West Brom 1-3 Chelsea

[Ray. 217]

Fucking quality atmosphere today. Sang all day long without a break! Best away game so far for me.

Certainly was mate, agree with you there 100 % and to think that the atmosphere pre-match wasn't that great out on the concourse, I thought it was going to be dead during the match, how wrong I was! All credit to the WBA fans they were giving it their all. Could do with some more atmosphere like that at the Bridge sometimes.

[chrismada9 1,948]

By the end of the season they will be there or thereabouts.

They have played 1 more game than 14th place Birmingham, and are just 5 points ahead of wigan FFS.

And you honestly believe that will happen??

May I remind you, that under Hodgson, losing to us has been the only defeat West Brom have preserved in as many as 10 games.

[Laylabelle 9,535]

Anyway doesnt matter where anyone postions is,anyone can beat anyone been proven many times this season.Cant look at the table and think 'ooo not that great a win' due to their postion.3 points is what matters!

[ThePensioners 6]

--------------------------------------------------Cech---------------------------------------------------------

David Luiz------------Alex----------------©Terry--------------A.Cole/ van Aanholt/Bertrand(future)

-------------------------------------Essien----------------------------------

---------------------Ramires---------------------McEachran

Sturridge-------------------------------------------------------------Kakuta/ A. Sanchez?

----------------------------------Torres/Drogba\ Neymar?

[ThePensioners 6]

We need to get the balance between young and older players. Look at our midfield. Their all fighters no creativity. Lampard fell off he is playing lik some one who can't play at this level anymore.

Ancelotti is to scared, but it's time for a young fresh player on that position in the name of McEachran. Time for some new fresh players forward and midfield. De defence is looking good.

[Steve 10,227]

Stat of the day: Mikel put just 3 passes wrong out of 83 in yesterdays game at the Hawthorns.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

Stat of the day: Mikel put just 3 passes wrong out of 83 in yesterdays game at the Hawthorns.

That doesn't surprise me one bit. It's a shame he'll be taken out the squad on Wednesday for Ramires.. Never know, Carlo could surprise us

[Steve 10,227]

That doesn't surprise me one bit. It's a shame he'll be taken out the squad on Wednesday for Ramires.. Never know, Carlo could surprise us

He seriously is a class act. He should be playing every game.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

He seriously is a class act. He should be playing every game.

He & Essien combined very well, which then poses a problem for Carlo. If it's 4-3-3 it's not like he can take out Lampard, so Ramires loses out & if it is 4-4-2 we lose the width Ramires provides on the right.

Cech

Ivanovic - Luiz - Terry - Cole

Mikel - Essien

Ramires - Lampard - Malouda

Torres/Drogba

, but it does accommodate that combination of Mikel-Essien which allows a good balance between defence and attack. I'd love to see Carlo experiment with this.

This is ideal. Maybe not on the Drogba/Torres front

[eldo 868]

He & Essien combined very well, which then poses a problem for Carlo. If it's 4-3-3 it's not like he can take out Lampard, so Ramires loses out & if it is 4-4-2 we lose the width Ramires provides on the right.

Cech

Ivanovic - Luiz - Terry - Cole

Mikel - Essien

Ramires - Lampard - Malouda

Torres/Drogba

, but it does accommodate that combination of Mikel-Essien which allows a good balance between defence and attack. I'd love to see Carlo experiment with this.

This is ideal. Maybe not on the Drogba/Torres front

Or Ramires for Essien.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

Or Ramires for Essien.

Indeed. One of my fears about this summer is we try to buy another squad player, like, Pienaar.

[Henri 115]

Anelka played well? And what point was Carlo proving? That he's not handled the Torres situation well at all? I agree Drogba should have started based on form, but knowing what Torres is going through and the intense scrutiny on his goal drought, what's the point of bringing him on for 9 minutes?

Can you imagine if Ancelotti keeps subbing Torres on for 10 or 15 minutes for the rest of the season? Okay, Torres is off-form, but that would be devastating to the man and his confidence. Do you want him to bring that into the next season? I guess if Carlo isn't going to be around, he won't care. If that's the case, it's s really crappy way to handle a player. Rooney's a dick and even Ferguson didn't yank his chain like this during his months and months of poor form.

He should be on the bench rest of the season if like now he don`t perform, i would not even had give him 9 minutes. Why change a winning team?. This is not about Torres this is about Chelsea!. Drogba, Malouda and Kalou did perform they should start next game. On almost every team on this planet you have to fight for your right to play, so next time Drogba and co. don`t perform ( he has scored 3 times now). bring Torres. This is no kindergarten, Carlo can`t nurse that poor Toores out of sympathy, perform or bench, that easy. And i don`t hate Torres see my avatar.

[dave30 728]

we played well without pressure on us. Goood atmosphere to

[dodojojo 510]

He should be on the bench rest of the season if like now he don`t perform, i would not even had give him 9 minutes. Why change a winning team?. This is not about Torres this is about Chelsea!. Drogba, Malouda and Kalou did perform they should start next game. On almost every team on this planet you have to fight for your right to play, so next time Drogba and co. don`t perform ( he has scored 3 times now). bring Torres. This is no kindergarten, Carlo can`t nurse that poor Toores out of sympathy, perform or bench, that easy. And i don`t hate Torres see my avatar.

And how is handling a 50M/5 year investment well not in the best of interest of Chelsea? I've already said Drogba should start based on current form. And you and I agree that Torres shouldn't now be thrown on for a handful of minutes. What are the pros versus the cons on bringing on Torres for a few minutes each game? He most likely won't get out his funk playing a few minutes each game. If Ancelotti is going to do that, he should have done it when Torres first got to Chelsea and then gradually increased his time. But that's been the overall mismanagement of Torres transition into the team and it just seems to get worse and worse.

Again, mid to long term, Ferguson has been proven right about the way he handled Rooney. He did drop him every now and then, but I don't remember Rooney being yanked early from games and subbed in for a few minutes here and there. Well, United are still on top of the league, still in the CL and Rooney is back on form.

[Tortilla9 390]

I know there's been debate - is Torres a Carlo pick or not? I can't imagine any manager saying AFTER the player came to the team "I didn't want him". That would be piss-poor man-management at it's worst. That said, the Torres mess is getting worse and worse. I was almost embarrassed to watch that free kick at the end. Torres is in a bad stretch of games right now. Drogba is finally exiting his bad stretch. Carlo doesn't seem to quite know what to do with Torres and I think it's reflective of Torres on the pitch.

I'm not advocating Carlo mirror Ferguson a la Rooney because the season is almost over. But.... Ferguson knew Rooney was getting raked over the coals by the media daily. Ferguson took him out of the firestorm and said get your sh*t together and we'll support you when you come back. United circled the wagons. Maybe Carlo asked Torres if he could deal with it, maybe Torres said yes. Maybe they were both naive about the pressure and anti-Torres media bashing that has gone on. As a manager its Carlo's responsibility to look out for the interests of the team. Short-term Torres starting and playing may not be in the best interest. Long-term he is but this early part of his Chelsea career is bumpy to say the least. 9 minutes as a sub in a 3-1 game? That's when Torres would have been pulled off the pitch and N'gog subbed in at Liverpool. God forbid if Carlo thinks Torres is Chelsea's N'gog.

David Villa is going through a similar goalless streak as Torres. The media aren't discussing it ad nauseum. Villa plays with a midfield that I think we can agree is better than Chelsea's. He can't find the back of the net for Barcelona but I don't hear people thinking Villa is done. At times I don't quite get the Torres backlash. Is the Liverpool love affair that grand?

[Steve 10,227]

[DYC. 7,542]

David Villa is going through a similar goalless streak as Torres. The media aren't discussing it ad nauseum. Villa plays with a midfield that I think we can agree is better than Chelsea's. He can't find the back of the net for Barcelona but I don't hear people thinking Villa is done. At times I don't quite get the Torres backlash. Is the Liverpool love affair that grand?

David Villa's situation isn't really comparable to Torres' situation. His goalless streak is like 10, 11 games while Fernando has been a shadow of himself for over a year. And don't forget about the fact that Torres was bought for 50 mil pounds and the fact he's a PL player so he has to deal with the ruthless English media (who don't really care about the other leagues).

And I have some advice for you, just ignore them.

Edit: And how could I forget, Torres plays for Chelsea.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Ash: Look, I can lean this far without falling over.

Drogba: Twat.

Zhirkov: Holy shit, I can only just about do this.

Benayoun: I can't even do that.

Drogba: Twats.

[Tortilla9 390]

David Villa's situation isn't really comparable to Torres' situation. His goalless streak is like 10, 11 games while Fernando has been a shadow of himself for over a year. And don't forget about the fact that Torres was bought for 50 mil pounds and the fact he's a PL player so he has to deal with the ruthless English media (who don't really care about the other leagues).

And I have some advice for you, just ignore them.

I have been ignoring the media for the most part because the shrieking was hurting my ears.

34M for Villa wasn't exactly chicken feed. Villa's streak is hidden by the greatness of Messi and playing for Barcelona. Winning and winning "nicely" helps overlook a lot of faults. To be so lucky to have that problem. The Spanish media are no prince charmings either but there is a Spanish love affair in the media with Barcelona right now. Plus Villa didn't go on a scoreless streak right at the beginning of his Barcelona career.

Torres shadow of himself started with his knee surgery in Jan 2010 and then again in April 2010. Both I blame on Liverpool's over-reliance on him to play with knocks, injuries, coming back to soon.

Listened to Guillem Balauge on TalkSport radio today and some thoughts from Guillem and Collymore (I know). Both were pretty rational and calm (no ranting and raving from Collymore today).

1. Torres is still living in a hotel waiting for his house

2. Some players have made Torres more welcome than others. Drogba is the alpha/top dog and he does not want to give up that position. Collymore referred to his relationship with ??? (didn't hear it) and said they both hated each other but still managed to play together. Both Guillem and Collymore don't see them playing well with each other.

3. The truth about Torres departure from Liverpool will never come out. Liverpool knew a month before Torres left that Torres was leaving Liverpool.

4. Torres likes to play into space and Chelsea's slow style of play doesn't play to Torres' strengths

5. Aguero - Roman loves him but wages are very high, ready to leave Atletico, 35 to 40M transfer fee, between Real Madrid and Chelsea

6. Mata - Chelsea have not made offer, Valencia's finances slightly better (still large debt), still need to sell players but paying immediate debts

[LDN Blue 7,903]

David Villa is going through a similar goalless streak as Torres. The media aren't discussing it ad nauseum. Villa plays with a midfield that I think we can agree is better than Chelsea's. He can't find the back of the net for Barcelona but I don't hear people thinking Villa is done. At times I don't quite get the Torres backlash. Is the Liverpool love affair that grand?

Well during the El Classico on Saturday they actually made quite a few references to it, but you're right. Because there's a love-affair with Barcelona in Spain right now he's not getting as much backlash as he would otherwise. Especially when goals are still coming from Messi & co.