my thoughts on torres this season are:

-he's playing well, and links well with the three behind him.

-he repeatedly seems to choke / delay when he's through on goal. and this needs to change.

-his performances are good enough to justify his place in the side given the squad we have

-his performances are not good enough to warrant the club not improving the squad in his position

I think he's doing "well". to save his chelsea career he needs to be doing better but in the context of how we are playing there are bigger issues.

oh and it is entirely legitimate for people to be criticising his performance yesterday. he had a shocker.

Edited October 24, 201213 yr by g3.7

I wish more people could evaluate Torres based on what he does on a match to match basis. It's obvious that the stigma of him costing £50m is a significant reason that he receives so much criticism, despite the fact that it's a sunk cost. There's no other way to explain how so many people think he's been so poor if they aren't constantly holding him up to the standard of what they think a £50m player should be like. If he were acquired on a free transfer and he playing exactly the same as he is now, it wouldn't change the answer to the question of whether or not he's good enough. I think he is. Whether he was a good value (he wasn't, and frankly it seemed obvious at the time that he wasn't) is a separate issue. Can we do better? Of course. Falcao. Another £50m transfer, most likely, but there's no question he'd do better so, if in January we need an upgrade, it's an obvious solution. I remain unconvinced by most of the other names that are most commonly bandied about.

Edited October 24, 201213 yr by That Boy Brandinho

I wish more people could evaluate Torres based on what he does on a match to match basis. It's obvious that the stigma of him costing £50m is a significant reason that he receives so much criticism, despite the fact that it's a sunk cost. There's no other way to explain how so many people think he's been so poor if they aren't constantly holding him up to the standard of what they think a £50m player should be like. If he were acquired on a free transfer and he playing exactly the same as he is now, it wouldn't change the answer to the question of whether or not he's good enough. I think he is. Whether he was a good value (he wasn't, and frankly it seemed obvious at the time that he wasn't) is a separate issue. Can we do better? Of course. Falcao. Another £50m transfer, most likely, but there's no question he'd do better so, if in January we need an upgrade, it's an obvious solution. I remain unconvinced by most of the other names that are most commonly bandied about.

if he was acquired on a free he would be out the door by now. we're only persisting with him because of his name and the club want the spent money to come good

if he was acquired on a free he would be out the door by now. we're only persisting with him because of his name and the club want the spent money to come good

We will have a hard time getting rid of him no matter what with the insane wage he is on for the next four(?) years. The "linking up well" argument with the trio behind is the worst argument in Torres favour btw. Any PL-striker could form some kind of partnership with that kind of talent.

Everything is going quite well so far in terms of results and everything but it`s when the going gets though and we need something extra up front that we all are going to realize the difference between having a great striker and a average one.

We won`t be able to win the league with Torres.

if he was acquired on a free he would be out the door by now. we're only persisting with him because of his name and the club want the spent money to come good

You're missing the point. Any evaluation of Torres should be based on what he's done on the pitch this year, not what he cost 2 years ago.

You're missing the point. Any evaluation of Torres should be based on what he's done on the pitch this year, not what he cost 2 years ago.

im not (and i do agree with you). proposing that he would of been sold by now if taken on for free is a way of saying hes not good enough, regardless of £0 or £50million being spent. however, that spent money andhis name is what has kept him here/in the first team for so long. seriously, any player without those 2 things and if they played like torres would be nowhere near our team.

Edited October 24, 201213 yr by onebelo

This might well have been true once upon a time, but it wasn't at the time we bought him. Feel free to read "never" as shorthand for not since Torres has been a Chelsea player.

fair enough, he'd been off his game for a while, not sure why mind, suppose that's the big question

IsTorres the new Kalou?

IsTorres the new Kalou?

No good can come of this but...... I can't help wonder who had the better scoring record- goals per minutes wise......

Why do people think that they can just say " We won't win the league with torres" to try and justify there arguement? We are currently at the top and 4 points clear and torres has played every game. The 3 hardest games we have faced so far (Newcastle, arsenal and spurs) he has scored in 2 of those games. He pretty much was the difference in the newcastle game between 1 point and 3 points. Against arsenal he scored an instinctive goal that if drogba scored everyone would be creaming themselves over it.

I'm sorry to say guys but the facts so far this season suggest that the saying "we will win the league with torres" far outweighs the " We won't win the league with torres" statement.

Edited October 24, 201213 yr by Bluehatter

I don't think it's about the price tag, I think it's more about what he was bought in to be/do. He was bought to be a superstar striker (a goalscorer if you will), to replace the ageing Drogba and to help maintain the club at the highest level. That first half a season, although he wasn't really fit when he arrived he was backed, by the manager, the players and the fans - let's be honest as a club we wanted Torres, we wanted a player to take over from Drogba who by that stage was clearly on the wain. He played the first game and looked woeful, his touch was off, he wasn't fit and he didn't look like scoring. That trend continued for the rest of the season, during which time Drogba became first choice again. The support of Torres from the terraces didn't change, next season with a good preseason and with the right support we'd see the real Torres!

And so to his first full season, there was a bit of an issue with the style of football we were playing not really suiting his game, we were still set-up to attack to Drogba's strengths. But he didn't create anything for himself either. Now I've got to say at this point that some of the chances that haven't gone in for Torres at this stage, he'd done everything right and only the fates seemed to be against him. There was no doubt in his first full season that he was fitter than the half a season prior but not much more useful. So much so that most of his good work happened out on the wings. He'd completely lost his bottle, didn't want to be in dangerous positions and didn't know what to do when he got there.

Role on to this season, backed still by the fans in the stands (more than almost any other player), backed beyond all reasonable limits by the manager - we're going into the season without a challenge to his starting position! Yet here we are again discussing his merits or lack of. Yes he's scored a few goals so far this season which is a dramatic improvement, yes he's had some nice touches beside that - he also causes many many attacks to break down - and he generally looks fairly fit. He's still not anywhere near the quality of player that we need. At some point in the season we're going to go through a spell where we're not playing well, that's when you need a striker that can dig you out of a hole if you want to win anything, I'm pretty sure even his biggest fans don't believe that Torres is that man? United have been sh*t for most of this season, yet in Van Persie they have someone that frightens the life out of defenders and delivers regularly.

I think it's great that our attacking play is so fluid and free-flowing at the moment but I don't think it will see us right through a long hard season. We need an edge and Torres has never and will never give us that.

I was so excited when we signed him (I was with Sutton as well!) but we're not Torres Football Club, we're Chelsea and Torres isn't doing the job that Chelsea need him to do.

Completely agree Barn. Chelsea are better than 'hoping' for Torres to turn up each game. We need a nailed on 30 goal a season player, and at the moment, we don't have one.

Edited October 24, 201213 yr by Elliott

Why do people think that they can just say " We won't win the league with torres" to try and justify there arguement? We are currently at the top and 4 points clear and torres has played every game. The 3 hardest games we have faced so far (Newcastle, arsenal and spurs) he has scored in 2 of those games. He pretty much was the difference in the newcastle game between 1 point and 3 points. Against arsenal he scored an instinctive goal that if drogba scored everyone would be creaming themselves over it.

I'm sorry to say guys but the facts so far this season suggest that the saying "we will win the league with torres" far outweighs the " We won't win the league with torres" statement.

I agree. Even if Torres only reaches like 10 goals we can still win the league. Though of course, it might be easier if Torres turn into some goalscoring monster soon, bagging 25-30 goals in the league

A quick question for people saying to not think about the money he cost, Do you think he would be starting every week if he cost us 8 million to by 2 years ago?

In my honest opinion if that was the case i think Danny would be starting most games.

A quick question for people saying to not think about the money he cost, Do you think he would be starting every week if he cost us 8 million to by 2 years ago?

In my honest opinion if that was the case i think Danny would be starting most games.

Quick Question:

Do you think the club plays him only because he cost the club 50 m? No matter how he plays? Maybe the coach and the players arround him like to play with him!

Edited October 25, 201213 yr by 10to10

In my opinion yes i do think the club play him becuase of his price tag and because maybe a little worry that if they drop him the little bit of form he has right now will disappear.

I think that Robbie has been told to try and get Torres playing well. It seems that the club have done everything they can to get Torres firing. The shape of the team has changed, certain players were brought in, certain players were let go.

In my opinion yes i do think the club play him becuase of his price tag and because maybe a little worry that if they drop him the little bit of form he has right now will disappear.

I think that Robbie has been told to try and get Torres playing well. It seems that the club have done everything they can to get Torres firing. The shape of the team has changed, certain players were brought in, certain players were let go.

nah, i think the club changed the shape of team for the beauty of footy :) ... and with the new shape you´ll find more players (strikers if you want) that can play in this new style ...

that has nothing to do with our number 9. The club don´t need to find a new drogba (which is almost impossible) and have more choices which way they want to go.

Do you know that the youngsters plays now the same way as our starting eleven. Hard to believe they do it because of torres.

The youngsters have always played the same way as the first team, well at least for a few years now.

As i said it was just my opinion.

I think not signing another striker in the summer was becuase of Torres, he wants/needs to be the main man and if we had signed another big striker maybe he would have struggled with that. who knows.

well, thats another point i can´t agree with you. I can´t believe that the club decided not to buy another striker because of torres feelings.

here again i think he is a wonderful scapegoat.

I think the club decided to wait and see how the shape of team takes pogress and which kind of player they do need later in the season

and if players like danny, torres and lukaku are helpful or not.

Thats the thing about opinions matey everyones got one.

Thats the thing about opinions matey everyones got one.

thats a point where we can agree :)

I think the conversation Torres had with the board at the end of last season included him stating that he may have to 'reconsider his future at Chelsea' if we weren't willing to make him our main man. That's what his quotes after the CL final implied anyway.

I believe the following will occur. Now this depends on how and what we achieve in the transfer market by next summer...I believe that Torres will cease to be a chelsea player if we get Falcoa and /or one or two others..He will be sold abroad

I dont think we will get Falcao in January. Maybe there might be a swap deal in the summer to be done. On the other hand i truely believe that Sturrdige will leave in the summer and we may end up keeping Torres unless he doesnt fancy the challenge of the fight for places with another world class striker.

Best option in my opinion is sign Danny up for another 5 years and sell Torres to a team abroad and bring in a Falcao or other top top striker and depending on how Lukaku has done this season bring him back or loan him again and sign another striker.

I dont think 2 strikers is enough for a top team like us.

A quick question for people saying to not think about the money he cost, Do you think he would be starting every week if he cost us 8 million to by 2 years ago?

In my honest opinion if that was the case i think Danny would be starting most games.

Yes and no. If he'd cost 8 million to buy, there's no way we'd have gone into the season with Torres as starter, or even as first choice off the bench, after his performances for his first year or so at the club. On the other hand, he did start the season as our first-choice forward, and since then he's been good enough to keep a starting spot. He hasn't been great, and since the Mikel/Ramires pair seems to be working well in central midfield he'd be the first starter I'd choose to replace once we start tinkering with the squad again, but a striker who averages a goal every other game while linking well with the midfield is usually going to keep getting starts.

For those thinking that Sturridge is going to be the answer, I'm sorry but its not going to happen, that ship is getting ready to sail! He wants out of the club and would be gone by now had it not been for some last minute drama in the transfer window.

If we do spend big on another striker, whoever it may be, will represent the same risk as when we bought Torres, none of us know if any player coming in is going to do well for us! Hindsight is 20/20 foesight isn't.

After 18 months lots of people were still unconvinced by Drogba, some thought he was shocking, some thought he was class, with the benefit of our 20/20 vision of hindsight, those that thought he was class have been proven right, but at that point it was still in the balance. (i'm not talking about his goal ratio, which has always been better than Torres, more his overall play, and general demeanor)

We're now at the same stage with Torres, he's 21 months into his time with us now, some think he's worth persisting with, some think we should of got rid of ages ago, what he does in the future will prove which of us is right, but while he's a Chelsea player he will get my full support!