He played well today, deserved his goal, was unlucky with the pen and should have had an assist if Benayoun weren't such a plank.

Not much else to be said about it really, reading anything more into his performance today after the last 2 years is a bit silly, although everytime he does score there is a tiny portion in my mind still hoping that next game he'll come out and play even better and he'll be back.

One can always dream.

played really well in 2nd half. i wasn't at the match but  i hope he got the reception he deserved 

Great game from Torres. Needs to be said. At least the last 30. He scored the type of goal we need him to score week in week out. Other than that he was winger/midfielder rest of the time which is a plus.

He needs to do the basic things right like in the attack he scored. His timing and positioning was spot on there. He was where a striker should be.

Anyway great to see that Torres and we need to support the man as long as he is here.

Does anyone think he's got time to redeem himself?

What if he scores the winner against Tottenham or United?

He played brilliantly last night, great goal, shame he missed the pen.

Rafa's backing him to go on a goalscoring spree now. Oh dear...

He played brilliantly last night, great goal, shame he missed the pen.

Rafa's backing him to go on a goalscoring spree now. Oh dear...

...aaand the confidence is gone. Rafa is such a great man manager. I'm surprised he didn't mention how much he cost and how his form was so much better at Looserpool.

Torres can't win can he?

For most of he game last night Torres done exactly what we've been wanting him to do for ages, get out of the way when we're attacking. He excelled at that for an hour last night. Then towards the end he lost his mind and.started playing some reasonable football, even scoring when he could have missed.

I'd be willing, for costs only to come in and boot Torres in the mush before every game if that'll help. Hell I'd even chuck in a freebee for fsw.

Don't get carried away people, he wasn't brilliant but that last half hour was the best he's played for a very very long time.

"Does anyone think he's got time to redeem himself?

What if he scores the winner against Tottenham or United?"

He has every chance to redeem himself, if he starts banging goals in RVP/Suarez style until the end of the season then i'd be all up for keeping him on another year. I don't think theres any proper Chelsea fan that doesn't want him to succeed, it's not a case of redeeming himself so much as proving himself.

And the fans still back him.

 

He got a pretty decent cheer when the stadium announced his name as the goalscorer.... We would love him to be our Falcao/RVP/Aguero but I just can't shake the feeling this is just another false dawn. 

Great second half from him, sad to see people getting stuck up on the penalty miss when in fact he had a great game in the last 30, almost like he was on some sort of adrenalin rush.

 

Hope to see more of this!

Torres played with a bit of hunger, was nice to see. I have knocked him in the past but then just felt sorry for him. If he carries on like last night then he s moving in the right direction for the club and himself.

I think this is a perfect example of just how low the bar is set with Torres. He did no more than what we expect from a centre forward last night, even then im talking about the last 20 mins, the previous 70 he was carried by the rest of the team.

 

Great to see him scoring a crucial goal though, cant fault him for that, but personally the very least id expect from a centre forward is to run about with intention and aggression. We have seen so little of that from Torres that when he actually does it he is considered to have played 'brilliantly', which wasnt the case at all. He was just standard and even then only for 20 mins.

 

He should never have been allowed to have taken that penalty though, credit to him for demanding it i guess. But hands up who thought really thought he was going to score ? The match was still very much in the balance and that miss couldve cost us badly if they'd have scored afterwards.

You are harsh on him.

Liverpool didn't win anything with him. And the way we pictured him when he was there was like he was some sort of football angel dropped from the sky looking at the odd highlights him scoring. At the same time we had Drogba winning us everything and Anelka winning the golden boot. Lets be honest we never watched every Liverpool game with Torres playing.

£50mill was astronomical of him and he got the same pressure as Kaka who is arguably the biggest flop ever in football since his move to Real. At least Nando is playing. Ronaldo truly is a brilliant player who is mentally on a different level as he's kept his level even if the transfersum was out of this world.

If you think about it like that he's done average. Not huge failure compared to some of these over-the-top-trasfersum players. Look at Hulk and Witsel.

To be fair, Torres last penalty was pretty decent and last night's was a bit unlucky.

 

I think they all miss them now and again - Hazard and Mata have both had poor ones and although Lamps wasn't an option last night, I'm not over confident with him these days either. Luiz is probably the best bet, but even he has missed in the past.

Torres was sh*te for the first 60 minutes last night. The last half hour he was good. Worked hard and finally had a bit of end product. He scrapes a 7/10 because he scored. 

 

And a penalty where you miss the target (unless you slip) is not unlucky. Its just not a good penalty. 

Hat goes off to him for getting an important goal at a needed time. Hopefully JT or Lamps gives him a belt in the gob before every game now and spark some life and aggression into him.

I will support him as long as he does his job and scores goals, but I'm not going to get carried away. From watching last nights game we should be more concerned about Mikel being our anchor in midfield, the guy looked like a donkey against the Steaua attack which was composed of nothing more than a few journeymen.

That game was a microcosm of Torres`s career at Chelsea. Mostly sh*t, does something good and suddenly looks the part, f**ks it up, looks sh*t again.

If you think about it like that he's done average. Not huge failure compared to some of these over-the-top-trasfersum players. Look at Hulk and Witsel.

 

Sorry mate. I just cant buy that. He has been appalling, a total disaster. Not a huge faliure ? For me, pound for pound he is the the worst signing in the history of football, perhaps only Kaka to Madrid comes close as you rightly compare.

Edited March 15, 201313 yr by bjd

Sorry mate. I just cant buy that. He has been appalling, a total disaster. Not a huge faliure ? For me, pound for pound he is the the worst signing in the history of football, perhaps only Kaka to Madrid comes close as you rightly compare.

Kaka is the biggest. You just have no personal bond to the thing so you don't really care. Me neither but trying to be objective on both players.

If you take all the players whose with massive transfersums Torres rates average in the list.

My point is: Avoid those deals like the plague.

Expectation from everyone plus the pressure of the sum is a crushing combination.

I think this is a perfect example of just how low the bar is set with Torres. He did no more than what we expect from a centre forward last night, even then im talking about the last 20 mins, the previous 70 he was carried by the rest of the team.

 

Great to see him scoring a crucial goal though, cant fault him for that, but personally the very least id expect from a centre forward is to run about with intention and aggression. We have seen so little of that from Torres that when he actually does it he is considered to have played 'brilliantly', which wasnt the case at all. He was just standard and even then only for 20 mins.

 

He should never have been allowed to have taken that penalty though, credit to him for demanding it i guess. But hands up who thought really thought he was going to score ? The match was still very much in the balance and that miss couldve cost us badly if they'd have scored afterwards.

 

As usual, you're bang on the money, and I can't find fault with any part of this post.

 

Lest we forget, we were playing Steaua Bucharest at home, not Barcelona, and he only performed for the last part of the game, as you say, and even then, it was no more than we have every right to expect from a centre-forward playing for us every single game, not once every six months or so, against sh*t opposition.

 

As for the penalty, he should never have taken it, and I can't believe the level to which this club indulges this player. It was a crucial kick, as you say, and his miss could have cost us. Now, of course every player misses spot-kicks, that's not the point you numbskulls. What is the point Davey? Well let me divulge ..

 

When it comes to crucial spot-kicks there are certain players who should stay well away. They include ..

 

1. Players who have generally been sh*t for the last two and a bit years.

 

2. Players who have shown no mental fortitude whatsoever.

 

3. Players who generally have shown enormous fear in front of goal.

 

4. Anyone with the initials FT.

 

Forgive me if I'm wrong (I'm not) but you have to earn the right to take a spot-kick. Your teammates need to look at you and go, "Yup, he deserves this one, he's probably the right man for the job". Luiz, Mata and Hazard may all have missed pens but at least they earned the right, and Luiz hasn't missed this season and nor did he miss in Munich, when the pressure was really on.

 

I'm sorry, but even if he scored I would say the same, ridiculous decision. Remember Lampard taking the ball off Drogba against Wigan? Drogba, the top scorer in the league that year? We were 1-0 against Wigan who were down to 10 men but Lampard said no, and why? Because it was a crucial kick, that's why, and the team always comes before the individual, except in this case, where we might as well call ourselves Torres FC.

 

You're right bjd, I don't think anyone in the ground had any confidence he would score.

 

My guess, the more Torres scores the better it makes Rafa look. He can turn round to Roman and say, "Look how I got Fernando firing again, his record is far better under me than anyone else".

 

Under any other circumstances, at any other club, Torres would be about as likely to take a penalty as Mikel.

Kaka is the biggest. You just have no personal bond to the thing so you don't really care. Me neither but trying to be objective on both players.

If you take all the players whose with massive transfersums Torres rates average in the list.

My point is: Avoid those deals like the plague.

Expectation from everyone plus the pressure of the sum is a crushing combination.

 

I wont accept Torres rates as an average 'big transfer failure' but i understand your point on being objective.And yeah youre right about the expectation, im sure it can be overwhelming. It looked like it was killing Torres from the moment he put on our shirt for the first time. Obviously the fact his legs had clearly gone just made/makes it all the more painful to watch. At times he's honestly resembled an over the hill steeplechaser waiting for the call to be shipped off to the knackers yard and shot, like its the best thing for everyone.

 

Not sure if i agree about avoiding massive transfer deals though, if its the right player and the homework is done properly then they can be very worthy. Sadly for us it was very clear long before we signed Torres he was having issues and it was never a signing we shouldve gone anywhere near. To a certain extent its was the same with Shevchenko. Still the man with the cash can do what he wants, i just wish he took some advice about it!

Edited March 15, 201313 yr by bjd

To be fair Kaka was hit with injuries and there are examples where big money meant big success. But our success is very low on that area.

Torres, Shevchenko, Sutton, Mutu. All big transfers in their time.

In general transfers Torres is a huge failure but you can't deny his shirt sales potential is huge compared to many of his kind.

One of the all time biggest failures is Andy Carroll. Unmarketable, lanky boy with major injuryproblems on loan =£35mill yeah right.

true, hes still relevant when it comes to shirt sales. baffling, but there you go

 

i just hope come summer, other clubs will be aware of that fact

I think he played decent yesterday, especially second half, but like some previous posts mentioned he didn't do anything that a half decent cf wouldn't do, we are just so used to bad performances that when he does do a half decent job then we all get excited.

He should not be taking penalties though, when Lamps is not on the field it should be Mata or even Luiz.  Fair play to FT though for wanting to take it.

Lets hope he has a decent run of games now, scores some goals and hopefully attract the interest of some potential buyers, for his sake and ours