dodojojo

That's the simplest and best way isn't it? Just cheer him at home. It will spoil the media's narrative of troubled, tortured Torres when they have to report that the crowd at Stamford Bridge gave him full throttle support throughout a game.

The dressing room attendant will play Fulham before Mata does.

Holding midfielder is his best bet to staying relevant to the starting XI. The issue is that Lampard has himself said that he wouldn't give up his runs up the field. That pretty much defeats the purpose of a holding midfielder. Especially for one like Lampard, who no longer has the pace to get back to position quickly. Winter is right, the Chelsea holding midfielder role is crying out for someone to excel. If Lampard can do it, that would be a great boon to Chelsea's title challenge. I'm not a Lampard detractor just for the hell of it but I do resent that Meireles is obviously being played further back to accommodate Lampard. Meireles will be far more helpful if he's pushed further forward. Or if played in a 4-2-3-1, he would be the more offensive midfielder in the 2.

Yeah, I'm sure the fans were shouting to him things like, "Good effort Fernando", "I love your highlights", etc all game.

Wonder what's up with his left wrist. It's been taped since he was with Spain earlier this month.

I can't think of a worse way to play Torres. Did yesterday's game not show you that Torres is at his best playing off the last defenders and getting away from them? Putting him behind another striker would completely nullify the best part of his game. It's only taken about 8 months for Chelsea and Torres to get on the same page, why not build on it rather than play him in ill-suited formations?

You're right. Man United are happy to play fast counter attacking football and not have some much emphasis on their central midfield. Playing without a DM and with Lampard only encouraged their biggest strength and glossed over their biggest weakness.

Which is why playing him as a midfielder would be a mistake. He should be further up and close to Torres.

Mata needs a blow. He's started every game since his sub debut and played a lot of minutes. Rest him for Swansea and Valencia. It's important to keep him for the league as Chelsea can't afford to fall too far behind the Mancs. I'm praying we can keep him fit for the rest of the year and then buy another creative player in January to ease the burden on him. I think an in-form Torres is just as important as Mata. But if Torres goes down, at least there are 3 or 4 strikers who can step in as CF. No one can step in for Mata at the moment.

Dropped by Spain after 88 caps, benched for the Sunderland game; Torres followed up with Bayer Leverkusen and Man United. He'll be fine. What's important is for Chelsea's game to evolve along with Torres'. They will get better together.

De Gea: Give me a hug Nando! Torres: Hug this. Goal

I think you're pretty much spot on. I'd withhold assessment on Lukaku as he's only 18 and we've seen very little of him at Chelsea. He should go out on loan in January and let's see what happens next season when he's had 5 months of solid football. But I agree, if Lukaku is meant to be the next Drogba as an exact replica, I'm not sure how he fits in AVB's game. If Torres comes good and stays healthy, he should be the primary CF for a good 3 or 4 seasons. Perhaps Lukaku can slowly be groomed as a replacement. After all, he'll only be 22 or 23 when Torres is done.

He really was terrible on Nani's goal. I can't unsee it.

I'm laughing about it already. Luckily I live in the US and don't have the English media shoving it down my throat and I try my best to not read the stuff online. It was a terrible miss. Shit happens. I'm going to be cautiously optimistic that Torres' trendline is on a positive slope. I didn't go overboard after his BL game and just thought he had a decent game which was made good with 2 assists. He only had a goal today but was in such threatening form. It's the first Chelsea game where I thought he was actually menacing. So I won't go overboard now, but I hope he carries on his improvement. I actually don't think the miss was as confidence sapping as the media is painting it. I think they WISH it was but the reality is Torres will feel awful about the miss but optimistic about his overall game. He's a striker and though he may be quiet, he's likely got a striker's ego too. He must feel confident now about his game AND that for the first time in 8 months, his teammates are recognizing and rewarding his runs. That's all he can ask for. He got two golden passes today. One he stuffed and the other he fluffed. He also made a couple of chances for himself. How can you even lose confidence with that miss anyway? He would make that 99 times out of 100 blindfolded. It was just a freak miss. It's nothing to do with confidence. I would be more concerned with the other two misses he had to be frank.

I love Torres but this is funny...

He tapped the ball a bit when he his stepover and it just went a little further than he anticipated. Just a couple of inches ahead of the sweet spot.

That's much more accurate.

Can Cole's yellow on Chicharito be reviewed for additional punishment?

Oh FFS. Every striker misses a sitter. Any striker who hasn't, hasn't swung a leg. Daily Fail failing again.

Watching replay on Fox network tv now. Oh my god, that 3rd goal was so awful to watch again. How the hell did Phil Jones, the freaking center half, run through the entire Chelsea midfield and defense? The boy is fast, very, very fast. But he got very little opposition as he built up steam towards the box.

It's not a tough call. Meireles replaces Lampard. Mikel should be on to do DM duties. Raul can move forward and make good passes and link up with the front 3. I thought he should have replaced Lampard the day he signed but obviously that wasn't realistic. But I think it's time Chelsea look towards an era where Lampard isn't the first MF on the teamsheet. He still has a role to play, like starting against Fulham but I think Meireles is the guy to go with for most of the big matches.

Hopefully, he'll be Albino blonde by Christmas...

Stoke: MOTM WBA: Good Norwich: Poor Sunderland Sub: Very poor Leverkusen: Good, effective Man U: Very good, Chelsea's best player in the 2nd half attempted comeback Would you say Torres has been one of Chelsea's worst performers in this early season? Rather, if you step back from all the white noise that surrounds his name, he's actually been one of the better players overall, probably top 3 or 4. He's been Chelsea's best player in 2 of the 6 games so far. What is so wrong with that? Can he do better, of course. Is he improving? I'd say yes. He's started two games with Mata, Meireles and Sturridge. TWO. And he's got 2 assists and a goal. Could have been 3 assists and 4 goals after today's game if luck was on Chelsea's side.

Thought the Lukaku sub was bad tactically but understand that someone big was needed up front to nick a chance. It was a desperation move. I don't think the Torres/Lukaku pairing makes sense for 90 minutes. Anelka is obviously a better fit with Torres. I just wish he was more consistent as a starter. For Swansea, I wouldn't mind seeing Anelka on for Sturridge to see how Ma/To/An do as a front 3. Or if AVB can move away from 4-3-3 go 4-2-3-1.

Agree. The miss won't kill his confidence, playing game after game without his teammates spotting his movement will though. That's basically what's happened in the last 8 months. For those who say he's past it--you saw the striker's movement today in the box, really sublime. He's rusty from not shooting too much this year so he's going to have work on the finishing. But if he gets himself into those positions and the right passes are made 2 or 3 times game after game, we're going to see Torres goals.