style a bit to get the best out of him. They have great players but he has specific movements that they need to learn to understand, like Steven Gerrard did at Liverpool. I don't think it's so much adapting a system to a player, it is about working on specific plays that suit the player. He needs a situation in which when he moves, Frank Lampard already knows what he is going to do, so he can play the right pass in time for Torres to finish it off. But I'm not convinced Carlo Ancelotti has maximum faith in him like Rafael Benitez did. That can't be easy for a player."

Jen Chang at SI (take it for what you think it's worth) doesn't think Sanchez is a Liverpool target anymore.

Rafa is Rafa but Torres has admitted Rafa made him a better player even if Rafa had no man management skills per se. I'm just talking about Rafa giving him little pointers like he always did at LFC. If not Rafa than a call to Xavi Valero who both Reina and Torres credit with making them better players. Anything to help right now.

Maybe Fernando needs to make a phone call to the Facts man. It couldn't hurt.

Can Gigi get in the locker room and give the boys a little motivational pep talk? That was fantastic. Martin Lipton - what an arrogant ass.

If pigtails is what it take then so be it. How about he shocks everyone and comes out with the blonde hair and baggy shirt?

The closer to closing time, the better they look... then comes the morning and reality. I feel that way with the whole Torres situation right now. It got closer and closer to January 31st/closing time. Was it the right fit at the right time for Torres? for Chelsea? Didn't matter because time was ticking down, can't go home empty-handed. I still believe Torres is a top-class player. I also believe his incorporation into the side (if you can call it that) has been a mess from the Liverpool match to Tuesday night. If the setup continues like this next season, Roman threw his money out the window. Changes will need to be made to get the best out of Torres and the entire team. He is not the only problem but he is the highest profile right now.

Some say he's trying/pressing too hard and doing things he normally wouldn't do if he was confident. I have no idea myself and I'm sure he is tryng variations of everything to find the magic answer. It's a head scratcher.

There should be an ABMU option. Anybody but Manchester United.

If Carlo wants to start Malouda then tell Torres to stay at home with the family. Won't do anything for either player or the team. Two months later and it's like they're strangers. Reminds me of a one-night stand (not that I ever had one), you see the person a few weeks/months later, and you try your damndest to avoid them. At least with the one-night stand there would have been some satisfaction.

Or a basket with flowers in it. I still have the Atletico avatar on my screen so I'm not seeing the new avatar. Will have to check on another computer.

Thank YOU! I love Torres and it makes me laugh. Too bad it's not a .gif with the pigtails swinging as he moves. That's the only thing missing.

Bottom line he needs the summer off to get away from the English media and football. The team is currently built to Drogba's strengths which is not the same as Torres' strengths. Are the changes made or not? That's the 50M question.

That stupid picture made me laugh.

I was going to type something witting or enlightening about Torres but I just can't be bothered. Its like watching a slow moving car wreck right now. I have no idea what the future holds for Chelsea, Carlo, Torres, Drogba, et al. All I know is the man with the scruffy beard forked over 50 million pounds for Torres and even though he's rich as hell you don't fork over that amount of money and just give up on it. The rest of the season - let Torres come on as a super sub with Yossi. Let Drogba start and continue to be the top dog. Then reassess after the season.

The inmates are running the asylum and that's never a good thing.

According to Lalkovic Milan on twitter: Drogba is still top class player After Drogba came on the pitch it looks much better. Lol this is not bout respect or his quality (re Torres) if is not workin then work at least for team!!

Cech, Ivan, Alex, Terry, Cole, Ramires, Essien, Lampard, Anelka, Torres, Malouda

Unconfirmed United starting: Van der Sar, O'Shea, Ferdinand (hate him), Vidic, Evra, Nani, Park, Carrick, Giggs, Hernandez, Rooney

Rumor - Drogba not starting

Why's everybody so down today? I'm not a Pollyanna by any stretch of the imagination but the gloom and doom here is damn depressing. 1. Chelsea may not be playing great and didn't play great last week but it's only 0-1. 2. For United's domination of Chelsea last week they're only up 1-0. 3. Neither Chelsea or United are playing great, beautiful football. Both are managing to get wins no matter how ugly. Why does United get credit for playing ugly soccer and winning and proving their champions but Chelsea does the same and Chelsea is sh*t and/or old. I have my blue sunglasses and I'm drinking my blue kool-aid until the final whistle.

I am strangely optimistic over here in California. Maybe its because I'm still boycotting the media and not reading anything negative (except Chelsea forums). I have my head in the sand and I feel a Chelsea win and advance tonight.

The two new boys having fun.

Too funny! I saw it without the photoshop added and thought WTH is he doing?

LFC 13 pts against top 4 teams. 8 pts against bottom 4 teams. As my friend dodojojo reminded me, Torres and Suarez would have probably been a hit together at Liverpool. BUT.... Liverpool still won't be in the CL next season. Or Europe.