Jase

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.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/tottenham-chelsea-transfer-news-spurs-1984969 We pinched Oscar from QPR? QPR??!!! :lol:

That is essentially a 4-2-3-1 because Schurrle and Hazard will be playing further forward to support the frontline and wreak havoc to the opposition. The 4-4-1-1 shape only comes into play if and when we defend and defend with two banks of four.

Spain didn't play the pressing game? They completely sat back?! Now I'm not sure if you were watching the right game. They may not have pressed extremely heavily but they did put pressure around on the Nigeria players when they have the ball and didn't just completely sit back. When Mikel did get close down by Spain, he showed good strength and composure to turn the pressure around by doing something useful with it such as playing nice through balls, sweeping balls down the flanks (he even toyed with Xavi at one point!). Yes, not all of his passes were perfect but you say as if the even more accomplished ones don't have a few passes that go astray in matches. There was certainly more 'nice' through balls from him than complete stray ones.

Think most of that happened against an awful Tahiti side that defended very naively as opposed to against Uruguay or Nigeria. We know he got that in him but the problem is, he's not doing it enough, not what he SHOULD be doing. Too often he has been a statue for us upfront.

How different?

Lets just sell Mata and play Mikel in the No.10 role. He's clearly better.

Ha! Cavani is on the bench for Uruguay vs Tahiti. He's 1 YC away from potentially missing the next game which probably explains why he isn't starting.

There you go. He's back on the bench for Spain's game against Nigeria after scoring 4 past Tahiti. Neither Mata nor Azpi are starting too.

Don't get me wrong. Not doubting him as a player because he has his own qualities but what I'm not sure if he has this X-Factor in him to really be the undisputed No.1 ST for us. He is a decent option to get if all else fails but I have my doubts.

Maybe so...but albeit a consolation goal.

He is good but not THAT good to be the No.1 striker for us. Lacks this thing in him that makes him a stand out striker among the many top quality strikers out there.

To call that reaction childish is a tad harsh. It's just frustration. That's all. It happens on the pitch with players sometimes. If you want to talk about childish reaction, then I think Drogba throwing tantrums in that 8-0 win over Wigan when Lampard took the penalty to make it 2-0 ahead of him was definitely one.

That money look alright especially when compared to other clubs there, though Arsenal obviously gets 40m more had their been 10 years instead of 5.

And it's absolutely silly to create yet more problems for ourselves when the CB area isn't exactly a major area of concern right now. Said it before, selling Luiz would mean we have to buy 2 more quality CBs given how average Terry, Cahill and Ivanovic are right now and the inexperience of the younger ones. Not to mention, there aren't many quality CBs available out there right now and even if their respective club is willing to sell, they will only try to rip us off knowing we are in need of a top notch CB. In the end, we'll probably end up paying the same amount for that CB like we did with Luiz, if not even more.

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11095/8787465/Transfer-news-Brazil-star-Paulinho-set-to-make-Tottenham-transfer He looks set to join Spurs.