Fernando Torres

[boshman 1,073]

Not really. Too keen to dribble with the ball when at times he should have passed it and also, remember that one counter attack we had in the first half with Ramires charging down the right flank? Any striker would be busting their gut to get into the box and provide option to receive the pass but instead, Torres was only half jogging into the box before Ramires (annoyingly) blazed it over the goal.

Sorry but i have to totally disagree with you here.

He was given shit service all night and when he was given a ball he could do something with he did all he could do with it. The confidence he showed with his dribbles is what pleased me because frankly he had nothing else on. He had barely any support.

And on the Ramires 'chance' not sure what you watched but what i saw was a striker in the box ready for the ball to he squared.

IMO he gave all he could possibly give on very limited and poor service

[LAB 1,030]

I don't wanna get too excited about those beautiful dribbles and have a goldfish memory, so i only say he did well tonight. Fought with everything he could. That at least we should all recognize.

[BlueLyon 9,359]

Well...he was completly cut off the team. Our strikers have ZERO support from midfielders or fullbacks. No wonder they have so little effect...

Willian was only one who at least tried, but Lamps and Ramires were useless in attack. I guess thats because Mou didnt want us to attack at all, but to keep clean sheet.

To compare, Atleti players were all the time looking for their striker, they were crossing to Costa all the time, they were productive/creative in their attacking; considering how good our defense was.

We dont know what to do with ball, we rely on individual brilliance, there is no connection, no versatility in our attack. No service and no support. Costa, should he come, will do little change. In first place; Willian, Oscar and partly Hazard have to improve finishing and decision making. Must start attack as a team.

[The_Flash 1,144]

He was pretty poor, didn't ever look like scoring. I am just praying for another moment like against Barca where he gets a great goal and sends us to the final.

A girl can dream

[Jase 43,479]

Sorry but i have to totally disagree with you here.

He was given shit service all night and when he was given a ball he could do something with he did all he could do with it. The confidence he showed with his dribbles is what pleased me because frankly he had nothing else on. He had barely any support.

True. I don't deny that there was hardly any service given to him and his drive to take on players with the dribbling helped to bring us up the pitch but there were also times when he did do that, support arrived in 2-3 players and he could have passed it. Instead, he was too keen to do everything by himself. It was good that he look to dribbled past players, taking them on to give us some attacking impetus but I was just faulting his decision making on some occasions.

And on the Ramires 'chance' not sure what you watched but what i saw was a striker in the box ready for the ball to he squared.

Not sure what you were watching there. Torres was moving slowly and not busting his gut to get into the penalty box to put himself in a good position and let Ramires pick him out with a pass/cross. Any 'proper' ST would create chances for themselves by getting into good positions for their teammates to pick out and make it easy for them to create for their ST. Ramires was charging with the ball down the right side and Torres was only seen to be nearly jogging into the box making him practically behind the ball rather than level or even ahead of it.

[Ze Mario 638]

Not sure what you were watching there. Torres was moving slowly and not busting his gut to get into the penalty box to put himself in a good position and let Ramires pick him out with a pass/cross. Any 'proper' ST would create chances for themselves by getting into good positions for their teammates to pick out and make it easy for them to create for their ST. Ramires was charging with the ball down the right side and Torres was only seen to be nearly jogging into the box making him practically behind the ball rather than level or even ahead of it.

was he? if he run slightly faster then definitely he will caught offside. but yes, overall in this season his decision making and positioning are awful

but for that match, he made real contribution as a striker

[Jase 43,479]

was he? if he run slightly faster then definitely he will caught offside. but yes, overall in this season his decision making and positioning are awful

but for that match, he made real contribution as a striker

I obviously didn't mean he has to get into the box and offside position! Let's not forget that Ramires was ahead of Torres with his run down the right and he had an Atletico player on him while Torres was behind the play and even behind the Atletico defender that was near him, if not at least leveled.

[edetarod 2,155]

He was pretty poor, didn't ever look like scoring. I am just praying for another moment like against Barca where he gets a great goal and sends us to the final.

A girl can dream

Torres never scored a goal to send us to the final

Ramires did

[Ze Mario 638]

I obviously didn't mean he has to get into the box and offside position! Let's not forget that Ramires was ahead of Torres with his run down the right and he had an Atletico player on him while Torres was behind the play and even behind the Atletico defender that was near him, if not at least leveled.

that is why the fault belong to ramires. Atletico players are leveled with ramires so ft9 had to maintain his speed too. ramires cross was fast and unfortunately way too far from torres.

edit: already watched the replay. yep his positioning was so bad, but ramires pass was worse than his positioning

[Special Juan 28,141]

There was a point when Luiz had the ball last night, and instead of making a run across Godin he ran towards Luiz

His big daft fucking smile in the tunnel did my head in. Like a kid just seeing his birthday cake.

[Jase 43,479]

that is why the fault belong to ramires. Atletico players are leveled with ramires so ft9 had to maintain his speed too. ramires cross was fast and unfortunately way too far from torres.

edit: already watched the replay. yep his positioning was so bad, but ramires pass was worse than his positioning

The point is, had Torres busted his gut to get forward quickly, he would have given Ramires a proper option to pass the ball to but because he didn't, Ramires the brainfarted with his use of the ball. You can see Torres was almost half jogging into that huge space in front of him rather than looking to get there quickly and/or at least put himself in a good position. And I don't think it's about positioning here but rather just switching the brain on and getting there!

[DH1988 1,348]

Looked sharp yesterday to be honest, fed on scraps but made the most of what he got.

Frustrating game to be involved in.

[Ze Mario 638]

i just realize del bosque attended the match. no wonder nando tried so hard in that game

[lionsden 4,689]

He did well last night by his own standard and considering the way the team was set out to play and the poor services he had to work with all night. solid 7.5/10 performance.

[The Chels 2,502]

Well there we have it guys... According to Michael Owen and the many retweeters, our strikers aren't bad at all. Indeed 3 years' worth of assessing Torres' performances is completely void because we never attack; we set up the way we did against Atletico every game and Torres never has any service or chances to score.