Las7

Worse finishing I've seen from our lot this season and Benfica with 10 men could have still snatched something I can't understand the reasoning behind waiting so long to make the substitutions up top when things are obviously not working out. Sturridge should have been on at around the 60min mark to stretch them out he couldn't have been as ineffective in front of goal as the rest of our lot I fear that due to Raul's wonderful goal he would play far too often which in my eyes isn't very positive for us.

I'm tired of Torres, every game it's about him scoring or doing something to justify his inclusion within the team - as long as we get positive results I don't care but in the summer there needs to be a serious reevaluation of his role at the club. He hasn't done enough for us to build a team around him and he won't be the same player he was at Liverpool 3 years ago even if he regains his confidence back. I don't feel confident about our management making the correct decision in regards to Torres he has been given far too many chances while Lukaku has had barely 10 minutes in the side; Sturridge has had one game as center forward. Sort out the midfield and right wing, and get the 150k p/w under performing striker off our wage bill before new regulations kick in. I honestly think I would be happier in this season with our position and performances if we at least had given the likes of Bruma; Josh; Lukaku; Piazon; Bertrand the odd game/run since the whole transitional season would really take place instead of papering over the cracks as we are doing right now. What I find unbelievable is the amount of support this Torres lad is getting and for me at least he hasn't done anything to deserve the adoration of our fans, I guess some people are suckers for a pretty face. I did enjoy Torres in his lethal for Liverpool, but his stint here has proven that he is suited to be a big fish in a small pond - I can understand his performances to a degree due to our struggling midfield but that doesn't explain his poor form for Spain which persisted with him nearly as long as we have despite his form being none existent. He will be a good player again in a side build around his better qualities who can wait for him to regain his confidence, we can't afford to do that considering how awful his finishing is and we can't afford to build a side around a player who is mentally not ready to cut it at the biggest stage at club level - our midfield will never be as good as Spain's current midfield.

Actually it was 5 chances the entire game and most of them were pretty clear cut: 1) Luiz through ball - Torres tame shot at goal keeper 2) Scuffed shot due to defender jumping into his feet(he was about 1-2m away from the goal) - Sturridge scores on the rebound 3) Scuffed shot at another defender(once again very close to the goal) 4) Ball is passed towards him from flank he doesn't move towards it thinking Lampard is behind him despite being in a good position facing the goal. 5) Goal If Drogba was on the bench he would never even scored because he would have been bought off as the last substitution.

3 goals and 6 assists in the EPL :confused: It's pretty bad, even tonight in one of his best games for us - he missed a lot of clear chances and he still hasn't scored a winner.

If there is an offer over 40 million I'd take the money and run - get a right winger buy a creative midfielder. Keep either Drogba or Kalou as cover and play Lukaku and Sturridge as our main strikers next year. We gave Torres a full season, so it's about time we give em a look in leading the line. We already know that Sturridge can deal with EPL defender and I reckon Lukaku would be a handful as well. Beyond next season Torres will have no resell value even if his goal scoring form picks up, if someone is offering us 40 million we should take it. Cause you have to remember Torres is also on quite big wages and has a history of injuries.

It was some shocking finishing in the first half. Great to see him finally scoring but he should not be leading our attack - move him to the right wing.

What a relief

Torres scores from the right flank as I had commented earlier

He should not be played as our main CF end of it - move him to the right flank. Super Brana should play up top

BRANA!

:banghead: Story of our season

Torres and Sturridge should swap possitions - maybe he would score if he cuts in from the left

Brilliant

Brana!!! first goal in the EPL for him

Need to either take Torres off or move him to the flank - too many chances wasted; awful finishing

If there is only high crosses aimed at him he would get dominated, if you play counter attacking football or if the balls are low crosses he'd cause them all sorts of trouble due to acceleration and speed. He played as Bolton's main striker and didn't struggle too much with EPL defenders "dominating" him.

I completely agree - Andre barely tried any alternatives to Drogba and Torres, and Torres has only himself to blame getting send off and banned for 3 matches effectively making Andre rethink Drogba's use this season. Besides Torres failed not one but two coaches who were not able to get the best out of him, I do realize that our squad is garbage in the last 16 months but still you'd think a World Class forward would create himself a goal at least once in while. The fact is that apart from really slow center backs Torres isn't able to outrun a defender or accelerate at the needed level to loose his marker and get himself positioned in front of the defender for cross and passes. This is why Sturridge; Kalou; Ramires etc get more chances to score easy goals, if you watch most of their chances its ability to beat out the defender. Torres was the best in business at this a few years ago, but now days similarly lacks the cutting edge to fashion chances for himself like he used to do and because of this his confidence is at a record low so even when he gets a chance which happens maybe once or twice per match he fails at converting it. I think he would be sold in the summer, because of his massive wages and age - there is not much time for him to turn it around and we have seen similar cases with similar players like Michael Owen for example.

I hope these rumours are true it would be great if we can make some of the Torres cash back Keep up assisting Torres

There was nothing to critisize in terms of our defensive performance and goal keeper, but everyone in midfield and attack had a pretty poor game. Benfica had clear chances against us - and dominated most statististics(we had more fouls than them and possession was equal); had Benfica taken their chances this would have been a completly different blog. Ramires was largely ineffective in his crossing - as most players that play on our right wing. Raul Meireles didn't make any insicive passes; Kalou was completly invisible apart from his goal; Mata had one of his worse games in a blue shirt; Torres had a better game than most of our forward players but it the performance wasn't anything special. I'm extremly happy with the result myself but it's troubling that no matter how we line up the only performances this season that have had the needed intensity up top were our matches against MU at home(where we lost focus after the penalty); Valencia; Napoli. Mata is tailing off an no one is able to replace his contribution although it's obvious he needs at least 1 full week of rest. Unfortunetly every game right now is like a Cup Final for us and we have send creative players like Kakuta; Joshua on loan and are incapable of motivating players because they know there is no young guy trying to get into their spot. Lukaku has barelly played despite what utter sh*t we have been served by Torres and Drogba for over 12 months, it's a complete missmanagement - how we are wasting players that should have at least 15 full games this year. Joshua won't learn defensive responsibilites by not playing; Kakuta will not learn how to track back without playing; Lukaku will not get into goal scoring without playing; Bruma for me would have been better than signing Cahill and was ready to start this year; in a few years we would have a Borini situation for at least a few of these lads. The amount of waste we have accumlated with our youth squad in the last few years is staggering. The only reason Sturridge is playing is because he was send out on loan and Bolton had a terrible bunch of striking options thus had pretty much only him as a CF option. Most loans don't work like that these young players are send to an EPL team which only uses them as squad members - because of the high stakes of the EPL most teams don't invest time into a player that they won't get a benifit in the long term. I think Loan Contracts need to modified in some way ensuring that a club getting a loned player that accumliates a certain amount of time playing first team football would actually get a financial benifit from that - that would ensure that clubs like Wigan/Blackburn etc who are financialy not extremly stable would have some sort of insentive to play the players we send out on loan. This would also show the player that CFC is serious about their future. I don't belive in loaning out players outside of England(either EPL or Championship) once they sign with us.

EPL: Dzeko 13 + 4 = 17 Balotelli 11 + 1 = 12 Suarez 6 + 3 = 9 Torres 2 + 4 = 6 I don't know about you but it's the EPL not games against Genk; Leichester etc that should be used to judge forwards.

Because we will inevitably play someone who scores in the CF position and have a 50 million pound striker making 150k p/w either on the bench or the wing. There is no future at the club for a forward that doesn't seem to know how to score. We have sold at monetery lose players that have performed far better than Torres. The longer we keep him the smaller chance there is to sell him - the lower the value there would be. Torres is lacking particular physical traits which made him a great striker at Liverpool and I don't believe in building a team around a 28 year old player whos game was based on accelaration and running within channels. It's far more than a psycological block as our management has hinted, it's a missing yard of pace and a slighly slower accelaration which doesn't allow Torres to get as many chances as he did at Liverpool - rather than excuses about system or speed at which we play. Also you have to remember that Torres at Chelsea FC is virtually an injury free player - but he has had a history of pretty serious injuries making him miss a few months of each season before he joined us. You never know what might happen down the line but with a player who's game was build on speed and accelaration the next major injury will leave him in a conditition similar to Michael Owen - and unlike Mickey he ain't English so there would NO resell value.

I don't believe either deserve to be our striker based on form, but for big games I'd definetly play Drogba - playing a guy afraid to score as our main CF is simply pitiful and playing Torres on the wing won't happen unless both underperforming players are on the field at the same time - which does not work. Torres did play well but lets not kid ourselves Benfica was also a pretty poor team this game but still created plenty of chances.

Drogba qualified us to this stage of the CL being the best player on the field in the match against Napoli and Valencia - yet somehow he doesn't deserve to start. I know that there is only one option for our big games and that is Drogba. Good to see Torres improving his form, it would be nice if he keeps this up so we can make at least half of what we paid when we sell him in the summer.

I doubt any one from our central midfield would play in Swansea based on merit

the hell was that shot?