Thor

Ramires is by far the quickest person I've ever seen on a football pitch. I think Sturridge is just behind him. Both are helped by the fact that they are tall and have long strides which is something Walcott and Lennon don't have. I'd back both of them over those two with Ramires just beating Sturridge.

If Drogba does go... it's going to be a whole different brand of football we play. We're going to have to get Pato in my opinion and play him with Sturridge up front, or Torres, and simply use the pace of those three to destroy teams. None of them are great at holding the play up apart from Sturridge who actually does a good job. Add Ramires into that who comes charging in from the midfield and we'll have the quickest team I've ever seen grace a football pitch.

I don't think the guy has had a bad moment in the press. He seems incredibly intelligent and articulate and knows how to get his point across in a spot on manner. He handles it beautifully. I loved his answer to a question about what the game against Valencia meant to him. - “It’s irrelevant what the game represents to me,” Just what you want to hear from your manager. I don't know about the rest of you, but he genuinely seems to me like he already loves the club, not just the fact that he's winning here with us.

I was happy with the game, no complaints. I loved watching Drogba play. I missed seeing such a dominant performance from him, it was absolutely incredible. One thing I do want to bring up is, would anyone feel comfortable letting Man City have that much possession against us coming up in the next game? City have players who are slightly better on ball than Valencia, and they have much better strikers of the ball who can hit goals from outside. Actually, that was another pleasing thing about the game. All their 'big chances' to score came from outside the box essentially, and when it comes down to that it has to be struck perfectly, not just magnificently, but perfectly to beat a keeper like Cech.

All I'll say is, I'm happy with the result. And screw vintage Drogba... that wasn't vintage Drogba. That was one of the best halfs he's ever had as a Chelsea player. That was new beast mode Drogba, and I love it. Another thing, Mata looks bothered by the physicality of the game. So do some of the other players. Need to harden up a little. And, I guess AVB listened to us guys. He's dropped the line so far back we practically have 11 goal keepers haha.

Beer... lots and lots of beer.

That happens almost every week anyway... lol. Might go for a kick around at the university on Saturday with some mates. Should tag along if you're keen.

Spike you in Brisbane? Go to uni?

I'm willing to bow down to master once I get married, though now, they are just messing up my shit haha. Girls hate guys having fun if it doesn't involve them it seems.

This all happened a couple nights ago when Chelsea beat Newcastle. So, all in all it was a good night. :blue scalf: Two mates and I in the city in bar/pub type thing, and like a bunch of 20-23 year olds naturally we make dares, and plan on talking to girls the whole night. The bartender behind the bar was stunning, and I was the one chosen to go strike up a conversation with her for some bizarre reason (don't usually go for the girls behind the bar, but my friends are idiots). So go there to buy the boys drinks and strike up a conversation. Wouldn't be too hard, there are a lot of staff, and not all seem to be taking drink orders all the time, more just standing around and watching one of the many TV's. Acceptable seeing as their weren't that many people ordering. Anyway, just my luck, the two guys in front of me also try and crack onto her with some cheesy ass lines. So I'm going to be stuck their like any other loser trying to crack onto her haha. Anyway I ask her when she gets off her shift and what she was doing after, etc, not just cheesey pick up lines like the guys infront of me, but shes sees where its going and the intentions, so she was quite short and cold with the answers. There was no one behind me, so it wasn't as if she couldn't spare the time, just blew me off as another guy trying to hit on her. Which is fine, I'm sure she gets it alot. Anyway, the night goes on, and my two mates and I eventually find this group of 3 girls to talk to, and they're good fun and all that. It's around 1am and the bartender girl finally gets off her shift, and after a while she sees me enjoying myself with these other group of girls. At this point she comes over, interrupts our conversation and sits in my lap, and says 'what about me big boy, I thought we were going out'. To which she clearly had said 'no' to before, and when asked what time she got off it was a cold 'I don't know'... After some bouncing around on my lap and some other inappropriate things, she finally leaves and says that I'm no fun. Luckily it didn't ruin my image for the other girls, particularly the one I was keen on, and they had a laugh about it. Is it me, or do some girls just want to ruin fun for guys? I'm not saying all, but you don't see guys doing that kind of thing. We try and pull that off and we're getting kicked out.

First time I went to the pub to watch a game instead of staying at home. Might have to keep it that way if it keeps us winning. Great performance from just about everyone. Danny, Iva, Terry and Sturridge were absolutely fantastic. Just need to get Ramires and Danny a coach to teach them how to place the ball in the net when one on one. It's bizarre how many one on one chances they actually do get, but then again the common theme with them is both blistering pace which helps them get behind the defensive lines. It was nice to see Torres have a good game, and he doesn't seem to be pouting or disappointed with his role. Great team player in the regard. As for the talk of Luiz and some of you saying he shouldn't be playing; I strongly disagree. He is an anchor in defense, and we shouldn't be so rash as to want him out after such a performance. He's been our most consistent back this season along with Iva. He should be a sure thing every week. The guy has the passion and ferocity of a lion and he's a guy you want in the team.

Drogba is far and away my favourite player for our club ever, much like yours, although I seem to be slightly more objective when it comes to viewing his current season. Obviously both have been under par, but I don't think it's personally close between the two. Torres has been far and away better on the field with our start formation. He links up far better with Danny and Mata, and does a fantastic job when Meireles is on the field along with him. To be honest Torres has been quite unlucky as well. The miss at Manchester, Blackburn, and he could have had a hatrick at Valencia if it wasn't for some of the finest goalkeeping I've seen in a while. He's simply creating more opportunities for himself, and that's important for our strikers as well. Torres is inconsistent when it comes to game to game performances, but if he starts off well, he will most likely have a good game. And at 27 you are not past your prime, you are entering it. Clearly there is something going on in Torres' head and it won't be helped by sitting on the bench, particularly when he's sitting behind someone that I think most objective Chelsea fans will agree he's currently better than.

I'd love to see this type of formation, but I like Meireles further up the ground creating since he has good vision and a soft touch when it comes to finding the wingers with a ball over the top. I think Romeu in for Lampard and placing him in the hold position you initially had for Meireles would be a good idea.

To be honest, I've been extremely frustrated with our play this season, particularly because our forwards aren't getting enough of the ball. Instead of continuing to share this frustration with the TV by hurling objects and yelling abuse at it over our recent stretch of games, I figured I'd share my input in a more constructive manner. Simply typed "chelsea forums" in google and checked out a few of the forums that came up on the search. This one seemed like the best bet. I did sign up for another Chelsea forum although it isn't anywhere near as active as this one, and not to sound like a douche but the level of knowledge about the club and football itself didn't seem up to par like this one. I've been reading through the forum the last week before signing up, and it seems a lot of people know what they are talking about. There are also some older posters that I could learn a thing or two from about the club, and its history, etc.

I mentioned this in another thread though I'll bring it up here again to get a response and others input on it. I think there is something fundamentally wrong with our build up and the way we play football at the moment, particularly when it comes to our front men. Torres has 2 goals this season, and Drogba the 1. Our full back and long time captain has 3. One of our midfielders in Ramires has 3. Our wingers Sturridge and Mata have 6 and 3 respectively. Is there any reason as to why our front men can't score? Drogba and Torres are some of the best strikers the English comp has seen. Both of them falling off like this while in the same club is not a coincidence in my opinion. Neither get the ball enough or are involved enough in the play. Personally, I think it has to do with playing the lone striker, and not having one play behind the other. There is no reason, and it should be in no way possible that our strikers have an equal amount of goals combined with our full back for the entire season.

Another Australian on the board, seems as though there is quite a few on here. Don't know what else to say really. Been a Chelsea fan since 94' simply because I liked the colours as a kid. Big fan of Hasslebaink, Drogba, Sturridge, Really like the young crop of players we have at the moment with Luiz, Ramires, Mata, Sturridge, Lukaku, etc, and think we should be pushing towards more young players in similar age brackets to fill out the team and compete once more. Love the legends, but we need new blood. I guess that is about it. Oh, a big basketball fan too. Glad to see the lockout is over.

I don't think there is any doubt that I want him playing more, especially when AVB (if given the opportunity since his job is looking shaky at the moment) gets the young, fast, fresh new players he wants to be able to run the team. Sure, he may go back to Barca due to becoming an outright star, but there is no problem in selling him for a giant profit while being able to get great play out of him in the time he does stay here. It's a cursed situation either way. He doesn't get enough playing time, and he becomes impatient with the club and doesn't want to stay here. He plays regularly and becomes a star, and he's going back to Barca. Just let him play, and sell him back. At least this way we get value out of him playing, because he is clearly a great player, and we get some profit for selling him back at just about triple the price. Maybe more.

We'll be able to get Modric for less than the 40 million they rejected recently I believe. The only reason the bid was rejected was due to the deadline being on the day, and the Spurs not having enough time to find an adequate replacement. I think it would be well worth it splashing out 30-35 million for Modric. He's creative, strong on ball, not overly fast, but agile and quick. There have been talks that we are looking at getting Lucas Moura, a Brazilian along with a few other big English clubs. The guy is a star and only 19 years old. Already been called up to play for the Brazilian team in the 2011 Copa America Cup. He's much like Ramires although not as good defensively, but far better on the ball. I think he'd be perfect with Mata, Modric, Ramires, Romeu and looking at getting Di Maria, or any other legitimate right winger. That pace and creativity in the midfield would be fantastic in my opinion.

I know there are certain biases even within our fans, though I just don't see how Drogba has been better than Torres since the start of the season. Though as I said before, neither get the ball enough in this current system to be given the opportunity to show form.

New poster here; feels good to be among fellow Chelsea fans. I feel sorry for Torres' current situation, and to add to that, all of our current strikers/forwards. It seems as though our current system does a terrible job of involving the front men outside of long balls and through balls on goal. Our forwards are hardly getting any time on the ball, and I believe it's the reason for the struggles both Torres, and even Drogba are having in putting the ball in the net. Our two strikers this season have 3 goals among themselves. 2 for Torres and 1 for Drogba. Our captain who plays fullback has scored as many goals as them combined. Then we have our midfield and wingers who have all trumped our forward men as well. Ramires with 3, Mata with 2, Sturridge with 5, Lampard with 6, etc. There is something fundamentally wrong in our build up and play. This shouldn't be happening, and in all honesty I don't think Dzeko, Van Persie or even Ronaldo would have many more goals playing forward for us in a system like it currently is. I don't believe Torres is as out of form as some suggest. I did believe it last season when he didn't look like he could put it together, though this season when he does get the ball he does in fact look promising. Even in the Wolves game, he was slightly selfish, and understandably so, he wants to prove he should be in the starting squad and he figures its the way to get back in there. The point is, he looked great making runs and getting into good areas. As long as we keep getting the ball to the forwards on a regular basis like we did last game, the goals will come for both Torres and Drogba. And remember he's only 27, he's got a lot of good years ahead of him.