Mata Torres Sturridge - a dream team?

[Madmax 9,219]

Are you suggesting that Messi needs someone to fill him with balls?

Are you suggesting he doesn't need a ball to play?

The problem lies in the fact that we're extremely ponderous on the ball. Centre midfield is where it all happens, or (in our case), doesn't happen.

[manpe 10,861]

Are you suggesting that Messi needs someone to fill him with balls?

Do you know how large amount of goals he scores from passes? Most of Barca's goals come from teamwork and assists, Messi is no exception. In Chelsea he would struggle at the moment to be the best like he is now... No doubt he would make others around him play better, but his game would suffer. But that's not the point, we don't play like Barca and probably never will. Their style of play is not the only efficient one, hopefully we'll find one ourselves soon.

[GodZola 630]

Bang on. We can have Ronaldo - Hulk - Messi up front and it won't work if they're not fed the ball when it's needed to be.

Atm our circulation goes like this -

Cech to Terry/Alex to Mikel back to Terry/Alex to Cole to Mikel to Lampard to Cole to Malouda back to Lampard to Ramires to Bosingwa to meaningless cross in the arms of the opposition keeper.

I'm fucking bored of the repetitive backward and sideways passing, the absence of clever off-the-ball runs and the general dross we're churning out.

The slow distribution & backward & sideways movement of the ball is something I've been trying to get across to members since virtually the day I joined this forum & got slated for it because most of my posts were directed at Mikel.

I think I was little unfair to Mikel as he is not alone with this repetitive action & you have summed it up perfectly.

[HNKS 508]

Are you suggesting he doesn't need a ball to play?

The problem lies in the fact that we're extremely ponderous on the ball. Centre midfield is where it all happens, or (in our case), doesn't happen.

Completely argee. The number of times I scream at the TV when Malouda turns his back on a great run and then takes a shot from a ridiculous angle. Its not just malouda, ive seen lampard do it, mikel even.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

It's not a dream team.

Because Sturridge is not a winger. Yes we've all seen him in pre-season and for England u21's play in a role where he drifts wide, but this is not a strength of his. His game is too central for him to play on the wing and it's holding him back. It's something I noticed in the u21 Euro's, and even in pre-season.

At Bolton he excelled because he was used as a striker with Elmander. But here, we play 4-3-3 which means he'll be a makeshift winger. It won't work, I can only hope AVB will give him license to get central and develop an understanding with Torres in this aspect.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

I would love to see Mata- Anelka - Sturidge...

Not sure if you're joking or not, but I agree.

Anelka is still a goal threat, a far better on than Torres at the moment. Plus, Sturridge & Anelka can easily switch positions because Anelka can adapt to playing out wide. Torres can not!

[manpe 10,861]

It's not a dream team.

Because Sturridge is not a winger. Yes we've all seen him in pre-season and for England u21's play in a role where he drifts wide, but this is not a strength of his. His game is too central for him to play on the wing and it's holding him back. It's something I noticed in the u21 Euro's, and even in pre-season.

At Bolton he excelled because he was used as a striker with Elmander. But here, we play 4-3-3 which means he'll be a makeshift winger. It won't work, I can only hope AVB will give him license to get central and develop an understanding with Torres in this aspect.

You're being too pessimistic. At his age it's possible to adapt him to a new position. And an inside cutting wide player isn't that bad, because we have wing-backs bombing forward. As a winger he'll need to adjust his positioning and work harder defensively... Mourinho did similarly to Joe Cole, he was a lost man in defence, but after a while he became a versatile attacking player who was the first one to help out the full-back. Football can't be seen so one dimensionally, Sturridge has the attributes to be a wide player, I see no reason why he can't adapt to it. Hopefully he doesn't turn out like Kalou though. Teams and players do it all the time to fullfil the needs of the team, you work with what you got. He said himself he has more freedom on the flanks than in centre, so he obviously doesn't mind.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

You're being too pessimistic. At his age it's possible to adapt him to a new position. And an inside cutting wide player isn't that bad, because we have wing-backs bombing forward. As a winger he'll need to adjust his positioning and work harder defensively... Mourinho did similarly to Joe Cole, he was a lost man in defence, but after a while he became a versatile attacking player who was the first one to help out the full-back. Football can't be seen so one dimensionally, Sturridge has the attributes to be a wide player, I see no reason why he can't adapt to it. Hopefully he doesn't turn out like Kalou though. Teams and players do it all the time to fullfil the needs of the team, you work with what you got. He said himself he has more freedom on the flanks than in centre, so he obviously doesn't mind.

On the contrary.

I think I'm being more realistic than others. The term "dream team" on here will be scrutinized left, right & centre if this trio does not work, I'm not one of those "I told you so" people either, which is why I'm trying to get people to see things a bit more realistically. Sturridge is a great player, but his attitude lets him down. Everyone can see he's bright and even intelligent, but he's quite arrogant and cocky too. He may adapt, and I'd happy to see him do so, but it's so risky having an out-of-form Torres spearhead our attack, when we've got Sturridge who's ready to step up and play there.

I favour Mata - Sturridge - Anelka more than anything.

[Waterfall 893]

That would be nice to see, but it's not a solution. Anelka is 32 and we would still have 3 phenomenal strikers on our bench with him playing. Like it our not, Torres needs to play. He will either return to his old self, or he'll continue playing badly and be dropped. In that case Drogba or Lukaku will take his place.

I think Nico can play an important part in our squad this season, but he wouldn't be in my first XI.

There's no such thing as "Torres NEEDS to play". If you feel Anelka's more likely to score than Torres, Drogba or Lukaku, you start him. We no longer have the luxury of starting out-of-form players, and starting such player solely based on reputation only sends out wrong message to everyone in the squad. Three points are hard to come by as it is, why try to make it even harder? Like AVB's been saying, the starting XI should change on weekly basis, and the players who look the best in training should get the nod. If Torres can't do that, he shouldn't be playing to begin with and we'll need to find ourselves a new striker (hopefully Lukaku's ready)

[CHOULO19 24,332]

You're being too pessimistic. At his age it's possible to adapt him to a new position. And an inside cutting wide player isn't that bad, because we have wing-backs bombing forward. As a winger he'll need to adjust his positioning and work harder defensively... Mourinho did similarly to Joe Cole, he was a lost man in defence, but after a while he became a versatile attacking player who was the first one to help out the full-back. Football can't be seen so one dimensionally, Sturridge has the attributes to be a wide player, I see no reason why he can't adapt to it. Hopefully he doesn't turn out like Kalou though. Teams and players do it all the time to fullfil the needs of the team, you work with what you got. He said himself he has more freedom on the flanks than in centre, so he obviously doesn't mind.

I totally agree. At Daniel's age, Thierry Henry was a winger, he later started playing as a striker and became the best in the world in his time, so you never know how well Daniel will fair on the right wing.

[manpe 10,861]

On the contrary.

I think I'm being more realistic than others. The term "dream team" on here will be scrutinized left, right & centre if this trio does not work, I'm not one of those "I told you so" people either, which is why I'm trying to get people to see things a bit more realistically. Sturridge is a great player, but his attitude lets him down. Everyone can see he's bright and even intelligent, but he's quite arrogant and cocky too. He may adapt, and I'd happy to see him do so, but it's so risky having an out-of-form Torres spearhead our attack, when we've got Sturridge who's ready to step up and play there.

I favour Mata - Sturridge - Anelka more than anything.

I said myself too that calling it a dream-team is too soon. I have my doubts over it, but I can see it working and I can see it not working also. I won't say it will definitely click from the off, but all of the players have the potential to adapt and play together. Let's talk about realism when it has been tested realistically, for all we know, AVB could still favour the frenchmen and use Sturridge as a super-sub... and it wouldn't be a bad idea either when he's still not used to the new position. I think Anelka and Malouda will still have a big part to play throughout the season, not sure about Kalou though And if I'm not mistaken AVB did a similar trick to Hulk, converting him from striker to winger.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

I said myself too that calling it a dream-team is too soon. I have my doubts over it, but I can see it working and I can see it not working also. I won't say it will definitely click from the off, but all of the players have the potential to adapt and play together. Let's talk about realism when it has been tested realistically, for all we know, AVB could still favour the frenchmen and use Sturridge as a super-sub... and it wouldn't be a bad idea either when he's still not used to the new position. I think Anelka and Malouda will still have a big part to play throughout the season, not sure about Kalou though And if I'm not mistaken AVB did a similar trick to Hulk, converting him from striker to winger.

Yeah, I'll agree about the waiting part then.

Like I said, I hope it does work, because it could be really good if it does. All 3 are still fairly young and if they do starting playing some really good football we could start becoming a real force again. But there is a key test of if. Who knows if we'll even see it though

If you're right about Hulk then that fills me with a bit more optimism. But we'll just have to wait and see now. Definitely not labelling a "dream team" or anything like that, I'm calling it an "experiment" that could be a success.

[bluesman2610 1,423]

It's not a dream team.

Because Sturridge is not a winger. Yes we've all seen him in pre-season and for England u21's play in a role where he drifts wide, but this is not a strength of his. His game is too central for him to play on the wing and it's holding him back. It's something I noticed in the u21 Euro's, and even in pre-season.

At Bolton he excelled because he was used as a striker with Elmander. But here, we play 4-3-3 which means he'll be a makeshift winger. It won't work, I can only hope AVB will give him license to get central and develop an understanding with Torres in this aspect.

I would agree with you there but the only thing i disagree with in your assesment of the formation is that the top three in the 4-3-3 are not stagnant it is free form so there will be plenty of oppurtunities for sturridge to get central as well as torres or even mata at times...i think this could benefit us greatly i can see us scoring alot more open play goals with these three upfront

[dodojojo 510]

"Dream experiment"

They really should play a game or three before we start calling them the dream team. We're just having fun for now.

But we won't know until we try so I'd like to see them in action for a good chunk of time tomorrow.

[eldo 868]

Do you know how large amount of goals he scores from passes? Most of Barca's goals come from teamwork and assists, Messi is no exception. In Chelsea he would struggle at the moment to be the best like he is now... No doubt he would make others around him play better, but his game would suffer. But that's not the point, we don't play like Barca and probably never will. Their style of play is not the only efficient one, hopefully we'll find one ourselves soon.

He had the most assists. If he wouldn't improve our team than nobody will.

[manpe 10,861]

He had the most assists. If he wouldn't improve our team than nobody will.

I said he would improve, but his game would suffer because he relies on smart teamplay and thought-out attacks as much as anybody else there. Probably one of the reasons why he doesn't shine as much in his national squad.

[lionsden 4,689]

There's no such thing as "Torres NEEDS to play". If you feel Anelka's more likely to score than Torres, Drogba or Lukaku, you start him. We no longer have the luxury of starting out-of-form players, and starting such player solely based on reputation only sends out wrong message to everyone in the squad. Three points are hard to come by as it is, why try to make it even harder? Like AVB's been saying, the starting XI should change on weekly basis, and the players who look the best in training should get the nod. If Torres can't do that, he shouldn't be playing to begin with and we'll need to find ourselves a new striker (hopefully Lukaku's ready)

I agree. Sadly most people fail to see things from your point of view, which is really baffling as it's a very simple concept. a manager should make his team selection based on players that are in form and fit his vision in terms of style of play.

[Bacika 188]

Spot on. if it's possible I had rep you 10000X for this post. Torres my foot.

Remember that for tomorrow hehe

If AVB does not want to drop Torres, than we will play with Mata-Torres-Anelka tomorrow...

[Peace. 4,352]

It's not a dream team.

Because Sturridge is not a winger. Yes we've all seen him in pre-season and for England u21's play in a role where he drifts wide, but this is not a strength of his. His game is too central for him to play on the wing and it's holding him back. It's something I noticed in the u21 Euro's, and even in pre-season.

At Bolton he excelled because he was used as a striker with Elmander. But here, we play 4-3-3 which means he'll be a makeshift winger. It won't work, I can only hope AVB will give him license to get central and develop an understanding with Torres in this aspect.

Word up !

You've taken the words right out off my mouth.

The "Sturridge - Torres - Mata" thing ain't a dream team.

About Sturridge, I neither think it will work. And even if it happens to work, I believe Sturridge will not fulfil his potential on the wing. I think it is a waste to play him on the wing, even more when you think that the two others strikers are really far to be good at the moment. And I agree with you, I hope to see Danni play in the center.

As for Torres, well... He isn't any good. And even if he grabs his confidence back, I do not think he will be as near good as the old Torres. I'll agree to give him two more chances to start a game, but after that if he doesn't grab those chance, we just have to stop wasting time with him.

And it's real, at the moment Anelka isn't the worst striker... At least he is better than Drogba, Torres and Kalou.

And I do think a "Anelka - Sturridge - Mata" looks a better choice considering the current form of the players.

Personnaly, as we do not have a playmaker (we have Josh, but it doesn't look like he will have a regular spot in the starting eleven) I'd like Mata to play as a kind of N°10, behind the two strikers :

Mata

Sturrdige - Anelka ?

or

Mata

Danni - Lukaku

[Sheva. 5,373]

I agree. Sadly most people fail to see things from your point of view, which is really baffling as it's a very simple concept. a manager should make his team selection based on players that are in form and fit his vision in terms of style of play.

And Anelka fits AVB's style right?

If AVB does not want to drop Torres, than we will play with Mata-Torres-Anelka tomorrow...

I think it's very likely we see this.