SW_Blue

I can see why you dislike some of my comments against Drogs. I speak of aspects you choose to overlook, as simple as that. But in no way do I intend to undermine his contributions to our club. I've loved so many of his match winning performances over the years - the 2007 FA Cup Final, the 20008 CL campaign, especially making Rafa Benitez eat his words in the semis, the almost ritualistic spanking we gave Arsenal each year thanks to him. He has earned his place amongst Chelsea greats, no fan can question that. And I know he is an awesome guy off the field as well. But I disagree that he can boss around anyone he likes just because he's a legend. And I've hated only some of his on field antics for years, way before Torres arrived at SB. And I think he needs to do more on the pitch every game, just like everyone else who plays for Chelsea. But if people say Torres needs more match time to prove anything, why should you interpret that as an anti-Drogba campaign? In the same way as you accuse people of forgetting Drogs contribution, it can be argued that your labelling Torres 'a 50 million pound megastar' shows your refusal and cynicism in accepting a new player who competes with your favourite star for a place in the team. I was trying to make 2 seperate points - Drogba's form and attitude on the field is not top notch right now and Torres deserves some more time on the pitch if we are going to decide on his future at Chelsea sometime soon, otherwise his move away is really a foregone conclusion.

Damn Josh.

The kind which is demonstrated by a senior player in controlling his temper in the final of an event for which everyone, including he himself, worked his ass off for one whole year. Or not mouthing off your team mates on the field even though you know you are wrong. I know you are still clueless, since perhaps in your world, those who have earned their stripes need not be questioned even when they've wronged. A laughably trivial argument. Let me explain in simpler words what I was trying to say, and this time, please pay more attention. You state the obvious in saying we the team needs an 'in-form blah blah blah..', yes everyone knows that already, and I wasn't saying that Torres is the one at the moment. But, if people keep slandering himself for not proving his 50 million price tag, while at the same time he warms the bench, hell, he never will prove his worth anyway. Don't start him but at least give him more than 15 mins in a game where ffs we are leading 3-0 against a poor opposition. A welcome change from the preceding gibberish, the only part of your post which actually makes some sense. Of course AVB has had something in mind while making all the choices so far, but again a little more playing time for Torres will only help him him prove something before the pitchforks come out in January. Only then will it be a fair trial.

If that is true, I'm convinced you are the biggest Torres fan :eyebrows:

But your Drogba lenses are much harder to get rid off, clearly. In his current 'form', hardly. And it's Torres' poor form rather than his own good one, that has left AVB with literally no choice. You see its a two way street. If Chelsea should be 'grateful' to Drogs, its about time he grows up and shows some respect to the fans by not acting like a spoilt brat on the field. I appreciate his performances over the years which have helped us win so much, but equally loath his attitude around the field - bossing around other players, arguing over petty spot kicks, slapping a player in a CL final, the QPR game, I could go on... Anyone who wants him to be sold in January wants so only because they feel he isn't doing enough in terms of performances and showing the right attitude. Most people here, Torres fans or not, will agree that he needs to get more match time to prove himself. Something Drogs has had plenty of, as someone else pointed out, despite being below average for the first two seasons. I'm all for selling Torres in January or next summer if he's still useleess, but he can hardly do that sitting on the bench. And I think villfying him because of his price tag makes us no better than the media vultures; anyone who comes in has to prove himself regardless of his price tag.

Exactly my thoughts. He's awful as a CB at times and seems to be struggling with this constant urge to go forward. IMO the QPR game really showed what he's capable of - the screw ups in the first half ....the brilliance in the second. Its important how AVB shapes him from here on since he's got a lot of talent but needs to get his head sorted out. IMO in the long term he has much more to offer as a midfielder.

So what are you on then?

If ever Torres wanted proof of the fans still backing him, today is it. Time to vindicate them.

are they shouting 'Torres' out there ?

nope he he isn't sh*t, just sh*t at setting people up. That could have been an easy tap in for Rami.

Sturridge has to be one of the most selfish strikers out there.

Even if we do qualify at 2nd, interestingly we will have to play RM, Barca, Bayern in the last 16. nice. Darker days to come but I'm keeping the faith yet.

The point about AVB not having the right support due to him being almost the same age as some of our veterans and being a scout earlier is spot on. I'm sure we have a very strong cartel within our team - e.g. I'm amazed by Drogs bossiness and whining at times , the moment yesterday when he pushed away Luiz from the wall before a free kick, the mouthing off to Mikel after the red card in the QPR game, the argument with Lamps on the last day of the 9/10 season when he wanted to be the top scorer. And he always gets away with it. Perhaps with some others this arrogance is more restrained, but nevertheless there. Something Sir Bacon face won't tolerate for a second at Manure, or Danglish or Guadiola. If we let go of our prima donnas (IMO this excludes JT, he's still worth a lot in a non-highline defense) and give AVB time he will develop the same authority and respect. Another issue is the Roman factor. His involvement with our club is very different from how its for other owners and clubs. It is more intense, and that is a double edged weapon. Of course he is interested in our success but perhaps at times he's too involved, maybe bordering on the interfering. We don't know if any manager at our club, including AVB, can act absolutely independently. His track record of firing people is unsettling for any new manager, to put mildly. I don't like this transition but have braced myself for more failure to come, before things improve. Agreed AVB has made his fair share of tactical errors, maybe too many, but firing him will make matters worse. It will only make our club untouchable to managers, who'd probably want to come in, screw up and move out with their big settlement. I'm sure Roman knows better.

My anger has boiled over since I could see us losing at half time itself. AVB cannot be blamed entirely for our current situation since most of our players aren't doing their job well enough. But his insistence on a high line and certain tactical choices are baffling. Malouda over Sturridge and then bringing on Torres and Meriless at 85 mins? For what, just pissing the traveling fans? Why couldn't they have been brought on earlier? I can see he has a certain philosophy but he is choosing the wrong players to implement it. A lot of our players are 'too experienced' if you like and cannot be impressed upon, its time he gave the young lads a chance. Lets focus on keeping clean sheets for the next couple of games, if we don't sort the defense out its likely we will be playing on Thursdays next year. I still have faith in him though. It will be long a painful year, the sooner we convince ourselves of that the better.

^ Spurs are way ahead, IMHO. Hate listening to that cunt Neville but have to agree with him - we keep playing the high line and our defense makes the same mistakes week in week out.

LMFAO. But there are no instructions on which day's train tickets to take you see.

Arsenal: Arshavin (although his dip in form is somewhat like our Bison's) United: Rooney, Vidic (Heart of their defense and so much superior to that overrated c*nt Ferdinand) Liverpool: Gerrard, Suarez (110% commitment in every match) City: Silva (He's from another planet), Hart

Cheers!

Can you please change my name to AVBlue

Yes, it was one of our worst performances in defense, which I think AVB will sort out for sure, but I think we've got a couple of more issues to look at here: - Our bench looks weak if we seriously plan to chase multiple trophies this year. Up front, if Sturr or Fernando having a bad day out, we only have the useless Kalouda or the now fading drogs and Anelka who can maybe shine on their day but won't win you crunch games against quality opposition. Bosingwa and Luiz have a tendency to make costly mistakes, and Alex doesn't provide the effective cover. - I don't know how many games we can win against good teams if we don't get that creative midfielder soon. - It may be too early to comment but I find Lukaku a little slow and tentative with his dribbling. Sure he has energy and is young but in the little time he had today, he never looked threatening, in fact looking clueless at times. I know we will bounce back but this defeat just made our title chase a lot tougher. If Arsenal can do this at SB I'm sure Spurs, Liverpool and City will believe they can as well.

Sturridge needs some pepping up from AVB. Also, we need to get Fernando into the game, I'm not sure if his positioning is bad or we have too many people coming up and crowding the Arsenal half. I'd say we've been VERY lucky with the second goal and our lead can be credited entirely to Santos and Mertezacker who I hope keep playing shite. Bosingwa is trying to exploit this upfront, but as usual he's leaving Iva and JT exposed in the back . Hate to say this but I have a feeling if he keeps on like this we will concede again, unless we score early and shut them out in the second half. It's going to be interesting.

I see no reason why we will. In fact, would be a big disappointment if we got anything less than 3 points from this game. Arsenal's defense still looks weak, they are yet to win on the road, and the only one scoring for them is VP. I too am happy that Drogs is out, he looks indifferent on the field and it would've been difficult to shove him into the starting XI. The arrival of Mata and Sturridge has completely cut off his usual aerial/long-ball supply lines, with our style of play more suited to Fernando. Who I bet will score at least 2 with the blessings of St. Luiz the redeemer Cech Iva-Luiz-JT-Cole Mireles Ram-Lamps Sturr-Fernando-Mata Arsene's boys are hardly capable of a fightback under pressure, so if we get early goals in I think that should do it. But we need to stop giving away those late goals. Luiz can you hear me mate?

I'd in fact love to see AVB's official response to these flimsy charges. I'm sure in a detailed explanation he will tear Foy apart, given what he managed to do in a quick post-match interview. Too bad it won't matter though, since the FA's decision will be based less on rationale and more on popular sentiment, which is somehow always against us. But I hope they make Foy read AVB's response so that he gets a reminder of how shit he is. Also, shouldn't Warnock also not be penalized openly complimenting a supposedly 'unbiased' ref on a job well done? Surely there have been such cases before?

I'm glad AVB spoke his mind and let that piece of shit Foy know how pathetic he was. And I'm amazed at how the English media has chosen to only criticize our players' lack of discipline at the start and have completely overlooked what an impact this shithole refs decision had on the game. Sometimes I look at the way football is run today i.e. no use of video replays, no accountability for refs/linesman and it all seems so medieval.

Why does this always happen to us? WHY WHY WHY did a perfect day when I finally had the chance to lmfao at Manure fanboys did this happen? Takes so much fun out of it. I hope we fking play QPR on the last day of the league, where they need 1 point to avoid relegation and we stuff them 8-0.