In all fairness, our midfield has been void of creativity and ideas for a long time. Hazard and Oscar have hit a wall after a fast start which was half expected considering their age. Moses doesn't get a run in the team and neither does Marin (who looked good yesterday actually)

I think its hard to blame Torres when he basically gets 1 half chance per game, not even a clear cut chance. I'm not defending Torres but I'm not sure any striker would do well with this midfield as it is right now. They are young and haven't learned to deal with the speed and physicality of the EPL. They, especially Oscar and Hazard have been losing out in possession A LOT lately and have no idea how to link together yet.

I think they are fantastic talents but they are not ready to win games in the EPL or CL consistently. And whoever plays striker for Chelsea will struggle to receive passes from them.

That being said, I still want Falcao here because he is more versatile than Torres and is the type of striker that can create on his own, whereas Torres is very much a striker that needs service. Falcao can probably take some attention away from our young midfield and help them grow in the EPL game.

Edited November 29, 201213 yr by Saaladin

Torres is practically reinveting football by creating a new position/role in the team. I call this new Torres influenced role "the passenger"

Nice, I love that track. However I think this one is better suited for Torres:

You seem to be taking this personally. Who's making excuses? My thought of trying 2 strikers isn't about making Torres more effective for his own good. It's an idea to get more goals into the back of the net for Chelsea.

Would it work? Don't know. It's just a thought. And since we haven't scored in 3 games, I'd be willing try something different, if it were up to me.

Did I quote you?

I didn't did I, so you might be taking things personally but I was addressing Torres apologists as a whole.

If we had another fit striker to partner Torres with, what exactly would be the point - placing one out of Oscar/Hazard/Mata on the bench? No if we had another fit strikers and our management had been instructed to play our strongest eleven Torres wouldn't make it in the starting line up.

How long does he have left on his contract? Maybe this no contract for over 30s thing may come in handy for a change

How long does he have left on his contract? Maybe this no contract for over 30s thing may come in handy for a change

Eh? You mad? The over 30 contract rule has no relevance at all to contracts signed with players younger than that. Unless you have an absurd idea that we are going to offer him a 1 year deal in 3 years time when his current contract comes to an end and that would be a good thing as we would be stuck with him for only 4 more years?

I want him gone. In January. No later.

Then I can count down the days until FSW is gone too. There is no way he will get sacked as that would be Roman admitting he was wrong to get him and we all know that won't happen because Torres would already be gone too.

Eh? You mad? The over 30 contract rule has no relevance at all to contracts signed with players younger than that. Unless you have an absurd idea that we are going to offer him a 1 year deal in 3 years time when his current contract comes to an end and that would be a good thing as we would be stuck with him for only 4 more years?

I want him gone. In January. No later.

Then I can count down the days until FSW is gone too. There is no way he will get sacked as that would be Roman admitting he was wrong to get him and we all know that won't happen because Torres would already be gone too.

I just ask because he is 28 now...do you remember the last over-valued flop we brought to the club? Rather than roman admitting he made a mistake he let him go out on loan and run his contract down

I just ask because he is 28 now...do you remember the last over-valued flop we brought to the club? Rather than roman admitting he made a mistake he let him go out on loan and run his contract down

He is 29 in March and he will be 32 when his contract expires end of 2016. We think he is bad now? Just wait. Need him gone.

As an example. A player that is 29 could sign a 4 year deal with the club taking him up to 33. But a player that is 30 at the point a contract is being signed is only offered a maximum 1 year deal.

Therefore, the over 30 policy is irrelevant with treacle trudger.

I think its hard to blame Torres when he basically gets 1 half chance per game, not even a clear cut chance. I'm not defending Torres but I'm not sure any striker would do well with this midfield as it is right now. They are young and haven't learned to deal with the speed and physicality of the EPL. They, especially Oscar and Hazard have been losing out in possession A LOT lately and have no idea how to link together yet.

How many chances did Sturridge get in the first 10 minutes he was on the pitch against West Brom? As a striker, getting chances is a two way street. You need the service but you also need to get in the right position and attack the service properly. Torres has failed to do that far more often than Mata, Oscar and Hazard have failed to find him.

In all fairness, our midfield has been void of creativity and ideas for a long time. Hazard and Oscar have hit a wall after a fast start which was half expected considering their age. Moses doesn't get a run in the team and neither does Marin (who looked good yesterday actually)

I think its hard to blame Torres when he basically gets 1 half chance per game, not even a clear cut chance. I'm not defending Torres but I'm not sure any striker would do well with this midfield as it is right now. They are young and haven't learned to deal with the speed and physicality of the EPL. They, especially Oscar and Hazard have been losing out in possession A LOT lately and have no idea how to link together yet.

I think they are fantastic talents but they are not ready to win games in the EPL or CL consistently. And whoever plays striker for Chelsea will struggle to receive passes from them.

That being said, I still want Falcao here because he is more versatile than Torres and is the type of striker that can create on his own, whereas Torres is very much a striker that needs service. Falcao can probably take some attention away from our young midfield and help them grow in the EPL game.

How many chances did Sturridge get in the first 10 minutes he was on the pitch against West Brom? As a striker, getting chances is a two way street. You need the service but you also need to get in the right position and attack the service properly. Torres has failed to do that far more often than Mata, Oscar and Hazard have failed to find him.

Exactly. Torres came off and Sturridge went up front on his own, he had about 4 shots on goal, he probably should have scored 1 or 2 but if he was given more games his sharpness would have been a lot better. If anymore proof was needed that Torres is holding us back it was in that game.

Sturridge isn't really comparable to Torres. Danny is a young boy who has played very little during the last 3-4 years. Torres a superstar with magical numbers and have won everything there is to play for and usually being among the top scorers in every competition he part takes.

Anyway we are at a point in the season we have to find goals. With Benitez in and Roman being the owner we are going to play Torres.

As sad as it sounds and It pains me to say it Torres getting injured could help the team. Serious enough and we'd have to search the market at January. I don't wish for it but this whole Torres thing starts to feel like a curse. Not blaming the guy. The whole scenario was rotten from the start.

I've always supported him and will do so but the realist in me starts to raise its head.

Did I quote you?

I didn't did I, so you might be taking things personally but I was addressing Torres apologists as a whole.

If we had another fit striker to partner Torres with, what exactly would be the point - placing one out of Oscar/Hazard/Mata on the bench? No if we had another fit strikers and our management had been instructed to play our strongest eleven Torres wouldn't make it in the starting line up.

Easy tiger. You quoted someone who was making the same point I was, and you seemed to be awfully worked up over it.

Further, I didn't say bench Mata, Hazard, or Oscar. I said that in certain games --- especially like yesterday: at home against an "inferior" club --- we don't need to be so defensive. We don't need 2 holding mids. Go with just 1, keep our attacking trio, and get someone else up top with Torres. It's not a perfect solution. But Roman can't buy us out of this problem for at least another month, at minimum, so we've got to do something with what we've got.

Exactly. Torres came off and Sturridge went up front on his own, he had about 4 shots on goal, he probably should have scored 1 or 2 but if he was given more games his sharpness would have been a lot better. If anymore proof was needed that Torres is holding us back it was in that game.

Spot on Scott. How anyone can keep on making excuses for Torres is beyond me. I cannot wait for him to leave the club.

How many chances did Sturridge get in the first 10 minutes he was on the pitch against West Brom? As a striker, getting chances is a two way street. You need the service but you also need to get in the right position and attack the service properly. Torres has failed to do that far more often than Mata, Oscar and Hazard have failed to find him.

I agree with this. Torres used to make decent runs, and nobody picked him out (that was more of a problem last season, though). He was very active early in games, but no one was sending the through ball he craves, so he'd get frustrated and stop making those runs.

Now, he seems to have stopped all together.

Sturridge isn't really comparable to Torres. Danny is a young boy who has played very little during the last 3-4 years. Torres a superstar with magical numbers and have won everything there is to play for and usually being among the top scorers in every competition he part takes.

The same can be said about Messi when he was young, the big difference is Barcelona played him and now he has grown into one of the greatest players of all time. I'm not saying Sturridge will be that but if we gave him the chance i don't see why he couldn't grow to be one of the greatest strikers in the world. He has everything to be that, if anyone deserves a chance it's Sturridge. If we didn't think he could grow to be great then why did we bother signing him from City ?

Like i have said a few times now, i think it's discusting the way we have treated someone who clearly has the talent and the ability to be one of the most dangerous strikers in the world, jeez even when he was out of position he was scoring plenty of goals in the first half of last season. Anyone with a brain can see that this guy can be something great if given the chance.

All the great strikers of today have never become great by sitting on the bench. It's time drop the failure and give a chance to someone who has been patient enough to wait.

The same can be said about Messi when he was young, the big difference is Barcelona played him and now he has grown into one of the greatest players of all time. I'm not saying Sturridge will be that but if we gave him the chance i don't see why he couldn't grow to be one of the greatest strikers in the world. He has everything to be that, if anyone deserves a chance it's Sturridge. If we didn't think he could grow to be great then why did we bother signing him from City ?

Like i have said a few times now, i think it's discusting the way we have treated someone who clearly has the talent and the ability to be one of the most dangerous strikers in the world, jeez even when he was out of position he was scoring plenty of goals in the first half of last season. Anyone with a brain can see that this guy can be something great if given the chance.

All the great strikers of today have never become great by sitting on the bench. It's time drop the failure and give a chance to someone who has been patient enough to wait.

It's not quite as cut and dry as you make out...sturridge seems to be picking up a lot injuries and they can hamper anyone's career. For me personally, sturridge doesn't have the neccerssary skill set to be a lone striker, I think he lacks presence and intelligence on his own which are major qualities in holding the ball up. Granted Torres doesn't have that either but big lu does

Further, I didn't say bench Mata, Hazard, or Oscar. I said that in certain games --- especially like yesterday: at home against an "inferior" club --- we don't need to be so defensive. We don't need 2 holding mids. Go with just 1, keep our attacking trio, and get someone else up top with Torres. It's not a perfect solution. But Roman can't buy us out of this problem for at least another month, at minimum, so we've got to do something with what we've got.

And I asked who is supposed to go up top with Torres?

We didn't sign a striker because a lot of people felt that if we had signed another big name striker would be a hit to his confidence. While signing someone like Remy would just not be an upgrade on Sturridge or Lukaku. Remember Remy being hyped up as better than Sturridge but since returning from injury this season he has one goal in the League out of 375 minutes on the field.

Moses who is a wide forward - with a tally of 6 goals out of around 35 matches last season?

Hazard - what exactly will he help with up top?

And I asked who is supposed to go up top with Torres?

We didn't sign a striker because a lot of people felt that if we had signed another big name striker would be a hit to his confidence. While signing someone like Remy would just not be an upgrade on Sturridge or Lukaku. Remember Remy being hyped up as better than Sturridge but since returning from injury this season he has one goal in the League out of 375 minutes on the field.

Moses who is a wide forward - with a tally of 6 goals out of around 35 matches last season?

Hazard - what exactly will he help with up top?

Sturridge when he is fit to return! And we would of had a better chance of winning the game last night if moses played instead of romeu. Not agree?

Edited November 29, 201213 yr by Bluehatter

Sturridge when he is fit to return! And we would of had a better chance of winning the game last night if moses played instead of romeu. Not agree?

You do realize that the better chances fell to Fulham last night?

Desperate measures in desperate times.

http://www.telegraph...n-Campbell.html

Rafael Benítez, the interim Chelsea manager, warned this week that Torres, who has scored just 11 League goals since his record £50 million move to Chelsea two years ago, may never be the same player that he was at Liverpool and suggested that the striker’s loss of pace was a contributory factor.

“Fernando had real pace,” Benítez said. “He has to train in a way that suits him. You have to work in the gym on strength. Maybe he needs to do that again.”

Campbell, who won an Olympic gold medal in the 4x100 metres relay in Athens in 2004 as well as a 200m silver at the 2000 Sydney Games, has noticed the same lack of explosiveness in Torres’ running but says a fortnight of specialist sprint coaching is all that would be needed to restore the player’s power and speed.

Campbell, himself a former semi-professional footballer who now works as a sprint coach in football and rugby union, said: “It’s ­something that is best done in pre-season but I think Fernando just needs two weeks when he hasn’t got to worry about playing on the Saturday and just put in a nice two-week training programme that I think would definitely bring the majority of his speed back.

“In the case of Fernando, I think he would also probably need to do a bit of weightlifting as well as the running and the speed drills to put some power back into his muscles. That’s why sprinters lift weights, to gain that explosive speed and power.”

Campbell was invited to work with Torres at the suggestion of Dr Bryan English, the then Chelsea medical director whom Campbell knew from his days as the UK Athletics doctor, though the relationship ended when English was sacked by Andre Villas-Boas, when he was manager at Stamford Bridge. “I only did about two or three ­sessions with Fernando but I could see his confidence coming back,” Campbell said.

“The biggest problem is that when you lose your speed you’re unable to do what you used to be able to do, and so then you start trying harder and harder. But that can be counterproductive.

“If you want to be quick, there’s an element of relaxation that’s involved. You’ve only got to look at Gareth Bale. He runs at high speed but it’s all relaxed and there’s no tension in him. The problem with someone like Fernando Torres is that the harder he tries to find that speed, his efforts are actually detrimental.”

Since the pre-season, Campbell has been working with ­Championship leaders Cardiff City, and in particular with Welsh international striker Craig Bellamy on a programme designed to prevent hamstring problems.

He also helped return Jack Rodwell to fitness before his move from Everton to Manchester City in the summer and he has been a long-term sprint coach to England and Sale rugby union wing Mark Cueto.

Campbell traces Torres’s problems back to the injury-blighted World Cup campaign in 2010. “One of the things I say to managers and physios is that when players get injured they tend to work on their endurance to get them match fit but they don’t work on their speed. When you’ve got players who are quick and have basically built their game around their explosive speed, once that speed goes, you almost have to learn a new way of playing the game because you can’t rely on what you had before.

“There was an interesting incident against Manchester City at the weekend when Fernando got the ball and tried to knock it out of his feet and go past Vincent Kompany and James Milner, but they both caught him.

“Kompany we know is very quick but Milner is not exactly lightning by any stretch of the imagination, so that told you all you need to know. A striker without any natural speed wouldn’t have knocked the ball out of his legs to chase after. It shows that he is playing as if he still believes he has the speed, but he

clearly hasn’t.”

Campbell gleaned from Torres during their brief association that the player worked with a sprint coach during his days at Atletico Madrid.

“A sprint coach could help him,” Campbell said. “I’m 100 per cent sure of that. I do believe that if you can put the speed back into his legs then, boy, you will see a very different and far more confident Fernando Torres.”

Anything will do. I say we give him a shot. It could be his last shot.

Edited November 30, 201213 yr by omnidroid70

Sturridge isn't really comparable to Torres. Danny is a young boy who has played very little during the last 3-4 years. Torres a superstar with magical numbers and have won everything there is to play for and usually being among the top scorers in every competition he part takes.

Anyway we are at a point in the season we have to find goals. With Benitez in and Roman being the owner we are going to play Torres.

As sad as it sounds and It pains me to say it Torres getting injured could help the team. Serious enough and we'd have to search the market at January. I don't wish for it but this whole Torres thing starts to feel like a curse. Not blaming the guy. The whole scenario was rotten from the start.

I've always supported him and will do so but the realist in me starts to raise its head.

He won't get injured though. He has been here two years and not picked up one minor knock. He spent weeks out at a time at Liverpool.

No idea what to make of that.

I'm all for that 2 weeks training idea. The situation couldn't get worse I guess. Maybe start the training January..

Did he ever do both weight training and speed drills or did he stop when he came to CFC?

He should hit the weights hard several times per week.

FF

Speed training isn't going to make a difference if Torres is physically damaged beyond repair. It's not like he's running with an improper gait or lacks an explosive stride because he's out of shape or doesn't know better, his knee problems from when he was at Liverpool are the issue.

All Torres does, is that he runs around a bit, chasing the ball a few times, just enough that people can tell he tried. I'm not expecting anything from him anymore, but I'm still frustrated every time he gets the ball and cannot even get it in control.