Jase

So many 'yeah's in that interview. It's a tiny bit annoying...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dssj9Tt5c0g&feature=youtu.be

Welcome to Chelsea Schurrle. :cfc: P.S. He looks like a bamboo stick.

Hardly played much last season and somehow, this thread has got more pages than Azpilicueta, Cole, Cech's thread and just 1 behind Ramires's. Not bad...

There's also this in the Mirror...

Rafael Benitez questions Chelsea successor Jose Mourinho's sportsmanship How predictable. The FSW has started bitching about Jose, again.

The Hazard transfer was arguably even more interesting than this...

Think people complain and want him gone because of what has happened in the 2 1/2 years since he's been with us. Nothing to do with just 3 games in the Confederations Cup. And really, just because people criticize Torres here doesn't mean we won't support him for the sake of the team should he remain. Aren't we all allowed to voice our opinions anyway, regardless of the situation? We all criticize players in the team but we still cheer them on in games.

http://www.barkinganddagenhampost.co.uk/sport/spurs_boss_avb_explains_what_went_wrong_for_him_at_chelsea_1_2249325

I have to say, he looks a bit like Schurrle.

Don't get me wrong. I can see where you're coming from and don't necessarily disagree with it BUT what I know here is those aspects he has improved on are not significant ones. It's just minor ones and at the level we are playing at, he should be improving much more than that especially after 2 1/2 years at the club, not just gradual and slow improvements. If he's 19 years old right now, then it's understandable but for that is simply not good enough for a 29 year old, not for us. Maybe so but he's not moving about much to begin with. Too often he has been like a statue upfront causing our attacking players behind him to sometimes to play within themselves to try and create something attacking wise. He may be improving everys season but it's too gradual and slow for a club like us and what we are looking to achieve. Moreover in his 2 full seasons here, he has started the season decent enough but then go AWOL in the middle of it before playing okay again towards the end. Not sure how that can be considered as improvement, if anything, because that's just not good enough. You talk about his improvements but have yet to see him apply it effectively against the better teams domestically. Only seem to be effective against lower level oppositions, judging by his games in the Europa League.

Brazil midfielder Paulinho says he will join Tottenham following £17m offer

http://www.chelseafc.com/news-article/article/3219030/title/courtois-loan-extended Official confirmation from the club that his loan deal has been extended.

Manchester City set to lose out to Real Madrid in race to sign Isco And according to that article, City plan to play 4-3-3 next season.

That will be another tongue twister for some people to pronounce if we buy him.

Yup. Agree with that. I too wanna see Oscar being tried out in the pivot ( ) but till that happens, I still question whether defensively, he can fit in there.

And funnily enough, even with that rest, he still has hardly been performing to the level that is required of him, apart from knocking 1-2 goals past 3rd or 4th tier level teams.

I see. So now we are in the business of praising a 29 year old striker that basically just improved on one minor aspect of his game... Still doesn't mean he has been great with this perceived improvement. Yes, I agree that he showed good strength and composure to hold off to Benfica defenders to score that goal. I credited him for that previously but again, it's only 1 incident. Far too little to use it to backup your point here. Where was he when playing against Premier League defenders?

That is somewhat ironic of a post coming from someone who sometimes does that in other threads, like the Mikel one for example... Anyway, I don't recall seeing a rule here on TC that we can't post reaction to latest beliefs or views of fans from beyond this forum. Surely, we are allowed to at least stimulate some debate or discussion in the forum, no? Talk about over-interpretation into posts/replies or overreaction (bolded words above). Hardly any responses about this have been abusive in any way and people have posted their views in civilized manner.

Agree with the qualities mentioned but his defensive abilities in the pivot can't be judged on 1 midfield battle against Anderson, who is mostly not at 100% in a season anyway. Pressing is one thing but it's another thing being able to be aggressive and tackle consistently when needed.

That is precisely why I said what I said. He scored a few goals here and there in past few months and suddenly, people are habouring hopes or starting to think that keeping Torres would be a decent idea. I don't see what Torres is doing differently to remould himself into a different kind of striker. What is obvious that he goes AWOL for most parts of games and then just suddenly pop up with goals out of nowhere. I don't see any change whatsoever in his performances. Judging from the impression I have been getting, seems most (not all) have suddenly have had their heads turned because of Torres's goals. It is not a total disaster keeping him but it's a pretty bad bad idea doing so especially for a ST who doesn't do much in games when we most need him to and is on ridiculous wages right now. We would be better of getting a better ST than Torres and can perform better than him while at the same, earn less than him! I don't see how scoring 4 goals against Tahiti and 1 against Nigeria suddenly suggests his form with Spain remains good. He only got back into the Spain NT for the Confederations Cup because of his late flurry of goals towards the end of last season and even then, all but 1 came in the Europa League. Prior to that, he was hardly getting picked by Del Bosque at all. Benitez told Torres to stop trying to do too much with the ball? Has Torres even do anything meaningful with the ball during the season?! Can hardly see what Torres is doing majorly different under Benitez and before Benitez came in. How has Torres changed his game and improved himself? Tell me. Most of his goals scored and supposedly good performances that came towards the end of last season happened in the Europa League, against 3rd/4th tier level opposition - Sparta Prague, Steaua Bucharest, Rubin Kazan and Basel. Yet, when he came up against better teams in the Premier League, he went completely AWOL. Only 1 goal scored between last December and May this year tell its own story. He played against the likes of QPR, Reading, Wigan, Newcastle, Southampton, Fulham, Liverpool and Tottenham and hardly even contributed anything meaningful in those said games at all. And you know what's funny about this whole situation, Torres goes AWOL for most of the season, causing us to basically play with 10 men in games but scored few goals here and there and it suddenly got people thinking of keeping him when most of his games and performances have suggested he's beyond repair. YET, in the case of Luiz, no doubt he makes defensive mistakes but it has been almost completely exaggerated like as if he makes 2-3 mistakes in every game when that's not the case. Luiz is still young and his mistakes can still be ironed out but people are already calling for him to be sold. Some people can still be patient and have hope for Torres even after 2 1/2 years of rubbishness from him and yet these people can't even be patient with Luiz!

Lets not get too carried away. Offensive wise, playing Oscar in the pivot () may seem tempting and like a good move but defensively, we still don't know how will he cope there. He may have performed decently defensively when playing elsewhere but question should be there on whether he can play in pivot effectively, both offensively and defensively given he isn't exactly the biggest or strongest of players in regards to physical strength.

Found it amusing that some people have allowed Torres's goals in past few months to cloud their judgment over his actual situation. It's ridiculous how quick people have forgotten that for most parts of last season, we were like playing with 10 men in most matches with a statue-esque or non-existent ST upfront and he even went like 4 1/2 months without a goal in the league FGS! But 22 goals and 5 in the Confederations Cup later, people are suddenly wanking over him and thinking we should be keeping him when at some point last season, the same people were probably thinking of selling him off!

It's two different formation and two different roles though with different responsibilities. Not as simple as you're making it out to be.

Ronaldo behind the ST? That would be so wasted. Would not be maximizing him to his fullest ability.