dodojojo

I'll truly worry when they sign Kun and/or Mata, not Jordan Henderson. But you're right, they do look like a club with some actual planning and philosophy. Not sure if it's going to work but at least the blueprint is clear. I'm a Torres fan and think the LFC owners screwed him over in a cynical way but they are serious sports owners unlike the previous regime. So I give them credit. I also find their preening embrace of "the Liverpool Way" to be really obvious but apparently it plays wonderfully to the LFC crowd. LFC may do well next year but I think the whole Kenny will get them to play together as a team rah rah bit is slightly overblown. At the end of the day, you still need great players. And I'm not sure Liverpool has or will have a title winning team. They'll get some great wins off of adrenaline but like their recent history suggests, that's not enough over a league season. Barcelona have great comraderie too. They also have the greatest player in the world, Spain's best ever player in Xavi and Spain's greatest scorer in Villa. And Iniesta too? The rest of the supporting cast would walk into just about any team. Gotta have the horses. Think Liverpool will have a good team next season, not sure if they'll be league winning one though. I suspect that it's unlikely the league winner will get less than 80 points next season.

Considering Sunderland wanted 20M for Henderson and Liverpool got him for 13M and Ngog, I'd say they made out alright...considering the difference in valuation and actual payment. Whether or not he'll be very good, I'm too ignorant of the player to say. On the other matter, Barcelona doesn't give a flying fig about supporting the national team. They just want to be the best club team in the world. And they are.

Saw that on a bad stream...did he scoop it over? Aye, Nando, that was no bueno. Did any of the players want to be on that 2nd half? Seemed as if they couldn't wait to go on vacation.

Not spamming if Torres is all you care about when watching Spain.

Not on TV here, so I'm following Marca's text. Apparently Vega, the GK, is awful? He's responsible for 2 of the goals? I'm kinda don't want Nando to come on because I don't want to deal with a crap stream!

Good post, says it all. No one is saying he's perfect but he seems pretty solid and the ridiculous campaign by his former club to smear him is laughable. But I guess the adage that if you throw enough crap against the wall, some of it will stick is cherished by many LFC folks. Funny how fantastic a human being he was when he was at Liverpool.

I get annoyed when Torres doesn't show good and clever movement up top but I don't want to see him going out and deep to receive the ball or get into the buildup of the play (speaking generally of course). He used to do that with Atletico and Benetiz saw that his true talent wasn't being maximized because he was wasted all over the field when he could kill it in front of goal. One huge factor in why he became so deadly in the PL. I think he can deliver a sweet pass every now and then, but you're wasting Torres if you've got him too far from goal. Rooney is a support striker at the end of the day while Torres is a tip of spear guy, you can't really compare the two. They're both very good if you use ways that take in consideration their strengths and weaknesses. The problem this season is that Torres was playing in every way possible to show his weaknesses...every player has them. Go ask David Villa to play the target man for Newcastle, he would look awful too. Wrong system AND his poor form (yes, he's responsible too) made him look really, really bad. If he had been playing in the right system (say Dalglish' Liverpool), Torres probably would have been alright. Not claiming he would have been great, but he would be competent enough to be pretty productive.

I was so happy Nando scored, I forgot this....god, we suck! That was awful, thank god we're in a crappy confederation. Bring on Canada!

He may not as Pedro and Llorente didn't play tonight. Since it's a friendlies tour, I imagine they'll replace Negredo and Torres. Villa with his top scorer position will likely start. The kicker may be that Venezuela may have a "we want to see the stars clause" in the agreement with Spain (as world champs, they reportedly get 2M euros per friendly nowadays, Brazil tops at 3M). In that case someone like Torres may be played. I firmly believe that's why Casillas came on at the end of the game.

Cheers to Nando for scoring his 200th career goal

Watched the replay on Youtube. What a great pass by Valero, so beautiful. If it was at Chelsea it would have been 1) Torres' run is ignored and the ball goes elsewhere or 2) the passer holds for another 2 seconds and by the time the ball gets to Torres, he surrounded by 2 centerhalves. I'm not saying Torres was on great form this season, but a steady diet of balls into space for him would have meant everything. Everything for a striker like him. A goalpost strike and a goal tonight. I would settle for that from Torres on a consistent basis. No striker has 100% record, every striker misses easy ones but the very good ones, will overall time, show their class. I don't think Torres had that chance this season. He wasn't fantastic but he wasn't as bad as he was made out to be.

Xavi and Iniesta weren't on the field during the first half. Alonso did fantastic as the playmaker from deep. And I know Spain have great passers but the gulf in class shouldn't be that obvious. Are Chelsea a top club or not?

It's really depressing when you see another team doing it over and over again in 90 minutes.

David Silva MOTM for me. Alonso close second.

More amazing passes from the Spain midfield in one game than Chelsea in a month of games.

With the space and passing, there's definitely another goal on the offing for Torres. Go for it Nando!

I want Valero, Silva and Alonso. Please Roman!

YES!

God, to have Silva and Alonso in Chelsea midfield.

Well this is certainly not embarrassing at all Torres could have really benefited with all the space the US is giving. Negredo has played well...Del Bosque may have found a replacement for Torres.

Grr...how do they get away with that? I remember a recent fake translation of a Fernando Torres interview he did in Spain. Anything Goal.com should be banned.

Hard to believe, preseason training is only a little over a month away. Crazy that these guys train/play about 11 months a year. Surprise they're not falling apart by 30. http://www.fernando9torres.com/index.php?p=4584 Torres: “It is exciting to know I will be going back to Asia with Chelsea” Fernando Torres is no stranger to Asia and cannot wait to be back there in a Chelsea shirt. The Spanish striker, who joined Chelsea from Barclays Premier League rivals Liverpool at the end of January has visited Asia in the past with both The Reds and first club Atletico Madrid, and admits he was surprised at the reception he received each time. “I went to Asia twice with Liverpool. The first time I didn't realise how many Asian fans are aware of the Premier League, it is so popular around the world,' said the 27-year-old. 'We arrived in the airport and there were thousands of fans waiting for the plane, it was an amazing reception.” “Every day at the hotel, the training ground, everywhere, it was amazing. Premier League stars are obviously so important to fans there and it was a nice surprise for me, and a good experience.” “You realise how important it is for them, that they only have maybe one chance to see their favourite players and the teams they want to see, so it is important for them and it is important for the club to stay as close as possible to these fans.” Having visited Hong Kong and Bangkok before, Torres is now looking forward to returning, as well as taking in Kuala Lumpur, our first stop in mid-July. “We had some days off, and got to see some of the places a little bit,” he explained. “Hong Kong is an amazing city, and I was with Atletico in Shanghai so I have been to other parts of China, it's an impressive country.” “I also really like Thailand, the people there were very polite. I didn't know so much about the continent but now I know more and learned a lot, so it is exciting to know I will be going back there with Chelsea.” Of course for the players the emphasis is more on work than play, and Torres sees pre-season trips as a key time in creating an effective team spirit. “You have time every day to spend time with your team-mates, pre-season is a great time to get to know each other and help new people arrive so it will be good to be all together for a couple of weeks and create a very good relationship outside of the pitch,” said the Spaniard. No doubt Chelsea fans in Asia are as keen to see him as he is them.

It's goal.com. Hopefully for Emenalo sake, it's a fake or highly embellished interview. If not, he comes off as very unprofessional here. Even if I agree with some of 'his' points, a representative of a big football club shouldn't be making those comments public. Assistant coaches shouldn't been seen or heard anyway. Where are all those interviews from Ferguson's assistants? They're underlings, they should stay under.

I admit I don't like my boy Torres being referred as a lifeless inflatable doll and having antlers pinned to his head, but that's

We'll get along better if you don't use that pronoun for me I agree with everything else in your post