dodojojo

But he was everyone's padre.

Ooh going old school baseball on us...

Villa was awful, Givens magnificent. Good to start with a trophy though. More than the goal, nice to see Torres playing well and with confidence. Sometimes too much as he got a little careless with the little tricks and such. Not convinced by DD and FT only because it seems one is anonymous while the other shines. Last season, it was mainly DD looking good while Torres struggled. And today the opposite. Drogba did so well to hold off the world and win that ball but a better pass would have been a much easier shot for Torres.

Why does Malouda always go for that shot and it's always a moonshot? How about keeping it low and dinking it in the box for a better chance?

Drogba, Torres, Anelka...worried about the midfield...

LOL. You can't script this stuff. Lovely finish. Striker's touch.

Ah, no skin off my nose. It'll mean I'll be fully awake by the time Torres is on. But yeah, based on game time, I think Torres is going to start. If Drogba starts and plays 60, he'll have way more game time and AVB has been meticulous about game time, especially for these two. Understandable as it's such a high profile situation.

Lol, definitely off topic. Tort, it hit 120F on the heat index here last week. It's probably around 110 today. Damn humidity. I spent about $85 on gas for the one week I was in LA earlier this month and it was a compact too. Back to the game...Torres to start I presume because Drogba got 60 minutes in the last game?

LOL. And yet, you have 1,295 accents inbetween those 100 miles. 100 miles is driving round trip from one end of LA county to the other. With stops for an In N Out burger of course.

I remember last summer and Yossi said he spoke to Fernando everyday by phone since leaving Liverpool . I was really surprised by that. I knew they were friends but didn't know they were that close. Apparently they were travel roommates for all three years they were there. Now of course we also know that Torres and Chelsea were in serious talks about his transfer which Liverpool eventually scuttled. I'm sure Yossi thought Torres was going to follow. He did, it just took another 6 months.

Tours took forever too I'm used to seeing translate to Towers.

Well Nevin did say he could spot Torres' runs and would have loved feeding him all game long. So does Torres...

One of the advantages of moving to the east coast :eyebrows: On the other hand the weather and food is better in CA. It's a wash.

I'm guessing it's a translation of Terry's interview from English to some other language back to English? Or is Terry's English that bad?

It took me awhile to figure out who Joseph was...and who's Tim?

Hmmm...don't think so. Leonardo didn't become technical director there until 2008 and Kaka signed in 2003. Though Leonardo could have influenced him informally since he played in Milan from 97-01 and again in 2003. Pity Leonardo's relationship with the club has soured but even he couldn't put with Berlusconi any longer Your question makes me think if Leonardo is considering Kaka now? Everyone knows RM would be happy to sell. Ligue 1 would be a good place for Kaka to revive his career. He would sell lots of shirts of course.

Soccer TV Think so. This site is usually very reliably for tv schedules. Have been around for many years.

I'm desperate, desperate for a creative player to come along but even I have to admit 44M pounds (not euros!) for Pastore is really a huge gamble. Is he better than Aguero or Fabergas? I don't think so. And those two are only 2 years older. I know it's rich coming from a Torres fan, but even if he's struggled, Chelsea paid that amount partially because of his brand and his past achievements. I know it's hard to believe but...not too long ago, some thought him the BEST striker in the world (I said some...). Has anyone called Pastore the BEST creative midfielder in the world? And Pastore isn't anywhere near Torres' global branding. The biggest downside to missing out on Pastore is that it puts huge pressure on Chelsea to look for another creative target. Thus allowing the clubs to jack up the prices.

Palermo sounds like it'll be happy with either bid, ultimately it'll be up to Pastore's personal preferences whether it's about lifestyle, team or financial terms. He can't be made to go to a team he doesn't want to go to. Hoping Pastore signs of course but if he genuinely prefers PSG then it's better he goes there. Why would you want a player who's heart isn't into it? If he's coming to Chelsea because he thinks it's the "right" move or because of the money rather than because he absolutely wants to be at Stamford Bridge, then what's the point? You'll have a talented but half-hearted player. That's bad for 5M, imagine if it's for 40M?

Interesting views from Marcel Desailly on AVB's challenges. Also interesting how differently the Daily Fail and Guardian emphasized what MD said. I'm putting it here because in the Daily article, there's a lot on Torres. Read what MD has to say about Torres and his struggles. Obviously, Torres supporters here will agree... I'm hoping MD is right about Torres not being finished. Marcel was always a good Milanista :eyebrows: The Torres bits: Guardian Incredible bit about Van Basten. Luis Aragones before he coached Torres at the national level was the coach at Atletico Madrid. He said the same about the very young Torres and said he could score every single imaginable goal possible, no two were alike and that Fernando was going to be the next Van Basten. It was very, very high praise from Aragones who was very tough on Fernando. Torres said Aragones was so annoying...but later appreciated the coach for pushing him to be both a better player and professional.

Didn't Benayoun play 90 minutes on Wednesday? I seriously doubt AVB will start him or play him many minutes. Too early in the season to push the limit.

Wait, I need to time edit some of my posts...

I agree with your points. As much as I would love the Liverpool-prolific Torres back, it won't happen unless Chelsea plays exactly that system. So it won't happen. But that doesn't mean he can't be a valuable contributor to the team. He'll have to keep plugging away. And for all those that keep calling him lazy--he's always had coaches and teammates say he's a good professional and hard worker. Just because some have this image of him as some pretty boy striker, it doesn't mean he doesn't work hard. Check out the recent article in the Guardian (?) where the author actually said Torres is well liked at the club (so much for the scousers who thinks Torres is hated by his new teammates) because he's humble and works hard. About Spain, we covered that earlier in the thread. Aragones played with only one holding/defensive MF and his team played a much more dynamic version of tika taka. Still tika taka but at least it was at a faster tempo which made a not so ideal situation tolerable for Torres. Del Bosque's version is much more ponderous. Both effective of course but the 2008 team/system was more fun to watch.

True. AVB very matter of factly acknowledged the Modric situation and it's really the only one everyone knows is the real deal.

According to Soccernet, Inter are open to selling Sneijder but said Man U have not tabled a bid. Why is there the assumption that it's only Man U who will buy him? Did I miss out on when Sneijder said he prefers Man U? Or Chelsea saying they're not interested? Curious as I would think he is a world class creative player that Chelsea needs. Is he too expensive?