Fernando Torres

[Vybz Kartel 1,613]

His gettin into scoring positions more which is really good because he surely wont keep missin. Think he will even get better this season, maybe not to world class level but to a level tht might just win us the title

[Kish9 50]

Had an okay game today, should have scored but unlike what some people think he didn't miss those chances. First of all fair play to him for chasing down the keeper into making a mistake and if you see the right angle of the replays, the keeper actually saves it.as for the second chance with Hazards rabona he headed the ball but it was blocked by the back of the defenders head. Yes he could have attacked it....but what if he wouldnt have had made as good contact. Cant wait till we get a proper striker though to make and score more chances than any of our current strikers

[YouNameIt 1,511]

Always excuses in this thread. No, he wont get better. And having "an okay game" isnt even close good enough for Chelsea.

I will throw the biggest party ever when this cancer is removed from Chelsea.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

He did a decent job for us today, I felt. Very unfortunate not to have scored. Led the line well - might have scored two goals on another day. Lovely assist, decent link-up play. 9 goals and 4 assists in 17 starts, I'll take that.

[manpe 10,861]

I was fuming when in the first half he forced Stekelenburg into that mistake and fought out a good opportunity for us, but instead of squaring it to an open teammate for an easy finish, he decided for a moment he was the lethal confident Torres of old and shot himself at a tight angle, which he of course missed (well it got saved but that's what you expect at that angle). Sure he can score every now and then or even put in a good shift, but this guy is just not worth it... just isn't. I know I have ranted about him a lot in the past and have been on a bit of hiatus for a while, but it's high time I vented again.

[MrExcalibur100 7,124]

Shocking miss from Hazard's cross but showed strength to assist Schurrle's goal. Just feel bad for him nowadays. He needs to leave us in the summer. For his and Chelsea's sake.

[MrExcalibur100 7,124]

Okay game, but ZERO goals, missing easy chances. He's just a disastrously poor player and he hurts us, especially in the PL.

Look at that. It's the sort of stuff Diego Costa gobbles up easily. The sort of stuff any decent striker would score from. When your teammate is good enough to do something like that, the least you can do is return the favour.

[MrExcalibur100 7,124]

Clever play from Schurrle in that move too.

[Kish9 50]

Okay game, but ZERO goals, missing easy chances. He's just a disastrously poor player and he hurts us, especially in the PL.

Look at that. It's the sort of stuff Diego Costa gobbles up easily. The sort of stuff any decent striker would score from. When your teammate is good enough to do something like that, the least you can do is return the favour.

If our defender had blocked the ball like that it would be regarded as great. If a defender blocks the ball then no striker would have definitely scored

[MrExcalibur100 7,124]

I don't know if this article has been posted on this Torres thread, but it sheds some light on what REALLY happened to Nando. Of course it doesn't explain why he inexplicably misses open goals, but it explains why he no longer strikes fear in the hearts of opposition defenders.

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11661/9088027/what-went-wrong

[Strike 7,217]

he's still pretty good when he has lot of space to run into. he has 13 goals in his last 17 European games. that's like a proper striker stat and looking back, goals against Rubin, Schalke, Gala, everywhere he's had loads of space to run beyond the defenders

[Baba 10]

Didn't you have another striker who is good with space to run into? Oh no, he's at Everton.

[Jase 43,479]

he's still pretty good when he has lot of space to run into. he has 13 goals in his last 17 European games. that's like a proper striker stat and looking back, goals against Rubin, Schalke, Gala, everywhere he's had loads of space to run beyond the defenders

Any striker or player for that matter, would look good if they have lots of space to play and operate with. Seriously, if Torres only performs when he gets space from the opposition, we would be better off just having a poacher like Hernandez, Gomez etc. And let's not even forget that Mourinho was berating Torres in that first half from the touchline yesterday. Clearly wasn't happy at all with what he was doing.

[zyzz 711]

If our defender had blocked the ball like that it would be regarded as great. If a defender blocks the ball then no striker would have definitely scored

Well, a striker like Costa or Cavani would've headed both the ball and Richardson into the back off the net

[Strike 7,217]

Any striker or player for that matter, would look good if they have lots of space to play and operate with. Seriously, if Torres only performs when he gets space from the opposition, we would be better off just having a poacher like Hernandez, Gomez etc. And let's not even forget that Mourinho was berating Torres in that first half from the touchline yesterday. Clearly wasn't happy at all with what he was doing.

yeah. i think when he's gone, the forum will meltdown

[Blue Armour 4,278]

Yeah that was a massive assist - game changing

Well it did help with the game, considering Fulham pulled one back shortly after

[MrExcalibur100 7,124]

Utter bullshit. Many other teams play with "inside" wingers and their strikers are not on the wing as much as Torres is.

For Real Madrid, whenever Ronaldo and Di Maria/Bale are playing, two wingers who are always going infield, Benzema still makes many runs forward and does not go into the wings.

Same with Bayern, when Ribery/Goetze and Robben/Shaqiri is playing Manduzick hardly ever goes onto the wing. He stays more centrally then even Benzema!

This is just a poor excuse for a player who really doesnt offer our club much.

Eto'o and Ba might go onto the wing like Torres, but honestly, they are not on the wing nearly as much as Torres. Torres might as well set up a home there, he is more on the wing then in the center. Whenever Eto'o and Ba play they both seem to actually stay in the right position and get off shots, both when you look at the stats have nearly 2-3 more shots on average per game then Torres.

I actually went to my TV and fetched the recording of todays match to show you how poor Torres' positioning is.

In the pictures I will use Yellow to label what is wrong or what Torres is doing, the red will mostly be Schurrle or what is correct.

1st goal:

The useless run made by Torres

As you can see Torres is making the completely wrong run. Instead of making a run straight down the middle giving Schurrle his lane and opening up another potential pass for the man with the ball he effectively puts himself out of the game. Schurrle would still be making the same run with or without Torres there and he is not dragging any defenders with him to make his run of any value.

The aftermath of his run..

As you can now see he is not anywhere near fast enoguh to be able to recover from his bad run and Schurrle is already speeding away. Had Torres made the correct run down the center instead of towards the wings (the area he loves to be, who knows why) he could have gave Schurrle a target in the middle to square the ball towards. Schurrle without anyone open through the middle did the correct thing in cutting across into the open space, the rest is history.

2nd goal

Here is Hazard on the ball looking for someone to make the run into the open space..

Hazard is on the ball and there is space between the defenders for a ball through. Nobody is making the run...yet. Torres is just off to the side and Schurrle is beyond him, who do you think will make the correct run?

Schurrle making the correct run!

As you can see Schurrle runs past the pedestrian Torres and into the space. Where was Torres? Staying stationary off to the side. Schurrle made the run from the wing into the space Torres should have been trying to get into. The fact that Schurrle came from the wing into the striker position instead of Torres says a lot. Great play Schurrle, terrible play Torres.

Torres still walking, very pedestrian like. While Schurrle rushes on ward to goal after making the run Torres should have made. Its obvious which player was hungry to score..

3rd goal:

The run made by Schurrle and the pass made by Torres.

Finally Torres something positive to say about Torres! He properly wins the ball from the air (although it was a huge mistake by the 6'7 defender Bern) and controls and passes to the speedy Schurrle. Schurrle again makes the perfect run into the space behind. This is why I believe he has the potential to be a great center forward given the chance. He is aware of the space and has the legs to get there and the finishing ability to put it into the back of the net. This was great play all round for the final goal.

Conclusion

Torres offers nearly nothing to our team. For a team like Chelsea we can do so much better then Torres and the sooner we can, the better. He cant make runs for his life and then the midfield is blamed for "not giving service to him". He makes runs away from the center lane instead of towards it, he shows no hunger to get a goal and spends more time on the ground then any striker I have seen play for Chelsea for a long time. Its not even diving, he just slips, falls, tumbles more then anyone for whatever reason. He also gives away wayyy to many fouls. He cant channel is aggression properly and just ends up giving too many freekicks to the opposition in their half of the field. I am almost certain that if we had a striker of Aguero or Suarez's quality that they would have had atleast a couple goals this match. The runs were there but only Schurrle really wanted them.

Edit: Thanks to whoever got me gold!! Means a lot!

[MrExcalibur100 7,124]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Interesting analysis from Reddit on Torres' performance against Fulham.