Closed Shakhtar Donetsk 2-1 Chelsea

[Kezza 1,965]

While were on that subject, despite the antics of Welbeck and Young, United have not had one single yellow for diving this season or last.

Its messed up! They don't get booked for diving but we get denied upwards of 4 penalties.

Not into conspiracies, i just think the refs need to go back to reffing school or back to the homeless shelter where Fergie, i mean the FA, picked them up from

[dumps 284]

It seems Willian is a good footballer and not as overrated as I first thought still he will look as great as he wants if we give him as much time and space as he fucking wants. Quite frankly an awful performance, big wake up call, Torres isnt good enough for Chelsea fc right now and Sturridge it still remains to be seen if he is worthy of the CF position. We have adapted the system for FT9 but he still doesnt excel in it, the problem isnt the system, its him. It always has been. big big big wake up call, we will need to win every CL game now to get through.

I was always one to say it was the system letting Torres down. and i still stand by that for the majority of last season and the first few games of this season. but recently hes been getting the ball a lot more, and when comes to doing his job e.g. scoring or at least breaking free and getting a shot off, he doesnt, he's too slow on the ball, seems to look for the pass more instead of the shot. and he seems to be getting tackled far too easily. he's lost pace as well. it's almost like hes a typical awesome striker... at the age of 35.... Sturridge needs to play there, even if its just to kick some sense in to Torres.

I still have hope for Torres and think he can return to his old self, he needs to become more selfish. the problem with Sturridge is I think hes an opposite to Torres. Sturridge tends to be very selfish, which is good when he comes to having to break away, or take on a defender to score, but when theres a pass on that will lead to a shot on target, he rarely seems to pass it. but hes had plenty of time to mature and make these passes, he just needs some game time!

[Tomo 21,684]

What about the PL table in May? Can you give us a glimpse of that as well?

1. Arsenal 85

2. Tottenham 83

3. West Ham 80

[Spike 12,049]

I don't give a fuck. Still top of the league and still beat Tottenham and Arsenal away. This will be a great wake up slap for the boys, they will turn this into two straight win against Manchester United.

[manpe 10,857]

I still have hope for Torres and think he can return to his old self

You're in for a disappointment, because the only way he'll be able to do that is in another league in another team, which has no hopes of winning silverware.

[EBH 283]

Shakthar are a solid team. We were never going to win on their patch. This isn't Juventus or Nordjaesland, why overreact?

[manpe 10,857]

Shakthar are a solid team. We were never going to win on their patch. This isn't Juventus or Nordjaesland, why overreact?

And some people wanted to play a Cock Cup team against them. Some haven't learned that there are no guarantees in Champions League games, despite having been bitten many times before yet complacency is still epidemic, unless the opponent is from one of the top 5 leagues.

[dumps 284]

You may be right, manpe.

but the way i see it he still lacks confidence. i think he doesnt understand he needs to adapt his game, im watching the game now and hes making touches that give away the ball and we see a lot of that from him, BUT we also see these nice touches that completely rinse a defender or two and he pops a cross or pass in the box. the problem is he shouldnt be getting pushed out wide where he needs to put a cross in.

I think he needs to understand he's ageing and needs to work on adapting his game. how many times did we see drogba last season literally taking a touch then shooting. drogba rarely took on defenders over 10 yards. anyhting under 10 yards drogba could take a touch, decieve a defender and either shoot or lay it off. Torres needs to start to do that and we will see a lot more goals. hes trying to hard to take on defenders, out run people, and dribble for too long. he's not got it in him physically to be able to do that all the time. if he can adapt he will become effective.

I realise im saying he's ageing and i know he's not THAT old, but he appears to be in rapid decline with his physical attributes. Maybe he cant adapt and we will never see a class season from him. i hope he does improve though...

[Tomo 21,684]

Torres isn't intelligent (footballing wise) enough to adapt his game, otherwise he would have done it a few weeks after he got here.

[dumps 284]

you're probably right. god I miss Drogba. Drogs is a perfect example to all ageing footballers to how they should play their game. he had it down to a tee.

[manpe 10,857]

You may be right, manpe.

but the way i see it he still lacks confidence. i think he doesnt understand he needs to adapt his game, im watching the game now and hes making touches that give away the ball and we see a lot of that from him, BUT we also see these nice touches that completely rinse a defender or two and he pops a cross or pass in the box. the problem is he shouldnt be getting pushed out wide where he needs to put a cross in.

I think he needs to understand he's ageing and needs to work on adapting his game. how many times did we see drogba last season literally taking a touch then shooting. drogba rarely took on defenders over 10 yards. anyhting under 10 yards drogba could take a touch, decieve a defender and either shoot or lay it off. Torres needs to start to do that and we will see a lot more goals. hes trying to hard to take on defenders, out run people, and dribble for too long. he's not got it in him physically to be able to do that all the time. if he can adapt he will become effective.

I realise im saying he's ageing and i know he's not THAT old, but he appears to be in rapid decline with his physical attributes. Maybe he cant adapt and we will never see a class season from him. i hope he does improve though...

It's all good and well in theory and I'm sure our coaches have been working with him on that (Holland said last season they were working on his positioning separately), it's had a little positive effect, but he will never be the same, don't deceive yourself. He's been here for almost 2 years, he's past his adaptation period, we are seeing the finished product now.

[OneMoSalah 8,616]

Torres isn't intelligent (footballing wise) enough to adapt his game, otherwise he would have done it a few weeks after he got here.

If Torres was an intelligent footballing wise he would start for Spain ahead of Cesc up top.

[Magic Lamps 11,462]

Torres isn't intelligent (footballing wise) enough to adapt his game, otherwise he would have done it a few weeks after he got here.

Torres is not intelligent in any way. He's a guy who only got his instincts. Just look at the verbal diarrhoe he uses to produce in any kind of interviews. He's simply not the charakter to drag himself out of a low.

[Strike 6,978]

what a drab match. i stopped watching at HT

[communicate 2,703]

You may be right, manpe.

but the way i see it he still lacks confidence. i think he doesnt understand he needs to adapt his game, im watching the game now and hes making touches that give away the ball and we see a lot of that from him, BUT we also see these nice touches that completely rinse a defender or two and he pops a cross or pass in the box. the problem is he shouldnt be getting pushed out wide where he needs to put a cross in.

I think he needs to understand he's ageing and needs to work on adapting his game. how many times did we see drogba last season literally taking a touch then shooting. drogba rarely took on defenders over 10 yards. anyhting under 10 yards drogba could take a touch, decieve a defender and either shoot or lay it off. Torres needs to start to do that and we will see a lot more goals. hes trying to hard to take on defenders, out run people, and dribble for too long. he's not got it in him physically to be able to do that all the time. if he can adapt he will become effective.

I realise im saying he's ageing and i know he's not THAT old, but he appears to be in rapid decline with his physical attributes. Maybe he cant adapt and we will never see a class season from him. i hope he does improve though...

Torres is a poacher, I am not sure he can change his game to a target man, moreover he is just not that strong physically.

I wish he can play like RVP but it looks his first touch is just not good enough.

[YouNameIt 1,511]

Do you honestly think we can win the champions league with young sturridge or lukaku? I won't critize torres bcoz he is our most experienced striker. Yes he didn't play well but until we get falcao there is honestly no better option. Even cavani won't be good enough for me.

That is just fucking bullshit. I would bet my life that if Danny was given HALF the trust and chances Torres has been getting, he would do TWICE as good.

[dumps 284]

just finished the game. Shame Sturridge didnt get much of the ball whilst he was on. hope he starts a couple of games int he near future.

my main observation was defense. and specifically the 2 defensive midfielders. for some reason they were both getting forward for too often. even Mikel was roaming forwarded. and for this reason it left too much space open. when we were 2-0 down it happened a lot more, obviously because we needed to get some goals, but saying that, against Spurs we kept our cool and stayed strong defensively and our patience paid off... Hopefully it was just a poor choice of tactic and we will see our usual defensive discipline agaisnt united.

We had many corsses (like the one Oscar scored) in the first half, and a lot of the time it comes down to fortune with those, but we could and should have bagged a couple of those. Luiz had anoter one of those games where he likes to become an attacking midfielder which agian left us open, and Terry was way of the pace, but to be fair he shouldnt have to combat with an attacking player with 20 25 yards of space behind him. Ramires needs to get in to a defensive mind, Mikel needs to stay put, as does Luiz and we should be fine agaisnt United. we;ve got hte quality in the final third, we just have to be patient and keep our defense tight whilst we wait for the goals.

second half wasnt too bad, its a shame we lost, Shakhtar deserved their win, they were a very good side. its a good thinh Juventus drew. hopefully we can beat Shakhtar at the bridge (will be the first game this season ive seen at the bridge! cant wait!)

we'll be alright. just want to see sturridge start a few games.

[Kieran. 6,317]

I would bet my life that if Danny was given HALF the trust and chances Torres has been getting, he would do TWICE as good.

So true.