nullabletype

I can get down with this. I'd even almost go as far as having a back line of, Bosingwa - Luiz - Ivan/Alex - Cole. We're playing a a high defensive line that I honestly don't think JT has the pace for.

Shocking altogether. There's not a chance Bardsley done that in error. In fact, there was no need for him to even go over the top of Mata. Fine if he had of been travelling at some sort of pace and needed to get over the top of Juan in order to avoid him. But he had virtually stopped dead. Absolute hallion who deserves a ban.

Well I don't think we play Ivanović as RB. He's okay as a stand-in but if we're to look at him objectively, he's not great at crossing a good ball in from the right. Bosingwa has been better recently, and for me personally, we keep him at RB for the time being. Ramires and Meireles sound good to me. But to be honest, in current form I wouldn't have Lampard anywhere near the pitch. Who we replace him with is anybody guess. Though it's a moot point since he wont get dropped. Sturridge, Drogba / Torres and Mata. Maybe start with Torres and see if he can actually come up with something. If not, bung him on the bench for Drogba.

I don't think it's so much a case of caring more about what Torres does, as much as what we would like to see him do. And in fact, really what we'd like to see the whole team do. I say leave Torres on the bench if he can't produce anything. But if you're going to play him, leave Mata on. As one of the few players who picks him out, if you're going to take Mata off, don't bother putting Torres on at all. There was a moment near the end where Torres was wide open and Malouda could of just played him in. He didn't though, and Torres threw the hands up. If the likes of Malouda was linking up with Torres then perhaps we would actually see something from him, and could of gone on to win with 3, 4, whatever. So it's frustrating for a lot of people to watch their team when many of the players aren't clicking. We may have won, which is brilliant no doubt. But in the end, it was unconvincing, albeit it certainly wasn't an easy fixture. If Mata hadn't of played a part in this game, it would never of ended how it did. So if he picks up a knock we're snookered. And for a lot of people, they wonder what we're going to do if we have to make do with the likes of Malouda on the supply line. Torres might be the key figure of many peoples worry's. But he's just the tip of the iceberg. The worry runs deeper than him.

Only caught the 2nd half. Thought we looked good at the start and commented on how I thought with the way play was going Torres could come on and score. Mata swapped for Torres? I hate the question the gaffer, but what! Then it became clear we aren't the same team without Mata which is a very scary thought indeed. The play completely changed after he left. Nice goal from Sturridge and hopefully he can produce more. Happy with the 3 points, but as usual we don't make it easy for ourselves. JUAN MATA F.C.! Edit: Oh, and if Malouda could please see it in his heart to pass to Torres then we'd all really appreciate that. Cheers Flo.

Preaching to the choir.

Like a lot of industries around the world, a presentable well spoken white man with a conservative haircut has a "better" image than other ethnicities and or women. It's not how things should be, but that's how it is. There's plenty of racism in football, and people would be naïve to believe that it doesn't exist at the top too.

Christ that lad is a monster. I can't believe he's only 18. I'm 22 and he makes me look about 12.

Consider me in the happy to of signed Meireles group. Good team player from what I've seen of him. Let's see what he can do.

Will do.

Torres may well be under performing for a myriad of reasons, but age surely isn't one of them. He's only 27!

Too rational. Assuming AVB is in full control of the transfers, then I personally put my faith in that he's picking the players that he genuinely believes are right for the squad. But if you say that, you have people claiming that you show blind loyalty to the club and are a habitual defender of whatever they do, regardless of what it is. The people who say this never seem to stop and think that they're just blokes on a forum and not Premier League managers. That's not to say these things aren't to be discussed. But if AVB does brings in Meireles, I'd be more interested to see what he has planned for the player, rather than pages of posts about why he's no good for us.

Fair play to Bosingwa for turning up today, nice goal to show for it too. Can't say I'm impressed with the rest of the squad. We started well and then just went in to decline, Norwich really have shown us up for the most part, although we did pick up toward the end of the half again. I assume we'll do better in the 2nd half since that seems to be a trend. Can't say I'm overly confident though. If I were Norwich I wouldn't feel to bad about that half of football.

*gasp* Mess? Surely not... Good to see Puyol dressed up for the occasion.

I think the guy is great. I love the way he likes to get up the pitch, his enthusiasm and ability. A few mistakes here and there, but that's par for the course. Also, he seems to be a great personality too. Lest we forget... When is he due back?

Might I suggest Mediocre-Frank?

That's why I said, "not that I expect it" because I genuinely don't. Edit: But with the quality of players at our disposal, "you'd like to think we could match that".

Not that I expect it, but since MK Dons beat Norwich 4-0 tonight, you'd like to think we could match that.

In regards to AVB taking Torres off no matter how good he plays. I can understand it's frustrating, but most people would probably agree his full potential is not being utilised because of the way our squad plays to him. He may well be making all the right moves, but the supporting players more often than not aren't. I think AVB can see this, and it's exactly why he's signed some of the players that he has. Until the new boys put their stamp on the squad and (hopefully) inject their much needed vision to help Torres, it doesn't really make a great deal of sense keeping him on for 90 minutes. I agree Drogba hasn't done much recently, but we might as well try something else if the Torres approach isn't working, which clearly, with what we have at the minute, it's not. I do hope all the new boys get a go this weekend. Hopefully this can help Torres, Drogba or whoever to score. And similarly, maybe Torres, Drogba and the rest can help them back. 3-0 will do me rightly, but I'll take 1-0 or even a point if we really have to. Shouldn't have to though, any squad we put out should, by rites, steamroll Norwich.

I take a small and ordered a small Techfit. If you go a few pages back I put pictures up of how it fit on me. They're very snug, a medium will fit you length wise and all the rest of it the same as the regular shirts. If you're just after the player issue shirt but don't want the tight fit, go a size bigger as I imagine it will still be very neat.

I can get down with this.

Looking at our current line up... 1 Petr Cech 2 Branislav Ivanovic 3 Ashley Cole 4 David Luiz 5 Michael Essien 6 Oriol Romeu 7 Ramires 8 Frank Lampard 9 Fernando Torres 10 Yossi Benayoun 11 Didier Drogba 12 Mikel 15 Florent Malouda 17 Jose Bosingwa 18 Romelu Lukaku 19 Paulo Ferreira 20 Josh McEachran 21 Salomon Kalou 22 Ross Turnbull 23 Daniel Sturridge 26 John Terry 33 Alex 34 Ryan Bertrand 38 Patrick van Aanholt 39 Nicolas Anelka 40 Henrique Hilario 44 Gael Kakuta 00 Mata I still find it hard to figure out who should get the boot. Kalou is the only player I'm 100% sure could go. Both Malouda and Anelka can be frustrating to watch at times, but then they pull some goals out of the bag as on Saturday and save our skins. Frank is looking worse for wear these days (another apology to justin_3d for my run ins with him on the subject) and Drogba hasn't done a great deal the last few games either. Obviously the latter wont, and shouldn't in my opinion, get kicked out. But are they happy to spend time on the bench? If not, how does that effect the team and the dynamic? Does that lead to falling outs and the manager being undermined? In my mind the squad is too big, and we do need to lose a few bodies. But there are others who I'd much rather see recapture their form so we could have a good strong squad going forward.

Good news, hopefully get Modrić now too. Be even better if we could get rid of some dead wood too. I see rumour has it that Alex is on his way out. Sad, but we could try and swing some sort of buy one get one free with him and Kalou. Anything to get rid of that mug.

I imagine it to be much like this in Kalou's head. Looks at Torres begging for the ball. Looks back at defenders flooding back. Looks at Torres begging for the ball. Looks back at defenders flooding back. Looks at Torres begging for the ball. Looks back at defenders flooding back. Looks at Torres begging for the ball. Looks back at defenders flooding back... Finally makes pass. Torres has players all over him.

As a regular Torres defender, I have to concur with your analysis. He did nothing for me today. Hilario was our best player for my money.