The Rising Sun

TORRES IS BACK! Scoring goals is the most important job of a striker. Last season, Torres gave some really good performances and assists, but couldnt show the statisticians anything in the goals column. Now, he hasnt been as good overall, but has 2 goals in 3 games to show in his statistics. Bar Ramires Selfishness, it would have been 3 goals in 3 games. He will score 15-20 goals in the league this season and 25 or so in all competitions. He will be back to scoring, dont care whether he doesnt provide as many assists as last season... We have Hazard and Oscar for that. TORRES !!! If we buy another striker, no harm done! Even better!

A strikers job is to score goals. Earlier he wasnt scoring goals and the keyboard warriors(great terminology someone on here used) were saying, " It does not matter if a striker is playing well, his job is to score. FACT." Now he has stopped with his countless assists and has started scoring, so people have chosen the next reason to slate him. He scored the winning goal yesterday, and had ivanovic not been sent off in the CS , he scored a mighty important goal there as well. Ramires should be ashamed of himself for that moment of selfishness yesterday. Cant blame Torres for that too, as he was in the right place, made the run, and when he was open on goal, and ramires had a clear super easy pass, decided to go for the spectacular on his wrong foot. He has done all the right things, and like most players do, is growing into the season and is starting to hit full fitness, that, and gelling with the new players and understanding their style of play. He has scored 2 goals in 3 games, while not being in the best of form. He has learnt how to dribble and win many more balls in the air than he could last season. Im not saying dont buy another striker, if RDM wants, buy another striker to strengthen the side. But the guy is scoring goals, and being involved in some good play with players around him, why all the hate? We are NOT in crisis like last year so there doesnt need to be a fall guy..... He is contributing and getting better, getting goals, we are 6/6 points top of the league. There is no reason to force the doom and gloom scenario that Torres will be cause of later in the season, when he will miserably fail and wont score goals. He has shown no signs of that to deserve such an assumption. I actually think he will be prolific this season. Not as clinical as his Liverpool days, but he will score atleast 15-20 goals in the Premiership itself this season. Thats good enough for me. about 25-30 goals in all competitions is what i expect from him, and i believe he will get his goals this season. Thats what matters most.goals.

4-1-3-1-1 then? ----------------cech--------------- iva----cahill----terry------cole-- -------------Mikel------------------ mata------lampard-----hazard-- -----sturridge---------------------- ------------------Torres------------ That iformation when we're away to any bottom 10 team, And ----------------cech--------------- iva----cahill----terry------cole-- -------------Lampard------------- mata------Oscar-----hazard-- -----sturridge---------------------- ------------------Torres------------ this formation when are at home, so sturridge can be an inverted second striker rather than a winger. Additionally, while defending, we can form back into a 4231 with Lampard slotting back with mikel in formation 1 and oscar slotting back with lampard in formation 2. Then while attacking it becomes a 4-1-3-1-1. Or, replace sturridge with Cavani/hulk in both formations.

Hey guys! quick question here..... Basically i had Joe cole in my starting lineup, and he got injured on matchday 1, so i only got 1 point for some 11 minutes of play. And that is Fine. However, i have Guthrie( Reading) in my subs bench, so for tonites game where Joe cole is injured, will danny guthrie automatically get into my squad and points? Since Joe cole played on matchday 1, i might not, but there was still a match on tonite, and shouldnt i be getting Guthrie as an automatic sub since he was playing?

I really feel like CRYING. WOW. Emotional roller coaster. This is what we are capable of when we play an attacking line up with a full on attack,( after all subs) And no Mikel. What a difference. We can demolish teams if we have such line ups.

haha wrote long post and somehow while i was not in the text box, backspace got pressed and it loaded the previous page. Now i dont want to write again. dont porto need reinforcements if hulk is to go? If so, they arent dipping in to the market. After sooooo long, howcome Chelsea have not lodged an official bid of any sort? Porto are legally required to tell announce any bids. Forget what newspapers report, as UK sports newspapers serve up an entirely new level of garbage when it comes to transfer speculation, prices of players etc. Whats up?

I think its time someone asks Agent 007 to check with his sources on whats the scene with Romeu. Atleast we will get some nonsense to work with. Right now we are so in the dark, this must be the best kept secret on earth. Maybe he is an alien.

Well you're right in a way, and i hope if we as fans can see it, hopefully RDM sees it as well.... For all the Reinforcements and improvements we are doing in our attack, the basics of getting it out of defence and to our attackers needs to be sorted our fast. Our DM's and Defence cannot handle it when they are being pressed and pressurised by oponents, whether its no one making themselves available for a pass or not, dont know..... but some serious work must be done behind the scenes to get some sort of methods and plays of taking it forward in a fluidic fashion.

Wait.....What? sorry if you believe in Mikel, but never have,never will. He gives one good performace in 10 games, meaning 3-4 good performances a season, but starts 40-50 games a season. He is decent for a backup, not for a Chelsea starter IMO.

This guy is such a joke. The transfer window will shut after late next week, so now he has quoted his inside sources as saying it will happen then. Obviously Sherlock. If he is to be transferred then his medical has to happen before deadline day, i.e. late next week.

Totally Agree with people here who were frustrated by Cech's inability to use intelligence in the game, always launching the ball long and high, resulting in a loss of posession. There were also a few times where, while cech could have picked the ball up and started a counter, instead he chested it and kicked it around and waited for the Wigan player to close him down, and then picked up the ball. Then he launched it and we lost possession. His greatest asset is his throw, which too, he got horribly wrong and almost gave away a goal. Our defence looked stronger as a group. but there were way too many individual errors happening there, and that is worrying. They need to get in sync fast. Cech also saved the game for us by making some crucial saves, as they could have easily levelled the score, if not for a few brilliant saves, and some bad finishing and crossing by Wigan. The worrying bit is that it could have so easily become 2-2 with the way the play was going and they were creating chance after chance, and been a repeat of last season,i.e. dropping points in the last 15 mins. It is concerning and worrying that after scoring those 2 goals in 7 minutes, we switched off. There is a difference between Energy conservation and Switching off. Its a bad football culture/style chelsea has picked up over the last few years and we need to be like champions again, and play for the kill. My views.

Happy with the 3 points, but sadly.... We were everything we want to be in the first 5 minutes, And then we were everything we dont want to be for the next 85.... really dont know what to think about this performance. Will wait till our reading game to form a stronger opinion on where we are going, whether we will be the "playing good in spells:", then back to defending and soaking pressure or do we have the desire to bomb on. This was a wierd game. We could have had so much more if we really went for it.

Firstly, good to have 3 points in the premier league opener. And secondly, with all due respect to all Mikel lovers, SELL HIM. He is a liability.

We dont really have the depth required IMO.... even with bertrand playing, we only have a couple of players that can change the game from the bench....

EPLAgent007 has said he will close his twitter account if hulk does not sign for chelsea this transfer window... but moses was supposed to have his medical yesterday and azpi today...which hasnt happened.... so he's wrong most of the time...

These are pure nonsense stories ..... Anyways, i really really hope we dont sign him. Have never thought he is good enough. Always thought of him as a micheal owen sort of player.... Anyone but him.

The Championship is too unpredictable for me..... premiership is much more safe IMO.

Well he is difinitely not worth his price tag, but he does have the correct skill set, pace and body type to fit in the premier league. His power and pace are a good combo, and since we dont have powerful players in midfield or attack, he would make a good addition. I'll be happy as long as we make atleast one more class signing, but im quite contented with what we have... Cavani would be quite a signing for the same or less cost, including offloading meireles.... But that purely depends on a change of formation.

Would love to see him at our club.... difference between Hulk and Moses is Finished Product vs Potential.... We currently have enough players with 'potential'.....wouldnt do much harm to get a finished product to bolster our credentials, taking us from "could challenge" for supremacy to "will" challenge for supremacy. The other angle is the direction our club is going, which is more financially viable, i.e. the players we buy now are young and we will make money on them while selling them on, rather than hulk, who will command less than 1/3rd of what we spend on him today. Whether Roman can afford it personally will not matter in a few years time as FFP concentrates on club earnings rather than Owners wealth. Also, lets not be like the City and Arsenal supporters, who while they are linked with a player, that player is great, then if its not happening or the player goes to another club.... the player is crap, useless. Hulk is a good player and will definitely add to our squad.... Van Persie and Rooney will kill it in the League this season..... Hulk has too many dimensions to his game and missing out on him will be bad. I still think Porto will sell, its just a matter of whether we are willing to play their game or not.

I agree. Its not that there is anything wrong with a team playing the Double Pivot, but if you dont have the correct players for that setup, then forcing the Double Pivot formation just to accomodate players is not right, and will affect the team negatively. We really only need 1 holding midfielder if we want to move on as a club and change our style. The problem lies with Lampard, and that cant be ignored. In terms of starting 11, he cannot be accomodated as a AM anymore( in every game i.e.), therefore the double pivot is the only place where he can be accomodated with the hope that he can take on that role. Sadly, I feel we are only playing the DP to include Lampard.....subsequently somehow Ramires is now being treated as A RW, instead of being in Midfield. Everyone is saying that he provides defensive cover, thats why his positioning at RW works.... well if Our double Pivot was good enough, then you wouldnt have to deploy a RW for his defensive abilities, to cover for a 2 man double pivot. Really anxious to know if RDM knows the best way to change our style of play, as nothing of what he has said or done in preseason has pointed in that direction. Wigan will be our first test. Also, im not slating Lampard, Mikel's Gandhi Like approach to being a DM also hinders Lampards ability to truly take on that role.

Maybe we should buy Hulk or Cavani,,,, After United have bought Van persie , and now have a rooney van persie attack, City already have a plethora of big name forwards.... Maybe it wont be such a bad thing for us to buy a top quality forward? I know it wont be easy to fill another World Class forward into our Line Up, but while we have strengthened in midfield, as have other teams around us, we have been left behind by ALL our rivals in terms of their striking arsenals. We shouldnt get left behind.

The site is much more interactive now, and has much more information packed into the front page, unlike before where you had to go around finding info.... Good Job.

I really think we should make Luiz into a DM, He is good at breaking up play, is lightning fast, strong and makes some good passes, and can dribble. I know we WONT do that, but i fail to understand why,,,, he could become one of the best DM's in the world. 5-1 chelsea.

Hazard has now got a taste of English football and will slowly start figuring out the patterns, pace of play, how and when people tackle.... the moment he gets that... he will murder defences..... I really think against Wigan will be his breakout performance, as the quality difference between Mancity and Wigan is Huge.... wigan and Reading should give him the perfect start to believe he can beat this league.

Not aimed at anyone in specific, but there are three things: Being Positive Putting a positive spin on everything the end of the world negativity Now there are people on here who are positive and the other extreme of negative, but sometimes, the "being positive" category of people try and put a positive spin on everything and attack anyone who says something that is not positive towards a player or team or formation etc. While in some cases, it might be warranted, but in most, it becomes personal and really escalates from there on. We as a forum fight too often over the smallest of things! We as a community should figure out a way to keep threads and posts free of pages full of personal attacks, as it takes away from the quality and diversity we have on here.... The only reason TC would not win the Best Forum on the Internet would be because of this stuff! In the end, we can only give our views, its RDM that will either be here next season or not.... We wont go anywhere.