dodojojo

Yep, average midfield all season and was severely exposed today by a good but not great Man United. Swap Torres for Hernandez and Man U still would have won. The first goal was a gimme and he really should have had a brace today. Do you recall Hernandez doing anything else today but be on the receiving end of some fantastic chances? Was he coming back for the ball? Collecting the ball deep and dribbling through the defense? Going wide, beating a man or two or crossing it in? Setting up chances for his midfield? I don't. But that's what Drogba and Torres have to do. Torres isn't at his best playing this way. I know, I'm a broken record....

Yep, all the talk about keeping on with Drogba and the same team/system for next season because of a good run towards the end...It was a good run but did you think the team looked dominant? There were quite a few games where Chelsea weren't very good but got the results needed and let's face it, some of those results were against Blackpool, West Ham, etc. Come up against a halfway team and Chelsea are overrun. Have to think outside the box of trucking on with a team built around players in their 30's and that has reached the end of the football cycle. It's been about 7 seasons, that's a long run in football but let's move on in a big way. The team can compete in the top 4 but to actually win the big trophies, big changes have to be made. There were quite a few posters here who predicted Torres wouldn't make much of a difference in the 2nd half because the midfield would continue to be pedestrian. And we were right. Think about having to say this for an entire season in 2011-12? Bring in guile and creativity please.

What does Ancelotti have against playing Benayoun with Torres? I can see it now, he'll put Nando on at the 83rd minute. A final FU to Roman.

http://atdhenet.tv/37108/watch-manchester-united-vs-chelsea

And what? The team out there can't pass to him or anyone else for that matter. Ramires and Benayoun may help but I think Carlo is going to need more than 3 subs for this game. Way too many under-performers out there right now.

No shame in finishing second, but the team needs a new midfield in order to really compete with the elite. Just think what Barca or Real Madrid would do against this team. A midfield that can retain the ball, make passes and most of all, control the tempo of the game. What's awful fright now is that you don't sense Chelsea has any control in the middle of the park. If the goals come it'll be from a freekick because it's hard to see the midfield setting anything up.

Try atdhenet.tv

What a surprise, Malouda taking it on his own in the middle.

Oh David...

Just how poop are Schalke? What does that make Inter?

Mas importante? Creative midfielder and wingers. A midfielder who can dribble away from defenders and who can make the final pass. Yossi and Josh M to backup/rotate. Wingers who actually stay wide, cross and pass. Everything else is a bonus.

Will Fergie play Webb on the right or in the middle?

No worries, Maber. Your post makes sense to me...but that's probably because I understand Torresism. He's had a rough start but his new team is doing really well and has a chance at the league title. This is why he made such a big move and hopefully he will be successful this year and for many years to come for Chelsea. I'm crossing my fingers that he will one day return to Atletico with plenty of medals. By the way, the translator changed Torres to towers

I bet you Torres would love to oblige but where are those slide rule passes? Haven't seen too many of them since Torres' arrival. And then he gets slated for doing "nothing."

Yeah, something was off because Torres' best contribution was the passes he was making to Lampard, Cole and Malouda. I can't remember him getting a pass when he was in the box (in the run of play, he did get a header off Drogba from a corner). Can anyone? And Shon, I understand your frustration but he's a striker, an offensive player, not a water carrier and he has said in the past, that he's okay with trying something tricky and failing if it means succeeding a few times in a game and that magic moment can be a goal. I woudn't want the centerback having the same mentality but there should always be one or two players on the team who think this way. Or else football would be very boring and your team may as well be Stoke.

It was obvious Ancelotti subbed Torres for tactical reasons since he wanted to go back to a 4-3-3 with Drogba in the middle. Torres had to go. Feel bad for Nando as it's clear to me that the FT-DD doesn't work but each time it fails he's taken off early, blamed if the team isn't winning, etc. Well, it's obvious that he and the team are playing an uncomfortable game. I still don't see him and DD playing with any recognition of each other . Individually, I thought he was fine yesterday except for getting into the final scoring position or receiving that final killer pass. Well that's not all his fault. He did make some great passes early on. If SOME changes aren't made next season, it's going to be the same story. That's not good news for Chelsea and it's not good for Torres.

To be fair, that was similar to the riccochet shot that Kalou didn't score from either. Sure he was very close to goal but the header from Drogba was slightly behind him. You could see he fell back trying to get himself behind the ball.

Recommendations for a decent download? I was out and only able to follow the match by text.

I brought this up earlier in the thread. I wouldn't be surprised if it's 4-3-3 with Drogba on Saturday. Or maybe Carlo's playing chess two steps ahead--he floats the idea, knows Rednapp thinks he's bluffing, who will set up to defend 4-3-3 against Drogba and voila, Ancelotti springs Drogba and Torres on Spurs! Oh who am I kidding, Rednapp doesn't do tactics. He'll throw whatever team is on form out there.

Ideally it would but then again, ideally Chelsea would be in the CL semifinals and leading the league by 10 points. Problem with playing Torres and Drogba together is that they both want to be the main central striker. People keep pointing to Anelka and Drogba as a great example. Except Anelka is willing to play the second striker role, drop deep etc. Torres won't do it and he shouldn't because that would be wasting what he does best, finishing in and around the box. I really don't understand it when I see formations with Torres playing on the right or left of a 4-3-3. Why would you do that? You're zeroing out the comparative advantage of having Fernando Torres. Ideally, DD-FT would work if DD is willing to play wide and drop back to gather the ball and even help the midfield. This would also free up space for FT up front . But have we actually seen this happen during the time they've been on the pitch together? They barely even look like they're on the same team. DD is the better all-around player and he would be more suited to the SS role than FT. But ultimately, it may be that there are two top central strikers and neither of them should be shoe-horned into playing a role that doesn't get the best out of them or the team.

Both teams were embarrassing. But Mourinho is largely responsible for setting the scene by his scorched earth tactics. He'll be the man to derail Spain's Euro Championship defense. You have national teammates going at each other's throat after all the Clasico games this season. This after all the talk about how this generation gets on like no other previous Spain team has before. I suspect Torres will have to play mediator between his Barca and Real Madrid pals for the next gathering. Ah, who am I kidding, he'll sit quietly in his hotel room and play video games.

Ooh, gets popcorn ready. For RM, Ronaldo or Mourinho? This is a fight that the Special One may not be able to win. I can totally see Ronaldo's ego being battered because he probably feels the defensive tactics made him look bad or ineffective while Messi scores a brace. You know that's killing him.

Yes, but Mourinho's off and on the pitch tactics to turn the focus away from football are embarrassing and excessive. Surely there is a limit, regardless of how good your opponents are? He makes football unbearable to watch. I'm no fan of Barcelona but I wanted them to score today just to open up the game and force Real to actually play football. Thank god for Messi's sublime talent or else it would have been 90 minutes of handbags. As it was, it was mostly handbags but at least there were 2 great goals.

I see Anelka, Drogba and Torres wearing the orange bibs. Just say no, Carlo, just say no.

If you weren;t lucky enough to be there...