dodojojo

Jesus...

Maybe this is to put more pressure on Levy? Hoping anyway...Think Chelsea are one more big player away from competing with the Man teams. Don't think Perreira falls under marquee signing.

Well, if this is remotely or subconsciously true (they aren't ignoring Torres on purpose, they're just used to playing with Drogba, etc), that's why it's important to bring in one more key player, ie, Modric. It's clear Torres can't lead the transition charge alone. Add in Mata, it'll still be difficult. Add in Modric? Okay. Add in some of the youngsters? Getting there. It's a numbers game. AVB has to get the right mix to leverage the talent of the old guard but diffuse some of the old tendencies/influence.

Probably "translated" a Spanish interview or something found on the net.

Physically and technically gifted. Will be world class as soon as he matures his football brain.

Yeah that's what I get too...

One season Atletico was sponsored by a Hollywood studio so the jersey had rotating movie titles on them. In some photos, you'll see Torres with "Hellboy" or "Hitch" on his chest. I'd be kinda embarrassed. Speaking of hideous jerseys...this season's third kit aren't exactly prizewinners either. And the black ones remind me of pajamas. There's something about the matte finish along with design.

Wow, in Sid Lowe's Guardian piece, Juan's sister Paula, lives in Brighton. Another sign he'll settle in England just fine.

Chelsea's secret weapon was Torres texting Mata. Tottenham's secret weapon was Peter Crouch forwarding Youtube links of himself doing the robot dance to Juan. Surprise, Mata chooses Chelsea.

Until a signing comes in, AVB doesn't look like he'll budge from the midfield of Ramires, Mikel and Lampard. Not only have they started both games but they've played 90 minutes each time. Even with the dire lack of connection with Torres, he hasn't made changes to the midfield. So why would he do it for Norwich. Nothing against the 3 players individually, fine players all. But as a midfield, it's not fun to watch.

Ask Torres to text Iniesta!

Praise the lord Can he train Monday? Surely that will give him enough time to be ready for Norwich? Oh, please, please. I don't think I can watch one more game of Torres running into oblivion...

Swansea probably don't have an entrenched core of ultra successful players who have played together for years either. So they are more likely and more inclined to change their football according to the wishes of the coach. AVB has a much harder job in this sense. Watching the first two games, it's like AVB and Torres want one thing but the rest of the players on the pitch are caught in no man's land and can't wait to revert to NORM. Hence this strange situation where Torres is good individually and yet no end product by him or the team. The discomfort is there. And I'm talking about football, not personal stuff. Torres will fail if he's leading the transition charge alone. Hopefully as the team selection settles after the transfer window, having more new players who aren't tethered to Chelsea's recent past will speed up the transition. Will Mata, Modric and Sturridge be enough?

Judging by the first two games? Yes. Stop asking for so much. My favorites are the ones where he's living dangerously on the offside line, waiting, waiting, waiting for the pass, all tension ready to make a run...looking at his teammate, giving every hint possible he would like the ball and 19 seconds later the pass is made and all I can think of is why doesn't XYZ just make the pass earlier? Because the delay totally negates Torres' ability get behind the ball. Instead he's quickly surrounded and hence the dribbling.

Unfortunately, he's the best player...in isolation. The rest of the team can't or won't play with him. And AVB can't or won't put in Josh or Yossi to see if that can help Torres link up better with his teammates. If it's the same lineup next week, I expect to see the same thing I did today. Only the degree of it will be different. Hopefully Norwich will show mercy on Chelsea and allow the boys to connect a few meaningful passes to each other. I can't wait to see if Mata and Modric will shake up the team and force them kicking and screaming into playing quicker and brighter. Today's first half just depressed me because I juander if Mata and Modric can truly make a difference. The current team just seems resistant to change. I was listening to the soccernet podcast and one of the show presenters said that AVB was surprised by how SLOWLY the team was in getting his ideas. That was alarming to hear but I think it's clearly evident by what we've seen on the pitch.

Said it during the game and still feel the same way, AVB made his own troubles today with his starting line-up. Give him credit, he managed to right the situation by the end of it but the team selection for the first two games has been disappointing. Everyone saw how awful Kalou was last week and he starts again? And he managed to be even worse this game than last. How is that possible? But because the early subbing of him, it screwed up the subbing plan for the rest of the game and hence Drogba on for Torres when the #9 was actually performing better than some out there.

Sharper Torres is made to look like an idiot because he's playing a different game to many of his teammates. I really fear it'll be the same shit for him and we'll have to hear all the crap all over again. AVB, please, please play some creativity behind him or stick with Drogba.

If Torres is stationary, then Drogba must be a statue.

Okay, I give up. Start Lampard and Drogba against United. Do the same old thing. I'm sure 10 years from now, L&D will still be knocking them in against De Gea.

I've already pointed this out in earlier posts. AVB can persist with change or he can do a Carlo and stick with Lampard and Drogba. With the latter, maybe Chelsea will benefit in the short term against weak opposition. Will it work against the the top 4 teams? Against strong CL teams? The fact that we are pursuing Mata and Modric tells you AVB wants changes. I'm hoping Torres doesn't get sacrificed meanwhile. And AVB really has to decide if Lampard and Torres are compatible because they thrive in completely different systems. He like Carlo are starting them together and I think this is really a bad mix.

Which is what he was doing at the beginning of the game and how much did he touch the ball? Kalou wouldn't even play him in when he was wide open to his left. Torres started getting more touches when he switched to the right.

Because Torres can do what Drogba can't right now, which is to dribble past players. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Drogba doesn't "lose" the ball because he never actually starts the process. He loses the ball when he has a bad touch and he had the touch of an elephant today. They are different strikers and unfortunately I see the same problem still which is the team can't play to Torres' strengths. He could have been played in a couple of times today and never was. Maybe that's why he forces it a bit because otherwise he never sees the ball in a decent scoring position.

The result is good, three points is three points. But the performance for large parts of the game was awful. That's why the angst after a win. It won't be good enough against top half teams. Not papering over cracks, but craters.

Torres was poor in the sense he was playing a different game from his teammates. Individually he was better than Drogba. But the team is more fluent with Drogba. AVB needs to get them all on the same page. Or Chelsea should have kept Ancelotti and he would have started the same XI from last year. Probably would have gotten the same result or better and saved Roman his 13M pounds.

Here's my crazy theory: AVB is trying to get same team to play a certain way with Torres. The team though is more comfortable playing the same old way it's always played. Thus the incongruous situation where Torres is playing well and trying hard but the rest of the team is in disarray. Malouda, Anelka and Drogba upfront and though Drogba didn't do well, the team is more fluent. Lampard playing more of his game of running into the box. So does AVB give up and just let the team be? Or does he persist with modifying the way Chelsea play and stick with Torres? Problem I see with the latter is that he's going to need more than Mata and Modric. And it won't change with Lampard in the starting lineup.