Demba Ba

[Special Juan 27,424]

To be fair he maybe not the best but he has come in and scored some good goals. It's difficult to buy correctly in January and get players that aren't over cup-tied too much. He wasn't a bad buy IMO because the club sold themselves down the river going into the season with two recognised strikers in Torres and Danny, then selling Danny and bringing in Ba.

The big picture is both Torres and Ba are both pretty average, we need more than average. Torres seems to have woken up towards the latter part of the season but you can't polish a turd, he's been utter turd since he signed a few decent games won't cloud my judgement, he's been poor.

[Pacquiao 1,834]

Torres is hit a semi decent run of form in a competition Ba can't even play in, domestically Ba has been head and shoulders better than Torres. That's not saying how good Ba is just how crap Torres is.

The guy is finished he use to be one of the best, now he is just an Akinfenwa without stength (and no that isn't even tongue in cheek).

Ba would be a decent 2nd/3rd option, Torres should be playing in League Two.

Haha!!! Ba hasn't been better than Torres in the league! Ba has been playing a lot more than Torres in the league and Torres has still been better than Ba in the League in recent months!

name me one striker in League 2 or League 1 even, who could play up front for Chelsea and be the best player during the Europa League run! you cant can you? so stop posting crap as if Torres is a League 2 striker when he has clearly been better than Ba! so by your logic Ba must be a conference league Striker!

Torres has worked harder than ever since Ba came in and Torres has kept improving because of it! whereas Ba started off well and has just got worse and worse! give any of them the ball 1 on 1 with a keeper and i know who i would fancy to score and its not Demba Ba! he has wasted so many easy chances that a striker who is supposed to be miles better than Torres should be scoring! but he has failed!

[Amblève. 4,995]

This is hypocrisy at its best, smh. I remember when Torres joined Chelsea and people were making every fucking excuse for him ("Our wingers are bad", "Drogba is hindering him" blah blah blah) and crying for more time for Torres to "settle in" even though he was playing almost every single game. Yet, with Ba it's the complete opposite.

[The Skipper 20,593]

Haha!!! Ba hasn't been better than Torres in the league! Ba has been playing a lot more than Torres in the league and Torres has still been better than Ba in the League in recent months!

name me one striker in League 2 or League 1 even, who could play up front for Chelsea and be the best player during the Europa League run! you cant can you? so stop posting crap as if Torres is a League 2 striker when he has clearly been better than Ba! so by your logic Ba must be a conference league Striker!

Torres has worked harder than ever since Ba came in and Torres has kept improving because of it! whereas Ba started off well and has just got worse and worse! give any of them the ball 1 on 1 with a keeper and i know who i would fancy to score and its not Demba Ba! he has wasted so many easy chances that a striker who is supposed to be miles better than Torres should be scoring! but he has failed!

Wow, Torres has hit half decent form and people forget he's been horrible in the league for us? I can't believe it. Short term memory at its finest. Are you telling me Ba wouldn't perform in the Europa League either given the chance?

So because Torres has performed well in the Europa League he's automatically a better striker than Ba? That's bollocks sorry. Question. Given the chance, who would you sell? Torres or Ba? Give reasons.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Ba can go on a 10 year goal drought and still offer to the team much much more than Torres. First of all, he's a target man, unlike Torres, so he offers us the option to lump the ball forward when our midfield is having problems and you can bet that more often than not he'll get to it first and get a knock down to a teammate. Secondly, he is a great physical presence; he can keep both CBs occupied unlike Torres who usually just runs away to the wings. Ba also actually gets involved in link-up play and make passes and create space behind him for Mata to run into unlike Torres who likes to just run into defenders whenever he gets the ball into his feet.

There is no denying that towards the end of the season, Torres went on a decent run of form in the EL while Ba was off form but that does not erase the horror show Torres has put on in the past two and a half seasons or the great work Demba has done with the team. And let's not forget that Ba came into the team midseason which is always extremely difficult. So let's just wait for Demba to have a proper preseason with the team and see how he performs next season before we send him to League one.

[Hutcho 8,443]

Ba occupys defenders, and runs straight dragging defenders out the way, creating space in behind. Torres runs sideways and towards the corners and is often out of position. Ba hasn't been scoring a lot recently, but he still offers that to the team. Torres has been better in the final month of the season, but we all know from experience that torres has had good months before and then slumped back into his shell, the moment something happens.

Also Ba would probably accept more of a squad role, and has a lot less hysteria around him. With torres, theres 200 headlines about how he has been benched etc, and its big news worthy news if he plays or doesn't etc. With Ba he can just do a job we may need him for. Be our version of Dzecko if you will.

[Pacquiao 1,834]

Wow, Torres has hit half decent form and people forget he's been horrible in the league for us? I can't believe it. Short term memory at its finest. Are you telling me Ba wouldn't perform in the Europa League either given the chance?

So because Torres has performed well in the Europa League he's automatically a better striker than Ba? That's bollocks sorry. Question. Given the chance, who would you sell? Torres or Ba? Give reasons.

No Torres hasn't hit form, he has improved his all round game! his hold up play has improved, his speed and strength have also improved, he never would have been capable of scoring that goal against Benfica before Rafa came in! and if Ba was our striker for the Europa League i doubt he would have done any better than Torres, if he cant even put in good performances against weak PL teams then what chance would he have in Europe! he would have been the same he would have got good chances to score and miss pretty much all of them!

Who would i sell? I wouldn't mind selling both if we replaced them with 1 world class striker and another striker like Luakau who could become world class, but if i had to pick 1 it would be Ba! he just isnt good enough for a team fighting for titles! he is just so wasteful in front of goal! Ba has better movement than Torres so he gets better goalscoring chances than Torres does but Ba just cant put the ball in the back of the net consistently enough! he doesn't even hit the target a lot of the times, with easy chances as well! none of them will be 1st choice next season so who would i rather coming off the bench against a tired defence? Torres easily! he is the type of player to take advantage of a tired defence who start to leave gaps towards the end of a match, we saw that in the Euro 2012 final against Italy Torres came on and took advantage of a tired Italy defence! I dont think Ba is a great option at all coming off from the bench to change a game! i would much rather see Lukaku or Torres coming on as they have the pace to get in behind a tiring defence, Ba would slow things up and probably get a chance 1 on 1 and hit it wide, that pretty much sums him up!

[Pacquiao 1,834]

Ba also actually gets involved in link-up play and make passes and create space behind him for Mata to run into unlike Torres who likes to just run into defenders whenever he gets the ball into his feet.

When was the last time you watched Torres play? because he hasnt been playing like that for months! his link up play has been better than Ba's in recent months! Torres has improved massively with his back to goal, he plays much simpler now, he takes 1 touch then lays it off to a team mate, he has done this countless times since Rafa has sorted him out!

[CHOULO19 24,332]

When was the last time you watched Torres play? because he hasnt been playing like that for months! his link up play has been better than Ba's in recent months! Torres has improved massively with his back to goal, he plays much simpler now, he takes 1 touch then lays it off to a team mate, he has done this countless times since Rafa has sorted him out!

Torres has improve his linkup play in the last two months, but even during that period he's had games where he had me pounding my head against a brick wall. I hope that this form continues, but with Torres, I can't help but be skeptic.

[English Freak 456]

When was the last time you watched Torres play? because he hasnt been playing like that for months! his link up play has been better than Ba's in recent months! Torres has improved massively with his back to goal, he plays much simpler now, he takes 1 touch then lays it off to a team mate, he has done this countless times since Rafa has sorted him out!

This is why I want Torres to follow Rafa and join Napoli....he always plays better under Rafa because he's given confidence and they respect each other.

I doubt we'll see a 'happy' Torres under Mourinho...and then all the excuses will come up again as soon as he loses his confidence.

[Jase 43,479]

This is just absolutely pathetic. Ba has basically become a target for criticism by Torres's fangirls because of his supposed improvement in form. It is beyond me how on earth can people still defend Torres after 2 years of waiting for the 'real' Torres turn up but didn't! At this point, it appears that people have been influenced by Torres's goals and allowed it to cloud their judgment. As much as Torres scored a few goals in the Europa League on the way to winning the competition, lets not forget who we actually faced in it - Sparta Prague, Steaua Bucharest, Rubin Kazan, Basel and Benfica. Except for the Benfica game, which he did well in it TBF, the rest were against 3rd or even 4th tier oppositions and there wasn't much challenge for him in those games. And yet when Torres did play in the Premier League in some of the last few games, he hardly did anything of note. The game at Anfield and home encounter against Spurs are clear examples of it. Ba has probably got himself into more goalscoring positions in matches than Torres probably has during this time here. Had Ba scored converted more of the chances he missed in those league games, this Torres-Ba issue wouldn't even be a debate right now.

[Tomo 21,733]

Haha!!! Ba hasn't been better than Torres in the league! Ba has been playing a lot more than Torres in the league and Torres has still been better than Ba in the League in recent months!

name me one striker in League 2 or League 1 even, who could play up front for Chelsea and be the best player during the Europa League run! you cant can you? so stop posting crap as if Torres is a League 2 striker when he has clearly been better than Ba! so by your logic Ba must be a conference league Striker!

Torres has worked harder than ever since Ba came in and Torres has kept improving because of it! whereas Ba started off well and has just got worse and worse! give any of them the ball 1 on 1 with a keeper and i know who i would fancy to score and its not Demba Ba! he has wasted so many easy chances that a striker who is supposed to be miles better than Torres should be scoring! but he has failed!

Im sorry but how on this earth has Torres performed better than Ba in the league? he took 4 months after Ba's arrival to even score in the PL (which backs up my theory that Fernando winces at the face of the slightest bit of competition). Domestically since Ba's arrival, Demba has scored 6 (two of them against the Manc clubs) while Torres has scored 3 (two of which against lower league opposition in the FA Cup).

Atleast like with Choulo said with Ba we have a target man that occupies defenders and makes space, defenders can't ignore him and focus on the amigo's like they do with Torres.

Ba has not had the desired effect no question about that, but he is by some considerable distance better than Torres. His 'performance' at Anfield is still giving me nightmares.

But the clear fact is neither should be number one forward next season, so who would be more suitable for the role as a squad player? for many reason's that would be Ba. He won't sulk when a superior forward is on the field, he is on less wages and quite frankly is a better player.

[GermanBlue 82]

He's been left out of Senegal's squad for their World Cup qualifiers against Angola and Liberia this month.

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11095/8749311

[Slam Dunk 1,442]

He's been left out of Senegal's squad for their World Cup qualifiers against Angola and Liberia this month.

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11095/8749311

It's ok, he's been given the lead role in a remake of Titanic...

[zolayes 14,489]

Im sorry but how on this earth has Torres performed better than Ba in the league? he took 4 months after Ba's arrival to even score in the PL (which backs up my theory that Fernando winces at the face of the slightest bit of competition). Domestically since Ba's arrival, Demba has scored 6 (two of them against the Manc clubs) while Torres has scored 3 (two of which against lower league opposition in the FA Cup).

Atleast like with Choulo said with Ba we have a target man that occupies defenders and makes space, defenders can't ignore him and focus on the amigo's like they do with Torres.

Ba has not had the desired effect no question about that, but he is by some considerable distance better than Torres. His 'performance' at Anfield is still giving me nightmares.

But the clear fact is neither should be number one forward next season, so who would be more suitable for the role as a squad player? for many reason's that would be Ba. He won't sulk when a superior forward is on the field, he is on less wages and quite frankly is a better player.

Ba or Torres ....Id choose Ba but he should NOT be our first choice striker rather our 3rd with our Number 2 Lukaku .

no idea who will be Numero Uno,,,,,,,, D D ????

[Sir Mikel OBE 4,919]

He's been left out of Senegal's squad for their World Cup qualifiers against Angola and Liberia this month.

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11095/8749311

Not really surprising. He has not been good enough for Senegal ever since that catastrophic cup of nations last year.

Shouldnt be called up again until he shows some form for us.

[GermanBlue 82]

Demba Ba faces Chelsea axe as Jose Mourinho looks to shake up striker options

Blues ready to dump £7m striker after only five months at Stamford Bridge

Striker Ba will be a ­surprise casualty of ­Mourinho’s return to ­Chelsea unless he can dramatically change his new manager’s mind.

But Chelsea will also ­listen to offers for Ba, even though he only signed for £7million from Newcastle in January.

Chelsea know they can make a healthy profit on Ba, having signed the 28-year-old on the cheap because of a clause in his Newcastle contract.

And there would be no shortage of takers from home and abroad, with Liverpool and Paris Saint-Germain known admirers.

There would also be strong interest from Turkey and Russia.

I always thought it was very unrealistic that we'd sell him after just half a season. But from the article, it seems like selling Torres is the priority.

[Henrique 9,133]

Demba Ba faces Chelsea axe as Jose Mourinho looks to shake up striker options

I always thought it was very unrealistic that we'd sell him after just half a season. But from the article, it seems like selling Torres is the priority.

Jarosik and Maniche were both players that were bought under Mourinho and sold after 4 or 5 months.