Las7

Kalou is afraid to travel without Drogba to protect him

Jose had plans to revamp the squad after the departure of Duff and Robben, one player we really missed by not paying 5 million more was Daniel Alves, he was not given signings but instead was given Sheva.

His dad want him to play as a striker so he gets into the England setup for the first few games in the Euro. It's frustrating to watch him on the right wing while Torres continues to play up top - but it doesn't seem we have any alternatives despite having two transfer windows to sign someone. But I believe he will play better once Drogba comes back or if we had Lukaku up top - it's natural for a player like Sturridge playing on the right wing to need a physical forward out there to free up space so he can cut in and get the ball to his better foot. If I see the same eleven out there against Everton(Malouda; Bosingwa; Raul; Torres) I will begin to loose patience with AVB, his decisions and persistence with players out of form is driving me mad and his substitutions are also mind boggling.

I think they are both missing Drogba, or any physical presence in the box - as bad as Drogba has been he is like a magnet for defenders and somehow still manages to pass to somebody who is making a run and he is quicker on the turn than Torres which means defenders cannot return without leaving him unmarked. I remember a goal by Lampard after some nice build up play in which Torres was involved. Torres squared the ball to A.Cole who in turn crossed for Lampard to score(Lamps originally passed the ball to Torres and continued his run); Torres after the ball to A.Cole stood still, while he should have been running into the box right after Lamps. It's little instances like that, which make me question the whole persistence with Torres as much as his misses and lack of goals, like A.Cole's cross in the Swansea game when the only player in the box was Sturridge. Anyhow I've gone off topic, on recent form Sturridge should be benched for a few games, but so should half of the squad along with him - so right now there are simply no options for such general changes.

It's sad this guy is playing regular first team football while Joshua is send out on loan to Swansea; Meireles in his current form isn't good enough to be more than a squad player in the current Swansea midfield.

I think he is missing Drogba when playing on the right wing, Drogba in the team allows Sturridge more space when he is cutting in instead of getting crowded. But I'm still pissed off we didn't sign a right winger, Sturridge or Lukaku should have been given opportunities to play up top but who exactly are we going to play on the right? Torres should be sold/loaned to whoever can afford him to free up wage money and hopefully recoup a bit of his transfer fee, as bad as Sturridge is playing right now at least he didn't financially cripple us and "if" we sell him we would make a profit. I personally want to see him succeed as our main striker but he won't if he isn't given opportunities. I completely disagree about failing on the right wing argument; if Rooney was marooned on the left wing like Theo Walcott he would also turned to shit. These players train their whole youth as a particular position and not all players are like Essien and can play whatever position their coach deems needed - that's why players who play equally well on both wings or behind the striker are so rare and valuable. But you need particular traits to succeed every where and Sturridge because of his striker greed will be hampered in most positions. If you stick a guy to play out of position he will quickly loose the qualities that first made you sign him unless he is extremely gifted as good as Sturridge he is very ill suited to the right wing - the left I could understand but the right is a horrible fit. Left footed wingers train a lot in order to play on the right and that's what makes em so dangerous because they know what defenders expect and they have trained their whole life to do the opposite.

I can only see Malaga taking the bait right now, and only if they can meet his wage demands. Not too sure that Ancelotti would want him in PSG

C'mon now Bosingwa will probably play, his crosses are like shots and they are bound to be the only danger we create

I think United game is actually the perfect game to start Lukaku, have you seen de Gea defend crosses lately - we should have somebody with actual physical power challenging him rather than Torres.

He should be playing ahead of Torres no doubt about it, and if Drogba continues with his indifferent form he should also not be treated as an automatic starter. It's quite sad we have given Torres 10 hours of football and be re-payed with no goals but we don't give Lukaku more then 30 minutes.

Well considering only Torres & Drogba have been given runs in the team as the main striker, it's not surprising that Sturridge has only 9 goals(1 less than Torres and Drogba combined lol). He is terribly easy to defend against stuck on the right wing - only thing he can do is try to get it on his left, can't cross too well - has decent passing and shooting but only with his left boot so the left left backs usually stand off him not allowing him to cut in. We also have Lukaku - who is still young but despite that, should be given a chance at this point. I won't say that Drogba is a better option - he used to be but not any longer. Both of them have been pretty awful, two goals more for Drogba doesn't make a difference in my eyes. The problem is that Sturridge and Lukaku have barely gotten a look in to replace them all season long. This is what frustrates me

He is the main problem - because if we hadn't signed him we could have used that money to address the midfield that was behind the strikers. As it stands individually Sturridge and Lampard have more goals in the calendar year than the rest our strikers(Torres; Drogba; Anelka) combined. In fact in Jose's hugely successful first season, Drogba wasn't our main goal scorer - goals were spread equally between the entire squad. Drogba was a pivot and allowed Lampard to really shine and cement himself, but overall it was the creativity behind Drogba which was winning us games, you could shut down one individual for a game but could you shut down our entire midfield? Since Duff/Cole/Robben were all shipped out mostly due to health problems Mata is the only player in that mold, it won't make much of a difference whether it's Lukaku/Sturridge/Kalou/Drogba/Torres leading the line if you have adequate danger men behind him, that can spark to live in any given minute and create a chance out of nothing.

He is digging his own grave with Torres debacle, Rooney has similar goal droughts but after them he scores 10 goals in quick succession Torres goal drought comes after 4 goals for about 20 games. It's about time for these so called professionals managing the squad to realize that every game when everything is focused on Torres it's hurting the entire squad rather then a 50 million investment that's also costing us wages. But all the money wasted isn't the end of the World, the end of the line for AVB will be when we don't qualify for the CL because of the insistence of playing a guy who right now has a fear of the goal and runs the other way when he sees it in front of him or passes sideways; or takes two extra touches before attempting to shoot. At some point you've got to say enough is enough and mind you Drogba is not the solution - the solution is playing players who have a foreseeable future at the club and Lukaku who wasn't wanted "right now" is one of those players. The other is a left footed lad, who has instincts of a striker playing as a right winger due to no other player within a multi-million squad able to play that position and the fact we have a 50 million striker up top who doesn't seem to remember how to score.

It's frustrating when we do have youth players but we don't play them, I'd like to see Lukaku instead of Torres; Kakuta kept and played on the left and right given enough opportunities; Joshua in midfield instead of Raul; Sturridge last season instead of signing Torres; but alas no manager has had enough balls to do this. If it was indeed a transitional season, and considering our current struggle it would have been a good time to lower expectations around the squad and start blooding in the youth - instead we keep on seeing the same first 11; and hoping something clicks. I'd understand this mentality if we were were actually getting results but we are not. Changes to formation changes to personal and stop sending out our youth squad on loan without giving em a chance. Limited footballers like Darron Gibson get more chances than Sturridge; Joshua; Kakuta etc We have invested a lot of money into our youth setup it's about fucking time we stop doing that just because we can but rather make use of it. If we had send out a bunch of youth players I'd understand your reaction but this is the tired routine of the statuesque we've had here for a number of years. At some point the ol'Guard will pick up a bit of form and plaster the cracks instead of allowing us to really address the issue and really go through a transition.

Jesus I don't know where to begin, my main problem with Torres is we bought a 50 million pound striker without having enough creative players to create tap in opportunities from 10 cm out so he doesn't miss em. It's same as last year, nothing has changed accept we wasted 50 million on a striker without having the necessarily midfield to create clear cut chances for him. We have youth players that will prove to be better than the likes of Malouda; Raul and Bosingwa - barely give them a look; barely 10 mins. We have a striker that hasn't scored in over 10 hours on the pitch but we don't drop him we persist until he scores I guess; we have a left back who probably has played 90 minutes in 99% of our games, but we don't rest him in favor of our promising left back; The hell is the point of a transitional season if no transitional is actually taking place. Does anyone think that Raul at top form would warranty a first team spot in a team challenging for a title; yet in this transitional period we play him instead of Joshua. Do you think Malouda is better right now than Kakuta or Piazon he could be but without actually trying them out how the hell are we supposed to know that for a fact. Why do we buy Cahill and have him watch the game while needing Ivanovic at right back right now. We have a bunch of players that are past their best years, yet without em we have as much chance of winning something as Arsenal do - mainly because when they are not playing well we insist of loaning out our youth players to the likes of Bolton or Swansea instead of playing them instead of our "stars" Transition into complete and utter **** and 50 million down the drain to top it off

I can't even phantom what kind of mauling to expect against MU; Our best bet is to pack the midfield(Lamps hopefully fit); and play long balls to Lukaku; Mata and Sturridge; winning a point would be monumental at the moment. Right now, we cannot go another day without a creative player or a right winger. But AVB seems to think the squad is good enough; he also seems to believe Malouda is someone who should have a spot in the first 11 while Lampard is out to add creativity. The hell is this parallel universe. Raul & Malouda didn't provide anything for 90 minutes can't have two players who add nothing to the attack in midfield. Send out Joshua to a team which right now has better balanced midfield then our own - barely give him a chance. Same old approach different manager

-----------------Cech-------------- Ivanovic----Luiz--Cahill----A.Cole -------Romeu----------Raul------- -----------------Mata---------------- Sturridge------------------Malouda ----------------Lukaku--------------- Torres and Lampard hopefully around the 60th minute, if Lamps is fully fit. Jesus a few injuries and our midfield looks in all sort of trouble. Main reason I want Lukaku to play is due to being worried, that Swansea will have more possession than us, and thus we need to go route one football because of the missing people in our line up. This is our best option right now against teams that know how to play dispossession football.

It wasn't just this pen, I clearly remember one that Luiz fucked up a while back - reminds me of Anelka in Moscow. Struggling striker need all the help they can get - I clearly remember when Rooney wasn't first choice for MU in terms of penalties(Cronaldo still around); during his annual slump they let him take penalties.

It would confirm he has no place in our squad, fuck his confidence it's rock bottom already. If he is able to get himself into a deeper hole mentally it would just prove he is not cut out for Chelsea. I don't wish to shield anyone - it's as much his fault as it is our management for signing him without signing proper creative midfielders to create chances he can convert. Sure I might support him when I'm at the game, but as soon as I leave the West Stand my patience is left there as well.

Maybe he should start, doesn't seem likely he would have too many other chances and the few he does get are very poorly executed. Maybe taking on a bit more responsibility would have a positive effect on him.

You'd expect a guy struggling for goals to be more selfish and to take the penalty kicks while Lampard is away. We signed no proper wingers and are expecting too much from Mata for creativity. Mata should be playing right behind our main striker; close to the opposition penalty box but that's difficult with no one providing enough balls to him from midfield. I'd honestly go for Lukaku right now, we need someone to be a bit more physical in the box and hold up the ball since most of our wide players are drifting in which leads to a lot of crosses from A.Cole and sometimes Ivanovic. A Real shame for Ramires, we need Essien to get back to fitness quicker because of this because without Ramires we are stuck with no dynamic midfielder as well. Overall a poor game, I would not say any of our attacking players did anything good; Torres had one good situation the entire time(where he got through 2 QPR players on the right wing, other than that a lot of bad first touches and poor passes; Sturridge won the penalty and had a strong shot other than that didn't do anything; Ramires was quite until getting injured but was one of the players who always got into the box on time; Malouda was alright keeping the ball but his final pass and shooting was all over the place; Mata had a few good passes, but mostly ineffectual because he had to get too deep to retrieve the ball. Defense and Cech were positive once again - didn't have much too do but dominated QPR during the few times they attacked.

I'm tired of Torres, tired of talking about Torres, tired of watching Torres - he is not good enough to be our main striker right now. I'd actually make a parallel with Anelka who in his first half a season had 2 goals; continued to struggle under Scolari and finally found his scoring boots under Hiddink as a lone forward while Drogba was injured. But still during this time Anelka managed to integrate himself with the squad, I don't think he ever really was key to us with the exception of one season. But turned out a good temorary messure. Difference was we had a much stronger and fitter Drogba back than, right now our managers Carlo and AVB seem to just trust two players to lead the line and both have been awful in the last 12 months. This period is Torres's last chance if he is unable to start scoring regulary than surelly there won't be any more excuses, I don't think we should try to build a squad around a guy like Torres and feel that we need a right winger so we have the option of playing Sturridge up top or give Lukaku a run in the team. If 50 million wasn't paid for Torres and we had better options or our managers had more balls, he wouldn't get into the squad right now. To me at least it's unrealistic to expect Torres to reclaim his 2008 form, there are far too many ellements missing from his game - he would be a good striker with a team that can be build around him; but at Chelsea that would be an awful option, because of his injury record and the fact that a bit of speed is gone and he lacks that killer instinct. If he doesn't turn things around in our upcoming games - he should be sold off in the summer while he still holds some value.

Sturridge scores, because he can beat players with speed and trickery and has natural instincts to get into positions that enable him to score. Most of his goals have been tap ins from a central position after a good cross. The other main reason why Sturridge is more lethal is the fact that he plays with confidence whether he is playing badly or well, I don't think he dwells too much on the past. Like the Lampard goal against Wolves a few weeks ago, Lampard played the ball to Torres and continued the run, while Torres played A.Cole but stood still afterwards instead of also following the combination into the box and getting into a goal scoring position. That reminds me of Berbatov during his first year at MU, but back then Berbatov was playing in a second striker position rather than being asked to lead the line and he was never known as simply a clinical striker.

Actually Sturridge has created plenty of chances for himself using speed and trickery - sadly from the right wing it's a bit obvious what he would try to do. So defenders block his capability to cut in and move the ball to his left, thus he ends up shooting with his much weaker right foot. Lukaku we have seen very little off in a central position and we cannot make a judgement what kind of impact a prolong run in the team would enable him to do. Sadly we have no options for the right wing, so it's very difficult envisioning moving Sturridge into a position which will enable him to have more options. I don't want us to change our entire first 11 to make the best use of Torres, players who are World Class shouldn't need such a treatment - if a guy like Torres doesn't fit in move on don't abandon our whole approach to the game. Watching Liverpool play with Torres was dour, sure he scored a lot of goals but they were a counter attacking team - no team in the EPL would try to out possess and play high up against us. Besides I have my doubts regarding how close to his Liverpool form Torres can get. I don't think he is as quick and his first touch right now is woeful.

Why does a 50 million pound striker need 3 touches to shoot the damn ball, it didn't need to be masterfully placed to score from that distance.