dodojojo

Isn't 52M?

He could definitely find the strikers with a pass and score a few himself. I'd be worried about his knees. Though as a loan, it wouldn't be much of a risk. The bigger concern is if he could deal with the frenetic pace of the PL. His best years were in Serie A where it's more languid and very tactical. I'm also not sure where he would play in 4-3-3? We could go 4-4-1-1 with him behind Torres. He would basically be Gerrard.

Think it's more a case of Daglish wanting to play his new Brit signings. Kuyt and Raul were dropped to the bench for the first game. Aquilani and Rodriguez weren't even part of the subs. I'm hoping it all goes wrong for Daglish but who knows, maybe it's a matter of clicking and Downing/Adam/Henderson will take over the world.

Again, I like Raul but he's neither a DM or CAM which would address some of Chelsea's issues. But as a box to box who isn't much of a defensive force or a creator, why sign him? He'll be good for the odd goal but Lampard already does that. If he does come...I would start him in front of Lampard, Raul had a better season in 2010-11, he's younger and his legs are still good.

WBA are not Swansea. I expect a win but anyone expecting 4 or 5 goals are inhaling something. Unless Chelsea get Modric, Mata and Neymar in by Thursday otherwise a goal or two will be nicely done.

I know it was a joke but the principle is correct. Both can be criticized for their performances of the last 7 months. The difference is the talent level. Torres' talent is in the realms of being world class. Hopefully, he'll swiftly return to those heights. Kalou, I think, can probably have a very nice and long career being a solid professional footballer (and earn enough for a lifetime) but no one will accuse him of being world class.

Haha, my Sydneysider family says the same. So really, which city owns this, Melbourne or Sydney?

I want Torres to succeed but no Torres FC please :redcard: Liverpool relied upon him to death and it almost ruined him. Torres should have a word with Suarez.

I wish. Chelsea's profile in Japan would be unbelievable.

Yeah, but fundamentally, those goals came from passes to him in and near the box. Kuyt's pass for the first goal was fantastic. Meireles pass to Torres was more pedestrian but kudos for recognizing Torres had Brana isolated on the left. What Torres did after was pure individual class.

LOL, I think that's on Youtube somewhere. I remember someone asked him about that and Terry's shouting at him and Torres laughed and said it didn't matter to him since he didn't understand English (at the time).

Torres is about 6'1 and 78 kg, he's not a flower. And if he was bigger, they would just kick him harder. He's been hacked since he got to England. The Stoke game is nothing new. It's unfortunate the FA allows its best skilled players to receive constant abuse. I guess being big and tough is more than actually playing football.

No worries, since Torres hasn't cut it as a striker, they're remolding him to be a creative midfielder. Presto change-o, no need to buy.

:lolwave: Can you imagine the WAGs take on this? A hot female doctor in the dressing room, may as well put the cat amongst the pigeons.

Lol. If the players are dropping left, right and center, we'll have to double check to make sure their injuries are for real. Wonder who the first player will be to come in a with a groin injury?

Not in any way shape or form. On the other hand, he'll pass to Torres (remember the 2nd goal from last season?) and they're buddies so that's plus.

Yeah, good luck with that. Seriously, I'd sign Aquilani from Pool before Raul. He would actually address a problem area rather add surplus.

Didn't AVB turf him out at Porto? I like Raul, but he's exactly the box to box central MF that Chelsea already has in Lampard and Ramires. What's the point? He's not effective wide and he's not a creative wizard in passing or dribbling. Again, what's the point?

Just hope they sell Tevez and don't sign Nasri to boot. Which means of course they'll sign Nasri and Tevez will become City's super-sub. A real super-sub.

That was an appalling no call. The only question should have been if it was in or outside the box. Aside from the penalty shouts, Halsey was disgraceful in the way he allowed Stoke to play rugby at a PL game. They were treating Torres like a ragdoll and all Halsey did a few times was blow his whistle. No warnings, no cards aside from one. But Stoke got what they wanted, slow down Chelsea playing football and batter Torres. Luckily he managed to stay healthy.

How about his point perfect pass for Kalou's header? He had to play like an individual because he was winger, attacking midfielder and center forward all in one yesterday. Bring in two other players to play winger and creative MF and maybe he wouldn't have to dribble half the Stoke team. You know, he could be on the receiving end of scoring opportunities instead of the other way around. What embarrassing misses? Please? First off, name one player who has perfect flawless games? Second, again, what embarrassing misses. There were extenuating circumstances on at least a couple of his 'shots'. And you know that but of course won't acknowledge it. Was he perfect yesterday? Of course not. Was Torres Chelsea's best offensive weapon yesterday? By far.

When your tip of the spear center forward is the best creator and dribbler of the ball for the starting line-up...something's wrong. This cannot be sustained until May.

And why is AVB so relunctant to play Yossi with Nando? I don't get it. It seems like the most obvious combination. Yet it's always Lampard, whom I think plays a game that is totally incompatible with Nando's.

Created for others and himself. Saw a few times when he tried the old one two and never got the two. You could see he was frustrated. The positive today was that he didn't drop his head and kept working hard. Lovely to see Torres play well, he still has it. But he can't score from deep and wide and without help. Aside from signing creativity, I hope AVB works on things with the team to get the ball to Torres in actual goal scoring positions. My gripe with Carlo was that it seemed like he could see the problem but just left Torres to hang out there and it was a confidence killer. AVB actually left him on for nearly 90 minutes rather than yanking him early. Remember Tottenham? Torres was playing well but no goal, so Carlo pulled him early.