Las7

Top of the passing comparison

He would be missed if we plan to just play Lampard and Mikel in midfield, if we plan to actually play Ramires in his natural position and also give Oscar and Romeu time in the first 11 I don't think we would miss him that much.

Well that's my second memory of the guy

Perhaps I'm overall being harsh but I will always remember him as the guy who ducked instead of trying to stop Iniesta's shot

Best Russian club, St. Petersburg is a nice city, top payed footballer in the World, in the Champions League sure Russian League is a side step but I'd say Zenith is a more ambitious team than Porto. No one would turn it down unless, it's a guy like Navas who has mental issues about going outside of Spain.

I'm not really bashing Torres based on this game. He was "ok", but Falcao is World Class and Torres is no where near the quality you'd expect from a first choice striker at a top club. City have Kun; Tevez; MU have RvP; Rooney Those are our main rivals for the EPL and their first choice forwards are miles better than ours.

Simply put Hazard; Ramires; Mata and Torres need to do a lot more defensively if they want to make this formation work in big clashes, there were times where they were strolling a long the field instead of trying to put pressure on the AM defense. To me as a guy who has witnessed players like Drogba; Eto'o play as left backs when times called for it. This is not something that I would like to see from virtually our whole forward line. Ramires tried to help but still him and Ivanovic were possibly the two worst players out there. Hazard at least kept the ball - while Mata was completely invisible for 80 minutes and needs to be dropped for a couple of games till he regains fitness. The midfield pivot did not work, AM were transition very quickly from defense to attack and Mikel and Lampard proved too slow to keep up with them. Ramires might have been of more use in this situation than Lampard, who's struggling at the moment and shouldn't be starting every game. Oscar did pretty well when he came on but his sustitution was still a strange one, Romeu should have been brought on for one of the attacking midfielders around the 30-40 minute before Madrid's 3rd goal. Mikel was so-so, just needs a faster partner like Essien of old or Ramires out there otherwise his pace would always leave him exposed especially when facing sides that have quick guys like Falcao. Defense was complete shambles, they were absolutely pathetic and lets not kid ourselves this has been the case for nearly all our matches this season - something needs to change drasitcally there because with these players we should be doing a lot better. Last RdM, it was his first major failure in a big game - he waited far too long to make a change - when a team starts off against you with 4 clear chances(2 goals 2 woodwork 1 on 1 against your keeper); you need to make change, in either the formation/instruction to the players or a substitution. He failed to do this and by half time it became too late. His tactics were a mess tonight and he keeps playing Ramires in the wrong position while not adapting his formation to the realities on the field. He must also bare the negatives of our defense, the defense that won us the CL last season is virtually unchanged but the level of their performances have hit rock bottom - this is something which must be addressed whether it's in training or one on one with our defensive players and the offensive ones which are supposed to be helping them out. Overall, the only thing that I can say that's positive is Oscar's performance, he surprised me after coming on and should be starting more of our games in place of Lampard. And Falcao, what a player - that's what a top striker is, gulf of class between him and what we have up top with Torres sheer class in all of his finishes.

Yeah, we should stop playing players in positions where they are simply not effective. Ramires can play right mid, but only in matches like the one against Barca where we intend to defend and counter attack he doesn't work when our build up play is slow with no urgency and there is no space for him to exploit.

I don't know mate fucking Drogba won us matches on his own last season, got us the biggest prize in football. That's what I'd expect from a World Class Forward

Sturridge on for Mata 60 minutes too late

Mata has been piss poor should sit out a few matches and rest up

I just want to sink into a hole for a few weeks now

Only thing which can save us is Essien from 3 years ago, Lampard and Mikel very exposed - Ramires Mata and Hazard not really helping out their full backs, Torres isolated up top and the defense is playing like a Championship relegation tier defenders.

We need to do a lot better in defense and midfield, RDM needs to start making his substitutions right away.

Especially a striker who isn't much of an improvement to either Sturridge or Lukaku. I'd understand if we were looking to sign someone substantially better that what we currently have.

Good news

Great game tonight for Torres, he keeps playing like this he would make me eat my words.

Lucky with that penalty but happy for Hazard opening his account here

Ba, scored two goals that were identical. Ramires had beaten two players and had only the goal keeper to beat with a curling shot. Torres also beat two players and tried to shoot afterwards from a similar position no one is making a fuss about that. Torres Chance: http://rutube.ru/vid...4f452f70358328/ 13th second Hazard is there and waiting for Torres to square it back to him, he doesn't he tries to score - which is normal he was in a good position but the defender got there just in time. Yet no one is talking about him not allowing Hazard to score and tearing him to shreds the way I've heard people blaming Ramires for not allowing Torres to score. Ramires Chance: http://rutube.ru/vid...a0b52de24c96ee/ 15th second look at his position, to say that he was in a bad position to score from there is simply untrue - sure he could have squared it to Torres but I don't understand why people bring that up. He had setup a chance for himself and was in a good position to score the goal himself. In conclusion people have double standards when the subject is Fernando Torres. Reminds me of the time Torres hit the woodwork and Lampard ended up scoring.

That kinda of pisses me off, Ramires had every reason to go for goal after beating two defenders - same as Torres a little later who could also tried to square it to someone. Ramires is very good getting into goal scoring position from midfield - he is wasteful with his chances but most of his opportunities come after some good work from himself to create the opening. He scored one of our most important goals last season and it was also one of the best goals scored in the CL History - and from that angle he did curl it pretty well but that was one of the few instances when Reading's goal keeper actually did his job. Anyhow judging from both their respective Chelsea carriers I trust Ramires a little bit more to score a goal than Nando - he also outscored Torres last year.

Fantastic signing, just oozes class

That was his first winner in the League, I personally have the same opinion if he starts winning us matches constantly than I don't care if his overall game is lacking. Problem with Torres is his apologists, who expect us to forget the last 2 years and take our cocks out whenever he doesn't miss control a ball. If you lot didn't make a god damn compilation of Torres fixing his hair while tearing into other Chelsea players, I'd probably not even enter this thread too many times. In any case, for a "World Class" player his contribution is lacking and I'm feel in the coming months as the rest of the squad gels together it would be pretty apparent who the weak link is. He is going to be under more scrutiny unless we sign another striker or he looses the undropable status he seems to hold at the moment.

Where the fuc* were you when Sturridge; Bosingwa; Lampard; Malouda are getting torn to shreds, hiding in a hole looking at your Nando poster ?

Torres's first winner in the EPL as a Chelsea player took him one and a half seasons, but he finally scored a winner for us. Seems to have a few flashes but most of the time was miscontrolling the ball or standing still around the penalty spot. Major doubts about him continue

Another Assist!