rahul

Ake can play either on the centre or left of back 3. Whenever he's been given a chance this season, he has put in mature performances. Assuming Luiz and Cahill don't go anywhere and with Andreas back, we have ample depth in the 3 CB positions. Van Dijk makes absolutely no sense to me. It's the wing back positions we need reinforcements, on both wings. 

Ake can play either on the centre or left of back 3. Whenever he's been given a chance this season, he has put in mature performances. Assuming Luiz and Cahill don't go anywhere and with Andreas back, we have ample depth in the 3 CB positions. Van Dijk makes absolutely no sense to me. It's the wing back positions we need reinforcements, on both wings. 

A column i frequently read on skysports talking about the lower leagues discussed Chalobah today. This is what they had to say:
 
However, Watford's Nathanial Chalobah, who can play at centre-half or centre-midfield is someone I would put in the England squad now. He is elegant, athletic and has a great temperament, while he has also excelled at all international age groups he has represented; he reminds me of a young Yaya Toure in that he can influence a game from any position. He is THE outstanding talent in English football and could POSSIBLY replace Frank Lampard in the Chelsea's engine rom next season but will DEFINITELY play for England.
 
http://www.skysports.com/opinion/story/0,,15231_8581114,00.html
 
Haven't seen much of the lad outside of highlights but been hearing so much praise and when you read things like that ^ its enough to really get excited.

From what I've seen of Shaw, he's going to cost a hell of a lot more in a few years than he does now. Southampton can't keep him, so let's just buy him now and loan him back to them for a while.

You can always tell rival fans these days, I don't see why people don't just admit it and talk some football with us from the other side of the fence.

Cisse? What has he done this season? Scoring a few goals for half a season in English football makes him better than Torres?
Suarez? How many goals has he scored? His shots to goals ratio would make Heskey look good.
We need also understand that Torres, with all his individual flaws, has created a great understanding with our three attacking mids. That accounts for something? For those who are advocating bringing Sturridge in to replace Torres, have you considered the slight possibility that Studge's selfish attitude, shooting at every opportunity may upset his teammates?
There are a lot of variables to be considered than just whether Torres sucks donkey's ass or not. Which is why this thread is such a farce.

Cisse? What has he done this season? Scoring a few goals for half a season in English football makes him better than Torres?
Suarez? How many goals has he scored? His shots to goals ratio would make Heskey look good.
We need also understand that Torres, with all his individual flaws, has created a great understanding with our three attacking mids. That accounts for something? For those who are advocating bringing Sturridge in to replace Torres, have you considered the slight possibility that Studge's selfish attitude, shooting at every opportunity may upset his teammates?
There are a lot of variables to be considered than just whether Torres sucks donkey's ass or not. Which is why this thread is such a farce.

Cisse? What has he done this season? Scoring a few goals for half a season in English football makes him better than Torres?
Suarez? How many goals has he scored? His shots to goals ratio would make Heskey look good.
We need also understand that Torres, with all his individual flaws, has created a great understanding with our three attacking mids. That accounts for something? For those who are advocating bringing Sturridge in to replace Torres, have you considered the slight possibility that Studge's selfish attitude, shooting at every opportunity may upset his teammates?
There are a lot of variables to be considered than just whether Torres sucks donkey's ass or not. Which is why this thread is such a farce.

Dzeko can't do a fraction of what Torres can do. He can't pass, he can't cross, his movement is worse and he doesn't have Torres' work rate. He's not nearly as clinical as you seem to think he is either, but I guess I can understand why you'd think he is based purely on stats.
Adebayor may or may not be underrated here, I haven't seen much discussion about him. That doesn't change the fact that he isn't as good as Torres and is a curious choice to replace Fernando as he wouldn't improve on Torres' wastefulness one bit.

The problem here is the continued expectation that Torres would be back to being the player he was at Liverpool. I had given up that hope long ago and now I see him as a player who is among the top 5 strikers in the league and is leading our line quite all right.
We need to stop making statements like - "The Torres of old would have buried that chance". He is not the Torres of old and he will never be. How many strikers in the league are better than him? RVP, Aguero, Tevez? Maybe one or two more depending on your personal preferences. But not a hell lot more. He is still certainly a top 4 team striker.

The problem here is the continued expectation that Torres would be back to being the player he was at Liverpool. I had given up that hope long ago and now I see him as a player who is among the top 5 strikers in the league and is leading our line quite all right.
We need to stop making statements like - "The Torres of old would have buried that chance". He is not the Torres of old and he will never be. How many strikers in the league are better than him? RVP, Aguero, Tevez? Maybe one or two more depending on your personal preferences. But not a hell lot more. He is still certainly a top 4 team striker.

The problem here is the continued expectation that Torres would be back to being the player he was at Liverpool. I had given up that hope long ago and now I see him as a player who is among the top 5 strikers in the league and is leading our line quite all right.
We need to stop making statements like - "The Torres of old would have buried that chance". He is not the Torres of old and he will never be. How many strikers in the league are better than him? RVP, Aguero, Tevez? Maybe one or two more depending on your personal preferences. But not a hell lot more. He is still certainly a top 4 team striker.

Ask yourself the question, do we really want to be like Sunderland? They've scored 5 league goals and Fletcher has bagged the lot. Torres has been criticized for not scoring enough goals, but if I'm honest I'm happier with things how they are and see it as far more healthy for the club that he hasn't scored all our goals. Sure we'd all be waxing lyrical if he had scored all 11 of our league goals so far, but that would put us in a very precarious position. If we are over reliant on one player then we will struggle when that player is out.
As it stands, we are scoring goals from all over the park and have had a stunning 13 different goalscorers in all competitions:
Torres, Mata, Cahill, Ivan, Lamps, Oscar, Cole, Luiz, Romeu, Ramires, Moses , Hazard, Bertrand.
And we still have Sturridge, Marin and JT to get on the scoresheet (and of course the prolific Mikel!)
Torres is our joint top scorer and overall is second only to Mata in goals+assists tally.
I do understand why Torres has been criticized, I have done myself, but this is mostly due to the ridiculously high standards he himself has set in previous seasons. The truth is though, the job he is doing is a valuable one at the moment. Yes he's had a couple of very poor games, but generally he has worked his lone striker role very well and by doing so, has allowed that stat of 13 different scorers to occur.
As critical as I have been, I am very pleased and satisfied that Torres is at our club and has a huge part to play in our season. I do think we need another striker, but not to replace Torres, moreover for cover/backup/assistance. If Torres and Sturridge are out, we've got a problem which needs fixing. Torres is a very talented lad and is starting to show his ability in fits and starts. He is without doubt an asset to the club and I for one am glad he's here.
We need to appreciate what the staff are trying to do at the Bridge. Our whole philosophy is slowly evolving and so far the signs are promising. We are not a one man team, we do not have to rely on one striker being on form or employ strikers that have only one dimension to their game, we play football, we play with style and pride, we back our lads and we win titles. We are the European Champions.

Well said. Its like everyone always has to find something to complain about.
Get over it already. The team hasnt even hit top gear and we are sitting pretty in the league and Europe. Meanwhile, Torres is chipping in goals at a (for his time at Chelsea) vastly improved rate, and (far more importantly in my view) when we are humming offensively out there he is combining superbly with Mata, Hazard and Oscar.
When the four of them hit form they are mesmerizing to watch. Before, when we couldnt score, the knocks on Torres not getting it done were far more understandable. But when our offense is running rings around other teams, and the goals are flying in, it doesnt matter much to me who is putting the ball in the net most often.

Hope it's true, and that Cole tweets the facial reaction of Rio Ferdinand and Evra.

Interesting... more defensively capable than Modric for me and better at imposing a rhythm on a game, if maybe not as spectacular as Modric. This would make me feel more comfortable leaving Mikel and Romeu out of the line up. Schweinsteiger, Ramires, Hazard, Mata, Torres and then a final place for Mikel, Romeu, Moses and Marin to fight for depending on the opposition and form. That is quite some side.
The main worry for me right now though is how long will these players take to settle? Normally a year is needed, unless your name is Juan, then it doesn't Mata. With Hazard, Marin and the possibility of both Moses and Schweinsteiger that's a reasonable part of our starting line up still needing time. Too much change, too soon?
Edit - Not that I think this will happen, I'm just contemplating the possibility.

No he isn't (to both statements)

God I hope we don't sign Pereria. We really don't need him. I thought we'd seen the end of that rumour when AVB left...so hopefully it's just lazy journalism.

I also had a massive...............................................................
Bank balance.

I dont think buying too many young players is a good idea considering we have some really promising youngsters in the academy who need to be introduced into the first team sooner or later. If we have one first choice for the right wing (Hulk) and one backup (Sturridge; even Ramires can slot in there), it would be a better idea to promote from within for the third choice.
And I say this for all the positions in the team not just the right wing.

Oh good I always wondered what a broken record sounded like....

Shevchenko is one of the greatest players I have seen in my lifetime.
Those two goals brought an incredibly warm feeling in my heart, I idolised the guy when I was growing up, just looking at how much it meant for Ukraine and the guy should rightfully go down as a legend of the game and have the streets and squares of Ukraine named after him. The standing ovation he got was awesome.

WHAT? I CAN'T HEAR YOU OVER THE SOUND OF FLOGGING A DEAD HORSE!

I watched it in a boozer with my dad and sister, my dad was an absolute mess while I ran round the pub hugging everyone. When I got back to my dad and saw he was all teary then I went too, then my sister joined in. A beautiful family moment.