dodojojo

Yeah, I was fearing the worst that he would be taken off at HT. Thankfully AVB made a gem of a decision with Anelka on for Lampard. I think the Lukaku sub was wrong though. I know we needed scoring but perhaps some more help to retain the ball and keep pinning United in their own half would have been more helpful. As it was they had just as many chances and misses to go up to 4 or 5 themselves. But Torres, unless, he's absolutely crap, should play late into games. He's just one of those players who can be quiet for awhile and then be brilliant a few minutes later.

In a space of a week, he was dropped by Spain and benched for Sunderland. He responded in his last two starts, with 2 assists on Tuesday and a goal today and it could have been three. If AVB continues to have confidence in him, Torres will be fine.

Seriously, with time, I hope he can joke about it. It really was that bad.

He is so right footed. He probably just over thunk it and should have gone with his instinct--which would have been to flick it with the outside of his right foot. I'm just pleading with everyone, the gods, the spirits whatever to laugh at the miss and acknowledge it was a double face palm but that the real meat of the matter was the movement and passing to get Torres into scoring positions today. First time I've seen it for a game in 8 months.

Yeah, think this could be the difference between winning a trophy or not. Very suspect back there and I'm afraid you can't really "fix" as it looks like the CBs aside from Luiz can't cope with pace. So it's either buy a younger and pacier CB in January and pair him up with gonzo Luiz or pull the line way, way back. The latter will impact the rest of Chelsea's game though... Tough situation. It may be that Chelsea hangs on as much as possible and address the defense in January or next summer.

I'm beginning to think Torres is an attention whore, he'll do anything to stay in the headlines. All kidding aside, this was the first game for Chelsea I've seen Torres' sublime movement along with great passes from his teammates. Fun, fun to watch. If they build on it rather let today's disappointment tear them down, Chelsea will be fine and will be very tough for United at Stamford Bridge. I just figure he can't ever miss that badly again but that link-up is now being seen. Don't fucking lose it, please.

Horrific first half and losing 3 points is never fun but in a way, I'm okay because we know where Chelsea stands and where the obvious problems are. Does anyone think AVB will get much pushback now if Lampard sits a lot more? And with Torres, I know I'll get some slating for this but it was good to see his game in the 2nd half. That miss was embarassing but it's out of the way now. You can see the world class movement in the box is still there. If he takes the performance to heart rather than dwell on a one in a million chance miss, he can go forward. I'm confident that he's mentally strong enough to do it. Torres against Man United in 2010-11, 0 goals in 6 games. In all other seasons, 4 in 6. Shoulda been 5, coulda been 6. Early season yet. Happy, City drew.

Superb by Torres. Finally an offside call against Mancs!

Ramires is having a bit of mare...

Can't believe Luiz would have been worse. I actually think he should come on...we have to hold them to 3 and need to score and Luiz has the potential to do both. If he fucks up, oh well, we're already 2 down.

Defense is still shit unfortunately. Sturridge not in the flow of the game.

Absolute BS call. But Chelsea fucked up on the other end. Woeful.

Just one of those days. Liverpool got it earlier today and it's Chelsea's turn. Nani got so much space for his goal. AVB may have erred with leaving Mikel and Luiz out.

Their backline may be suspect but so is Chelsea's. Not a big fan of Brana as CB and Rooney and Hernandez's pace and movement will likely give him and Terry nightmares.

Torres' record against Man U was 3 in 5 prior to the 2010-11 season. He then played six games against them last season and didn't score.

It's live on FSC but tape delayed for Fox Network. Depending on your market/city, it will either be before or after the NFL game. For example, in Washington DC, the Redskins are playing at 2 so the Chelsea game will be shown at 5 (or whenever the Redskins are done...usually by Week 8...). Check TVGuide for your local schedule. Fox plans to show four games this season. The Chelsea-Liverpool game is on the cards and so is the United game at the bridge which is on Superbowl Sunday.

Basically, Torres' two assists were the equivalent of laying down a sacrifice bunt and hitting a long fly ball to centerfield to drive in the 2 runs. Sure he didn't hit a homerun but he did was needed to advance runners across home plate

It was like when we only sent college basketball players for national tournaments and we would get beat by the Russians and Eastern Europeans. And then we unleashed the NBA players... USA, USA, USA Wait until we start using our best professional footie players, rather than the saddos we have used the last 50 years. The WC is ours.

Oh leave us alone. We let Canada play.

http://twitter.com/#!/juanmata10

Tweeting: Great win in our first Champions match!! Very happy for the 3 points and the goal, which was thanks to Fernando! Good night to everyone!

I'm not going to go overboard, I thought Torres played well and had a very Torresque performance--in and out of the game, flashes of brilliance along with some really iffy touches, etc. I actually think Torres played better for the Stoke game but was more productive today because of players on the pitch who weren't around for the 1st game. Hope we don't regret the two dropped points for that game. How great would it have been to have Mata, Meireles and Sturridge for that one.

Sorry, didn't realize you were so thin-skinned. It's a forum, where posts are usually replies to others. Did you read anywhere I asked not to reply? Not to post? Not to state your opinion? But I'll keep your advice in mind, thanks. Okay, well that was a quick one then. The media will have to find another 'Torres scandal' now.

'splain yourself, lucy...

Torres could have benefited from a few other occassions when he was the open and the other player chose to shoot anyway. Like I said in the game thread, hope this is karmic and he'll get his reward soon. I know Mata would love to tee one up for Torres.