Closed Chelsea 0-2 Swansea

[didierforever 7,349]

What in the holy hell are you talking about? It was obvious neither rated Sturridge as a Centre Foward so they opted for literall the only other choice.

Jesus Christ, where did that come from?

sturridge was our only other option upfront. the performances torres was putting should have had him warming the bench long long ago. irrespective of how high any manager rated sturridge, something different should have been tried and under normal circumstances would have been tried.

[Spike 12,049]

sturridge was our only other option upfront. the performances torres was putting should have had him warming the bench long long ago. irrespective of how high any manager rated sturridge, something different should have been tried and under normal circumstances would have been tried.

Reggardless. I see what you were trying to say with your previous statement, but I don't think it had anything to do with what I was talking about. I hadn't even mentioned or implied either managers.

I merely stated that Sturridge had been available for several months (give or take a few weeks injured and unfit), I wasn't making a statement about the managers nor was I implying anything about them. Merely stating the fact that Torres and Sturridge were the only strikers at the club.

[didierforever 7,349]

Reggardless. I see what you were trying to say with your previous statement, but I don't think it had anything to do with what I was talking about. I hadn't even mentioned or implied either managers.

I merely stated that Sturridge had been available for several months (give or take a few weeks injured and unfit), I wasn't making a statement about the managers nor was I implying anything about them. Merely stating the fact that Torres and Sturridge were the only strikers at the club.

i thought the discussion was about torres and if it was roman and the board's decision to play him or not. that is why i said what i said.

[Milan 17,835]

although we are better away from home under Benitez, 2-0 might be enough for Swans, unfortunately

this was yet another home game without actually scoring a goal - what a fortress

[Jase 43,479]

although we are better away from home under Benitez, 2-0 might be enough for Swans, unfortunately

After yesterday, Swansea's record against London opponents this season in all competitions reads - P8 W5 D2 L1.

this was yet another home game without actually scoring a goal - what a fortress

This is the 4th home game out of 6 under Benitez that we have failed to score.

[bushman 2,043]

All I read what Chelsea should have done, tactics by most of you here.

Somehow, not one of you care to admit the team is the slump & have been since November. Several flashy games, wins, against weaker teams have not convinced me otherwise. There are way too many clear chances that are not converted by players, like Mata, Ramires, Torres...Luiz seems to take over the midfield lately but most of the times kicks the ball into the bleachers.

What´s next, one might ask ?

Currently, we are looking at demoralized, lack of confidence team, under pressure from booing dimwits in the stadium.

Personally, I would not be surprised to see Chelsea getting beaten by Arsenal the following weekend. The result loss of 3rd place in the PL standings.

[Jype 6,398]

There is nothing to do with that. I have mentioned this a couple of times, RDM was offered 2 years contract only (Nobody received 2 years contract in football). That clearly showed that our board did not trust RDM

Guardiola only got a one year deal when he first became Barcelona manager, just saying....

[bushman 2,043]

The way I see it:

Currently, no matter who comes to coach the team will have plenty of adversity to face. Whether, Pep, Jose...if they come & I doubt it. The only one who could rescue this season again will be our Russian uncle Roman by buying more leeches.

[Fulham Broadway 16,437]

Man runs from stands onto pitch, rounds three players, falls on arse waving arms emphatically. Had a better game than Torres to be fair.

— Dan Levene (@BluesChronicle) January 9, 2013

That blokes mazy run Torres could learn from.

Even when Torres recieves the ball, he has the first touch of a rapist

[BOSS 372]

Torres was not that bad today. Mata lost two incredible chances, and Ivanovic was terrible. Torres has nothing to do with the result.

Exactly and that is why we played with 10 men.

[Ryan Fong 2,776]

Everyone here suggested playing Torres in this game and Ba for Stoke, what the fuck has Rafa done wrong?

Yes you can say Torres was shit but in the end, Ivan costs us the game, not that I'm going to blame him but it's a simple fact. We could at least get a draw no matter how shit Torres was.

[Ryan Fong 2,776]

And furthermore, is it only me think Turnbull was awful? His positioning for the first goal was very questionable.

[BOSS 372]

Everyone here suggested playing Torres in this game and Ba for Stoke, what the fuck has Rafa done wrong?

Yes you can say Torres was shit but in the end, Ivan costs us the game, not that I'm going to blame him but it's a simple fact. We could at least get a draw no matter how shit Torres was.

Rafa has put Ba in the 80th minute.

[The only place to be 11,313]

Having had a chance to reflect on the game, I'm actually finding bright spots to pick up on. Yes it was a bad result, but the two goals we conceded came from mistakes from a player who doesn't usually make them. That's just the way it goes sometimes. They weren't a result of the system, they weren't even a result of Swansea pressure. They were individual errors that won't happen in the next 100 games.

It's also refreshing to point out that it was only the Coca Cola Cup. We shouldn't be taking this cup seriously in the first place, but we did so what did we learn?

Torres is shit. Sounds obvious, but he makes our team so much worse that it's actually becoming funny. We saw the improvement with Ba on Saturday and we saw it tonight in the last 10 minutes. He had four half-chances that he created through sheer force of will that Torres wouldn't ever have got near. When the ball flashed across the box in the second half, Torres was stuck behind Ivanovic - Ba would have at least been in the right place.

All this suggests to me that with Ba in the team, we're actually not that bad. Now we're almost certainly not going to win the Europa League with Torres in the team, but we will have Ba in the league games.

I think we're going to have to look at losing Ramires in the summer too. If Luiz or Mikel (or whoever) plays that DM role, I don't know what Rami adds to the team. Great engine but not brilliant on the ball, no penetration, no incisiveness. Luiz had a good game, but he needs to have a game at DM against a good team who put pressure on him rather than sitting back like Villa, QPR and Swansea did for large parts.

[Eggman 118]

Chelsea played brilliantly, I think, certainly in the first half. Up til that goal, all looked impressively well. A shame we didn't score.

However, the change Ba/Torres has shown what a difference a striker makes... Torres is, at his current level, not suited to be a first nor a second choice striker in a top club. He needs to go. Which means that a second striker has to be bought this transfer period! Ba cannot play all of our matches and Rafa should be allowed to rotate; it is sick that we only have one striker (although that's one more than the first half of the season).

Don't you guys think it's kinda amazing how Chelsea still managed to win lots of games this season, playing without a striker? This shows the potential of the 3 supporting offensive players.

Thus: we had bad luck, 2 individual mistakes of the same (normally most reliable) player. The football was good, but Ba showed that you need to play with a striker to make a serious goal threat. Hopefully the board picked that up.

[bushman 2,043]

Chelsea played brilliantly, I read. Well said. Just one thing I would add. They lost.

[communicate 2,703]

Guardiola only got a one year deal when he first became Barcelona manager, just saying....

Yap and he basically won everything in his first year and he introduced tiki taka. I am pretty sure if we won ucl a little bit more convincingly rdm will be given more time

[Wfisheruk 20]

I went to the game last night,even so we lost we didn't play that bad!! If we taken our chances in the the first (remires&mata) it could of been a different outcome saying that tho it was like we were playing with 10 men Torres was really poor and ivanovic had his worst game I seen him play in a chelsea shirt,we had all possession but no killer instinct in the final third!!