The Egg Man

This has got me thinking about the competition in the Championship this season. As I understand it, clubs will get more money and therefore the parachute payments for any team going down will increase. Whoever comes up this season will make a record amount of money for a promoted team. It may mean Bates thinks twice about selling Leeds. Also, whoever goes down this season stands to be replaced by teams who will get more money and better parachute payments (if they fail to stay up). Could be a costly relegation battle! (not that it wasn't already...)

Hi guys I’m new to this forum / sort of new to the world of forums. I’m a Chelsea fan from London with an increasing need to express my Chelsea related opinion through the medium of text. I’ve just posted my first article about Torres in the general section of this forum and I’m quite nervous about its perception. I’m a loyal fan up for some good discussion about our club. I would probably describe myself as a Chelsea ‘loner’, as the only other Chelsea fan I know is my Dad, who has supported the Blues since 1946. I hope you’re all well and I look forward to speaking to you all soon. The Egg Man

Sorry guys, this is my first post on here so I guess I should have added it to the Torres thread below – apologies for that. With regard to my friends, I was making the point that they don’t have blinkered view of our club based on the clubs they support; they do a lot of reading and analysis around different subjects and would always give credit when it is due (they love the ‘new’ Chelsea). I’ll always defend our club, but my patience is starting to wear thin on certain subjects. Perhaps it’s because I feel the constant negative debate surrounding Chelsea, which we’ve all grown used to, is about to end based on the scintillating football we’re now capable of playing. I guess this is veering away from the Torres debate, but I really hope this Clattenburg story is true. If not, it’s just another excuse for us to be hated when it looked like we were starting to become a club who could be admired for the football we play. 1 step forward, two steps back - sick of it

I’ve been considering writing an article about Fernando for a while. Like any true Chelsea fan I will always support and defend our players throughout the season. This is especially difficult when you are the only Chelsea fan in a group of 15 avid and, it’s worth noting, educated football fans. This has caused me to understand the strengths and weaknesses of our club from an outside perspective – I hear what no Chelsea fan wants to hear on a regular basis. I think it would be fair to say I’m an expert in the defence of our club and, frustratingly, very experienced in this area. Looking back on the last few seasons there are countless Chelsea related controversies that cause furious reactions to the rest of the English Footballing world. Whether it be a shooting at the training ground, a sacked manager, a wasted talent, an over-inflated transfer price, or a player tweeting derogatory comments – football fans love to hate Chelsea and, I hate to say, we give them all the ammunition they need. I’m not suggesting that the club is to blame in all of these controversies, especially the sacking of AVB, which would have resulted in no Champions League trophy had we stuck with him. But what I am suggesting is that in our avid and far too common defence of our club, we have created a mentality which can blur our perspective of what is right and wrong for our club. Since winning the Champions League, I’ve decided to be more of a realist. I don’t want to constantly stick my neck out in situations that will simply get me shot down by my friends – arguments that can’t be won. This leads me perfectly to my point; Fernando Torres. I have defended Fernando throughout his whole time at Chelsea. He is someone who has been put in countless difficult situations during his turbulent time at Chelsea and I will never, ever forget that moment when he scored at the Camp Nou last season. I will always try and remember him for that moment and not for the points I am about to list. However, it genuinely pains me to write that I think it’s time we considered selling Torres. Before you write a list of negative messages to me, please read on. I thought it would be good to start with a comparison of Torres’ best season in the EPL – Liverpool, 2007 and compare this to his first full season at Chelsea, 2011/12. Now I know that it would be silly to compare two season that everyone knows are at opposite ends of the form spectrum, but there were some positives that we took from Torres last season, wasn’t there? Take a look: 2007 2011 Matches played: 33 32 Goals: 24 6 Assists: 4 4 Shots: 96 62 Shots on goal: 61 23 Crosses: 34 41 Fernando Torres played as much football as he did when he was at Liverpool in his most successful season, than he did in his worst. There is an excuse that he did not play enough football as our leading man (mainly because of the Drog), but you can see that this is not true. He didn’t play against the best teams, in the big games, because deep down the management knew they couldn’t trust him. What’s clear is that he played in the ‘easier’ games, against the worse defences, and well and truly bottled it. The one positive that was taken from last season was that he adapted his game and became a better all-round player – this is nonsense! Torres got the same amount of assists than he did in his best season and even then, they’re poor. For someone that spent so much time down either flank, I would expect more assists. He pretty much had 1/3 less shots than in 2007 which to be fair, isn’t really a surprise. What is alarming though is the fact that only 23 of those shots were on target! That’s a difference of 38 shots. I don’t even need to elaborate on that point. Last, but not least, the crossing stats. This links in with my point about his assists. He only made 7 more crosses last season! 7 more!! All he was doing was taking the ball away from the penalty area and wasting it. His job is to score and I bit my tongue on plenty of occasions when he would run toward a defender and end up wondering toward either side of the area. Torres has a job at Chelsea – to score goals. I don’t mind him supporting the team by creating space for others or getting assists, but I do mind when this starts to detriment to our cause. It’s clear to me that Torres didn’t actually become a better ‘all round’ player last season. He’s simply wasting a position that could be filled by a far more prolific player and is definitely one of the biggest flops, living off his own ego that was blown up in one good season 5 years ago. Liverpool well and truly got the best deal of the century when we paid £50m for him and clearly, Abramovich hasn’t wanted to admit he made a monumental mistake when we signed him. His patience will wear thin though, I have no fear. I think we’ll be seeing a new striker in the ranks come January – or Chelsea will not win a major trophy this season. Although there were some glimpses of form returning this season, I can’t see him ever getting back to the standard we paid £50m for. With Torres, we have a player who tries his hardest and I will always appreciate that, but there has to come a point when you cut your losses. Torres’ hardest is no longer good enough. Chelsea is on the verge of a really special team, a team that could be our best yet, but I hate to say that this will not be the case if Torres carries on leading our line. We’re all entitled to our own opinion and I would absolutely love it if Fernando proved me wrong – honestly! I’m just making the point that perhaps Torres was never worth £50m and there comes a point when you just have to hold your hands up and admit, we were wrong to pay such an over inflated price for him. Thanks for all your efforts Fernando, but from this Chelsea fan, I think it’s time we said goodbye. Kind regards The Egg Man