Fernando Torres

[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 6,966]

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 4,168]

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.

[Ze Mario 638]

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!

1st goal. useless run? on contrary, its useless if he run and get the ball, cos he was in offside position

and about shirley as centre forward? big no for me

i'll just quote my own post on Fulham-Chelsea thread

then we will losing his best ability which is finding empty space. he's like muller in munich whom german ppl say "master of space", or its called misdirection in magician dictionary. if we put him as striker then the spotlight will be him, and he will get more attention, more marking, more tackling which will reduce his chances. and all his goals yesterday proved this point

[BlueLyon 9,359]

He scores winner against Lpool at anfield and then leaves us in summer. That would be about perfect.

[kellzfresh 7,226]

He should stay away from liverpool matches. Always terrible against them

[BloodIsBlue 291]

What the plan on getting rid of him in the summer?

[bazza1984 21]

He should stay away from liverpool matches. Always terrible against them

He should stay away from football matches, he's always terrible in them

[YouNameIt 1,511]

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

He had all space he wanted infront of the goal after Hazard did a godlike dribble and cross in.

Torres is NOT pretty good. I cannot understand there are still people here who bring up some statistics and actually BELIEVE that he's still good.

"a proper striker stat". Allow me to laugh. So you are telling me statistics is everything? If so, then Drogba cannot be as big as he's been, right? Except, he ALWAYS scored in big games when it mattered. THAT is often alot more valueable than scoring alot, for instance 3 goals against a championship team.

[FineBoy 7]

Age is telling on him

[BloodIsBlue 291]

Age is telling on him

It's not age it's a combination of his injury and his mentality. His confidence has dissapeared with his hair.

[Roquila 1,335]

He is becoming more irrelevant than Bodo fucking Zenden.

[Blue Armour 4,168]

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!

The guy who wrote this seems to have lost the plot on how Schurrle thrived on finding space coming in from a wide position. The fact that Torres and Schurrle swapped positions is part of the reason why the Fulham defense got bamboozled for the first two goals

And potentially great CF Schurrle? I wonder what he made of the game against United at OT earlier on in the season...

[Jase 43,479]

The guy who wrote this seems to have lost the plot on how Schurrle thrived on finding space coming in from a wide position. The fact that Torres and Schurrle swapped positions is part of the reason why the Fulham defense got bamboozled for the first two goals

And potentially great CF Schurrle? I wonder what he made of the game against United at OT earlier on in the season...

I know there might be some concerns or issues about Schurrle playing as a ST for us but to use the game at Old Trafford earlier this season to suggest he can't do so seems a bit silly especially when it's only one game and nothing definitive can be proven from it. Let's not forget that Schurrle has had previous experience playing as a ST back in Germany with Leverkusen and mainly Mainz.

[Strike 6,966]

He had all space he wanted infront of the goal after Hazard did a godlike dribble and cross in.

Torres is NOT pretty good. I cannot understand there are still people here who bring up some statistics and actually BELIEVE that he's still good.

"a proper striker stat". Allow me to laugh. So you are telling me statistics is everything? If so, then Drogba cannot be as big as he's been, right? Except, he ALWAYS scored in big games when it mattered. THAT is often alot more valueable than scoring alot, for instance 3 goals against a championship team.

lol. don't read that much into it. I'm actually a Torres hater and can't wait to see him gone.

i was just surprised by his stats in europe. 13 in 17 is a proper striker stat

[BlueLion. 21,491]

I know there might be some concerns or issues about Schurrle playing as a ST for us but to use the game at Old Trafford earlier this season to suggest he can't do so seems a bit silly especially when it's only one game and nothing definitive can be proven from it. Let's not forget that Schurrle has had previous experience playing as a ST back in Germany with Leverkusen and mainly Mainz.

Schurrle as a striker against the poorer teams, like Fulham, obviously will (and did) work. Against the better sides... no chance.