Demba Ba

[The Skipper 20,593]

Torres is not an effective team player sorry. His link up play is 90% of the time poor for me.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Yep, this is true. That would also depend on the tactics of Rafa too. Certain teams, we could do with Torres' team-player profile and others Ba's simple goal instincts. It'll be interesting who lines up in the Europa, will be an indication of how seriously we'll take it.

Torres will definitely line up in Europa. Ba is ineligible.

[Blue Armour 4,278]

Torres is not an effective team player sorry. His link up play is 90% of the time poor for me.

Credit where its due, he does play a part in some of our goals like in the last match. Rafa should honestly consider playing Torres behind Ba.

[Jype 6,398]

Ba: "Chelsea have to bring in a second striker. They can bring in someone, but I won't walk out. It will only make me better"

So basically Ba doesn't even consider the ladyboy a striker? I'm starting to like this man more every day.

[Dion 2,476]

Ba: "Chelsea have to bring in a second striker. They can bring in someone, but I won't walk out. It will only make me better"

So basically Ba doesn't even consider the ladyboy a striker? I'm starting to like this man more every day.

Ba is earning my respect more and more.

[Mufassir08 2,400]

Thats the spirit a striker should possess.If it would have been torres he would have sulked himself to death.

[different level 1,056]

Maybe it's a bit harsh to say that, considering his broken nose and the fact that he is not exactly the first option in attack, but it seems to me that so far in two months he hasn't offered that much more than Torres. In fact he looked like he has borrowed Nando's cloak of invisibility in his last couple of matches. Then again he didn't have many chances in front of him and unlike Nando he hasn't missed sitters, but definitely needs to improve

[OneMoSalah 8,776]

Maybe it's a bit harsh to say that, considering his broken nose and the fact that he is not exactly the first option in attack, but it seems to me that so far in two months he hasn't offered that much more than Torres. In fact he looked like he has borrowed Nando's cloak of invisibility in his last couple of matches. Then again he didn't have many chances in front of him and unlike Nando he hasn't missed sitters, but definitely needs to improve

Hes still got more goals than Torres over the last wee while...

[Jase 43,479]

Ba: "Chelsea have to bring in a second striker. They can bring in someone, but I won't walk out. It will only make me better"

So basically Ba doesn't even consider the ladyboy a striker? I'm starting to like this man more every day.

Think he actually said 'new' striker. Not 'second' striker!

[Blue Armour 4,278]

Maybe it's a bit harsh to say that, considering his broken nose and the fact that he is not exactly the first option in attack, but it seems to me that so far in two months he hasn't offered that much more than Torres. In fact he looked like he has borrowed Nando's cloak of invisibility in his last couple of matches. Then again he didn't have many chances in front of him and unlike Nando he hasn't missed sitters, but definitely needs to improve

Hes still got more goals than Torres over the last wee while...

To tell the truth, even though Ba WAS involved with the goals it was largely a Torres type performance. No real goal-threat from the striker himself.

This is quite worrying, as I don't the strikers are to blame for this. I don't remember any clear cut chances being made for Ba during the last match. He even raised his arms in exasperation when Lampard tried one shot outside the D-box during the first half, instead of making a pass.

[Jase 43,479]

To tell the truth, even though Ba WAS involved with the goals it was largely a Torres type performance. No real goal-threat from the striker himself.

While that is true, Ba was more lively than Torres normally would. It maybe subtle but some of his runs and hold up play was important.

This is quite worrying, as I don't the strikers are to blame for this. I don't remember any clear cut chances being made for Ba during the last match. He even raised his arms in exasperation when Lampard tried one shot outside the D-box during the first half, instead of making a pass.

Yeah. It's silly that when Ba plays, we just seem too keen to lump the ball up to him without much thought and hope for the best. Not enough patience and utilize the strengths of our creative players to create chances. And it's not like Ba can't play the passing game either!

[Thor 2,392]

Nothing new here. We simply can't manage to get our strikers the ball, and everyone, and I mean everyone would look poor playing striker at Chelsea. Fans can beg and hope for Falcao, Van Persie, Villa, etc. Doesn't matter who it is, they would not perform at this club at the striker position.

For all the love and support this board loves to give our midfield, they are in fact the problem. They love to hold the ball and pass it around, instead of moving it quickly and catching out the defense. They get all the praise and none of the blame in loses because they look like they are doing all the work. Move the fricking thing, and get the ball to our forwards. There is a reason Man United are so successful going forward this season. They don't have near the midfield we do, but at least they play the correct way. If we continue to play with it outside the box, no forward will ever succeed here, and I mean none.

I feel sorry for Ba and Torres.

[xPetrCechx 13,563]

We are making all the strikers looks like a shit.

[Backstreet09 499]

I love you @Thor and @xPeterCechx <3 , alteast you diagnosed the problem . The problem is our midfield.

[FabHazard 655]

yeah thats what i am saying! We need to pass the ball to striker.The truth is both ba and torres are not getting enough clear goal scoring chances.I didnt see any through balls for our strikers.

[Muzchap 8,966]

I love you @Thor and @xPeterCechx <3 , alteast you diagnosed the problem . The problem is our midfield.

This has been mentioned thousands of times already, there's even some 'drawings' on the matter from a guy called Seb.

The trouble is:

Torres even if he gets passes still fucks it up on the majority of occasions and the players just lump it up to BA a la Didier style.

It's been a problem for a number of years

But - without our Midfield goals - we would be in the same position as Newcastle

So lets not get too disheartened...

We need a good manager in the summer who can help us transition from defence to attack in an organised, efficient way. It's fine using Manure as an example, but they have had the same philosophy for 25 YEARS!!! We've had as many approaches as managers, no wonder it's a bit disjointed

[Backstreet09 499]

This has been mentioned thousands of times already, there's even some 'drawings' on the matter from a guy called Seb.

The trouble is:

Torres even if he gets passes still fucks it up on the majority of occasions and the players just lump it up to BA a la Didier style.

It's been a problem for a number of years

But - without our Midfield goals - we would be in the same position as Newcastle

So lets not get too disheartened...

We need a good manager in the summer who can help us transition from defence to attack in an organised, efficient way. It's fine using Manure as an example, but they have had the same philosophy for 25 YEARS!!! We've had as many approaches as managers, no wonder it's a bit disjointed

How many passes did torres got in promising positions ? I don't remember even a few and the fucked up chances are those who actually come to him like from GOD , I mean somebody tried a shot , it got blocked , then it fell to torres and he missed them lol , It's never been our midfield has passed him a great ball or even has tried to play him on but what staggering is he still have fucking 15 goals alright .

And about our midfield goals , dude they way we are playing this whole season uhm we can only get goals from the midfield and one's the opposition shut our midfield we are screw every single time . We don't have a plan B , we are actually playing the ball B lol cause simple basic football is too mainstream for our so called creative midfield

[Muzchap 8,966]

How many passes did torres got in promising positions ? I don't remember even a few and the fucked up chances are those who actually come to him like from GOD , I mean somebody tried a shot , it got blocked , then it fell to torres and he missed them lol , It's never been our midfield has passed him a great ball or even has tried to play him on but what staggering is he still have fucking 15 goals alright .

And about our midfield goals , dude they way we are playing this whole season uhm we can only get goals from the midfield and one's the opposition shut our midfield we are screw every single time . We don't have a plan B , we are actually playing the ball B lol cause simple basic football is too mainstream for our so called creative midfield

Ok - but Torres is hopeless compared to Hernandez at Utd...

I've seen around 15-20 World Class passes to Torres and he's either lost the ball (poor touch) or been nowhere near the goal.

His positioning is awful, his anticipation is non existent and apart from a great pass to Ramires I've been hoping he gets injured (wrong I know) for a long time. The guy is a soulless, self interested loser. He always looks sulky!!!

Obviously we have no plan B, we don't even have a Plan A? That's also been mentioned by me hundreds of times and was my main criticism of RdM!

I've also highlighted that a 'simple' opposition 'press' shuts us down completely! This is why we need Marin and Moses for some games, keep them out wide and stretch teams to create space and nullify the ability to 'Press'. If we keep trying to play through the middle then it's easy for teams to make us look shit.

Also our TEMPO has been rubbish, way too slow and boring...

So, MANY problems - but nothing Mourinho couldn't sort in a few weeks