dodojojo

Yeah, that's it. Dzeko woke up one day and said "I'm going to take down names and kick ass" and poof, six goals. Nothing else has happened at City.

I must ask for a raise... Or maybe it's because we've seen him at this best and know what he can do? And hope that he can return to it?

You know he had knee surgery 8 weeks before the first game right? Take it up with Del Bosque why he played Torres.

Kyut, for all his shortcomings, did a lot of donkey work for Torres. And every once in awhile, he would come up with a sublime pass to Torres, remember the first goal last November at Anfield? It's down to this: Liverpool played to Torres strengths no matter what. Whether or not he was in form or not, all the players would look to him for the final ball. Now I'm not saying they were very good at it for all 3 1/2 years, but the point is Torres knew his teammates were looking for him. And if they didn't, he would let them know about it. I remember games where he would chew out Babel or Kyut or Rodriquez if they egregiously ignored one of his runs . He can't do that at Chelsea. And even if he could, he would spend all game swearing in Spanish and his hands would get really tired considering how often he's bypassed. Eh, it's frustrating. I wish I could wave a wand and make it all better.

City wanted Torres and was offering him 250K last summer. He said no and that's why they signed Dzeko in the winter. And that's how Chelsea signed Torres--because they waited until Dzeko was signed and avoided a bidding war with City over Torres. Wonder if Torres watched today's game and wondered what it would be like to play with his buddies Silva and Aguero and add in Nasri. Oh, is that Tevez on the bench? It must be nice.

Said it in another post, City had three creative players feeding their center forward today. Chelsea, yesterday, had? Mata for 20 minutes, of which Torres played about 4 minutes with? Picture Torres' game at Stoke with Aguero, Nasri and Silva behind him.

I thought Perreira was being pursued as Plan B to Modric. So Mata would play as advanced CM and Perreira would play left wing. What if Modric signs? Can Chelsea still get Perreira and play Modric-Mikel/Romeu-Perreira and Mata on the front left? Mata would have license to roam and Perreira goes up the wing when attacking. It would mean Cole staying behind and shoring up the D which is ideal anyway since he can't cross or pass very well.

Very good posts here so I will only reiterate what I've posted before: Ramires, Mikel and Lampard are fine players but as a MF unit, are very limited and unbalanced. Basically they are 3 midfielders who aren't especially good at 2 of the most vital components of a midfield, create and retain possession. If you have a MF that can't do that consistently and well...I fail to see how any team can prosper. You simply can't get away with it at the elite level. Sergio Busquets isn't a destroyer but he certainly is a defensive midfielder. Just because he's not smashing people about doesn't mean he's not a DM. He doesn't have to smash because even as a DM, he has exceptional technical skills. That's the issue here, Barca's DM is better technically than Chelsea's box-to-box MF and creator/scorer, nevermind the DM. Too limited, too unbalanced.

Hindsight being 20/20, Torres should have been introduced in much more mild manner. Starting against and losing to Liverpool as his first game really seems to have set the jinx in. Mancini did the right thing by subbing Aguero in an easy game against Swansea and AVB did the right thing today by doing the same for Mata. It has indeed been very frustrating. I can only imagine how he feels. At this point what is there to do but to give him some time with Mata and potentially Modric or some other new midfielder. Hopefully he will come around. I dread to think of the alternative. Is it possible for AVB to invite Marco Van Basten to come in and have a chat with Torres? He just seems to be very out of sorts in and around goal and I don't think it's about the much discussed loss of pace.

Will he join the squad immediately?

That's the play where he rightly should be criticized. Poor from him. I've have given him a 7.5 for Stoke, a 6.5 for WBA and a 5.5 for today. He wasn't good today but it highlights why the DD/FT partnership doesn't work.

No one is going to score next week! Not for Chelsea anyway.

I'm in the same boat as you. Unfortunately it's been well shown that the partnership doesn't work. Any surprise Torres, who was great against Stoke and pretty good against WBA, looked a bit flat today? I wish AVB had given him and Mata more time. Space is Torres' best friend and I think he would have been better in the last 20 minutes. Just wanted to add that the above in no way absolves Torres from not being better today. He needs to sharpen up quick in the box.

Because of the one man advantage? That's clear as daylight too.

Seriously! I hope people aren't being stupid and spreading speculation...this is not the time for it.

Lionsden, please realize how much space played in that though. Come on. Lukaku's entire time on the pitch was with Norwich 1 man down. He'll be amazing for Chelsea but let's not anoint him startin CF just yet.

Amazing how a bit skill can change a game. More players like Mata on the pitch for the Chelsea please.

Drogba's fall was horrible to watch. It looks like he was out cold even before he hit the ground. He flew straight into the keeper's fists didn't he?

Mata coming on and one man up (space, space and more space) made the last 20 minutes look good. Good teams will kill Chelsea for the first 70 minutes. Hopefully, a world class MF coming in along with Mata starting will be enough. Pity Mata and Torres only had a few minutes together. Lukaku did look very lively when he came on but Torres would loved all that space. And the two did hook up once for the shot on goal. Oh Brana with the missed header...

Would have liked to have seen some time with him and Mata. Oh well.

Sounds about right, though to play quicker...I would keep Torres on. But he tailed off badly in the latter part of the half. Amazing how a couple of bad touches affects one's game.

Torres or Drogba will come off soon. Midfield needs help and one the strikers will have to go. Both have been average so it's toss-up on who goes.

Norwich controlling middle thus game.

Hence, "I hope", "Have a feeling".... Will be overjoyed to be very, very wrong, trust me. It's Norwich, Chelsea should walk it...so logically, I'm preparing for the worst and hoping for the best.

Trust me, I hope you're right and I'm wrong. The issue isn't only the two of them together (they play differently but are both central strikers at the end of the day and will want the same areas of the pitch), it's that uninspiring midfield. Good players but they've been hopeless in linking the defense to the front line so far. So instead of Torres not getting any service, now it'll be Drogba and Torres. Have a feeling it'll be Torres running back to play creative midfielder and winger again. Then he'll get slated for not being in the box. If he stays in the box, then it's oh we have a 50M statue...