Las7

What exactly do you expect as I've said he was bought in too late as was the case a week ago. Lets look at this Hernandez scored 2 goals but he is not rusty - SAF gave him plenty of time on the field this season. In fact he started the second half as a half time substitution. Hernandez has been given a total of 700 minutes on the field for United - even though they have Welbeck; Rooney and RVP there. Lets look at Dzeko, the wonder sub - who came on with still 20 minutes to play for Tevez to score the winner. Who has played 600 minutes and overall played plenty of games last season for City as well. Sturridge has a total of 220 minutes and has 2 goals. Give him time and than say he should do better when coming on.

Torres never does anything - yet he plays every game for over 70 minutes. You feel that if Sturridge was on for 80 minutes and Torres comes on for 10 minutes when we are chasing a result he would do any better? Fact is we played far better before Liverpool scored and had plenty of chances to score - after their goal we were awful - and the main reason is that that RdM always making reactionary substitutions instead of bringing on players while we are still in the lead and playing better.

Spot on, he is constantly making substitutions after we have already given up the initiative and the lead over to the opposition.

Torres finally off - Daniel has 10 minutes

Sturridge to come on in the 89th minute i guess

Fuck off.....

Mikel was very close to getting a lucky goal

Time for Sturridge to come on - we need another goal!

Holy fuck, he scores about one goal every 250 minutes while getting dispossessed. Season 2009/2010 was the last season when Torres was genuinely World Class player - the point is that him getting dispossessed more often than Ba; RvP; Defoe; Suarez; Dzeko while having the lowest passing average out of those players, while people are banging on about his link up play is pointless. What's the point of link up play when 30% of your passes are lost; and when you dribble into opposition players and leave us exposed for counter attacks. Most strikers have higher average success rate than Torres; don't get dispossessed as easily without drawing a foul and don't allow opposition teams to easily take the ball off them and leave their team exposed on the counter attack. We have Hazard; Mata and Oscar we don't need to have a striker overestimating his capability - when he is obviously struggling at beating players. For every time Torres returns into midfield or the wing to receive a ball and try to beat a player or pass to his team mate and he looses the ball. This leads to a counter attack by the opposition while one of our players was pulled out of position and took up the position Torres was supposed to be - leading the line. To say that the figures I've posted are not a problem is ungenuine - especially when you have eyes and you have witnessed the countless times he looses the ball with ease while we are in transition. Currently this leads to major problems which teams who know how to play on the counter attack know how to make the most of. There is two reasons why Owen's stats are so high for 2009 to 2010 season. -he doesn't take any risks with his passing when he is up top -he played as a substitute or in lesser competition So that particular season he had 20 substitute appearances out of 31 games, that would mean he comes on when an opposition team is already tired of pressing United and allow him more time on the ball to pick his pass. As a low risk passer it would also mean than when he doesn't see an obvious option he won't try anything fancy but return the ball and allow someone like Scholes to actually try to pass. That's absolutely fantastic for a striker to do - unless they have a passing range close to Berbatov's; Rooney's; RvP's; Totti's; Ibra's - a striker's job especially coming on as a substitute is to simply keep possession and make himself available in good positions. There is little point in Owen trying to play a Hollywood ball which allows the opposition team to regroup - rather he gives the ball to a better passer rather than taking unnecessary risks. I have not watched enough of Sinclair's last season to comment but generally I have watched all our rivals whenever I had a chance in the last 10 seasons so I have a bit of insight regarding Owen's stats

Fucking 3rd choice forward at United...

Quality first half from Mitko Him and Ruiz will be the main players keeping Fulham punching above their weight this season

That doesn't make sense but if it's quoted than I'm wrong - strange that Mata is making around the same as Cahill and Oscar is even less than that.

All Three Maestros are making less than £90,000 p/w, Oscar having the smallest wage out of the three players and Hazard the highest. Hazard is not making over £100,000 p/w I don't know about Marin but I doubt it's more than £50,000 p/w

We have been limiting the wage bill which is a major part of getting into a good financial position. Right now I think only 5 players are above the 100k p/w wage level - Torres(£175,000 p/w); Lampard(£140,000 p/w); Terry(£150,000 p/w); Ashley Cole(£120,000 p/w); Essien(£126,000); Petr Cech(£96,000 p/w); None of the new players we have signed are on that type of money and there is still plenty of time before we renegotiate a lot of their contracts. I feel that Essien was send out on loan mainly because of his wages - had he been on smaller wage we probably would have kept him around for cover but I'm guessing Real are paying probably 50% of his wage at the moment. We also have to keep in mind that if Terry and Lampard don't renegotiate their contracts on a lower wage it's a major possibility that both would be deemed too expensive to keep - when we are taking into consideration their age. The only blip is what Fernando is making - considering his overall contribution he should not be making more than Cech.

Sturridge to get 10 minutes !

Torres set the expectations so low with his first year and half that some people who have a selective memory seem to forget what he was bought for. Scoring every 250 minutes on the field is not a good return - RvP scoring and assisting 3 goals for that same amount of time. Torres is being paid like a World Class player yet he is just about "decent" - if the club wasn't a slave to his big name and status it would be fine. I have no problem having Torres in the squad even on his 175k p/w wages. What I have a problem with is the fact we didn't buy a striker in the summer to compete with him; we also send out Lukaku on loan because he would not receive enough time on the field for us; we are not playing Sturridge. He simply has not proven on the field he should be an automatic first choice striker and the insistence of playing him so much instead of rotating him when he is not especially effective is baffling.

I don't understand neither the board or RdM's insistence on using Torres every game. Sure he is making 175k p/w and cost us 50 million pounds but it's about time we stop being slaves to his wages and transfer fee. The fact is the board and RdM felt that at least for 6 months having Torres and Sturridge would be enough - we might have tried to sign someone to replace Sturridge but in the end he is our second choice striker. Right now Sturridge has had about 180 minutes on the pitch compared to 1500 minutes for Torres out there. We have no idea what exactly he bring to the table at this point. With Torres people are pointing at his link up play but he looses the ball more often than combining with other team mates. He gets dispossessed 3 times per match; his passes lead to turnovers 2 times per match; his passing accuracy is in the low 70% when most players playing in his position have better accuracy than him; he scored 7 goals in 1500 minutes on the pitch averages a shot on target once in 90 minutes and is unable to fashion chances for himself. Torres might be a very likable chap, but simply put he is playing to a degree which is to be expected from any average striker in the EPL, not a degree that should guarantee him a first team spot in the team or 90 minutes every game. No matter how troubling Sturridge might be in training at the start of the season RdM felt that two strikers would be enough, but compared to pretty much any other top team in the EPL the amount of time our second striker has played is minuscule. And we are not talking about Torres performing even to the level of RvP - who is still given a rest in favor of Chica and Welbeck, we are talking about a lot of average performances.

Guess there will be a maximum of 3 minutes for Sturridge to prove himself in this game.

MOSES! OUR SAVIOR

Sturridge will have about a minute to prove himself...

I guess RdM hates Sturridge

Torres still on the field fouling Donetsk players

Oscar brilliance denied by the keeper

WAAATTT A GOAAAAL OSCAR!!!!

lol Torres