Closed Chelsea v Manchester United

[TheCount 146]

Fair point but I don't think that would be a reason for RDM to start him. I think it comes down due to the fact that he believes Torres works well with the team and although Torres has his off games we are managing to win our league games even if it means him not getting on the scoresheet whereas Sturridge is not a proven out and out striker, even though I believe he has what ti takes to get bags of goals in the CF position

Torres dose work better, already knew this i was adding points to his favour. It wouldnt be THE reason but it was defo be A reason.

Torres may have alot more experience but he as alot less motivation, confidence and at the moment; skill.

Extra height? I hope that was a joke.

Defensive responsibilities. I get so mad when I hear about that. Like seriousley, do we want a CF with defensive responsibilities or one that scores so he doesnt have to track back?

Height is important,End of story. As i said above Drogba headed out 90% of balls from corners and set pieces when he plays, so do i want my CF defending? if he can score and do both why the hell not? i get mad when people think they shouldnt be part of the overall team or pull their weight or just have OTHER responsibilities just because their a striker...

sturridge actually deserves a stint in the centre-forward role. torres has been average at best so far. he has had a lot of chances and has simply refused to pull the trigger at times. that shows his confidence. i don't know what you are onto when you say extra height because torres is not exactly a great header of the ball and as for defensive responsibilities? do u think we will play 11 men behind the ball again?

What the hell is wrong with people, so defending means 11 behind the ball? cant just defend well and attack well anymore? has to be one or other ? i really dont know anymore can a team not be good at everything anymore? instead of just being attacking or defending? yanno before these "barca days" where if you dont play tika taka teams never have the ball on the ground and defending is a dirty word, teams did a bit of everything and were more balanced.

Regardless of if Torres is "good" at defensive headers and attacking or not, he's better then sturridge in the air thats for sure, so he should be picked. Tomorrow is not the day to take a chance on if sturridge should play or not.

Have you actually seen Torres defend from set pieces? they highlighted him on Chelsea tv the other day they showed around 3 or 4 set pieces from different games where balls were played into the box and every time Torres was just literally standing there and not following his man, its one thing being tall and another actually being able to defend a set piece.

As said above he's still better then sturridge, also if you notice in the matches highlight *most* was where terry was not on the pitch to boss the line and organize, we suffer when someone dosent take responsibility regardless of if torres does his job or not, also hazard mata or oscar are of know use to us in these situations either.....Torres has his jobs and he deos them as RDM says, he's always happy with his contribution and so far bar the odd bad game this year i am to. Thats not to say i dont think he could do a million times better.

I also love the irony of most of these people love drogba a player who did everything i suggested above, but would rather a player or a team that dose none lol. Funny stuff.

[Las7 951]

Height is important,End of story. As i said above Drogba headed out 90% of balls from corners and set pieces when he plays, so do i want my CF defending? if he can score and do both why the hell not? i get mad when people think they shouldnt be part of the overall team or pull their weight or just have OTHER responsibilities just because their a striker...

Torres - Height, 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)

Sturridge - Height, 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)

So if height is important we should play Sturridge

[Magic Lamps 11,473]

1. Torres is taller than Studge. I know he is listed everywhere as 1.88m but that is simply not true there are shitloads of photos that prove different. A friend of mine has a photo with studge which was shot when he randomly met him in London and they are very much the same height at straight posture. That friend is waay shorter than me and I am 1.88m.

Anyway height is not necessarily a factor in aerial challenges. It's about timing, leap and technique. Hence I'd favor Torres with regard to that aspect cos he clearly is the more prolific guy at headers.

2. It would be a bit strange to give Studge his first start against ManUtd. RDM has kept faith in Torres after worse displays than against Shaktar. I am sure, RDM has good reasons for not starting Studge in Ukraine and against Wolves e.g. where it would not have harmed Torres confidence. Maybe he is not fit right now.

3.Torres always has something in his locker, esp against ManUtd. He might be a mediocre striker right now and will never again be the guy who set the world on fire in 2008 but he has shown glimpses of it with his goal against Newcastle and in particular with his finish and cross in the ManU games last season respectively.

4. Lamps is a massive loss for this game whether he would have started or not.As a sub his lack of pace would not have been an issue. Even though his playmaking abilites might not be required his scoring certainly is. He is one of our very few natural finishers and he is about the only guy I would be certain of converting a penalty. With Utds clumsy defense I am perfectly sure we should get a few situations worth a penalty, whilst I am equally aware that we will get none.

5. The ref's performance will be crucial as usually against them. Whilst in 2009/10 the refs where bad as fuck but did not manage to stop us from regaining the EPL crown in glorious fasion beating the reds devils twice, in 2010/11 they were tolerable (of course as always favouring Utd more or less) in 2011/12 they cost us at least 3 points at least. at OT they allowed 2 clearly offside goals for Utd to stand, at the bridge they got unrightfully rewarded 2 fuckin penalties to equalise. I am a bit afraid of 10 minutes fergie time if we are about to win and no drogba to make fun of them at their own corner flag with atrocious skills ( but I am sure hazard can do so too)

[TheCount 146]

Torres - Height, 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)

Sturridge - Height, 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)

So if height is important we should play Sturridge

Sturridge is not 6foot 2 contrary to what it says on Wikipedia, If you ever seen him play you'd know he isnt.

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?um=1&hl=en&sa=N&biw=1280&bih=906&tbm=isch&tbnid=JiGTHUUWZXaUXM:&imgrefurl=http://www.attackingsoccer.com/tag/daniel-sturridge/&docid=hDBOMJYcvG7hcM&imgurl=http://www.attackingsoccer.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Daniel-Sturridge-.jpg&w=415&h=308&ei=esmKUJyTFqm30QXUhYCwBg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=426&vpy=190&dur=288&hovh=193&hovw=261&tx=133&ty=78&sig=111814241256469542220&page=3&tbnh=162&tbnw=216&start=50&ndsp=25&ved=1t:429,r:6,s:50,i:295

Carlo is 5.11, now does Sturridge look 6foot 2 to you? Bar in Mind Ivan and Terry are just about 6 foot 2 and Cahill is 6'3.

If sturridge WAS 6.2 he'd be a better header of the ball and i would indeed like him to played for the reasons above.

[DYC. 7,542]

Torres - Height, 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)

Sturridge - Height, 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)

So if height is important we should play Sturridge

Torres is obviously taller than Sturridge. Torres is around 6 ft 1, Sturridge 6 ft at best.

Besides, Sturridge has no aerial presence due to his poor leap.

[Stats 6,988]

I think u have problem with me right?? We have to think to win not to make line up for di mateo

Course not mate only banter, nothing personal

[Las7 951]

Torres is obviously taller than Sturridge. Torres is around 6 ft 1, Sturridge 6 ft at best.

Besides, Sturridge has no aerial presence due to his poor leap.

Torres has Aerial Presence I have read all type of crazy reasoning for Torres to start - height is not one of them

Torres is not taller than Sturridge maybe Wiki is wrong but here you go Soccerbase

http://www.soccerbas...player_id=31990

http://www.soccerbas...player_id=46104

Torres 6ft (1.83m)

Sturridge 6ft 1in (1.85m)

On our Official website once again they have Sturridge taller than Torres... I can't believe we are arguing about height

[CHOULO19 24,332]

I can't believe how silly the level of discussion is in the last few pages

This is the Match thread for the Manchester United game not the height thread. Get back on topic people.

Di Matteo prematch:

[didierforever 7,349]

wow... new and the most important criteria of footballers these days - HEIGHT. the level of foolishness that torres fans go thru is commendable.

[Hutcho 8,443]

Why is everyone going on about height. They are both around 6ft... However none of them are drogba. Cech often hits it out wide to ivan to header it rather than straight down at torres. If you look man for man then sturridge has to start. Yes torres has been better this season than last, however we all know he has hardly lit anything up and has messed up every one on one. As i said in a different thread, torres is great atm IF he doesn't have to think about anything, i.e. his first touch shot vs newcastle, his goals scored from a header etc, however any time he has to think about what he is going to do, 90% of the time he either messes up his shot or slows doen so much he gets tackled. Danny is more selfish (he is a lone striker he is allowed to be), and he looks more threatning when he is on the pitch. He also looks like he can create something out of nothing and will be able to convert some of the chances Hazmat and oscar will create for us... And as for some talk about defensive qualities... If we are worrying about our lone strikers defensive duties then we have big problems. I want our striker to worry about scoring and creating chances not whether he is tracking back or putting in the effort running back.

HOWEVER:

We all know that none of it matters as RDM will play torres.

[TheCount 146]

wow... new and the most important criteria of footballers these days - HEIGHT. the level of foolishness that torres fans go thru is commendable.

Love how you all focus on ONE factor givin in Torres favour ,rather then actually giving points in sturridges favour.

"Didierforever" thinks height in his striker isnt important, lol i love the irony.

[Hutcho 8,443]

Love how you all focus on ONE factor givin in Torres favour ,rather then actually giving points in sturridges favour.

"Didierforever" thinks height in his striker isnt important, lol i love the irony.

Didier was a beast in the air, because he was 6ft 2 and MORE IMPORTANTLY A BEAST IN THE AIR. If he was 6ft he would still have been a beast in the air, just a slightly shorter one...

Case in point. Tim cahill is a heading machine but is 5 ft 11.

Height doesn't make you useful in the air, unless your crouch in which case you have such an edge, jumping and heading ability doesn't matter as much.

Also we are talking about a 1 inch difference. Its not like sturridge is 5ft 7.

[didierforever 7,349]

Love how you all focus on ONE factor givin in Torres favour ,rather then actually giving points in sturridges favour.

"Didierforever" thinks height in his striker isnt important, lol i love the irony.

first of all this "ONE" factor is not really factor. secondly i dont have enough time to list out all the points in sturridge's favour.

next i think we should buy crouch for 50mil because well he is the tallest of them all. height is the most important thing n that is the only reason for drogba to be a legend, right?

[diskoviolente 425]

I´d like to see a brazilian hattrick:

Oscar with a swing the outside of his boot, on the edge of the area,

a trademark David Luiz header from a Mata setpiece,

and a toe-poke from Ramires (i.e. against Wolves).

Ask a bit much here ? Don´t think so...

But the joking aside, I just hope to beat those twatish bunch of a team. It has been too long since we´ve beaten them domesticially, or in general. I always brick it when we play them. Oh yeah, and of course, it has to be a double whammy.

[DYC. 7,542]

Torres has Aerial Presence I have read all type of crazy reasoning for Torres to start - height is not one of them

Torres is not taller than Sturridge maybe Wiki is wrong but here you go Soccerbase

http://www.soccerbas...player_id=31990

http://www.soccerbas...player_id=46104

Torres 6ft (1.83m)

Sturridge 6ft 1in (1.85m)

On our Official website once again they have Sturridge taller than Torres... I can't believe we are arguing about height

What does Torres have to do with Sturridge being poor in the air? When did I say Torres should start? Can't believe people can actually go on and on about Torres.

As for Danny's height, just use your eyes. He's not a tall guy.

[TheCount 146]

Didier was a beast in the air, because he was 6ft 2 and MORE IMPORTANTLY A BEAST IN THE AIR. If he was 6ft he would still have been a beast in the air, just a slightly shorter one...

Case in point. Tim cahill is a heading machine but is 5 ft 11.

Height doesn't make you useful in the air, unless your crouch in which case you have such an edge, jumping and heading ability doesn't matter as much.

Also we are talking about a 1 inch difference. Its not like sturridge is 5ft 7.

It is down to skill of course, but being taller will help you in that regard. Being good in the air is no good if someone taller is good in the air as well.

Sturridge isnt good in the air at all, Torres is decent.

[Mufassir08 2,400]

If height is so important then instead of chasing falcao we should sign carroll

[Las7 951]

What does Torres have to do with Sturridge being poor in the air? When did I say Torres should start? Can't believe people can actually go on and on about Torres.

As for Danny's height, just use your eyes. He's not a tall guy.

Use my eyes?

Every site out there has Sturridge being taller than Torres.

Those are the facts, footballers have an yearly medical if Torres was taller than Sturridge it would have been reflected in at least one site that provides such information.

Like I said I've given you links stating that Torres is in fact shorter than Sturridge - not that I personally think it makes any difference.

I've only brought up their height because somebody said that an extra few inches for Torres will be key - I disagree with such a notion especially when factually Torres is shorter.