Las7

what luck... bloody hell

fcking hell - jammy goal How the hell did the shortest player win a header inside the box, joke of defending

What the hell was that, horrible finish

So easy to predict Go go Saints

That's brilliant

So far none of the teams have impressed me obviously it's going to take a few matches for everyone to get back into speed. We shall see if Liverpool's second half slumps continue, so far promising signs for Southampton

It's what a lot of people have said all along, similar reasons why Eto'o was more effective last year. You could probably find really old posts highlighting how woeful his movement is inside the box dating back to 2011/2012 season. It's really exciting watching Costa pre-season - knock on wood!

Well if you look closer at the overall statistics it reads like this Crespo £16.8m - 25 goals in 71 matches, 160 minutes per goal for Chelsea Mutu £16m - 8 goals in 35 matches, 283 minutes per goal for Chelsea Sheva £30m - 22 goals in 77 matches, 205 minutes per goal for Chelsea Torres £50m - 45 goals in 172 matches, 243 minutes per goal for Chelsea Total = £112.8m 100 goals in 355 matches £1.128m per goal 217 minutes per goal Crespo is by far the best player statistically, I don't really view our money invested in him as a waste. It's just we found something worthwhile in Drogba that nearly no forward in the World could provide(bar Zlatan).

I'd like for you to remove Kezman(we sold him without much loss) and SWP(not a striker). Our main hits have been Mutu, Sheva and Torres. Crespo I thought was decent considering his problems adapting. It was more of Drogba proving his worth and Crespo being too good to play second fiddle and hating England.

He is more like a STD and by that I mean Liverpool really shagged us in the bum

Lets see how he does in the League but even from the friendlies it does look like night and day compared to our strike force last season or our subs this year. Now hopefully everyone will be able to see what kind of effect a striker who is constantly scoring and creating pressure will make on the rest of the squad. The mental pressure of playing with invisbible strikers will finally be lifted from our midfielders - allowing them to be more relaxed and ease into more leads. Positive signs

He doesn't really know what the bench feels like, he has never been substantially sidelined by any of our managers. There was certainly a time under RdM where he was the only option and a dismal one at that

Liverpool still had Sturridge while Suarez was banned - we've got a 36 year old Drogba Our striker situation is slightly better than last season and it all rests right now on Costa remaining fit(there were injuries for him last season) and not getting suspended. Our backup options are actually worse than last season. We all know that this has been the area which needs a massive improvement, Costa is fantastic for that type of money and for the role. There are still certain doubts until I see him in competitive matches. After allowing an unhappy Lukaku to leave we still need to invest into the position, Drogba/Torres are decent as third choice but we need someone far better as back up. It doesn't need to be a superstar.

You know it was a disappointment when Mikel was one of our better players, Ake the other

Your commentory is pretty shocking - he did well not to score an own goal or allow the Werder player behind him to score

Mikel saving us from a third goal

Best chance of this half for us comes from a counter attack

Probably bitter cause they sold us Torres ;) Anyhow Costa please remain fit!

We have such a great transfer window yet we are still an injury away from a 36 year old Drogba frontline

The goal keeper looked worried until he realized its a Torres

No way, if Costa doesn't play over 90% of our League matches we have ZERO chance of winning the title. No offense to the big man - I'm happy with him being back in the club but he would be most useful coming off the bench for 20 minutes and big cup games rather than starting. The less said about Torres league record the better, we'd be better off playing several of our defenders up top instead.

Don't get me wrong I said it last summer when he was loaned - he would be sold this year after we sign a World Class striker. What pissed me off was the fact that he WASN'T FIRST CHOICE at the start of last season. I completely understand the decision this season. You are all looking at things from CFC/Jose position - from Romelu's position he returned from a very successful loan, found a new manager and also found out he was behind semi-retired Eto'o and Torres in the side. If I was in his shoes and a manager told me Torres has done more to start ahead of me I'd be on my way to the train station. Lukaku spend a full year watching Torres play from the sidelines if there is a player who has a right to feel agrieved being behind Torres in the pecking order Lukaku is one of those players(other notable players who could have done a better job up top include Sturridge, Bamford, Kalou, Ivanovic, Turnbull, Hilario etc).

You believe that RdM and AVB both rated Torres higher than Sturridge? It's pretty clear that the only person that rates Torres as a first choice striker at CFC after his first 6 months at the club was Roman and possibly the board that handled the transfer to get him in.

Just because someone is a fan of a club doesn't mean that "fighting for a spot" is the best option. Sturridge didn't get a single start the season he left ahead of Torres, that was the same time Lukaku was out on loan for the first time. Lukaku had already spend one full season with the squad without much chances. For a 21 year old playing regularly is the most important thing - expecting players to stay around just because of loyalty or being fans is silly. If Jose didn't feel Lukaku was ready to be first choice ahead of Eto'o; Ba and Torres last season, personally I think he was wrong. Right now we have Costa so the situation has changed but we also have no reliable backups at the moment and that might end up biting us in the arse. You're all bitter or gloating, we should see how things fall come the end of the season before deciding how successful our treatment of Lukaku has been. Expecting maturity out of a 21 year old when most football players in their 30s have their head stuck so far up their arse it's unreal.