Tortilla9

Weren't for bad luck he'd have no luck at all it seems.

At LFC once he got hurt he was screwed by the injury bug - he'd get hurt, come back too quickly, get hurt again, come back too quickly again. It was a cycle that never ended because LFC was so dependent on him and Gerrard to score. Throw in the rush to get healthy for the WC and the cycle never ended. CFC doesn't have the same reliance on him. Maybe he came back too quickly from the knee injury which resulted in him over-compensating and causing another injury or maybe.........he has absolutely no luck at all. At least the Intl break is coming and that will help him recover. Hopefully he comes back in Man City form.

Thigh injury now out for Schalke and probably West Brom too.

In the US: 5:30 am ET 2:30 am PT - way too early, and too late for old people like me DVR is my best friend.

It looked pretty minor initially and didn't look like a hard tackle, just battling for the ball, a play you see a hundred times in a match. Think it happened in the 9th minute, he kept playing, and then he landed awkwardly again. My daughter tore her ACL (second one, different knee) and watching it on film, the knee buckled once, she kept playing, the knee buckled a few more times, and she finally went down and stayed down. Kind of reminded me of that. It's a sh*tty injury and I wish him a healthy recovery.

Here's the interview translated in English and not an English media translation. http://en-prosa.tumb...-is-my-complete Keep in mind Torres was going "home" to play at the Calderon for the first time since he left Atletico. It was a very big deal in Spain and reporters wanted to talk to him. There is still A LOT of interest in him in Spain especially his dark times.

ESPN2 England TOTTENHAM-CHELSEA (live) 7:30 am. 4:30 am in lovely So Cal. DVR is my friend.

My daughter's at school and I asked her to translate the El Pais interview for me. She's too busy (and too lazy) to do a word for word translation but she did say that he never mentions Chelsea or any players by name. It's more a "I never wanted to be a player who didn't care and I was becoming that kind of player". She took it to mean career wise, not Chelsea wise. She also took the interview to mean that he wasn't playing, felt like he wasn't contributing and started to not care. That's what he never wanted to be. She said it's all in the details/idioms/nuances/translation and if you're doing google translation it's absolute crap. To sum it up my daughter said: He said he was feeling sorry for himself, he realized he needed to get his head out of his you-know-what, he put his head down and started working harder, and it started turning around. Also didn't hurt that AVB left.

Must be Spanish time.

Juanfran should have been much more aware in the back.

The injury prone problem at LFC was because LFC had no backup to him and when he was injured it was a "hurry up and get him back out there before he's 90%" cycle. He'd recover as quickly as he could, get back out there not completely ready, play some games, get injured again, etc. Those last two knee injuries before the WC in South Africa were a killer. LFC needed him for a push to make CL which they didn't get and he desperately wanted to play at the WC. It was a disaster with the epilogue being the hamstring injury to end the WC. Awful. I think the common thought is to blame Rafa for his rushed injuries but some within LFC lay the blame with H&G who wanted/needed Torres on the pitch to get butts in the seats and to sell shirts. LFC = dysfunctional at best. Fingers crossed he stays healthy because he's been playing A LOT this season. Maybe this call-up to Spain was a nice little break considering he didn't play much. Regarding this latest interview, reporters want to talk to Torres especially when he's with the ESP squad or back in Spain. By all accounts reporters like interviewing him because he's relatively open and thoughtful. I think he has a great mistrust of the English media (who blames him) but sometimes I wonder if it wouldn't hurt to sit down with someone in the English media and have an interview. Good luck finding somebody impartial and not a total ass.

Caveat - I am a huge Torres fan and have been since following Atleti and Torres during a year spent in Spain. Great post that I absolutely agreed with 100%. Atleti coaches said Torres wasn't a natural finisher. Ferguson when he was looking at Torres before he left Atleti had concerns about Torres' finishing. Everybody laughed at that because Torres seemed to score easily against United. At LFC he made the goals look easy. I have no idea why but he did. Was he just hitting the damn ball when he was near the goal instead of thinking about it too much like he seems to do now? Was he just in a long hot streak? If I knew the key to unlocking those goals I'd email RDM and let him know. Instead I sit and watch like the rest of you and wonder "what the hell?!" Some CFC forums I read it feels like some of the CFC internet fans would rather he fail so they can continue to be proven right. I don't quite understand that especially since he's wearing a CFC shirt. And then there's the Torres fans who say he was great even when he wasn't. I watched the miss/non-shot this morning. As I said I'm a huge Torres fan but even I threw my hands up in disgust, wanted to know what the hell the problem was with him. All he needed to do was shoot instead of take another touch and dick around with the ball. I have no talent at all but even I know that. Just as I was getting ready to vent to a friend via text he goes and scores a nice header. Sometimes he makes it look easy and sometimes he makes the easy look so damn hard. Damn Torres (said with mutual amounts of affection and frustration).

IMHO Azpi played well. Defends well, goes forward quite well, delivers and moves the ball well. Thought he looked pretty good going up and down the right side. Would like to see him against better competition. Hope this gives RDM something to think about.

So like an hour and a half?

I know Oscar scored and it was CFC up 2-0 but..... looking back at the game, what did the team really create out there? I thought Juve created more and looked the more dangerous of the two teams. We were lucky they squandered some early opportunities and that the bar was our friend at the end.