🇧🇪 Romelu Lukaku

[didierforever 7,349]

If I remember correctly, Mata popped one around 86th minute, in the last game, didn´t he ?

Anyway, enough was said today. Basically, I am happy with the draw but not with the tactics. Thanks for your chatting. You are a fine poster & not rude as some of these bimbos.

that game and this game were very different. last season we were the aggressors, we needed that win to get CL. today we were trying to shut the shop. very different scenario.

thank you for the compliment,

[Ainsley Harriott 2,732]

i said jose got his tactics right, does not mean everything he did was perfect in the game. lukaku would have suited us better in the way we played, definitely better than schurlle, but that one thing does not change the whole dynamic.

here is what i wrote in the post match http://forum.talkchelsea.net/topic/16665-man-united-chelsea/page-14

good result, brilliant tactics, poor team selection and and awful match.

cant understand why people are crying over the game. united are unsure of themselves and today could have been a make or break day for them. jose did the right thing by making united take the onus and take the bait rather than going all guns blazing. united's next match is POOL away and 2 weeks later city away. if they had won today, it would have gone a long long way in calming their nerves.

while jose's tactics were good, his team selection was poor. there is no point of playing rambo if you are not going to use his running. rambo played a very mikel game, barely out of our own half and just for winning the ball back/marking rooney. mikel would and should have been a better choice. lukaku should have started as a striker. with cech pinting the ball from the goalkicks, there was no way schurrle was beating vidic to it. lukaku would have been a much much greater threat.

here is my player analysis -

cech - good game. dint put a foot wrong and barely had anything to do. the rooney stop was brillaint. 8/10

ivanovic - solid. dint let evra/welbeck run behind him and also covered the cbs well. 7/10

cahill - good performance. but again instead of putting tackles, he prefers putting in blocks (rooney just at the edge of box). will cost us big. 7/10

JT - WALL. what a performance. brilliant in the air. dint let rvp turn if he received the ball with his back to the goal. simply flawless performance. 10/10

cole - good performance. covered hazard really well. dint let valencia cross the ball rather play it back to jones. tried to do something in the attack (unlike iva) but could not

make a difference. 7.5/10

ramires - this has to be one of his worst performances in the chelsea blue. dont think any of his forward passes were correct in the 1st half. let rooney run the game easily. missed marking late runs on a number of occasions and even let people run around him instead of putting a tackle. very unlike RAMBO. 4/10

lampard - slow on the ball. got closed down by cleverly on a number of occasions. dint do much for the attack but was much better defensively than rambo. 6/10

hazard - what is wrong with this guy. among every1 who was been a part of the team in this season's 3 matches, he has definitely had the worst start to this season. valencia OWNED him. the number of times he lost the ball to a valencia tackle was simply countless. the only time he got into the game was in the last 15 minutes when valencia got subbed. very poor decision making too, when choosing to single-handedly taken on jones and valencia rather than pass the ball. 5/10

oscar - good game. man-marked carrick out of the game. had to play cam as well as a deep lying playmaker. could have done more in some of the counters we had. without our best attacking player on the pitch. 7/10

kdb - simply could not assert himself. covered evra's runs very well. was good defensively but gave nothing in our attacks. also playing him on the wings is equivalent to playing mata on the wings. there is no width. 6/10

schurrle - he might not have won any headers, or taken any shot on the goal, or even provided any threat but his workrate is commendable. full of running and closing down, be it on the wing or as a striker. provided some width to us deep in the 2nd half which sometimes did stretch united but simply could not take on evra twice. good performance overall. 7/10

torres - started well, with his run but then lost the ball, many times. his performance was characterised by the last move of the day for us when he mind bogglingly chose to cut in and try to pass in the center at 92 minuted 20 seconds rather than just pass the ball to iva who could have crossed in or got a corner or something. his loosing the ball and then not even trying the fall back for the last move of the game, should tell us exactly of his comitement to the team. he is past it, the sooner we accept it, the better. 5/10

mikel,azpilicueta - not enough time to write about.

Hazard was better than 5

[didierforever 7,349]

Hazard was better than 5

maybe its my expectation out of him, but i expected him to be a lot lot better than he was yesterday. defensively he was okay but he did leave cole open a couple of times. in attack, i feel he was poor, no other word to describe him yesterday.

[Ainsley Harriott 2,732]

maybe its my expectation out of him, but i expected him to be a lot lot better than he was yesterday. defensively he was okay but he did leave cole open a couple of times. in attack, i feel he was poor, no other word to describe him yesterday.

If you are going to rate him at 5, Lampard's, Torres' and de Bruyne's rating should be lowered. That's my opinion.

[jonaaibosk 191]

Playing Torres is a criminal offense - whether Jose sees Nando or doesn't see Nando doesn't make a difference because Nando is Championship level striker that brings smiles to opposition defenders when warming up or coming onto the field.

Lukaku scored a bloody hat trick against United just a few months ago and we bring on a player who in the previous 8 months managed 1 goal in the League so he can lose possession; pass the ball to the opposition and look disinterested in the middle of the field while our players are crossing into the box.

The only logical reason to bring on Torres is to show Roman how crap he is so Jose is given money for the big name striker he seems to want.

I stopped reading at this point

[Ainsley Harriott 2,732]

I stopped reading at this point

I don't know why.. He has been been mid-lower table quality

[jonaaibosk 191]

I don't know why.. He has been been mid-lower table quality

Other than the top 6 or 7 teams, Torres would walk into any team in the Premier League. He's not Chelsea class, but to call him a Championship player is a rather large over exaggeration

[Stingray 9,441]

Other than the top 6 or 7 teams, Torres would walk into any team in the Premier League. He's not Chelsea class, but to call him a Championship player is a rather large over exaggeration

I just hope he finds his 'masked' form. I think he was rather good then. But I do fear his (psychological) inconsistency prevails over the 'Zorres'.

Time will tell.

[Ainsley Harriott 2,732]

Other than the top 6 or 7 teams, Torres would walk into any team in the Premier League. He's not Chelsea class, but to call him a Championship player is a rather large over exaggeration

I meant I don't know why he said that, my bad

[The Skipper 20,609]

Other than the top 6 or 7 teams, Torres would walk into any team in the Premier League. He's not Chelsea class, but to call him a Championship player is a rather large over exaggeration

Which is still ridiculously bad.

[jonaaibosk 191]

I meant I don't know why he said that, my bad

Ah, my bad.

[YouNameIt 1,511]

I came to the Lukaku thread and every player but Lukaku is being discussed here...

[jonaaibosk 191]

Which is still ridiculously bad.

Not really. Just because we strive to have the best players at our club doesn't mean that clubs outside the top 6-7 only employ "ridiculously bad" players

Benteke

Michu

Baines Fellaini

Pienaar

Begovic

Cabaye

Ben Arfa

Remy

Lovren

Shaw

Ramirez

There is just a short list of players outside of the top 6-7 clubs that you could never class as "ridiculously bad" I'm sure there is plenty more

[The Skipper 20,609]

Not really. Just because we strive to have the best players at our club doesn't mean that clubs outside the top 6-7 only employ "ridiculously bad" players

Benteke

Michu

Baines Fellaini

Pienaar

Begovic

Cabaye

Ben Arfa

Remy

Lovren

Shaw

Ramirez

There is just a short list of players outside of the top 6-7 clubs that you could never class as "ridiculously bad" I'm sure there is plenty more

You're not getting me at all. I'm not saying that everyone outside the top 6/7 clubs is a ridiculously bad player.

A club like Chelsea shouldn't be having a striker that's just good enough for only the clubs outside the top 6/7 clubs in the league. Most strikers in the top 6/7 clubs absolutely crap on Torres. You're acting like its a good thing that Torres isn't even good enough to be a striker for a top 6/7 team.

[Las7 951]

I stopped reading at this point

What type of teams do most of his goals come against - Genk(2); Nordsjaelland(2); Monteray; QPR(3); Wolves; Leicester(2); Reading; Leeds; Brentford

So out of his 34 goals - 14 were against teams that are Championship level or were going down to the Championship.

Out of 133 matches he has 34 goals. If that's not the statistics of a Championship level striker whose found himself in the Premiership by mistake I don't know what is - I'd expect such statistics from Di Santo.

[didierforever 7,349]

I came to the Lukaku thread and every player but Lukaku is being discussed here...

what do we discuss. he has done more in his 20 minutes of substitute appearances and pre-season matches than torres and ba did the whole last season and still he is on the bench.

[Tomo 21,751]

He's not Chelsea class, but to call him a Championship player is a rather large over exaggeration

You are right, in the Champioship you need to work hard and score goals, neither of which Torres does.

[haranr 485]

MOURINHO- START HIM. Torres and Ba don't deserve a chance they absouloty SUCK. Torres is so bad I can't see him wearing blue anymore.

[jonaaibosk 191]

You're not getting me at all. I'm not saying that everyone outside the top 6/7 clubs is a ridiculously bad player.

A club like Chelsea shouldn't be having a striker that's just good enough for only the clubs outside the top 6/7 clubs in the league. Most strikers in the top 6/7 clubs absolutely crap on Torres. You're acting like its a good thing that Torres isn't even good enough to be a striker for a top 6/7 team.

Fair enough, I've picked you up wrong. FWIW I'm not saying it's a good thing that Torres is as bad as he is. He's definitely not as bad as he's being made out to be though. He has proved that he can do it on the best stage, he just can't do it any more. He's a total confidence player, and he's not had any confidence since about 2 years ago. Unfortunately for Torres, a confidence player isn't a luxury that we can afford. He'd do really well at a club like West Brom or Everton, he might even find his old form. It's a shame because at his best, at times he was unplayable, he'll never recapture that IMO though

[YouNameIt 1,511]

what do we discuss. he has done more in his 20 minutes of substitute appearances and pre-season matches than torres and ba did the whole last season and still he is on the bench.

I do have to say, seing Torres coming on against United and not Lukaku made me feel both angry and upset.

There is NOTHING that Torres adds that Schurrle for instances doesnt. Lukaku however, does.