If we don't get Rooney, Torres will be the first choice next season, that's for sure. No matter how much I like Lukaku and expect him to be world class forward soon, I cannot believe certain people in here actually expect a 20 year old to take all the pressure on him and lead the team through Premier League and Champions League. Even worse, expecting Jose to put all that pressure on a 20 year old. Not gonna happen.

 

 

That worked out perfectly last season 

 

Lukaku is far more capable than handling pressure than Torres - because Torres has proved he is a mentally unable to both handle competition or be a leading striker in a club challenging for serious silverware. 

Edited August 6, 201312 yr by Las7

Raphaël Varane

 

You've got a point but still, it's different. Varane was just one out of the bunch, with Lukaku is different. He is striker, he is expected to deliver titles, he is expected to score 30+ goals in all competitions. I'm not saying he is not capable of it - just that I don't expect Jose to put all that pressure on him immediately. He will introduce him step by step.

Rooney won't sign, Torres will lead the front line and have a better season than last season, probably 10-15 league goals, similiar to what Lukaku will get. 

 

You heard it here first. 

Lukaku should be the number one striker look how many goals he scored for W.B.A. Torres will never be the player he use to be ever? the quicker jose realizes the better Torres is gone  

You've got a point but still, it's different. Varane was just one out of the bunch, with Lukaku is different. He is striker, he is expected to deliver titles, he is expected to score 30+ goals in all competitions. I'm not saying he is not capable of it - just that I don't expect Jose to put all that pressure on him immediately. He will introduce him step by step.

Stopping goals is just as important as scoring them. Varane showed how good a defender he was at 20 and Lukaku can do the same.

Rooney won't sign, Torres will lead the front line and have a better season than last season, probably 10-15 league goals, similiar to what Lukaku will get. 

 

You heard it here first. 

10-15 league goals?

 

Outstanding for a 50 million player.

Rooney won't sign, Torres will lead the front line and have a better season than last season, probably 10-15 league goals, similiar to what Lukaku will get. 

 

You heard it here first. 

 

I agree with this.  I think all our strikers will have "ok" seasons and our midfield will produce the majority of goals again.  But if Lukaku matches his tally last season it'll be great for him and the experience will be invaluable.  

10-15 league goals?

 

Outstanding for a 50 million player.

 

Unless we drastically change our style of play, 10-15 goals league is a pretty decent target for our strikers. If 2/3 of them can reach double figures, I'm happy.

 

There's not many players in the world that would hit more than that for us. It's not all about the target man's goal tally.

 

I fancy us to top the 'goals for' chart, but with half a dozen players hitting double figures, rather than one hitting 20+.

10-15 league goals?

 

Outstanding for a 50 million player.

 

 

I think most people would agree he was past his best when we signed him, and even at his best he was still probably not worth £50 million. 

Unless we drastically change our style of play, 10-15 goals league is a pretty decent target for our strikers. If 2/3 of them can reach double figures, I'm happy.

 

There's not many players in the world that would hit more than that for us. It's not all about the target man's goal tally.

 

I fancy us to top the 'goals for' chart, but with half a dozen players hitting double figures, rather than one hitting 20+.

I agree with that. I think we will bang in goals from all areas if pre season is anything to go by. Jose will look at assists from his front players as much as goals, their overall contribution will get them a starting place. If it was about our strikers scoing the bulk of the goals we wouldn't be hanging onto Ba or torres or our main transfer target being Rooney. Roll on the 18th!

he just got instagram

 

http://instagram.com/ft9_official

Although I very much agree it is not the most important thing the goals coming from the striker as long as they come BUT after seeing how many clear cut chances Torres either missed or didn't even try to score I know we can do better. Lukaku would have buried at least half those chances or anyone of our midfielders for that matter..

Last time our striker won the golden boot we won the league and we broke the record for most goals in a season.

Although I very much agree it is not the most important thing the goals coming from the striker as long as they come BUT after seeing how many clear cut chances Torres either missed or didn't even try to score I know we can do better. Lukaku would have buried at least half those chances or anyone of our midfielders for that matter..

Last time our striker won the golden boot we won the league and we broke the record for most goals in a season.

Unless we drastically change our style of play, 10-15 goals league is a pretty decent target for our strikers. If 2/3 of them can reach double figures, I'm happy.

 

There's not many players in the world that would hit more than that for us. It's not all about the target man's goal tally.

 

I fancy us to top the 'goals for' chart, but with half a dozen players hitting double figures, rather than one hitting 20+.

 

 

Agreed. With Hazard, Mata, Oscar, Ramires, Lampard, etc. right behind the striker, one cannot expect any striker to get the goals they would get at WBA.

Interview with our Number 9 on the Chelsea website:

 

Last season was the longest in Chelsea's history, with 69 competitive games played in eight different competitions, and for some, the campaign was extended still further by international duty and the Confederations Cup, which came a year after Euro 2012.

 

It was not until the beginning of July, when most of his club team-mates were preparing to report back for pre-season duties, that Fernando Torres and his colleagues who had played in Brazil finally had the chance for a prolonged break from the game. It was, Torres says, a much-needed one but he is now back with excitement at what is to come.

 

'It was a really long, hard season with a lot of ups and downs for the team, and with the national team, so I had a great time resting with the family away from football,' the 29-year-old, who lifted the tournament Golden Boot in South America, says. 'I don't remember the last time I had four weeks off in a summer so it was great and now I am fully prepared for the season, which should be a good one for all of us.

 

'You enjoy your holidays and rest, but I was also looking at the website to see how Chelsea were doing, following the games in Asia, seeing about the new signings, and it's nice to be back and part of the team now, with a new manager and some new players.

 

'Everyone is giving everything to be in the manager's plans. For me, pre-season is a nice time, I like the feeling of finishing training tired, with heavy legs and pain everywhere. It's a nice feeling.'

 

Those who have seen him train in the 10 days or so since he returned from his holidays have noticed a sharpness to the forward's game and a determination to impress new manager Jose Mourinho, but the player himself believes there is plenty more hard graft needed to catch up with the rest of the squad.

 

'From the first day until now training has been great, high intensity, very fun, and so you are working hard but using the ball in every exercise, so it's very good,' he says, relaxing in the team's Washington DC hotel after a tough session. 'It's good everyone is involved together, and the manager and his assistants do small things to make you enjoy the sessions.

 

'From this you can see everyone is giving everything. Everyone wants play in the first 11, so people are working even harder than even in the middle of the season when they know if they are playing regularly or not. Everyone is playing well, the manager is mixing everybody well, making everyone sharp for competition. We only have two more games until the first Premier League game, and so far everyone is looking great.

 

'Some of us are behind but we are trying to get fit as soon as possible. It's difficult for us guys from the Confederations Cup to fit into the team now because the other guys have had 22 days more than us,' Torres continues. 'In pre-season that's a huge difference and you can see they are much fitter than us, so we have to work even harder to fit in because the season is right there, in two weeks' time. We have to be ready for that and we know how important it is to start well.'

 

Tonight we face Real Madrid in our penultimate pre-season game, with only Roma to come on Saturday before we meet Hull City in the Barclays Premier League on Sunday, August 18.

 

Meeting Real still means a lot to Torres, a former Atletico Madrid captain and supporter.

 

'It is always a big game for me. I grew up in a city where Real was the biggest team, one of the biggest in the world. We were always in the shadow of Real Madrid so I know what it is like,' he says, his face becoming focused and serious.

 

'I never beat them playing for Atletico, it was nearly 15 years without beating them until the last Copa Del Rey. I had the chance to beat them with Liverpool, and this is the third time I will play them after leaving Spain, so even though it is a friendly to me it is very important and I know a lot of Atletico fans want us to win, to see that Real lost, and even more if I am playing on the other team.'

 

10-15 league goals?

 

Outstanding for a 50 million player.

 

 

Is that how much Torres cost? Seriously? I never knew that, thank god you are here....

 

Ideally Torres will be sold for numerous (obvious) reasons but if not and he is rotated along with Lukaku & Ba then 10-15 league goals would be a decent return in my opinion. And that goes for all three strikers if they are sharing the role which I have a feeling they will.

 

It worked out ok in Mourinho's first couple of seasons where Drogba, Crespo & Gudjohnson all chipped in with between 10-15 goals and we comfortably won the league two years in a row.

Edited August 7, 201312 yr by mclovin83

This has nothing to do with Torres in particular just some of the comments being made about where our goals may come from next season and I would rather have 6-8 players all getting double figures, both attacking midfielders and forwards than one forward getting 40 goals.

Then your a dangerous team with a threat from all over which is far harder to stop rather than a dangerous player. 

Is that how much Torres cost? Seriously? I never knew that, thank god you are here....

 

Ideally Torres will be sold for numerous (obvious) reasons but if not and he is rotated along with Lukaku & Ba then 10-15 league goals would be a decent return in my opinion. And that goes for all three strikers if they are sharing the role which I have a feeling they will.

 

It worked out ok in Mourinho's first couple of seasons where Drogba, Crespo & Gudjohnson all chipped in with between 10-15 goals and we comfortably won the league two years in a row.

I don't appreciate the sarcasm, firstly.

 

Secondly, I was just pointing out that 10-15 league goals a season is not great for a player that cost us that much. You pay that kind of money for a striker that will get you between 25-30+ goals a season.

People say they would rather goals come from all over, or that since Torres doesn't score it leaves space for Mata and Co to score. But the problem is that most of Torres ' chances would be finished by most strikers and would still allow other players to score. He could get 40 a season, and we could still see the rest of our goals spread out.

He could get 40 a season, and we could still see the rest of our goals spread out.

 

No, I think that 50 is more realistic... 

I don't appreciate the sarcasm, firstly.

 

Secondly, I was just pointing out that 10-15 league goals a season is not great for a player that cost us that much. You pay that kind of money for a striker that will get you between 25-30+ goals a season.

 

Yeah, I think that is pretty damn obvious to be honest though.

 

But tehe key point is that he certainly  isn't worth £50M now and probably never was so it is pretty pointless to keep banging on about it.

 

Based on the last two and a half years I would say 10-15 league goals would be decent and would take it right now if it was on offer.

I think I already said it earlier in this thread, if Torres gets 15 league goals this season then I'll happy.

 

His league goal return for us up until now has been very poor so if he were to manage 15 for us then it's obviously an improvement from him and would help us with our title push. 

Don't see him scoring more than 10 league goals even if he was guaranteed 1st choice, he drops far too deep and is no longer instinctive. I believe we need a 20 goal striker to compete for top 2 in the league and do well in the CL, you just have to look at Aguero in 2012 & RVP last season.

Don't see him scoring more than 10 league goals even if he was guaranteed 1st choice, he drops far too deep and is no longer instinctive. I believe we need a 20 goal striker to compete for top 2 in the league and do well in the CL, you just have to look at Aguero in 2012 & RVP last season.

 

Torres doesn't actually drop deep all that much, he tends to make his runs wide, opening up the space in the middle. Small part of the big reason why our midfielders are so prolific. We attack to our strengths, and our strength lies in the midfield.

 

While I'm certain Aguero and van Persie would succeed if they were at Chelsea, our attack isn't shaped around the striker, so they would have a much harder time hitting golden boot numbers, simply because we'd create less chances for them.

 

Not suggesting the striker position is unimportant for us, our striker needs to be involved in build up, directly and off-the-ball. We'll create chances for our midfielders to finish off as much as we do for the striker, if not more, so I wouldn't be too concerned if none of our strikers hit the magic "20". 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sg-MiKQrlRk 

Edited August 9, 201312 yr by FLYMJ