Leif

The atmosphere at a club has nothing to do with the trophies. That would be like a Liverpool fan saying "we should be much quieter at Anfield so the players can concentrate. That's how Chelsea get all their trophies!!!", no? As for the points regarding Arsenal, did they not finish higher than us in the league last season? I don't think it's bad to aspire to be like a team who plays better football and finished higher in the league. Also out on loan they have Ryo, Joel and Afobe, all of which are expected to actually be a part of Arsenal one day, unlike 98% of anyone we've ever loaned out. Instead of going out and splashing a cool £35m or whatever it was on Hazard and £20m on Oscar, they've brought through Wilshere, bought Oxlade-Chamberlain (who's probably had about the same impact Hazard has had with us IMO yet cost just a 3rd or something of Hazard), Gibbs, Coquelin, etc. When players who are ex-Arsenal go on to win trophies elsewhere after failing to do-so with Arsenal, when they talk about their past, there's always a spark in their eye. A spark of happiness. They're proud to say "I played for Arsenal." Whenever ex-players of ours in the Roman era bring up "I played for Chelsea" I expect and have experienced seeing them feel awkward saying so. Notice how whenever Ashley Cole speaks of his past, just about everything positive he says is about "Arsenal" and fuck all about Chelsea? There's more to football than trophies.

I do actually agree that while Roman is the best thing to ever happen to us, he does actually need to go. He is SO out of touch that it's hard to believe. Everyone has contrasting opinions, but completely honestly, I'd rather be trophy-less Arsenal who invest in and use youth (which brings pride to the club), have stability (which brings around more passionate & permanent fans), have a plan (which usually means no huge slumps out of nowhere) and compete as a proper football club - not a football business. I honestly would rather that than having a new face at the helm every season, buying the 'best' players available for every position (it really isn't needed. Arsenal, Barcelona, Tottenham, Bayern, Dortmund, Juventus, Milan - they all do well without that trait) & having a board who know nothing about football yet win a trophy every season or 2. I really would prefer the first option. I want the atmosphere of Anfield, the resourcefulness of Arsenal, the pride of Bayern Munich and the stability of Barcelona. Oh, and I want back the fortress & 'never-say-die' attitude of Chelsea. It's not impossible - if you have a plan and a fucking decent board. You can say "Oh, Lukaku and De Bruyne are having good loan spells." Yeah, so what? What's your point? Is that going to prevent the board from going out and buying Falcao because he scored loads of goals, thus destroying Lukaku's chance here? Is that going to prevent the board from just outright selling De Bruyne? No, because they're clueless. What do we honestly have to be excited about, hm? I don't think I'll feel even a shred of excitement unless 'you-know-who' returns or we somehow start competing for the PL & CL titles again, but even with that, none of our policies will change and we'll still have the atmosphere of a library.

He must be having a really good day. That's not normal for him I don't think.

Less than 10 times have I seen a match where he's started in central defence and come away thinking - "He's a really good defender." He's got around 100 appearances for us now. Surely that should worry people...

My post the other day doesn't look so harsh now, does it? heh

I won £12.36. I'm poppin' bottles!!! (of water).

The thing is - he's now used to playing with another striker alongside him, isn't he? It remains to be seen how he'd work in our system, which he failed in with the limited amount of shots we gave him. He seems to play at his best when the opposition are focusing on the other striker and forget about him. Playing as a lone striker here though means he'll constantly be tightly marked. This could work in our favour though, especially against young & inexperienced defenders, as he could flick the ball into the path of a player like Hazard, ultimately (and hopefully) leading to a goal. (I believe Hazard - Lukaku could be quite a nice partnership like Hazard - Sow was at Lille.) He should either be brought back next season, thrown into the deep end, and we all just hope for the best - or he should be loaned to a new team next season, maybe even just until January - but a team which primarily uses a system utilising a lone striker. He'll also offer us a new option assuming Torres leaves - which is Ba & Lukaku up-top - which could perhaps get the best out of Ba like we saw when he was partnered with Cisse (who I don't even believe is as good as Lukaku. He only has better finishing really.) That would possibly be a good idea against teams like West Ham United, Newcastle United or any physical teams really. Either Mata can go out on the left side of midfield (we saw last season he can hold his own there) with Hazard on the right, both on their strong feet meaning they can get in some lovely crosses - or keep Hazard there on the left and put Moses on the right with Mata being rested in those games, maybe even with an Oscar + Mikel partnership in midfield (if Oscar stays back a bit) meaning through-balls galore. Lukaku offers options, something Torres does not.

His 2nd goal was genuinely the best I've seen in any league this season I think. Dat workrate, mmf.

I am now a firm believer that we need to buy no new starting striker. He should be it next season IF he keeps this up until the end of the season. His work-rate, finishing, pace, confidence, stamina, agility etc. have all improved. I want his babies.

I HAVE THE BIGGEST BONER RIGHT NOW

THAT IS WHAT EFFORT GETS YOU. FUCK TORRES. BRING HIM BACK.

HE IS THE WONDERKID I HEARD OF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He's improved on his hold-up and link-up play immensely.

Better than Zidane.

I am completely confident that we'll destroy them. We always have a run of sloppy games and then slaughter teams and dominate for at least 1 half. I'm expecting Torres to actually get a goal this time, probably a header, and then 2 from Hazard, maybe 1 from Lampard or Azpi (I just see him scoring, not sure why.)

Only player to take a shot so far!

Very good post. Great player indeed. To me he seems like everything Zhirkov looked like being. Would love him if we had to get a new LB. Even bring him in as a rotation option considering we play a left-back, Bertrand, on the wing quite a bit! He'd do the job much better.

Best player on the pitch so far!

Exactly why I want us to win the EL after our colossal fuck up vs. Atletico.

...so... if he's still here next season... what do we all plan on doing?

And at least 1 hits the back of the net.

I WAS ALREADY PLANNING A TRIP TO AMSTERDAM FFS

Inter beat Barcelona despite a stupid red card in the Semi Final of the Champions League. They progress to the final to beat Bayern Munich. Rafa Benitez becomes their manager the following season. The players are upset with his methods as he destroys the club, leaving them now in Serie A's mid-table. Sound familiar?

Worst Torres game ever? Seriously.

I'm going to literally beat myself up & have someone take pictures of me, then send them along with a letter to CFC and say that if Torres is not sold or has his contract cancelled ASAP the self-beatings will continue.