Torres love or hate?

[manpe 10,861]

What if Torres is a liverpool spy/assassin? Sent here to purposely undermine our ambitions, whilst helping out bindippers with 50 million £. It all adds up

[CHOULO19 24,332]

A loan move for Torres is not easy as well. He won't agree to play for wigan or fullham and we can't afford to loan him to a team that is contesting the CL place like us. It has to be to a team not in the PL, most likely to Spain.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

From now on it has to be Drogba leading our front three*. Even if he is also out of form, he is more usefull, and better, than Torres. Because he can take penalty/freekick/corner, he can play down the center and on the wing (which allows the switching of position), he is good at defending corner/freekick. And imo he has an understanding with everybody in the team, especially with Sturridge... A thing Torres doesn't seem to have.

* To be frank I'd rather Sturridge, but for now it is complicated to leave him off the wing.

André has made correct decision playing Drogba over Torres. Proving the cost of Torres has no influence on his decision and also showing Roman is not picking the team-sheet (as has been suggested). Until Nando proves he should lead the line, Drogba should start.

[Sheva. 5,373]

Until Nando proves he should lead the line, Drogba should start.

I have no problem with Torres fighting for his position, that's the way it should be.

But how is he going to fight for his position by playing 13 mins against FUCKING Wolves? the weakest team we will play till January.

If it was Torres that started, he would have been taken off by the 70th minute mark for sure. Probably even before that.

[lentherussian 86]

with tevez goin to milan maybe, i hope we try n persuade milan to take torres aswel, offer a bucket load of cash and take ibrahimovic. Hed mbe my ideal front man in a 3, technically great, scores goal and is a born winner. I know hes 30 but hes fit, doesnt rely on pace and if he cud give us 2/3 years and bring lukaku on it could be a very shrewd move. AVB if your reading, DO IT and everyone can thank me after.

[Sheva. 5,373]

Ibra is a cunt, but a freaking great player.

He's too old though

[termninja 5,290]

with tevez goin to milan maybe, i hope we try n persuade milan to take torres aswel, offer a bucket load of cash and take ibrahimovic. Hed mbe my ideal front man in a 3, technically great, scores goal and is a born winner. I know hes 30 but hes fit, doesnt rely on pace and if he cud give us 2/3 years and bring lukaku on it could be a very shrewd move. AVB if your reading, DO IT and everyone can thank me after.

Would've been awesome if we took him from Barcelona but now it's too late...we don't want another aged superstar in our team, especially Ibra, he is not an easy man.

One of the best forwards in this century though...

[SW_Blue 71]

It's the strangest thing and I wont have a go at anyone for having it because up until recently I suffered from exactly the same thing. Since Torres joined I've desperately wanted to see him succeed, I've wanted him to play every minute possible in the hope that he might spark into life and I'll even admit that when Drogba or Anelka were on the teamsheet ahead of him I was actually disappointed and it did take some of the wind out of my sails, infact it was at the point where I didn;t appreciate Drogba or Anelka's contributions half as much as I usually would because I wanted to see Torres play, not Drogba or Anelka.

But I've gotten over that now. My Torres goggles are gone but clearly some people still have them firmly on.

But your Drogba lenses are much harder to get rid off, clearly.

How anyone could claim that Torres was more threatening in 10 minutes than Drogba was is perplexing to say the least, even with the previously mentioned Torres goggles on. I would go as far as to say Drogba's performance against Leverkusen (which wouldn't even rank in his top 10 Chelsea performances) was better than any game that Torres has played in a Chelsea jersey. Should Drogba be the main striker? No. Should Drogba be the first choice striker of the ones currently available to us? Absolutely he should, his form has justified AVB's decision and he remains one of the finest all round centre forwards you will find.

In his current 'form', hardly. And it's Torres' poor form rather than his own good one, that has left AVB with literally no choice.

I would say rather than wishing to sell him in January, you be grateful that Didier has remained loyal to our club and that even when our 50 million pound striker continuously fails to reach the required standard, that Drogba is still able to step up to the plate and deliver.

You see its a two way street. If Chelsea should be 'grateful' to Drogs, its about time he grows up and shows some respect to the fans by not acting like a spoilt brat on the field. I appreciate his performances over the years which have helped us win so much, but equally loath his attitude around the field - bossing around other players, arguing over petty spot kicks, slapping a player in a CL final, the QPR game, I could go on...

Anyone who wants him to be sold in January wants so only because they feel he isn't doing enough in terms of performances and showing the right attitude.

Honestly with some people on here it's either the Torres goggles or some people just don't appreciate the unique big man centre forward work (combined with incredible technical ability) that Drogba offers.

Most people here, Torres fans or not, will agree that he needs to get more match time to prove himself. Something Drogs has had plenty of, as someone else pointed out, despite being below average for the first two seasons.

I'm all for selling Torres in January or next summer if he's still useleess, but he can hardly do that sitting on the bench. And I think villfying him because of his price tag makes us no better than the media vultures; anyone who comes in has to prove himself regardless of his price tag.

[DJ Nevin 24]

This has been going on too long to be merely a case of poor form. Can't help wondering if something off the pitch is affecting his performance on. Depression? As a very reserved person he's probably not the type to open up about such things and the witchhunt by the media (which started with Liverpool drip-feeding them with negative stories) can't have helped. Who knows? Just wish he could find the dynamism and confidence to kickstart his career to the benefit of Chelsea.

[lentherussian 86]

Would've been awesome if we took him from Barcelona but now it's too late...we don't want another aged superstar in our team, especially Ibra, he is not an easy man.

One of the best forwards in this century though...

do you not think he could offer us a good cpl of seasons? dont think he needs to be super mobile to be incredibly effective, think drogba at 30, zola, gullit, wise, lampard etc for us. For others bergkamp at 30, sheringham, yorke, etc etc. Players are fit enough to be playing at 33. could be vital in carrying youngsters thru for a cpl of seasons.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

I have no problem with Torres fighting for his position, that's the way it should be.

But how is he going to fight for his position by playing 13 mins against FUCKING Wolves? the weakest team we will play till January.

If it was Torres that started, he would have been taken off by the 70th minute mark for sure. Probably even before that.

He probably wanted to give Drogba a longer run to be fair, he knows they can't play together so it's either/or.

I think Torres was probably brought on to appease the crowd tbh - Who knows, maybe he'll play a bigger part tomorrow, if he starts ahead of Romelu.

[SW_Blue 71]

Okay, I must write this here.

When El Nino was at Liverpool, I loved him, but I couldn't show this, because we had Liverpool supporters in the class and I was both, angry and happy, when he scored against us. He's just a player that I like everything about him. He's so calm, speedy and he's great finisher. I've watched Liverpool games only because of him. And you can't believe what was going with me, when he signed for us. Shame I wasn't member of this forum then, so you would see. I screamed so much, I jumped on balcony with Chelsea flag, I wore Chelsea skirt in school and so on... But his start in Chelsea wasn't the best, but I believed as everyone. I don't know what's problem about this and I won't disscuss it. I'm training football, I'm forward, I wear number 9, I've long hair and everything is because of him - my idol - Fernando Torres. He will be my favourite player, no matter what.

If that is true, I'm convinced you are the biggest Torres fan :eyebrows:

[Sheva. 5,373]

He probably wanted to give Drogba a longer run to be fair, he knows they can't play together so it's either/or.

I think Torres was probably brought on to appease the crowd tbh - Who knows, maybe he'll play a bigger part tomorrow, if he starts ahead of Romelu.

Yeah, because the 81 and 90 minutes he had against Liverpool and Leverkusen were not enough

[Blue Armour 4,467]

But your Drogba lenses are much harder to get rid off, clearly.

In his current 'form', hardly. And it's Torres' poor form rather than his own good one, that has left AVB with literally no choice.

You see its a two way street. If Chelsea should be 'grateful' to Drogs, its about time he grows up and shows some respect to the fans by not acting like a spoilt brat on the field. I appreciate his performances over the years which have helped us win so much, but equally loath his attitude around the field - bossing around other players, arguing over petty spot kicks, slapping a player in a CL final, the QPR game, I could go on...

Ridiculous statement. Don't see what kind of "respect" he needs to show, as long as he contributes when it matters.

Anyways leaving the Drogba-Torres debate aside I don't think you see what the crux of the argument here. No one really cares who's getting more chances to prove themselves. What this team needs is an in-form and consistent CF to support Sturridge and Mata who are the real ones taking the team forward.

To have such a CF, AVB should settle on one CF and stick with him for the next few weeks and get him into a good run of form. Right now this happens to be Didier. Now it could just as easily have been Torres, but the manager seems to prefer the Ivorian atm. So Torres will have to make do with the minutes he gets and look to supplant Drogba the old fashioned way: In other words, the same way a second-choice player supplants a first-teamer.

ONCE AGAIN, we could all be wrong, and AVB probably chose Drogba for the type of opposition we were up against. This I hope is not true...anyways, we'll find out from the team selection during the next few games

[YankinBlue42 72]

By his own doing, and by the manager's I feel like he hasn't had the opportunity to really find his legs this season. There have been many times where he has looked fantastic. And there have also been times where he couldn't buy a goal. Recently, he can't seem to beat Drogba for the starting striker position.

I am still 100% behind our #9.

[The Big Drog 1,110]

But your Drogba lenses are much harder to get rid off, clearly.

In his current 'form', hardly. And it's Torres' poor form rather than his own good one, that has left AVB with literally no choice.

You see its a two way street. If Chelsea should be 'grateful' to Drogs, its about time he grows up and shows some respect to the fans by not acting like a spoilt brat on the field. I appreciate his performances over the years which have helped us win so much, but equally loath his attitude around the field - bossing around other players, arguing over petty spot kicks, slapping a player in a CL final, the QPR game, I could go on...

Anyone who wants him to be sold in January wants so only because they feel he isn't doing enough in terms of performances and showing the right attitude.

Most people here, Torres fans or not, will agree that he needs to get more match time to prove himself. Something Drogs has had plenty of, as someone else pointed out, despite being below average for the first two seasons.

I'm all for selling Torres in January or next summer if he's still useleess, but he can hardly do that sitting on the bench. And I think villfying him because of his price tag makes us no better than the media vultures; anyone who comes in has to prove himself regardless of his price tag.

I don't like to cascade other Chelsea fans but I genuinely found that post to be rather disgusting and that isn't something I've ever said about any post I've ever seen on this forum.

Yes it is Torres' poor form that has allowed Drogba to get a chance to reclaim the main striker role but credit to Drogba for taking that chance.

Drogba has shown us nothing but respect during his time at the club. Let's not forget that Didier was the hottest young (well somewhat) striker in Europe at the time he joined Chelsea, he has had ample opportunity to move to other big clubs but he has remained at our club, all of the while showing nothing but appreciation to our fans, he has been the focal point of the greatest team in our club's history, world class performance after world class performance and he will rightly be remembered as one of our all time greatest players, does he boss other players around? Damn right he does and he has earned the right to do that as one of the senior players in the squad, does he have his controversial moments, sure he does but then all great players do and make no mistake about it, Didier Drogba has been a truly great player for Chelsea.

What more do they want? At 33 (?) he is still the bloody main striker at Chelsea, ahead of the shiny new 50 million pound megastar, he played well against Liverpool and his performance against Leverkusen was close to a one man show, he was one of the few Chelsea players who could walk off the pitch that night with his head held high and he followed that up with another very good performance against Wolves, I would say its complaining for complaining's sake but that isn't true it's simply that you would rather see Torres start ahead of him.

I also don't think Didier was as below average as you would think in his first two seasons and that difference between Drogba then and Torres now are quite different.

Honestly the way some people talk it's as if Torres has only started a handful of games at the club, that isn't the case, we have played him, we will keep giving him chances but its getting beyond a bit ridiculous, he hasn't done it for us, we need wins, we have a crucial game against Valencia on the way and we are trying to stay in the top 4 in the league, we need to win games and that is why Drogba is being picked ahead of Torres, because AVB feels we have a better chance of winning games with Drogba leading the line ahead of Torres. Honestly I find it sad at just how quickly people forget a legend like Drogba's contribution to our team when a bright new thing arrives, very sad indeed.

[DJ Nevin 24]

Why all this criticism of Drogba? It's more than a little unfair considering how much he's contributed to the club's success over the years.

I can understand why AVB is reluctant to play Torres. Let's face it the shitstorm surrounding the player is not going to die down. Creeps like Lipton are never going to let it go unless he scores hat tricks in successive games or something terrible happens to him. There seems to be too much primal pleasure for these grubby little hacks in seeing a career potentially destroyed.

Perhaps AVB, with similar troubles of his own, feels it's safer to play Drogba who gets far less criticism from the media when he doesn't play well, and so has reverted to Carlo's tactic of playing Torres for a few minutes at the end of games. From the press reaction (with the exception of Henry Winter) it's clear that any implied criticism or lack of faith in the player wins media approval and takes some of the pressure off himself. It's instructive that it was Di Matteo who spoke to the press about Torres in the wake of the league cup game against Liverpool when he might be playing.

Maybe AVB just isn't used to handling this level of media criticism and sees washing his hands of the player as one way of taking some of the heat off his own situation and part of his strategy for survival as Chelsea manager, If this is the case it's probably better for all concerned if Torres is sold or goes out on loan to a Spanish club in January (Malaga has been mentioned in dispatches) and the club look for a new striker to combine with Sturridge and Mata.

[Peace. 4,352]

He probably wanted to give Drogba a longer run to be fair, he knows they can't play together so it's either/or.

Yeah, I think it is one of the reason for which he keeps playing Drogba. Because, it is impossible to give to the two strikers exactly the same amount of playing time. For their form it would be catastrophic. A player, to be on form, needs a good run of game. Torres had his run of games earlier this season. Now it's just Drogba's turn.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

You see its a two way street. If Chelsea should be 'grateful' to Drogs, its about time he grows up and shows some respect to the fans by not acting like a spoilt brat on the field. I appreciate his performances over the years which have helped us win so much, but equally loath his attitude around the field - bossing around other players, arguing over petty spot kicks, slapping a player in a CL final, the QPR game, I could go on...

Drogba does more for the fans of the game than any other player I have heard of. A true philanthropist and a great, great man!

[Krypt 241]

I dont think anyone is doubting Drogba's contribution over the years , he has been a great servent to the club , but with his age its about time someone else took over.