Mata Torres Sturridge - a dream team?

[Kostas 1,468]

Sturridge & Lukaku are both itching to play as a centre forward for this club and are both ready to step up.

Not sure if that is 100% correct.

I don't necessarily think that's true, some members were boasting that Torres was finished during the close season & I think they would rather see that happen to prove their assumption correct than having to eat some humble pie.

A horrible assumption but I doubt it's too far from the truth..

[LDN Blue 7,903]

Not sure if that is 100% correct.

Fair do's, slight bit of rhetoric there.

[shark_ly00 0]

just wait for the coming match

but i think Sturridge will be substitution

[SeB 1,281]

As I've mentioned in my reply to GodZola.. He's got his support now, so now it's time for him to show his individual game.

I actually think Torres can do more with this squad than he already has. He's still a ball playing striker who used to be able to dribble around defenders, not get bullied by them. Again it comes down to confidence. But we've given him the players now, and we've given him the support (with AVB giving him 100% starts this season). Now it's really up to him.

And I think you're being unfair to members who are criticising him too. No-one wants him to fail, I don't buy the "ego satisfaction" story.. This is silly.

But we are OK

I said above that now there is Mata and Sturridge, there would be no problems anymore. Now there can be support and pace & good deliveries, and maybe also the most important thing: team mates on the same wave length and on the same technical level.

I do completely agree with you, my aim wasn't to argue that Torres is a victim and it's all the fault of the team (the midfield...). It's just that since he arrived, a lot of people did judge him whereas he wasn't at his best and in the best conditions to be judged. The fault was shared, no unique guilty because it was up to a global number of things and an environement.

We are OK, now it's up to him, no problem with that

Otherwise I didn't say that Torres was our best player by far since the start of the season, I just wanted to mean that considering the options available and the form of others, considering that the team has room for improvement and was/is not near to it's best ; Torres was at the moment the best solution, or the less worse

About the "ego satisfaction" sometimes it's a general impression that I have, I did not target anybody but I also may be wrong.

[Peace. 4,352]

A ) It's not a matter of level or confidence, if we play the same lineup than against WBA, no support for Torres, you can give a lot of games to Torres and you can also wait long to have a decent performance for him.

The only matter about him is to provide him direct support like he did always had at Liverpool when he was on fire. Mata or Sturridge can be this support.

B ) He needs direct support very near around the box, nothing less or more... You speak about the old Torres, but he wasn't made of nothing, he had some support. The fact he hasn't any now implies the consequence that he irretrievably looks far from his best level

A ) Humm... While I would agree that the lack of support could partialy explain his poor performances, I do believe his problems are mainly due to his confidence and his physical. Indeed, even when he is playing for Spain - where he has some of the best passers of the world around him and one of the best midfield (let alone the fact Spain is one of the two best teams in the world) - he doesn't look any good ! One could argue that Spain style of play doesn't suit Torres, of course.

And mate, when I do speak about Torres, I base my argument on his overall and personal playing, not his goalscoring chaces. I mean, he seems to struggle to dribble, et al... He gets knocked by players who are far smaller than him (we saw this in the pre-season tour, in Asia). All those thing, in my opinion, prove that there something wrong in his head. He doesn't fall at the merely collision because he lacks of support.

B ) Of course he wasn't made out of nothing. But the old Torres was breathing confidence. When he was on the pitch, when he was on the ball, you were seeing someone full of confidence. And to my eyes, his confidence hadn't have anything to do with the support he was getting... His lack of confidence as well. His ghost mode has started more or less at the World Cup. Since this tournament you can witness his dip in confidence. It has continued at Liverpool, now at our club.

All this to say, our squad isn't to be blamed for Torres' poor form. Of course our midfield doesn't help him to be good, but it (our midfield) didn't have provoked Torres' poor form. The problem with Torres has started well before we bought him.

[Madmax 9,219]

Let's judge Torres once he has others around him who will bother giving a shit. He's been working alone so far this season so let's see if Mata and Sturridge give him the much needed support. Given how he has talked up bothof them I think we can assume they've been working on doing just that.

If he gets support and still fails to deliver, then by all means we should ask for heads to roll.

[DanAdibi! 106]

Yh 3 big attacking players. If we can get Torres scoring we can have the best attack in the league.

[Badboy 1,526]

Yh 3 big attacking players. If we can get Torres scoring we can have the best attack in the league.

See that is my point though, its not for us to bloody get him to start scoring. Torres must adjust to the team not the team adjusting to Torres.

[Bacika 188]

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

I think you owe me something reputation...

[SeB 1,281]

A ) Humm... While I would agree that the lack of support could partialy explain his poor performances, I do believe his problems are mainly due to his confidence and his physical. Indeed, even when he is playing for Spain - where he has some of the best passers of the world around him and one of the best midfield (let alone the fact Spain is one of the two best teams in the world) - he doesn't look any good ! One could argue that Spain style of play doesn't suit Torres, of course.

And mate, when I do speak about Torres, I base my argument on his overall and personal playing, not his goalscoring chaces. I mean, he seems to struggle to dribble, et al... He gets knocked by players who are far smaller than him (we saw this in the pre-season tour, in Asia). All those thing, in my opinion, prove that there something wrong in his head. He doesn't fall at the merely collision because he lacks of support.

B ) Of course he wasn't made out of nothing. But the old Torres was breathing confidence. When he was on the pitch, when he was on the ball, you were seeing someone full of confidence. And to my eyes, his confidence hadn't have anything to do with the support he was getting... His lack of confidence as well. His ghost mode has started more or less at the World Cup. Since this tournament you can witness his dip in confidence. It has continued at Liverpool, now at our club.

All this to say, our squad isn't to be blamed for Torres' poor form. Of course our midfield doesn't help him to be good, but it (our midfield) didn't have provoked Torres' poor form. The problem with Torres has started well before we bought him.

The Torres problem is wide, the tactical aspect is a part of that problem. I'm of the opinion of those who thinks that we can only judge him when he would be in proper fitness form and with a playing style own to look like a bit how he did perform at Liverpool, I mean that we bought a player who used to perform in a specific climate and surrounding: on the field with support (Gerrard), with fans who used to cheer him, as long as he liked to assume the weight of success (goals) on his own shoulders in a team able to contend for the title.

We did not only bought just a player, we bought a player who used to be good and whose mind was disrupted by the climate at Liverpool. The fact is that he was enhanced since the start by the fans at Liverpool and he did not have this greeting when he signed...

People may have question or wonder the good things (it's the aim of any football analysis) but overall it did not contribute to create a good atmosphere around him because too much Chelsea fans were skeptical for wrong reasons or because of clichés. And this, added to the hostile climate already in place by the world of football did make the thing even more difficult for Torres. I do not budge, some Chelsea fans use to go too far and are too harsh to try to justify they are only "making observations"

But despite all this I did always think that we had to wait him to be in good conditions to perform on the field before being able to judge him on proper basis. Torres is not my father or my friend, so considering he is in good conditions we can judge him and he can not then benefit from any kind of favoritism.

The only good observation to make is that he is not yet in these conditions but after a couple of games where he will be in good fitness form (that he did recover in pre-season), in a good mental form (so the state of mind he began the Stoke game with) and with direct support provided with Mata, Meireles, Anelka or Sturridge... He could then finally be judged properly with reliable arguments

Another piece of evidence that some people forget to remind that money can not forget the essential role of time in that kind of situation. But now it seems to be finally the right time where all the basic conditions required for Torres to shine are gathered

[Liquidator 5,176]

Where did you get the player photos from?

[termninja 5,290]

Where did you get the player photos from?

[magicrico 175]

Sturridge and Mata yes. We need a striker that can score goals playing down the middle. NONE of our strikers are scoring. Torres looks the worst, but none of them look decent.

[termninja 5,290]

Well well it seems I was right. Both Mata and Sturridge are great, and if Torres can show us why he's worth 50m...sky is the limit!

[LDN Blue 7,903]

Thank fuck Sturridge is finding the back of the net..

Now we have a plan B, if Torres continues to flutter.

[Tomo 21,751]

Thank fuck Sturridge is finding the back of the net..

Now we have a plan B, if Torres continues to flutter.

We have goals from all over the pitch, that's why we still had good results in March and April despite Drog, Anelka and Torres scoring 3 times between them.

[Dylan_91 90]

Well well it seems I was right. Both Mata and Sturridge are great, and if Torres can show us why he's worth 50m...sky is the limit!

Dont think Torres will ever prove to be worth 50 mil as hes lost way too much pace and he'll never get that back. If you dont believe me just watch videos of him playing a few years ago, he was unbelievably fast and sharp. Now hes quite sluggish and although he's quite fast hes not half as fast as he used to be. However i do still think he'll score a lot of goals for us eventually. Just not enough to justify 50 million considering suarez only cost 24.

[termninja 5,290]

Dear AVB, read my thread!

Thanks in advance

[steve5221 91]

Agree with the 3 totally....but not in a 4-3-3 in a 4-3-1-2.

Sturridge and Torres with Mata behind would be a very dangerous front 3. Play Romeu, Ramires and Mierlies behind them..

[Krypt 241]

Agree with the 3 totally....but not in a 4-3-3 in a 4-3-1-2.

Sturridge and Torres with Mata behind would be a very dangerous front 3. Play Romeu, Ramires and Mierlies behind them..

Its maybe time to change the formation but i cant see AVB doing it he hasn't shown in his time here that he will revert from the 4-3-3.

i agree 4-3-1-2 may work better as Danny will thrive as a striker.