dodojojo

Sorry, I didn't get the joke since it looked like any other posts you've made about Torres.

Actually he doesn't. Don't project your pettiness onto others. Torres assisted both goals in a game where Chelsea won 2-0. If you can't give him credit for a nanosecond, that's your loss.

The Sun must have a clause in every reporter's contract that they must use 'flop' every article that mentions 'Torres'. Violate it and you get the sack.

Called him old and slow, really hurt his feelings. Said his haircut's shit too.

You're asking for the moon, the sun and the stars there son. Sit down.

The turning point was not being subbed...

Just needs his shooting boots and he'll be good to go. People have to remember even at his peak with Liverpool, he would flit in and out of games. It was tolerated because his good moments were so so good. That's the type of player he is and it's not going to change at 27. I hope AVB keeps faith in him and plays Torres into form. I wonder if that backheel would have been good if Meireles hadn't been there. So good of Luiz and Mata to credit Torres that way. They must be as sick of the media crap as we are.

Well at least Torres' young and fast teammates like him

Who was the official MOTM? I was watching a Spanish stream. When Ballak missed that chance, I think they said "he ate it" lol.

Big whoosh there, Warnie...Look at my avatar...

I'm guilty of being a Torres apologists but I've long said if he's not knackered and half way decent, leave him in for 90. It's very thin margins but towards the end of the games, his pace is just the tiny edge that makes the difference.

Happy days, Chelsea win, Los MataDorres perform well and Milan with a point

Yes, but if he doesn't score, he's useless...

Torres unlucky not to have gotten a goal today but two unselfish assists today. He could have forced a shot in both situations but smartly made the final pass. Hopefully he'll get something in return soon.

Mata is amazing. Now I've to go to a meeting ;(

Would have been goal if Meireles hadn't been there!

Hmmm...I was thinking 4-3-3 but if it's 4-2-3-1, I'm happy with that too. Anyhow, both formations are pretty similar. Happy to David back but just a teensy tiny nervous with him and Brana in the center. They are both good but both have a tendency to lose the plot for a single deadly second. I agree with some here--Brana fancies himself a CB, but he's better on the right.

I wonder who's on the front left, Malouda or Mata?

Yeah, but it's human nature. He's basically under the gun to score a goal every game he's in now...whether it's one minute on the pitch or all 90. Hard to relax when you're under that kind pressure.

Que? I don't remember him missing easy ones? He had a very good header that was finger-tipped away by Van Der Sar. Or was that at OT?

Benetiz and Torres actually had a pretty cagey relationship and Torres has said they never had a conversation that wasn't about football. And Benetiz would criticize him in the papers when Torres would get distracted by running feuds with refs and players. To Torres' credit, he accepted the criticism--in public anyway. Sid Lowe reported that by the end, Torres was pretty ambivalent about Benetiz staying at Liverpool. But the overwhelming dynamic in the relationship was that Torres was Benetiz' number one striker no matter what. Torres also had the same dynamic at Atletico. Benetiz rotated but Torres knew he was #1 and he would be picked for the most important games. Obviously as Torres got more injured, he really wasn't rotated as he would just play whenever he was semi-healthy or had a pulse really. And it's not just about starting the games, there were plenty of games when Torres would be left in to play even if he hadn't done much because Benetiz believed Torres had a better chance of stealing a goal than any of his other strikers. Remember the game where he got two very late goals against Chelsea? A 0-0 game was 2-0 within minutes.

18 league goals in 22 games (20 starts), 22 in 32 overall in his last season for Benetiz. I wish we had that kind of dropped form at Chelsea. Because of injuries, he wasn't consistently the best striker in the world, but he had his moments. He would get injured, recover and come back, get injured, recover and come back, etc. He never should have rushed back from his surgery in January 2010. He suffered the same injury 3 months later and it's ruined everything ever since.

They print fake interviews...

Probably should be a thread in General Football banter but football clearly doesn't test as much as it should. Cycling has a reputation for drugs but aside from being true, it's also because there's a lot of testing and therefore attention to the issue. Just because you don't hear about it as much in football doesn't mean there aren't drugs--just that the powers that be have turned a blind eye. If cycling with its puny income inspires such cheating why wouldn't football where the finances are astronomical? Check out baseball and the "Steriods Era" as the prime example of see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil, therefore there's no evil approach. Nothing is impossible but I didn't have much worry about Torres and cocaine. But I wouldn't mind some discussion of Spain, it's overall sports programs and if they've 'explored new and innovative' techniques and sports medicines the last decade or so. The explosion in Spain's sporting successes is probably mainly about proper infrastructure, support and training...but I wouldn't be surprised if there was an edge elsewhere. Spanish cycling is notoriously shy about stamping out drugs amongst its own riders.