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Chelsea 1 Liverpool 1

Chelsea once again failed to beat Liverpool, in the Premier League, after conceding an equalizer.

However, despite dropping two points and dropping to third in the table, Chelsea supporters will be worried about a bad injury that John Terry looked to have picked up.

Team News - For this clash, Chelsea were without the injured Lampard and Cole. Terry came back into the heart of the defence, partnering Ivanovic, with Azpilicueta being given a start in the right-back slot. Moses, who had scored the winner in the Champions League cash with Shakhtar Donetsk, had to be content with a place on the bench. David Luiz was ruled out through illness whilst a certain Joe Cole was on the Liverpool bench.

As for Fernando Torres playing against his former club and hoping to break his duck against; Roberto Di Matteo had this to say before kick-off:

'Sometimes, playing against your old team gives you extra motivation. Sometimes, it inhibits you a little bit. So, it depends how his frame of mind is playing against his old team.'

First Half - After a minutes silence, for Remembrance Sunday had been observed it was Liverpool who got the action underway. The visitors had the better of the possession but it was Chelsea that carved out the first chance after Allen had been caught in possession; unfortunately Oscar was to lift his shot over the bar.

Liverpool forced two corners in quick succession but a neat claim by Cech averted the danger. Ivanovic fired a free kick, from thirty-five yards out, wide before a minute later Chelsea took the lead. Torres won a corner and when Mata swung it over there was Terry, having lost his marker, to head home the 50th goal of his Chelsea career.

Hazard then burst through the center and when he slipped the ball to Torres, the Spaniard saw his shot parried by Jones in the Liverpool goal only for Hazard to hook the rebound wide. Liverpool responded with a shot from Sahin that flew wide before Terry was to suffer what looked a bad injury.

The ball ran free and when Suarez`s momentum kept him going forward, his body clattered against Terry`s lower leg and the captain was carried away on a stretcher to be replaced by Cahill. As the half came towards a close, Cech saved a low shot from Gerrard and in the five minutes of stoppage time, Mata burst through and looked to be on for a goal until a late bobble saw the Spaniard blast his shot over the bar.

Second Half - Neither side many any changes at half time and the first piece of meaningful action saw Allen booked for pulling back Torres. From the free kick Chelsea won a corner but it was easily cleared at the near post.

Mata, trying to get that vital second goal failed to get enough bend on a shot that went wide. Johnson then received a yellow card for an elbow on Oscar and from he free-kick, Jones produced an instinctive save to deny Torres.

Gerrard then became the next to receive a yellow card for a late tackle on Oscar before Chelsea, with seventy-three minutes gone, were left to rue the fact that they had so much possession but couldn`t engineer that second goal.

Oscar was caught in possession and when Liverpool broke Cahill was forced to concede a corner. When the ball was floated in Carragher got a flick and Suarez as hand to head home from close range.

Di Matteo rung the changes bringing on Moses for Oscar and later Sturridge for Torres but it was Liverpool that could have snatched a late winner when Suarez looked to be through but Cech foiled him and then right at the death he pulled off a save to deny Enrique.

Definitely two points lost this one!

Team - Cech, Azpilicueta, Terry (Cahill-39), Ivanovic, Bertrand, Mikel, Ramires, Oscar (Moses-77), Mata, Hazard, Torres (Sturridge-81)

Unused Subs - Turnbull, Ferreira, Romeu, Marin,

Chelsea Scorers - Terry (20)

Chelsea Yellow Cards - Mikel

Chelsea Red Cards - Nil

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Writer: Merlin

Date:Sunday November 11 2012

Time: 6:04PM

Your Comments

We need a striker that can create something out of nothing right now Torres is incapable of creating something out of something let alone nothing. At this rate Mata, Hazard and Oscar will be knackered come March.

Anarchy

The match commentator summed it all nicely. We will win diddly squat without a competent striker. There are a lot of young upcoming strikers we should have a dossier full of options...hope emenalo is watching and taking notes!!

dozzy

Sell Torres, and Studge, get Dzeko/Falcao and recall Lukaku... We lack firepower...

Tiraspol

We did not create that many clear cut chances, shame on us, we were not able to beat a WEAK Liverpool team. Azpilicueta is a better RB than Ivanović.

B2K420

Torres is done. He will go down as the biggest flop in club history. Its sad but its fact. We are not winning anything with this striker. I don't how to even describe this. We need a proper striker FFS.

Keyser Soze

I think we got a pretty clear view today why we're not ready to compete with the Manchesters yet. Both teams currently playing terrible football, can be a couple of goals down, but almost always manage a result. We outplayed Liverpool today, but we lack killer instinct and the mentality to go out and dominate the last 10-15 min like the other two always do. I hope we have a striker lined up for January first, if we wish to have at least a slight chance to be up there at the end of the season.

Puttinuttan

Pure and simple.. Chelsea needs a passing playmaker to quarterback the game...Some who can pass the ball quickly. And a striker that can score. Chelsea can't rely on Hazard/Mata/Oscar/Moses or the defense each week in order to win a game. We gotta score more than 1 dam goal a game. While both Mikel and Ramires both were outstanding defensively, Ramires can't pass the ball 2 inches without giving it away. Its like Chelsea plays with 10 men and no striker.

lamarochs

Also...Sturridge can go also, he did nothing today.

lamarochs

Terry injured, 3rd in the league now, City Nov 25th... and no competent striker.... one word OUCH

Tiraspol

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/football/view/281850/

Keyser Soze

Torres keeps underperforming and being our team's handicap. We need to do our best to try and get Falcao because he's the world's best striker and the moment. I don't think Sturridge is the answer to our problems but at least he will be better than Torres if given the chance. Torres and Sturridge should be sold and we should try to get Falcao and recall Lukaku.

Drog of War

Hazard fecked up for their goal...lost possession too easily resulting in their corner that lead to the goal

Ess...DaBison

Where is @mq today. Mikel was avg and ramires was too. It's not the striker we need most but someone like Michael ballack In midfield. RDM is too predictable with his subs and well late, could ve tried Marin today.

shaka09

http://football-talk.co.uk/69929/chelsea-favourites-to-land-powerful-african-striker/

Tiraspol

I don't know why he took oscar off should of replaced mikel with moses and have oscar next to ramires and really went for the winning goal.

lukamolski

Rdm need to sort it out or gets the sack.

trublues

Next week lineup is cech,betrand,luiz,cahill,cesar,mikel,rammy,mata,hazard,oscar,torres = too predictable, try something else, catch teams by suprise , we have the personalty and we can do it, rdm should trust the subs more and drop the underperformers. Its clear as daylight and hazard needs to rest a little, he should come in atimes as a sub, we can afford to use him as a sub atimes and so is oscar, I think the persistence of robbie in using torres is due to his price tag and maybe roman's order.

Desmondadonis

Today showed how we still need a deeplying playmaker.We need variation.If our troika aint breaking the opposition,a deeplying playmaker will instigate attacks from deep.

bluekid

@lukamolski welcome back. I've missed your vital chelsea trolling

Blue in Colorado

at the time Oscar was been subbed he was contributing to the game a lot more than the ineffective ft9, RDM's subs were more of giving few game minutes to Moses and Sturridge than making a tactical change, what made the result more painful is the fact that a win was there for the taking but we bottled it.

RayBell

Will mourinho ever draw this game or ferguson?! thats good managers we dominated liverpool yet we didnt win why did rdm change late, why stick with stupid 4231 ***** why leave out marin, why start torres rdm is just romans puppet this seasons end shows over.

trublues

Will mourinho ever lose this game or ferguson?! thats good managers we dominated liverpool yet we didnt win why did rdm change late, why stick with stupid 4231 ***** why leave out marin, why start torres rdm is just romans puppet this seasons end shows over.

trublues

Liverpool had a five men defence. He took Oscar off simply because all the passing in the world wouldn't have gone past this farking defence. Moses has a more direct approach. They had a kid in there, a grandpa and someone who's not popular for his pace and we never managed to get behind them ONCE. We are getting found out big time. Shakhtar (twice), Swansea, United and now Liverpool all did the same - just pack the central midfield, get back in numbers and stick to your positions. We struggled to break them down in all those games. We lack width. The Mazacar trio may be brilliant and everything you want but they are all number tens. We are trying to get things done through the middle far too much and seriously everybody knows it now. And why the hell do we always seem to struggle everytime the pitch is a little bit tricky? When the ball rebounds a little bit we lose our composure completely. Three or four passes together and under the slightes of pressure we just hoof it up top hopelessly. There's still a lot to be done.

FrLamp

Fun fact: Since February 6, 2011, we have met L'pool 6 times: Four losses, one draw and one win. The win (FA-cup final) is the only game where Torres didn't appear.

Puttinuttan

RDM is to blame. Yesterday, Fergie realised Young was a minus so he took him off.

foreign_viewer

Sell Torres, Danny and Lampard. In with Falcao, Fellaini and bring home Lukaku! And yes...CHE is too predictable! Add a third striker and change the way of play depending on the game a head! I really dont know if Bertrand can replace Cole....YET.

nahui

We drew and people are blaming RDM,,,was it RDM that told Oscar, Mata, Torres and Mikel to waste those chances @goal. Do you know that we performed better against Liverpool than City and United did? They lost the game against United due to poor officiating and drew against City cos Skretel was crap. Liverpool love to shine against top teams and we did well, the players wasted those clear cut chances that cost us 2 points but it's far from RDM's fault.

SameX

I would like too see a 4-4-2 or a 4-3-3 sometimes. RDM needs to be inventive. Mose right, Marin left sometimes.

foreign_viewer

Leave Robbie alone! Yes he made poor subs but he's our manager and he's the only one who knows what's going on behind the scenes. Until Roman stops influencing the team selection, we will keep getting these results.... its not Robbie's fault. Lukamolski's sub suggestion wjould have won us this game perfectly but we took Oscar off.... smh.

Blue in Colorado

I am not happy tonight and after todays performance of Torres we need a new striker.

Elbowz

i don't blame sturridge i actually feel sorry for him Torres hasn't dont anything for him to be starting every single game. putting a young player on the 89th min or 80th min. who was starting at this time last year is not going to do anything positive for your team. Torres is done done done.. his body language the way his stay on floor after getting fouled, i mean damn its really a disgrace. also i think we should have kept essein and we can use strong midfielder im not saying it dire but it would be good to have one for squad rotation. and last point i said it before and im going to say it now RDM have no imagination none.

Blue_yank

We have only one problem and thats torres,the earlier we get a goalscorer the better 4 us,if torres is clinical enough we would be finishin off teams in the 1st half rather than scorin just a goal and puttin pressure on the defenders and fans(at this rate ma blood pressure is runin high)

Ken4CFC

I am sure by next week we'll be having the same convo over and over again. I really wish we could get this right, it keeps hurting me bcos we have the depth and talent, torres have some of the blame but its not entirely his fault that other players are missing chances.

Desmondadonis

We need to relax though. 3 points away from the top. We just need to hold on until January.

foreign_viewer

I doubt if bertrand is ready to replace cole,he has been very poor in 2games now

Ken4CFC

Im not saying is rdm's fault,all im saying is that he should have known that 1 0 was not a lead against a boggey team like liverpool. Add extra fire power in moses or marin to freshen up the attack which wasnt having enough cuting edge.we are too predictable and its all down to rdm.we are sliping away gradualy,somtin neds to be done and fast.

ojvmata

So what's still missing from this team? My opinion, true wingers and striker.

foreign_viewer

if you play same midfield with a useless striker upfront week in week out....then you can win some matches but you cant win the title....rdm has become predictalble his midfield is the same and his timing of the subs are also same....today you needed plan b.....like marin and moses on the wing...liverpool.were playing three in back and they using their wing backs as their attackers could had use marin and moses to exploit it....but rdm nevef did played witb the same system.with the same subs and in the end put his trust on the luck....the luck which deserted him today....you cant win each and every match on your luck....today he needed to change the match and once again he waited for the match to change...

shlok27

Unless I was watching a different game, I thought Torres had a great game. People moan when he doesn't shoot, when he doesn't show any effort, when he doesn't win anything. Today he did all three well and people still moan. If it wasn't for brad jones save from the corner and his shot after hazards pass, he'd have scored twice. Oh well you can't please everyone it seems. Azplicueta played well today. If anything Oscar and mata's chances should have been put away in the first half. I also think that there is too much over reliance on mata, Oscar and hazard, as someone mentioned all three are really number 10s. Who else plays with those type of players, oh yes barce-bloody-lona that's who. We are not Barcelona we are Chelsea football club and we play are own style now. We need to change this mentality, it was great early on in the season, but we are being cottoned onto now. If RDM hasn't noticed next weeks game against west brom is the ideal game to change things, mata going off to panama, Oscar, luiz and Ramires going to play for brazil, ivanovic playing against chile, all of them long distances and to play after travelling those sorts of distances on a Saturday will take its toll. I know I keep harping on about this but Marin should start next weeks game on one wing, Moses on the other and hazard through the middle. But we really know what the line up will be don't we! I can't believe we have such a small squad, but what we do have we need to use. It needs sorting, rotation needs to happen, if it doesn't we could be talking about manager number 9 coming in. I'm sorry but that's the reality, call me what you like I'm speaking the truth.

Blue1989

I dont know why mikel is getting so forward....he's leaving a massive gap between midfield and defence exposed which suarez loved today.

Ess...DaBison

Ramieres was brilliant today... I must have saw 10-15 times he nicked the ball in midfield and he made gerrard look a muppet. just let down by a slow mikel

Ess...DaBison

we need a striker .... no a midfielder a pure striker .... we need a devil to lead our front line ... not a tame puppy ... we need jovetic / pato / david villa

haji ahmed

Rdm need to sub better would bringing on tricky marin had won us the game? look at chicarito always delivers on sub u never know!

trublues

Mikel's performance was *****....... Hazard was almost useless.... Ramires has lost something in him...... Torres... well let's just bring back his name "El Floppo".......

The Persian

I am just getting home from church and have not had the time to watch the match myself but having seen the scores and read through the comment threads a few points are clear..it is beyond depressing that we are unable to beat such a weak Liverpool team when refeering did not come into play. As i read through the comments on this thread i hate to say " I told you so!" to many..i had said all summer that we were playing dangerous russian Roulette by not getting at least one quality striker in the transfer window..many shouted me down..the difference is now as clear as 7-up..the teams consistently able to pull matches out of the fire even they are not playing well; city and ManU have one commonality that we dont share..they have multiple top quality in form strikers (both have 4 to choose from)..we dont have even one. I also said RDM would be crazy to Start El Nino in this game because as poor as he has been for us..he has been even poorer whenever we play liverpool..he went ahead and started him and once more nothing to show for it..someone said lunacy is doing the same thing repeatedly and yet expecting different results..i do hope that it is Roman who is insisting RDM keep starting Torres because otherwise i begin to wonder what he needs to see to learn his lesson. Let us just be straight about this..we need top quality at our striker position..at least 2 quality in form strikers..City already have 4 quality top shelf strikers..if we sit by and allow them land Radamel Falcao this winter while we keep wasting time talking about players like Pato and Loic Remy then let us as well gift wrap the BPL once more to the Manchester Cartel of teams because without top quality up front and having 3 players who are actually in form goal scorers on our roster we cannot hang with those two teams (and neither Danny nor Torres fit that bill sadly) and that is harsh truth, reality and bottom line!!!.

GabeU

Azpilicueta was sensational. Come again Chelsea, dont give up lads.

TafChels

We keep saying we should buy this and buy that, have we tried all the players in our squad before we. Say we need this and that, we can't judge moses, marin and studge by the little starts they got, we need to mix it up, and not use all our best quality at once, we used mazacar last week against shakter, again against west brom, we'll do the same next week and we'll keep moaning and moaning

Desmondadonis

foreign_viewer - the only teams who still use a 4-4-2 are relegation threatened teams. This formation won't last long anymore.

FrLamp

we need to get Falcao or Cavani....... Cavani is also class... he scored 4goals last week, including a direct free kick....... and let's take a look at Strootman..... he can do a pivot job...... cheaper than Fellaini

The Persian

I didn't see Azpilicueta as sensational today. Didn't do much wrong, but just put in a shift.

londonfc

Its time we drop one or two of our regular starters now and try another two, and wedt brom are the perfect team we can experiment intelligently on" I know that they are strong but we need another plan. Try mata, moses, sturridge and perhaps oscar, that's two new players, we might get lucky and they'll click, we need to get marin match fit ASAP

Desmondadonis

Is it fair to ask our current team win a major trophy this season? BPL or CL? The squad was changed dramatically over the summer, Torres isn't a deadly striker as we hoped he would be and Danny isn't showing the promise we wanted! With all things considered, are we expecting too much??? Surely this season is one of transition, we'll be much better prepared come next season. Our aim for the current season should be a top four, a cup, and win the tourney in Japan. Patch the holes in the summer and push on from there.

Tiraspol

@Desmondadonis I agree 100% i keep seeing people saying sell sturridge and by another striker about we actually try and let him play first.

Blue_yank

Mtchèew

chuks09

I don't just get it man..... RDM was in charge last season, and he won trophies with DROGBA AND TORRES (mainly Drogba)......... and Drogba is gone..... so WHY THE HELL RDM DIDN'T REPLACE HIM ???......... HE JUST CHANGED THE WINNING FORMULA BY NOT REPLACING DROGBA !!........... WHAT THE ***** TORRES DID FOR RDM LAST SEASON THAT CONVINCED HIM TO NOT BUYING ANOTHER STRIKER ???.............. I JUST DON'T *****ING GET IT MAN !.......... I'M *****ED OFF......

The Persian

I can't wait till we get a new striker.

ACLamp

Two things are RDM's problem.... 1, always playing Torres, 2, always playing Hazard-Oscar-Mata combo...

Latunvic

Terry's injury is depressing. I don't think Suarez would have got the equalizer had Terry been on the pitch. The feeling is that our season is going downhill.

Blue Day

Agree with ur point @Desmond... we need to change how we attack sometimes... @GabeU, agree we need a striker but we have one which we have refused to give a chance. Even if we buy a new striker today, what is the likelihood RDM will bench Torres for the new striker.... He should at least give Sturridge half the chance he has given to Torres..

Latunvic

I mean, hey Roberto, you don't buy a CB coz they did well for you last season and you won trophies with them...... you bought attacking midfielders coz your team lacked creativity...... you sent Essien and Yossi out coz they did nothing in your trophy winning period........ but you were very much reliant on your main center forward...... he left, and you had to replace him !...... what the ***** Torres and Danny did when Drogs was here that convinced you they can fill Drogba's spot ??........ RDM handled this one wrong......

The Persian

Now the table is taking shape, because we are only 3 points behind, we are not alarmed yet, u forget that arsenal can't be effing up all season, they'll soon go on their usual run, tottenham will be coming up and everton is another threat, we need to be scrapping wins now, bcos come may, this points loss will tell, man utd are winning now and will continue as they have played all their tough games except city, if city neat them for us, themn city will top, if we don't stick to their coat tails by now, we are sliding down and down and u should start getting worried already.

Desmondadonis

Fergie played a 4-4-2 vs us. Valencia huged the right touch line. They got two goals from that. That's what we need sometimes.

foreign_viewer

If Torres or Danny were good enough to replace Drogba, they would have done that last season !..... but the fact is that neither Torres nor Danny could bench Drogba !........ so why the ***** we didn't buy a striker at least, as good as Drogba ??

The Persian

I wonder why most of y6u keep complaining now. This was what few of us saw in the summer and wanted yet another BIG OR WORLD CLASS striker to compete with not support Torres,and that a team with our ambition and plethora games need more quality in debt,all ya clueless fans said it isnt good for Torres' psyche , some others said we should sign a R.winger that can play CF,others said we dont need more than two strikers and that Torres and studge wl be enaf. Rubbish! You lot like learning the hard way and resorting to the fire brigade approach. If we had brought on a Cavani or Jovetic,we wouldnt be in this mess. Stop complaining cos it aint coming to and end yet,lest you complain about him a long while.

Ohans

Desmondadonis has rightly identified why we need to very concerned and alarmed about where we are right now..it is true we are a side in transition and it is true that many (me included) at the beginning of the season would have been happy if we ended this season in 3rd position in the BPL. The problem is that with the season not even a 3rd gone and with us having a relatively soft schedule in the BPL thus far we are already in 3rd position and we are headed in the wrong direction..i would go so far as to suggest we are already in Carlo Ancellotis "bad moment" version 3. It is also very telling that we are in 3rd while city have been no where close to their best ..ditto for Arsenal. In addition Everton and Spurs are also dangerous sides..even if we cant catch the two Manchester sides, if we dont fix what ails us ASAP keeping 3rd position in the BPL will not be a given. We are living very dangerously now and for the record i do agree with those who indicate that even as we are RDM is doing a subpar job of adequately rotating our squad..Mazacar are being overused without sufficient variation of our look in the final third but when it is all said and done our greatest problem is lack of bite in the final third where it matters. When a team is dependent on their CAMs and CBs to do the bulk of their goal scoring the way we are that is asking for trouble.

GabeU

The december periods,Christmas time when we normally have 4 games in 9 days,will be our major prayer point that we scale through on a positive note. At this rate and when the boys wil be back from CWC tired and burned out,what wil we do?

Ohans

we don't have wingers.. I thought we bought Moses so we can have a winger who can stretch defenses and create space in the middle... We always have trouble whenever Mata and Oscar don't click... I want to know what other way/system/tactic/formation/game plan/attacking combo... can win us games aside the Torres-Mata-Hazard-Oscar combo...

Latunvic

We really need to improve our rotation, some of these players will become so comfortable and relaxed that dropping them will become an issue since they have become so used to starting...

Latunvic

Exactly Desmond....RDm plays the same players all the time and his team can be predicted..Fergie knew how to prepare, Shaktar did, Liverpool did. I mentioned in my prematch comments that Terry should not have featured and Torres should not have started, Mata prob should only have played if needed. Glad for the Terry goal but he ended up costing himself and Chelsea a needed second half sub..Torres would have served us better coming on to face a tired Liverpool. We have a small squad that is not being used fully by our manager. Sturridge should start some games and Torres act as the sub..he was not bad today as some of you seem to thing but he does need a rest. A player like Meireles could have made such a difference in our squad in these times...but he's not around and we are regretting the reasons for it. RDM needs to play his wingers and allow the three main men some rest between then. Change it up a bit..rest each of them or two at a time so that everyone can get to play together and then it won't matter who plays as the players will know each other... More players needed...hope RDM begins to use the little he has soon.

had2bg

Mikel was very good today...really a star in midfield. Ramires needs to learn how to pass...none of you will admit that though but it is true...Mata was off his game and Hazard did not make much of an impact.

had2bg

@latunvic..our plan B to Mazacar should have been Moses, Marin and KDB (obviously we unwisely loaned out KDB, We dont play Moses nearly enough and Marin can barely stay out of the treatment room long enough to even appear on the pitch). Bigger problem however is who we have at the tip of that 3 man attacking midfield..Torres for all his effort and running simply does not have the quality and Danny i think is mentally and emotionally checked out of chelsea FC..i dont think he has been given enough chances but even when he does come on i detect a genuine lack of interest or drive for the collective goal..he just seems to be going through the motions waiting for January to come so he can get out of Dodge town..he does not feel wanted or appreciated and it is showing in the product he puts out on the pitch. RDM really has his work cut out for him.

GabeU

CHELSEA ARE TOO PREDICTABLE....simple! Take me as an opposition manager...this are the things i'd consider. 1)Chelsea actual 1st 11 when everybody is fit is Cech,Ivanovic,Luiz,terry,cole,mikel,ramires,mata,oscar,Hazard, torres. 2)Among the three musketeers,only Hazard likes to dribble from the wing, Oscar and mata normally passes through the middle.Because of this their allow either the LB or RB to do the crossing...which can be capitalized on if we(oppositon team) have good wingers. 3)Because their have tall CBs dont cross the ball up..just slid it down the 18yard box... 4)Torres will not score. 5)Bully oscar,mata,hazard(although this one is kinda stubborn). 6)Chelsea coach normally does his 1st change in the 80minute...which are Either sturidge for torres or Moses for oscar.no other sub! 7)If David luiz is on the pitch..expect him to do one or two silly mistakes....he's good at getting forward but has a 12year old brain..capitalize on his position during counter cos they'd have only 1CB by then. 8)Choke the Midfield....man mark each of the musketeers 9)mikel and ramires are good but they lack swift passes....ramirez loves running like an antelope..dont give him such space. 10)whenever chelsea scores 1st they go back to defend...more pressure needed...push 'em back to they goal-post...and Bam! Get that goal! WELL LEMME STOP HERE! U free add.

Krested Kal-el

Funny enough how most people even wanted our academy and reserve players pushed into the starting line ups,while players like Essien and Raul should dispensed of. I was saying champions are made of quality depth.

Ohans

Hope we can hang on till january but there is already a crack in the wall lets not let it eat deep before it becomes irrepairable..we need a goalscorin striker.if we had one today we would have killed off the fools in the 1st half

Ken4CFC

Man City and Man Utd will come 1st and 2nd because of their strike power. Its as simple as that

pancake

Brendan Rodgers being interviewed on ChelseaTV, said he played 3-5-2 to keep Hazard and Mata away.... switched to their normal formation when they needed a goal, and played a high pressing game... Torres not a big worry for them... I hope we are learning....

Latunvic

I think we need to chill out for a bit with the doomsday comments. We were bad in set pieces but ivanovic cahill and terry limited pool to a few chances. I think some are also pouring out emotions in thier review of the game such as comments about mikel and torres. Torres had a fantastic performance and was simply unlucky not to score.. Mikel and ramires also had fantastic games. The main problem was mazacar especially oscar and mata. Both were poor. Moses and sturridge did nothing when they came on. I am also surprised by some of the proposals suggested by people such as including sturridge in the lineup and/or playing marko marin and moses. I quite frankly don't think think that solves our issue. Width or creativity isn't our issue. Finishing and team defending is. Mazacar are creative specialists. Marin and Moses provide direct attacking threats and like mazacar have average and bekow average finishing quality. Sturridge is a downright poor footballer. Chance or no chance, ancelotti, avb, and rdm don't play him there. There is a reason. He is a poor player. I don't buy that roman nonsense. It is ABSOLUTELY nonsense. Torres is whatever you want to call. The truth is mazacar, marin, moses, torres, and danny have no finishing when we actually need at least 2 starting finishers (one wide forward/middle) and our CF. Falcao doesn"t solve the issue.

KAKUfrank

but why should RDM start the season with Torres alone knowing he wouldn't play Sturridge... I was expecting he was going to give both almost equal chances, maybe 60-40, but know it's 95% - 5%. Also, we need a starting winger, not a winger to warm the bench. Why did RDM sign Moses when he knew he wasn't good enough for starting role. We have a small squad already and signing players you cant start makes it even smaller, plus signing an injury prone Marin and then sending out a fit KDB.... it really makes no sense.. Callers on ChelseaTV saying the same thing, that we are becoming too predictable, Oscar-Mata-Hazard a bit tired.......

Latunvic

As for RDM not rotating the team around, i disagree. If he was rotating and we was dropping points people would be saying he should keep it consistent. Our team are doing well considering they have not been playing long together. It'll take time for them to reach their peak and the only way to encourage that to happen is to play them consistently together. Early signs this season did point to a title challenge but todays games showed how difficult it will be with such a new team. Time to get your feet and ar$es back on the ground and expect top four and some decent cup runs.

pancake

Marin is good going forward but can't defend for toffee. If you think Hazard can't defend then I can say Marin is twice as bad when it comes to defending.

B2K420

As most of you rightly suggest,we should get something changed in our formation asap.Mata has had very little rest both in the previous and this season,Hazard has started in each and every game excluding the cup and Nords,Oscar hasn't been replaced after his eventual introduction vs Juve.The same applies for Mikel and with 2 unsuccessful recent exclusions for Rambo.We should try sth different whether we will alter the playing personnel or the formation.Torres is totally inefective,why do not we use Studge instead? We haven't seen much of Marin and Moses,and all of a sudden we became an easily predictable and an exhausted side.We are struggling to create clear chances on goal and when we do we do not take them with the required concentration.Today we can blame Mata and Oscar for not converting their chances,and 2-0 up we would have put the game beside this mediocre side's reach.

Simeon23

I actually thought torres played with determination , his solo dribbles were top notch , everyones using the same excuse , he was denied twice , the first was an easy save but the second one wasn't , the goalkeeper was lucky , this match also proves that playing without luiz and doing azp-iva-cah-bert worked well , after cole and terry recover it'd be back to full strenght with iva/azpi-luiz/cahill-terry-cole/bertrand

CFCTalal

KAKUfrank... i know you regularly see the cup half full with Torres but u have to admit he's our weakest link. The striking position is so important especially when playing one up front and he don't cut it. Time to face reality

pancake

Although most of the points raised here are correct as regard squad rotation and substituting early, but we need to look at the positive side sometimes too, IMO we aren't that bad today the problem is we didn't just took our chances when it came, but what I won't accept is people painting it as if we're going down the drain, apart from the 2 Man clubs I don't see any other team in the EPL that has performed better than we have and for @GabeU to say "The problem is that with the season not even a 3rd gone and with us having a relatively soft schedule in the BPL thus far we are already in 3rd position and we are headed in the wrong direction" is very unfair on the team, if I may ask which soft schedule are you talking about after playing Arseanal,Tottenham, Newcastle,ManU and now Looserpool except for Man*****ty what other team is remaining? Please, we might all not be happy with what is happening but that doesn't mean we should now start running the team down. Who says ManU or Man*****ty can't go on a 4 or 5 match winless run, like Man*****ty did last season? so lets keep our cool and pray we fix our attack in the winter and hopefully RDM will give more playing time to the other squad players, the situation is not as bad as we are painting it, other teams are flattering too and some others will still flatter during the cause of the season. One thing is sure I for one will take the way we're playing now ten times over how we played this time last season.

sojofjand

Sturridge may be a poor footballer but he is not a poor goal scorer... What we need now is a goal scorer, not an excellent footballer... How good a footballer is J.Hernandez... I don't get all these talk about Sturridge is not a good footballer so we should stick to Torres... All I know is Sturridge score goals and can do better if given more confidence...

Latunvic

As for Mikel... Bar Mata, Mikel has been out most consistent player this season. He's the only player in our team that gets slammed for every little mistake he makes and recently they have been very few. I hear it in the stands and I don't understand, what do they have against him. The boy is playing so well at the moment

pancake

This is what Jason is also saying on ChelseaTV, Torres has gotten all the opportunity, we bring in Sturridge at difficult moments and there is a pressure to impress on him so how do we expect the best from him? Give him a run of games too and let's see what he can do. Jason made an important point that Sturridge did well at Bolton because he wasn't pressured... We know what Sturridge can do if backed with confidence...

Latunvic

Falcao alone doesn"t solve the issue nor do kdb or any other creative talents yiu guys suggest. Creativity or mixing our availanle talent isn't the issue. Finishing and the ability of having finishers who know where to position themselves in the box is the issue. Don't get it twisted. We created chances and 3 things followed after creating the chances: a) we finished poorly - Mata's chance - 1st half ending. B.) Mazacar made the wrong decision - oscar in the first half. Torres and hazard were wide open and he took a shot. Mata at the end of the first half - the same chance he fluffed had hazard wide open. C.) Bertrand delivered 2 quality balls and no one was in the box to finish them.

KAKUfrank

@Krested Kal-el: Great post. There is not striker in the world who can replace Drogba.

B2K420

Sorry pancake. What in my comment suggests seeing the glass half full? What did I say exactly.

KAKUfrank

Who cares about Torres's individual dribbles when what we are crying about is goal scoring.... score the goals!!!!!! Jelavic, Hernandez, Dzeko, Cavani, Falcao, Jackson Martinez, Brown Ideye, Bony Wilfried, etc.... all score for their teams, our striker should score goals.....

Latunvic

I really wanted us to beat the Liverfools and for a large part of the game it looked like we were gonna take the game. I don't see why people are complaining that we're 3rd...it's where we ought to be judging by the teams in the BPL. I will expect this chelsea team to be number 1 in about 1-2 seasons. You people really need to learn patience. I think everyone knows RDM is NOT an idiot and I think he will still rotate the squad and look for the best combo. Atm he's chosen to go with what we have, and atm we are 3rd so he is DEFINATELY not failing. Guys like Hazard and Oscar were our 2 big signings so it's important that we throw them in the deep end and give them the best chance to succeed early since they were obviously BIG investments. So stop complaining that we need to 'change it up'. Yes, we do, but give it time. WE are 3rd and 3 points off the top. Many of you are forgetting that RDM highlighted that his primary objective is to get the squad back within a reasonable margin from last season (25 points) with the big clubs, albiet a top 4 finish. From there he and the club will assess what we need to do to be champions of england again.

Slippy G-19

*no*

B2K420

@latunvic. Chichi is a good finisher. Sturridge is not. There is a difference between being a poacher and a finisher. Sturridge is like kalou. Knows where to be, but a terrible finisher and football player. Last I checked, chichi is Man U's super sub.

KAKUfrank

and screw that person that said Bertrand had a poor game! he play exceptionally well!!! He was not caught out ONCE and created about 2-3 chances from the left. Although he could not dircetly challenge Sterling or Suarez he kept them at bay! and people bashing on Rambo, but may I ask, what role did suarez play besides his goal (where he evidently PUSHED rammy)?? Nothing, rammy kept him quiet...

Slippy G-19

Torres was woeful as usual. No way did he play well. If that had been Man Utd playing Liverpool today the game could have played out exactly the same way except Man Utd would have won 4-1. Last summer there was a brief rumour Chelsea were interest in Hernandez, a player who can't get a start for Man Utd. He is absolutely ruthless. He would walk into our first team and would earn less than half Torres' wages. In saying all that it was Mata's miss just before half-time that killed us. But Torres just cannot create something out of nothing and constantly loses the ball. The groans in the stands are getting louder.

CobhamBlue

@KAKUfrank, "Torres had a fantastic performance and was simply unlucky not to score."

pancake

Well everyone is welcome to their opinions and i will admit i tend to be very cautious and generally see trouble coming from miles away..sometimes that makes people say i over react..fair enough..let me say this though..if we keep doing this same thing we are doing without changing anything by the time the transfer window comes round we wont be talking about keeping in touch with the manchester cartel of teams , rather we will be talking of holding of other teams seeking to knock us of from third..by January 1 God willing we will also see whether people like me are just over reacting..i hope i am wrong but i recollect how many times i have sounded alarms like this and then told by the majority that i am making much ado about nothing only to be shown to be dead right when it is all said and done...time will tell.

GabeU

@KAKUfrank: "Creativity or mixing our availanle talent isn't the issue. Finishing and the ability of having finishers who know where to position themselves in the box is the issue". I agree with your above point. IMO; 1) We need to play Azpilicueta as a RB not Iva in most games, did you see how confident he was going forward, because of this we were able to keep the ball in the opposition half, if it was Iva he would have gone forward 2 steps then passed the ball back, 2) TWO PACEY Defensive Midfielders: Who can PASS the ball long and shot, someone who can pass the ball like Alonso/Gerrard, someone who is pacey like Fernandinho 3) Quality Striker: Not Wilfried Bony 4) Quality/Natural Winger for left side WHO can defend and cross the ball well, Not like Marin who can't defend. 5) Quality CB: Luiz makes too many mistakes, we need a solid CB, who does one thing only, defending.

B2K420

@KAKUfrank, creativity ain't the problem.. its a cheap excuse

pancake

@pancake, did you read "Sturridge is a downright poor footballer. Chance or no chance, ancelotti, avb, and rdm don't play him there. There is a reason. He is a poor player. I don't buy that roman nonsense. It is ABSOLUTELY nonsense. Torres is whatever you want to call. The truth is mazacar, marin, moses, torres, and danny have no finishing when we actually need at least 2 starting finishers (one wide forward/middle) and our CF." Or you chose to ignore that????????

KAKUfrank

@GabeU. There is nothing we can change... Sturridge is pants and so it Torres. RDM's biggest mistake was not buying a strike...even Defoe wouldve been a smart buy, anyone who knows how to put the ball in the net. Its a simple job that Torres is making look hard, especially with mata, oscar and hazard playing behind him.

pancake

@KAKU, I wasn't talking about sturridge, I was talking about Torres who you always seem to back even when he has a crap performance

pancake

Torres did not play bad today yes he did not score but doesn't mean striker will score in every game, maybe RDM should have a plan B.. beside we can't rely on one striker a whole season we need a game changer player but Torres played well and maybe he need to do better that remain for you VC Coaches to debate on but so far we r not bad away just 3 pt of the petch but RDM must have plan B thats all i have to say because The Trio will get tired as well ..Beside whats going on with Marin i can't understand why his making up number but never play

bluebroda

And how does "Torres had a fantastic performance and was simply unlucky not to score." mean half glass full. Of all the footballers on the pitch today, he had the most shots on target against the keeper and created chances. This is just for today's match. He just did not score, but not scoring does not translate to a poor performance. He had a better game than Suarez upfront, but Suarez scored and he didn't. Sorry if Isee differently, but that is just it. If you were talking about Swansea, Shakthar, Juve, Tottenham or even Arsenal then yes he was downright absolutely disgraceful in his performance. But for today's performance, he was not as bad as people make it seem. He was fine. He certainly had a better game than Hazard, Mata and Oscar.....

KAKUfrank

If you think the main problem is Mata, Oscar and Hazard were obviously not watching the same games.

pancake

I think Hernandez has remained a Manutd super sub because they dont have problem in that dept, even at that, he still get to start some matches. I don't think it is fair to call Sturridge a terrible finisher and footballer when we've not given him enough chance and he hasn't done too bad with the little he has gotten... It's easy for Hernandez to become a good finisher because the service is there for him at manutd. Let's try Sturridge with Mata-Oscar-Hazard/Moses and see if he will be more terrible than Torres....

Latunvic

And KAKU u gotta remember when we are dropping points because a striker can't finish straight forward opportunities, other players loose confidence around him. The quicker we get a more competent striker the better it'll be for the whole team.

pancake

You are missing THE point clearly pancake. In this game, Mata, Oscar and Hazard did not have a good game and were average (Hazard) and poor (Mata). This comment has zero effect with their ability THIS SEASON. My comment is in regards to this game in particular. And please mate, when did I back Torres after a poor game mate. Last time I backed him if I am correct was the Newcastle game. What I say is I sort of get tired with Torres is ***** and crap and wasteful and useless comments. Of course we know that. My grandma knows that. It is like Michael Vick of Eagles, a poor man knows he takes a lot of HITS. What's the point of mentioning the same thing everyday when we all know he is poor.

KAKUfrank

AVb and Ancelotti didn't need to Play Sturridge as CF cos there were lots of senior players who could do the job, we had Drogba, Anelka, Kalou, Torres..... so, AVB and Ancelotti not playing Sturridge as CF doesn't indicate or suggest Sturridge as a poor goals scorer... different circumstances....

Latunvic

shots on target mean nothing if that don't hit the back of the net. If Torres was judged only on shot on target he'd probably be worth £50m but based on goals he's not even worth 50p!

pancake

bluebroda, Roman Abramovich is the best thing that ever happened to Chelsea. He has turned them into the 5th biggest football club in the world. But I cannot understand why he insists we persist with Torres. It is absolutely obvious to everyone he would struggle to get a game for Aston Villa never mind a team vying for the title. If we had a ruthless finisher we'd have won today. Now Torres didn't miss any "sitters" today but he is not good enough for Chelsea and never has been. I always said Torres would ruin Chelsea and he's doing it. Last season Drogba was clearly past his best but he could rise up and score absolutely critical goals over and over again. With Torres we'll win nothing (except maybe the League Cup as it appears a straight shoot-out between us and Arsenal) He just can't produce when it matters.

CobhamBlue

I am sorry. That comment was not directed to Sturridge at all. Torres is whatever you want to call. The truth is mazacar, marin, moses, torres, and danny have no finishing when we actually need at least 2 starting finishers (one wide forward/middle) and our CF." Torres is whatever you want to call. Whatever you want to call meaning whatever VC fans want to call him because they are so many names - poor, useless, *****TTT, dumb, princess, minus 1, crap, disgraceful, princess or whatever. Then I went to include him as a poor finisher amongst the other players. After that, I also admitted we needed a CF as well. So I don't see how any of those comments mean Torres is NOT a weak link. Do you need further clarification mate?

KAKUfrank

Not poor goalscorer. He is a ***** player. Simple.

KAKUfrank

nah mate ur still making excuses. Mata has finished enough chances this season to be branded 'no finishing'. Fact remains we play one upfront and a decent finisher in only our stoker position would change our fortunes dramatically

pancake

IMO we played well today we didn't just kill off the game when it mattered most, we kept looserpool on the back foot, they didn't have one single shot on target in the first half, they scored from arguably their first real chance, had it been we have a very potent strike force we won't be saying all this things we are saying because we created chances which we fail to put away. Sort out our attack problem we will be home and dry. If we are going to say the truth ManU is not in any way better than our team except for their potent attack, their defence too leak goals like sieve so we are all in it together. All we need is an improvement in our attacking half.

sojofjand

And talking about Sturridge or getting more chances doesn't even change the fact he is not our long term future like Torres. He is not signing a new contract. Won't play much since he is a ***** footballer etc...Lampard got benched. Terry got benched. Who is Torres not to get benched by RDM? Of course the Roman Abramovich line will be thrown in there as usual. This striker talk is a bit getting boring because we will talk about it everyday and nothing will be done until January 1st. We'll probably talk about it next week as well, but next week isn't January 1st. We also have to recognize we spent 70mm pounds in the summer and trying to get our books to balance which the Board achieved for the year ended June 2012. Emenalo is a smart guy. He has bought us some incredible talents at good prices. They was absolutely NO VALUE in the summer except of course this James Martinez fella from Porto. January 1st is around the corner. I am sure they will make a move. Emenalo, Ron and Bruce have been at the games and are not blind. Just more patience is required. Man U won't sell us chichirato. No way.

KAKUfrank

Making excuses? If that is what tickles your fantasy, suit yourself bruv.......

KAKUfrank

rdm should try oscar/mata as a false 9 , i know it seems retarded but we need to try new stuff..

CFCTalal

January purchase of a striker, I can bet we'll have to pay some insane amount. Even if we decide to go for Jackson Martinez now, haha! I trust Porto to skin us alive, maybe we could be a bit more lucky with Bony Wilfried from Vitesse, but I feel they will also want to as much as they can rip from us.... And the annoying thing is we will spend the money, only for the striker to be benched for out 50M Torres. The only striker I believe RDM would deem fit to bench Torres for is Falcao, so maybe we should do our normal routine of splashing out crazy money...

Latunvic

KAKUfrank. No Value?? We could have gone for RVP but at 29 he was classed as too old. Now he's scored 10 goals already. Drogba won the Golden Boot at 32. We could have gone for Hernandez who despite being an incredible finisher is 3rd (or 4th) in the Man Utd pecking order. He'd easily be number one at Chelsea.

CobhamBlue

They won't sell Hernandez now but a big offer last summer and he might have come.

CobhamBlue

There are currently many strikers in better form than Torres. It should not be difficult to find an upgrade during the Summer transfer window. My hats off to Mikel. He's been playing quite well lately.

ddrogba

Has Danny actually started one game this BPL season for us? this same guy was our leading scorer for the first half of last season..so for all his weakness to say he has been given a fair shake this season is just not being fair to him..give him a chance ..if he started a third of the games El Nino started and performed like El Nino then we would know we would have to get a minimum of two strikers in the January window..this is the problem some of us have with RDMs persistent stubborn insistence on staring Torres in virtually every game..in this game frankly it would have been better if he does not trust Danny to even play Moses at the top of our attack..we all know El ninos abysmal record against all his former sides..Liverpool and Atletico Madrid..nothing changed today. It does raise questions when RDm persists with a strategy that has not been working for quite some time..anyway no point belaboring the argument we will just have to soldier on and see how we turn out by the end of December. I just pray we dont end up losing the club world cup at the rate we are going..to lose that tournament chance will be a shell shock to our side let no one kid themselves and right now we are not exactly riding a crest of confident assured outings.

GabeU

How was RDM able to bench Torres for Drogba? How come Roman did not tell him to keep playing Torres? How was Ancelotti able to bench Torres for Drogba towards the end of his double winning season too? Pretty clear Roman doesn't care how you get the results as far as you get them. He did release his very good friend in Shevchenko when he wasn't delivering. Pretty sure if the new striker is delivering, Torres will be benched and eventually loaned or sold (if we get a good price).

KAKUfrank

RVP may have scored 10 goals for Man U today, but tying down 18mm - 19mm pounds per year to a soon to be 30 year old per year is VERY VERY RISKY. There is no resale value and could prove to be a disaster if the player flops aka Torres. Barcelona had to take a serious loss to offload Ibrahimovich when he stopped working out. Look at Barca with the David Villa situation. He won the UCL and La Liga, but the guy is finding it hard to stay fit this season and was injured badly last season. Barcelona is trying to offload, but no takers because of his salary situation and the transfer fee. Not only do you have to try to offload the player, but then you spend money trying to replace the player so the costs are double if it doesn't work out. You only get into these soon to be 30 years+ acquisitions if you get a situation like Berbatov, Pirlo, Klose like acquisition. Low transfer fee with a high salary. You may get the short term solution now, but it gets incredibly risky down the road given the unpredictability of the injury and loss of form of these guys. As far as Hernandez is concerned, I hear we enquired, but Fergie just said OUTRIGHT NO to us. He wasn't even discussing the price or answering his phone calls on that particular transfer. He was listening to offers for Nani, but NOT chichi.

KAKUfrank

And if Fergie isn't selling, there isn't anything to value at all.

KAKUfrank

This is what i have been saying before i got bash by a lot of people here telling merlin to banned me. From the first day Torres was bought i know he will be a flop. Before he was bought our performance was improving during carlo 2nd season we av won some match on a roll but when he was bought everything turn sour. He always talk about liverpool then and not talking about how he is going to improve.

Sturridge101

Hernandez has awful ball control and passing. Give Sturridge a chance to prove himself.

foreign_viewer

Last season our defence was solid when they were not under pressure to provide the goals because they know drogba will always score but now we leak in goals because the responsibilities of goals are on them. Luiz,cole,bertie,cahil, even mikel venture forwards to provide the goals because our El floppo can't score. Even d MAZACAR are exchausted and feeling the pressure because goals scoring responsibility are on them.

Sturridge101

I am tired and sad :( Torres is making my life miserable and ruining my days. 2 shots on target all game and one was a header so in reality only one shot with his foot.... And on Friday, payroll will give him another 180,000 pounds... I hate the guy and if I could visit the bridge, I'm sure I'll be getting a lifetime ban because I will run on the pitch and beat him up mercilessly. He's a thief!...stealing all those gargantuan wages...only doing it legally. Chelsea FC have failed me as a fanatic because I have spent too much of my life on this club for them to be paying me back with such miserable results... i will try to ktbffh but I am no longer carefree.

Blue in Colorado

Totally agree with your point @GabeU. I don't think we've been fair enough with Danny, we don't appreciate our young players, except some expensive or Brazilian dude from somewhere. We are calling for Hernandez today, he wouldn't have become what he is today without the backing of SAF and Manutd's fans, he was backed up with confidence, they are doing the same with Welbeck now, we are busy pulling down our own in Sturridge, and some will come here to say Welbeck is better than Sturridge, how would he not grow to be better?...And I have to add that iIt was a bit easier for RDM to drop Torres for Drogba because of who and what Drogba is to the club... If we buy a young, fairly cheap non-super star striker who fails to hit the ground running immediately, I don't see RDM gathering enough gut to bench Torres for the striker, except it's a striker of Falcao's caliber and status....

Latunvic

I av always say give sturridge a chance. During bolton and last season he was able to impress because he was not pressure but since rdm come in he has always been trying to impress rdm with little minutes and if you look at him now he looks like somebody that is not interested again if rdm like he use him if he did not he didnt use him. Chichi was able to perform because he is not pressure because the pressure are on the top guys.

Sturridge101

I have travelled way too much long distances and invested too much to get so little in return from my darling CFC. Im not even sure its going to be worth the trip to Toyota, Japan next month anymore as that will be the final straw for me after so much dollars of my own investment. I finally know how Roman feels...and trust me guys, it feels miserable! At this rate, I'll be the next Chelsea fan in the news to be banned...only shame is it'll say he travelled all the way from the Denver to embarass the club.

Blue in Colorado

Ess...DaBison - for the good Ramires does defensively, he is a liability on the pitch when it comes to ball distribution. He can't make a 2 inch pass without giving it away.

lamarochs

As far as my "nonfinishing" comments about Marin, Oscar, Mata, Hazard, Moses, Sturridge and Torres, I think I didn't clarify myself and I will clarify it further. When we won the EPL in Carlo's first season, Drogba notched up 29 goals; Malouda scored 12 goals (even though he wasn't starting at the beginning), Anelka scored 11 goals, and Lampard scored 12 goals from open play. Kalou scored 5 in the EPL. In essence, our four STARTING attacking players scored double digit goals in just the EPL. Let's talk about the winners in Man City. Dzeko scored 14 goals; Aguero scored 23 goals; Balotelli scored 13 goals, Tevez - 4 goals (Didn't play much). The last time Man U won the league, Berbatov won the golden boot, Chichirato scored 13 goals and Rooney scored 6 goals from open play (most of it coming from the 2nd half of the season of which had he maintained, he would have scored double digit goals). My point is out of the double winning season of Chelsea; Man U's last triumph and Man City's PL season last year indicates that you need at least 3 forwards scoring double digit goals from open play in just the EPL. Juan Mata, Marko Marin, Victor Moses and Eden Hazard have never notched up double digit goals from open play in just their respective leagues (except Oscar which is once and he is yet to score his first EPL goal) talkless of the EPL. Marko Marin is not a scorer. Moses has scored 3 goals all from his head. Eden Hazard is a poor finisher. Oscar is still developing. There isn't a lot of goal scoring upfront. We might call for Falcao and co, but he can't do it alone as the winners of the EPL has indicated. We will need an in form striker and at least a wide forward who can play in the middle, supporting striker and alone upfront to score.

KAKUfrank

lamarochs that's rubbish.

foreign_viewer

Azpilicueta is a fantastic addition.At last we have a real right back,with pace, quick in the tackle and good positional sence.

THEBREEZE

Wide man who can score, sounds like Sturridge to me.

foreign_viewer

blueincolorado the day ur no longer carefree then u r not longer a CHELSEA LOL.. take it easy honestly today in Chicago i felt the same about torres omg..180k/ weekly and this is all we get for it but this is not torres fault we fall for it.. honestly torres is trying the best he can i think today torres played well just that we didn't bury the chance we have and in this league u can get purnished for that and we did

bluebroda

Agreed @Kaku, so which two or three attackers would you suggest (the good finishers)... Is that not what we signed Moses for? when some of us said moses may end up as a bench player and not the right alternative for Hulk, some people here said Moses is exactly what we need... now he is not even starting and we still need to fill that role...

Latunvic

Now the coach who signed Moses can't even bench a poor Torres for him...

Latunvic

Foreign_viewer...Sorry...the truth hurts...I love Ramires as he has found his position in the pivot...But he can't distribute the ball. Look everyone clearly understands that Chelsea needs a passer playmaker that can quickly distribute the ball. And that's not Ramires. Most everyone has their weakness. And between Mikel and Ramires it is creativity and distribution in a timely maner. Ramires was great today, defensively. But sucked when distributing the ball. Either Mikel and a passer or Ramires and a passer. With both Mikel and Ramires you know you will have slow play and that they will give away the ball.

lamarochs

Lamarochs is correct, Ramires is awesome but we need a good ball holding player who can distribute well, Ramires is not that person.. but I kind of liked the Ramires - Oscar pivot combo, there was a game we played that combo for some minutes and it looked good... maybe we can try more of that...

Latunvic

KAKU what you have said in many words is what i was screaming during the summer and people here on VC shouted me down..i said it then that we could not compete with either of the Manchester sides without having 3 top draw strikers/forwards/goal scorers (whatever we want to call them). I said then that this should be in addition to Lukaku and i referenced our double winning season stats the way you now have. many insisted we stick with just Torres and danny and wait till January to re-evaluate but recent results are now showing just how unwise that decision was. We are now in damage control till january but like you said we are so poor as far as strikers that Falcao alone wont salvage us..we will need someone like falcao and someone else..in addition if we lose sturridge as appears likely i would once again argue that we will need to also consider recalling Lukaku also. We are so blunt up front right now it is time to start playing two striker formations..what we have been doing has not been getting the job done on any consistent basis.

GabeU

Moses is no striker fellas. He mostly played wide at Wigan with Di Santo and someone else playing in the middle. So I don't see how Moses is the alternative for Torres. Moses strength has been his direct play. NOT his finishing or final delivery fellas.

KAKUfrank

Have you guys been paying attention to Josh's season at Boro. You guys should play particular attention to his and KDB and maybe you won't scream for more pivot midfielders. They need to brush up on their defense though, but as far as distributing the ball from deep; those 2 boys are class especially Josh who is developing well and fine fellas.

KAKUfrank

We have to understand that evaluating Torres and Danny for 6 months isn't just for the short term, but the long term decision in the best interest of the club and the players as well. Now we know for a fact that there isn't any coming back for Torres and have to find loan programmes in the summer because we seriously cannot sell the player given his current form. FFP kicks in from next season and selling Torres based on his current form will represent a significant loss to the club. Based on his current form, no one will buy him 30mm or even 20mm pounds. Sturridge is currently on 60k a week. A chance or no chance, I am very sure his next contract he currently wants is a significant bump in his current pay to something. Even to a bump of 70k or 80k, that would put him amongst the highest earners. For a player who couldn't push Anelka, Malouda, Drogba and Kalou (was benching Stu under RDM) out of the line UP, he ain't worth it. Chichi makes less and I am sure Mata, Ramires, and Oscar make less.

KAKUfrank

I don't think our major problem is lack of 3 or 4 capable goal scoring attackers but that the one we have is not delivering while the other one is not getting a chance... that's why we're feeling like we need 3 or 4... if the two we have were falcao and Sturridge (getting a fair chance), I don't think we would be this much worried about getting 2 or 3 more goal scoring attackers....

Latunvic

Sell Torres for 15-20m, Danny for 12-15m, Kakuta 5m, Malouda 5m/free, Let go Lamps (even though i love the guy but we have to move on), Cole... save on the wages will be massive... We'll have 32-45m, add another 20-10m and get Falcao and Bony... Bring in from loans, pva, josh/essien, lukaku.... done. but that's not going to happen in january anyways and its unfortunate...

Tiraspol

KAKU is right. Torres did have a good game, created chances for others and was unlucky on two solid chances..the header and the hard screened shot. We DO need another really solid striker option in January like Lewandowski (still think we should hang on to Torres) but those calling for Sturridge, Moses or Lukaku to take over the CF duties are out to lunch.

Squig

Azpi was pretty impressive. Knows his stuff pretty well, when to go into a challenge and when not to get too close.

Carefree_1990

No one is saying Sturridge, Moses or Lukaku should take over as permanent 1st choice, but since our first choice is always unlucky and almost never lucky enough to put the ball in the net, would it not make some sense to give others a chance for now till January and see if they probably will have more luck than our main man.... must we sink with Torres?

Latunvic

Actually, to those of you who're slagging off Mikel, I think he did his job pretty well. Which essentially is breaking up attacks, and laying the ball off quickly to another teammate. If you're looking to him for Modric's incision or Lampard's finishing, well neither was ever his forte. He kept the ball pretty well usually, and gave it away cheaply, as far as I recall, on only one occasion towards the end. What he needs to do is to stay back rather than go forward, in which he can be something of a hindrance for the team. As long as he sticks to his remit, he's okay.

Carefree_1990

A good striker inspires confidence in the players around him in the same way a good keeper would inspire the defenders in front of him, if defenders don't trust their keeper they become nervy and error prone and the same thing is happening with "mazacar". If Torres was banging them in everything else would fall into place in terms of other players chipping in with the goals.

Anarchy

Really? Wonder how Cahill and JT's performances haven't inspired David Luiz's erratic performance in some games for over 2 seasons.

KAKUfrank

RDM insistence to play torres, just amplifies the need for a quality striker...maybe our board is sensing this need

Blu_run

I'm glad no one has come out to blame the referee today, that's the usual trend these days when we lose or draw a match... it's always the wicked referee and FA's fault...

Latunvic

Still a lot of positives.The defence was good.Now,the game in Turin worries me.

cfc250

@KAKUfrank, Sturridge can be a bad footballer...but why cant we try him for some game instead of torres...anyway torres isnt getting us goals or chances...our every move ends with him losing the balls...i am gettting really frustrated to see him doing that repeatedly...but i agree that our trio needs to improve their finishing...they cant rely on the strikers we have knowing their quality now...

Blu_run

Happy to see Iva playing well at CB...thk god we have enough cover at CB with long term terry injury...Azi is very good at RB...he really shuts down a wing...let him play like this and we dont want him to attack more....let the attackers carry the attackign duty and he can do his defensive duties...

Blu_run

Shots Taken / Shots on Target ratio is getting really worse...need to improve that...RDM work on this

Blu_run

We tried a lot of one-touch passes yesterday, but we are still not tuned to play them...bcos, the pass & move play is still not at full swing with us...we keep playing the passes to no-mans land as the expected player is not running there...we end out attacking plays like this or we end at torres's feet

Blu_run

L.O.L at some comments, I really love some fans and wish I could be so optimistic as they are in here, most of u are always looking at the positives even when we suck big time which is good. But can u please shut the feck up? We are not paying torres to have shots on target, we are paying him to put the ball inside the net, he gets atleast 3 clear chances per game (correct me if I am wrong) and he fluffs most of it, he is the highest earner in that team and the worst performer, his performance week in week out is poor in terms of syriking standards, u look at the exceptional goals the likes of dzeko,van persie, hernandez and so many other strikers score and u'll wonder if we got ourselves a female striker, oparanozie who is my national teams female striker will do a better job than him, so stop ruining an already ruined mood with excuses for the blonde princess, that said, I will say it won't us if we try moses as no.9 atleast he started there and his goal ratio for chelsea and country have improved since he joined chelsea, it won't hurt us to start him next game against albion. Bench torres! We need to bench him now and stop this bullscrap that he is the best thing we have as a striker in that team. Try moses or sturridge for 90mi as the number 9 and let's see what it will bring.

Desmondadonis

we need a good striker desprately...torres couldnt trouble carraghar

yash_blue

We can't just keep playing the same team over and over again, with this result, we played the same team against swansea, we drew that game, and most of u kept saying we are transiting, we got lucky against shakter, I raised some points, u said I should shut up that we are in transition, its true that we are in transition, but we are the architect of our own downfall, we have so many core players from last season still we us and we bought only 5 players and all of them are not starting at the same time, only 2 of the 5 are starters, yet we are in transition, we were in transition in the mourinho first season, and we were smashing teams, we got better and still smashed teams in his 2nd season, so please give us a break with the we are in transition chants, we need a chgange in personnel, that is obvious and a different approach in training, we need to see while watching chelsea tv that they are training hard and working on their finishing, I begin to wonder what our players keep doing in training when there isn't any form of improvement in our finishing, none on our passing ability recently either, we keep losing the ball unnecessarily, we weren't punished yesterday than that draw bcos liverpool don't keep the ball as shakter did, if they have a quality side like that shakter team, we might have lost, well we almost lost if not the keeper! We need to change something in that team and rdm is the only person that can do it, that is what he is paid to do, he shouldn't be afraid to make changes if its for the good of the team, I think robbie is worried that if he made changes and it fails he would be sent packing, if roman pays the players a visit at cobham and there are changes in the team's selection in the next game, peeps would say it was bcos roman viisted, why can't he do something before that happens?

Desmondadonis

nice point desmond......rdm is acting like clueless his doesnt seems an idea sometime....playing same midfield same sub at the same time....no plan b no tactics and put is complete faith on luck....torres that dude is getting on my nerves now....no passion no agression seem like he is completley lost his interst in football....

shlok27

signing striker is not the solution but how to use your squad smartly is the main solution....and rdm needs to learn it as quickly as possible...

shlok27

We took the lead but failed to capitalize because we looked fatigued and complacent. Why RDM waits till the 80th minute to make positive changes beats me, is he really that much of a coward especially to sub an ineffective Torr-Mented1??

@Mq

without suarez liverpool would be in the bottom three....they have a avearage squad and a top class striker and we have a top class squad and a useless striker...we should have beaten them with the squad we have but we lack tactics.. a draw with them is like a loss for me...

shlok27

Our squad is good enough to push the Manchester clubs but without rotation and innovation we'll never be quite there. Our starting 11 has proven to be just as strong if not stronger than ManUre's even with a #9 place holder, it's just that the players are fatigued (tired) and we keep playing the same way that's become all to predictable, flood the midfield and counter attack and you'll hold or beat Chelsea. RDM needs to be more inventive, play with the formations and players a little, and why wait till the 80th minute to make changes in every game. We could have killed this game off earlier had he introduced more attacking players around the 60th minute, Sturridge and Moses were on nthe bench and would have surely added more attacking impetus. This "obsession" with a 2 man pivot all the time will destroy us, you could see Mikel was garbage (almost always) so why not sub him and Torr-Mented1 and play Sturridge with Moses 4-1-4-1 formation, that gives you enough balance and still maintains attacking impetus.

@Mq

You can't always be reactive, you have to proactive at times and what RDM is doing pretty much anyone can do. As always his 'disciples' will always insult those who dare criticize him....

@Mq

if he keeps on playing same way week out week in...without utilising his full squad and with no other tactics or plan b....then we will win matches but wont win title....

shlok27

*some matches*

shlok27

@Mq your constant hating on milepost is getting outrageous. the Guy was the only positive thing on the pitch against Liverpool. most of their attacks ended with mikel... he had gerrard and Sterling in his pocket and that's why he got a yellow. @ desmondAdonis " we need to see while watching chelsea tv that they are training hard and working on their finishing" This is Chelsea fC, and like every other big respectable team, we will never broadcast live training sessions.... occasionally maybe 5 minute highlights but come on! you've gotta be kidding, right? you wanna watch the team practice finishing lol... who are you? Roman abramovich? lol If we broadcast our training then the we might as well forget about winning any trophy this season.

Blue in Colorado

*mikel not milepost lol

Blue in Colorado

If Terry is ruled out for the rest of the season,then I fear the worst.I hope he'll be ok.He'll undergo a scan on his knee at 9:00 A.M BST.It looked very very serious.

cfc250

Blue in colorado, u highlighted my point and twisted it the way u deem fit, that's brilliant absolutely brilliant, if the 5 minutes cameos shows they are doing that, then most of us will know definitely that we are doing all we can to make the team improve, we hear of talks that drogba takes shooting practises, he does some things in training that is wow, how many times have there been talks of torres or any striker doing something "extra" to be ahead and be top notch? Zilch! We hear of the way radamel falcao trains as if he always want to be that world beater and guess what pal, he is! So stop putting words in my mouth and be deliberately incorrigible!

Desmondadonis

The comments on this sites sucks, you guys talk any time we lose or draw as if the team or the manager is no good but when we win you dance please grow up, Inter Milan lost yesterday to Atlanta after 10 matches don't think their fans will go hang themselves also PSG drew after losing last week with all the money spent guess their fans should be in the morgue now, even ManU topping the league has lost 2 matches this season but lo and behold Chelsea fans always complaining the coach should have done this, he shouldn't have done that, this player should play that shouldn't to be honest you guys make me sick to my bone. Could you please stop all the complain and support the team or just feck off.

sojofjand

Spurs and AVB lost to Mansty yesterday second loss in a row spurs fans are no dying but God help Chelsea lose to MCity I know all hell will be let loose on this site, grow up you spoilt fans.

sojofjand

Terry was walking on crutches last night.Captain Fantastic.Please be fit.We love you.Get well soon.

cfc250

We dont need to go for big names...wat we need is player who is calm on the ball in cdm postion ..like JOE ALLEN , or we should play oscar in that position...., for striker position as well, any decent striker is enough like dzeko,holt,fletcher etc..

Prince_Mathew02

@sojo, ( yawns)... We are already grown up since last season when we had to suffer a nervy final to qualify for the champions league and don't want to suffere the same, if u are sick of the comments on this site, why don't u take a time off? Some do it and it works for them, it might work for u pal.

Desmondadonis

We don't want to suffer the same thing twice* we are chelsea and not a club vying for fourth spot.

Desmondadonis

$perms spent half the money we spent buying players, and their wage bill is almost half ours so it's no direct comparison SOJOF

@Mq

I don't get why my criticism is such a bother for you. If you cannot take it then don't read PERIOD. I don't smile at mediocrity, I want my team to be the biggest in the world and have players wanting to play for us because we are winners while playing good football so as long as RDM hasn't reached that level yet I'll stay vocal, it about the only place I can voice my opinion among Chelsea fans although I'd prefer the honest type not blind followers who cannot fathom criticism

@Mq

U all seem not to understand the misfortune that have been placed on cfc door steps until important games keeps coming thick and fast, we lost terry to God knows how many weeks, he was absent for four games and we leaked in goals like a team on period, the only think that is not making us panick yet is the abvailability of cech, I pray he stays fit all season, if he gets knocked, we'll be in real shet.

Desmondadonis

@mq, I agre yet again with that point, I wonder when tottenham and arsenal now became a milestone for us to be comparing ourselves with them, it reeks of mediocrity, man utd and man city because of the quality they possess and acheivement recently are worthy rivals not le arse or tottenham.

Desmondadonis

Apart from our obvious striking deficiencies, we have become very predictable, same line up,same formation,same subs,same time for subs and same tricks. By implication,every team coming up against us will prepare along with our strength and weakness. For the benefit of surprise we should learn to tweak things a little or hugely sometimes,that means trusting the unfavoured players. If RDM can learn how to take off his so called trusted legs at times and push opponents with some hunger from the bench we wl be better for it. At a point yesterday when we needed goals and pool attack wasnt biting much, i expected him to bring on Moses at least by 60min for Mikel,dropping Oscar to the deeplying pm role and sticking Hazard and Moses to the wings,bringn on studge early enough too. That would have increased our attacking impetus. Again our strikers, Torres mostly, has not been slick and fast in the box. Torres has only been enjoyn himself without bein hungry for goals. We need more of a poacher than this slow and supporting striker kinda of attack that Torres brings to the table. Someone who wil be lurking behind defenders,waiting for through balls from our able trio to latch on. And again, there is very limited aerial threat in our attack. Crosses from the flank end up not meeting any1. Too much problems time wil solve,but then there is really no breathing space unfortunately,with loads of crucial tough ties coming up sooner than later.

Ohans

Sturridge is beyond a bad footballer. I am really not sure why folks keep banging on playing Sturridge or Moses in front of Torres. It doesn't solve the issue. It is the same way we spend weeks and months going on and on about David Luiz. Luiz has hasn't played the last 2 premiership games and we've dropped points and continue to concede last minute goals. So its pretty clear, the defending issue is not Luiz. Of course, playing Luiz will get your nerves rocking, but that doesn't stop the calm composure of Cahill, Iva and JT from conceding. At the end of the day, the defense is still conceding regardless of whoever plays upfront. Playing Moses because of some impressive goal to minutes ratio in the CF position expecting improvements from the team is JUST A DREAM. Moses is a poor finisher of the ball. Al his goals has come from his head, NOT his foot. It is also the same with calls to recall Lukaku. Lukaku isn't even efficient yet and is still developing his skills at West Brom. If his trend of needing 3-4 chances before scoring in a game persist here, you boys will give him stick. No one wants to recognize the fact that Sturridge, Lukaku and Torres are all low quality in the CF position. Playing a Victor Moses or even Mata or Hazard in a so called false 9 position could even complicate matters. They don't have the finishing quality nor the instincts of strikers and it is a formation the club hasn't played or tried or even practiced or trained. The moment RDM tries it and fails with it, folks here will bombard him with insults faster than you can hear the word sack.

KAKUfrank

@Blue_run, the decision of why Torres continues to start ahead of Sturridge probably has less with form or talent or whether he is a bad footballer or not. If I am taking a guess, it has more to do with Sturridge's contract situation and the club's decision or attempt to recoup some money from a very bad investment gone bad. In the last 2 years, we've seen contract renegades and transfer list players get the dirty dog treatment at Chelsea. Borini refused to sign a contract extension and he was banished from first team affairs. Malouda couldn't leave the club and we sent him to go train with the kids or ladies. Alex and Anelka wanted to be transfered out of Chelsea and we froze them out of the team. On the last day of the transfer window, Chelsea was looking to bring in a striker to replace Daniel Sturridge and everything fell apart on the last day of the window. Not sure who the striker was, but the papers linked us with Loic Remy (God I hope not). It is not a hidden story that Chelsea has been trying to get Sturridge to sign a contract extension for over a year and because of salary disputes, we didn't get anywhere with that. As a result, he is getting the Anelka, Malouda, Alex and Borini treatment at the club. In regards to recouping some investment gone bad in Torres, well you guys maight come up with 1 million transfer scenarios, but nobody in the world will buy Torres for 10mm pounds from us. No matter how sweet whatever transfer situation you paint on FIFA. The only choice of recouping even 1 dollar is playing the player and hoping his form improves up to the point you can either a.) Loan him to a club to play some salaries or b.) Sell him for something to recoup some money.

KAKUfrank

how is a player rated as a flop when he hasn't been given any decent chances to prove himself KAKU?? The last time Sturridge had a decent run of games ge became our highest scoring forward so for you to say he is "...beyond a bad footballer..."ring of a personal attack more than an objective analysis. Pitiful

@Mq

Sturridge has played about 25% of our football in the past 2 seasons but he's outscored Torr-Mented1...Nuff said

@Mq

Sturridge the enigma. Whether you like him or hate him the pure and simple fact is he needs to grow up and stop demanding to play at cf- perhaps balotelli may not be so bad, they seem to have the same mentality. Clearly rdm has not faith in him hence the reason why he's not playing. Why was sturridge so good at Bolton he was the best player at that time. I've seen him playas cf for us and he's not good enough, you can say lack of games means lack of inexperience at cf, but when he's had the opportunities he should have put the effort in. Anyway i am in favour of him playing next week if only for rotational purposes. Torres is what he is, it's up to rdm to have the gumption to drop him. I say let bamford have a go.

Blue1989

Mq u seem to forget sturridge has played wide in those games in which he's scored in, not cf.

Blue1989

...a very bad investment gone bad....LoL @ KAKU your personal hatred is pathetic (no offense) we bought Sturridge for about 7Mil and he's outscored Torr-mented1 (50Mil purchase) while playing less football, he's also scored more than Lukaku (17Mil purchases) so who has been a bad investment there?? You just have a personal vendetta against this guy because in all your criticism of Sturridge you have yet to offer a footballing fact to back your claims.*smh*

@Mq

exactly BLUE1989 who's to say he won't score the goals if given a good run pof games playing as CF?? Are you saying it's easier to score from wing than #9??

@Mq

how many games has Sturridge played outright CF and how many goals has he scored?? I recall 1 game this season and he scored too

@Mq

We really need a striker who can score goals no matter his positioning now that my patience with Torres is pushing me to the dead end.

Kendemsblue

Man of the Match yesterday was José Enrique.The guy Single-handedly bullied oscar,mata,hazard, and ceazer.......Dunno 'bout y'all but we need another mata-like player who is not just skillful,passes accurately but also strong....it's looking like whenever mata is having an off game the rest attacking midfielders(hazard tries his best though) seems to fumble.....God help me i'm begining to think of willian or anybody like that......THE MANCS are already 3points ahead..in two weeks time we play against city...if we continue like this expect city to get a point or all 3 from stamford bridge......Now thinking 'bout the match against Juventus is getting me really worried. Vidal,marchissio quagleriela or whatever his name is called are in hot form.......we need to think and act fast before have another very Bad moment....

Krested Kal-el

@Kaku, i've always respected your opinions but have to disagree with some of your points here. Falcao is all we need right now, take it or leave it, he is simply ton notch. We need a backup too (Jovetic/Huntelar/whoever). Sometimes a confident striker is all you need to get your other midfielders scoring. I also strongly disagree with you that Oscar was poor. You need to watch the game again to see how effective he was, taking players like SteveG to the cleaners, despite having 2/3 players on him everytime. Attack actually collapsed when he was subbed. For Mata, i think he needs rest in between games if we want to get the best out of him. He runs a lot and does those little flicks, a player like that needs to be fully fit physically and mentally, else he's gonna make lota mistakes. I think Torres is not doing himself any favour by trying to beat 2/3/4 defenders, does he think is some Weah? He would do himself a lot of good by simply doing a one two. Pass the ball and repostion himself in the box. I think we had a good game, Liverpool is not a bad team, they always play well against the top four.

elemzy

If we keep on complaining it means we have no football brain because definitely RDM will not read any of your comments you just shout here even fans in the stadium didn't complain as much as you guys did, @Mq I will never bring myself so low to comment on your comments because since last season I've known that you don't know anything about football because if you do you won't be making some ridiculous comments. My advice try and be listening or reading RDM interviews then you will have more insight into what he thinks about the team and squad rotation. Can we even picture a situation whereby RDM did a these things we are writing and we still get spanked what honestly will our reaction be, mine will be "he is a fool why on earth will a coach bench his best players when they are not injure or unfit" so please when we say all these things let's always put it at the back of our mind that it doesn't always work the way we think this is real life football and not some fantasy video game.

sojofjand

KAKUfrank, I don't know how you can say the defending issue has nothing to do with David Luiz. Yes we've we've drawn the two games he's missed but we've only concede 2 goals. We should have won yesterday 3-1 at least. Look at the amount of goals we've conceded in recent weeks when Luiz has played.

CobhamBlue

Drogba watched our game last night inside the stadium, i don't mind us taking him on loan till Jan. We cnt keep pushing our luck with Torres. Left for me,we should sell any of Sturridge or Torres come Jan. along with Ashley,lamps,malouda. Get two quality strikers,keep as many quality strikers we can,it does way more good than harm. We can play two strikers in a 4-1-3-2 formation,or maintain our 4-2-3-1 depending on the nature of the opponent. 4-1-4-1 is another formation,mostly for the second half whether we are winning or losing,to grind out favourable result. But our primary problem now is our lack of quality options upfront.

Ohans

So what will u suggest kaku? That we continue to play torres till january so we can recoup part of our investment in his services despite dropping points due to our over reliance on him? If that is what u mean then I disagree, I'll take my chances with moses who seem to be hungry for goals and is always in the right position a striker is meant to be, by the way moses scored with his feet when he played for the eagles, and I saw some highlights he scored good goals with his feet, I agree he misses chances at times but it aint as pathetic as nando's and that's a fact. @ohans, are u sure he watched the game? He must be really mad at what he is seeing upfront, I am for loaning him for a month if need be. Someone raised an intelligent point saying when mata have an offgame the whole team have an offgame, I wrote an article when I asked if we need willian for this same reason of titredness or Injury to mata, its obvious we need him now and since he wants to willingly come we should buy him next summer it won't be too much. He had a good against metallurg donestk or whateva they call them.

Desmondadonis

@mq: i can't agree more on RDM late sub is making the bench rot away. It is known to all that F9 left his goal brains at Anfield so the brains on the bench needs a better playing time b4 jan. window opens, it was obvious from sturridge brief performance that all is not well. The 3 amingos were brilliant but fail to make the kill which would have given a soft landing. It beats my mind when some fans cant see any good from the pivot guys especially Mikel. Yes, ball distribution can be improved but to use crass terms on them tells your level of intelligence.

Hardtackle

LoL @SOJOF you resort to rhetoric because you can't objectively critique what I was implying...respond no more then :)

@Mq

Our subs timing is a joke HARDTACKLE why we always wait till around 80 minutes to make a change beats me, we act like we don't have any other players or they are facing injury. Why can't RDM be more braver and be proactive than reactive?? It's no wonder we suffer from fatigue

@Mq

did you see the chance Mata missed when he could've passed Hazard DESMOND?? Did you see where Torr-Mented1 was?? I suggest you check it again, the ********** was jogging just past the halfway line, where's the hunger there?? Positioning is Poor (pathetic to be brutally honest) chance taking is worse than pathetic (how many chances does he need, does he expect defenders to open way for him to score freely) this guy has been a waste of our money and emotions, I get why AVB opted for an out of form Drogba than this, he could see something was amiss

@Mq

@desmond,i agree with u,our reliance on torres is costin us points and might ultimately cost us the title/top4 finish(whichever u prefer).it's this same reliance on torres that cost ancelloti his job.i hope rdm dont follow that path..if we had a quality striker/goalscorer on the pitch yestaday we could have killed off the game in the 1st half.therefore,givin more minute to our spare players like marin,romeu,moses and sturridge to come on early enough but it would never be the case because we hardly score and when we do we find it hard to protect the slimmest of leads

Ken4CFC

MQ: no im not saying its easier to score goals from the wing than at cf, what im trying to point out is, our previous managers have always seen danny as a wide player and not a cf, and if truth be told i think its his best position.

Blue1989

this season either rdm tactics or torres antics on the pitch will cost us the title....rdm has to improve his tactics and torres... forget he is just a hopeless case....he is lost in the crowd...

shlok27

Truth be told danny atimes will do things that will make u want to shoot him, but there is this spark of brilliance about him atimes that u can't ever find in torres as a blue. Correct me if I am wrong, I'll rather wait for sturridge flash of brilliance than the predictable rubbish torres gives us all day

Desmondadonis

@Mq: great point about Torres's. IMO, RDM does not have faith in the bench. We had Marin, Sturridge, Moses, Romeu, Cahill, Ferreira, Turnbull on the bench and RDM does not believe in Marin, Sturridge & Moses. RDM thinks that our bench is weak that is why he will try to play mazcar as much as possible.

B2K420

we haven't tried him as CF yet BLUE1989 so it's unfair to be labeling him as useless until he's proven so. In the last game he played CF he scored, which means a lot for some1 who hardly gets game time so why not try him ther5e earlier perhaps

@Mq

1 question: did we have a sniff at Berbatov in the summer?? Heard he got a 4Mil payout from ManUre to take a paycut to Fulham, so KAKU I hope you seeing there are many ways around it. It's never as solid as it looks

@Mq

My "love" for Torr-Mented1 has severely wane a lot lately and given his "antics" as SHLOK says, it's fair to say he's done nothing to rectify that, and I'd bet it goes with a other fans too. Did you notice his 'support' was subdued as he was being subbed, unlike in the past when we'd unconditionally support him, drowning other teams in the process...

@Mq

I prefer a selfish sturridge to a selfless torres...oh how i wish we had gotten berbatov in the summer atleast for the short term

Ken4CFC

wheather we like it or not , torres is done for chelsea , an agerage team looks gtood with a scoring striker ..... sturridge needs to be given a chance , and i am in support with MQ for this one ... he is costing us big time

Don capon

i jokingly told liverpool fans in my college that torres will score.. you should have seen the way they laughed , yes it was a joke but i took it personal to know how bad he is ...... Any information about terry's injuury ?

Don capon

With the talent we have Mazacar there should be no excuses for Torres failure.

Elbowz

people are saying marin is not match fit...if he is not then why is on the bench...if he is fit than he has to play....people are saying rdm will introduce him slow and steady....but when

shlok27

Reading some comments and you would think CFC are in crisis...Then things start going right again and they all tongue twist. Not saying there are no obvious issues that can and will be addressed...but all this crappy talk of we will live to regret this and that is blatant bull****...What's the worst that can happen? Relegation? Come on i said it even b4 the season started that it will take months to strike that balance in the entire team rotation wise....You all can talk about buying the entire player in Europe,its obviously irrelevant. We work with what we have,and we have seen in periods this season that this team on their day can defeat any team in Europe. So enough with this doom and gloom talk like its rapture already.

nelyvanile

I really don't know what else to say, i like Mq, the brother tells the truth and knows his football, Sojof, its you who knows nothing about the round leather game. Like Mq rightly pointed out, did yall see where Torres was when Mata took that shot missed Shot with Hazard standing next to him? For Goodness sake what was our number 9 doing halfway from the goal please? I fear RDM is becoming a deaf manager, nobody, not even Roman would force him to play Torres, he's just doing it of his own accord, and if he thinks by playing Torres he can up his transfer fee, then he's only making it worse. What is worse than a bench player, a player that cannot deliver, and nobody wants that type of player on his pay roll. I say give Sturridge 90mins chance in 3 consecutive games and let's evaluate him on that. Right now anybody is better than Torres. Enough of this Bull***** please, RDM cannot tell me he hasn't seen what we all have seen in the last 5 Games.

Tugay08

We need a striker who works hard like Torres but has better movement and above all CAN SCORE GOALS. Lukaku & Bony are not going to close opposition defenders/midfielders, they have not as much stamina as Torres, I have seen Lukaku for West Brom & Bony for Vitesse Arnhem they will close down a defender and then they will be out of breath or stop running (you know what I mean) whereas Torres will close down 3 or 4 defenders and then will be out of breath. The style of footy we are playing we need someone who can run all day long and can score goals.

B2K420

@mq, don't start making yourself look like an idiot. A bad investment gone bad is in reference to Torres. The 50mm was a bad investment at first. Now it is the worst investment in European football ever.

KAKUfrank

given our investment and history around this time NELY we have every reason to be concerned. If it improves the next game we rightly applaud that, but where it's wrong we deserve the right to criticize. Right now things aren't going to right and wins like the Shaktar game tend to mask existent deficiencies. You say it'll take months for rotation to be effectively implemented, well we playing 2 games/ week and the players look jaded yet RDM hardly changes the line-up or formation, and his subs are always very late. When do you expect us to start rotation, when we have injuries?? What's the point of rotation if not to prevent injuries and fatigue??

@Mq

what an educative tip KAKU however you still haven't given any football reasons why you say Sturridge is a bad investment or a crap player. And you saying we were pretty much stuck with Torr-Mented1 because no club would buy him, Berbatov was paid 4Mil by ManUre to take a wage cut, still say it's impossible fo us to sell Torr-Mented1?? :)

@Mq

Victor Moses - moses scored with his feet when he played with the eagles. Come on mate. Nigerian Eagles. How about what you've seen of him from Wigan last season and this season? Does the Eagles game and 3 headers from the bench outdo that? Kalou was scoring for fun from the bench. The moment he started, he was absolutely ***** and proved after a couple of games, he belonged to the bench. If you watch Man city, Dzeko more or less performs like that. If Kalou can finish better than Moses and I won't play him upfront. You miss the point entirely. I will rather play ***** Sturridge and Torres than Moses upfront. He has never played it for Chelsea. Why the heck will I start experimenting mate?

KAKUfrank

Well let someone find the balance in this argument and come up with an article that will be the way forward for the club and will make fans more hopeful, balance eigh? Well guys, my soul reason for being worried is that in the coming 4 games we have only one weak team to play and that weak team is westbromich albion, and when we sit our asses and consider a westbrom side that beated liverpool (was it at anfield?) Smoothly, then I begin to despire and bother on painicking because I really don't know the way forward. I would have asked the question in a well written article but I guess its just as well we continue the debate in here, thank God no painful insult so far.

Desmondadonis

Did I ever say Sturridge was a bad investment mate? Wake the hell up and stop making yourself look like the Mq that you are......

KAKUfrank

@Mq - your persistence in calling Torres Torr-Mented1 is worrying.

zg2000fs

Geez KAKU haven't you been saying Sturridge is a crap player all along?? Have you developed amnesia??

@Mq

....Sturridge is beyond a bad footballer. I am really not sure why folks keep banging on playing Sturridge or Moses in front of Torres...didn't you just say that in this same article KAKU??

@Mq

In the last 2 EPL games (Swansea n Liverpool) that RDM had subbed Oscar, notice that the midfield and Attack collapsed? Its clear that Oscar Mata and Hazard are now too use to playing together, hence the withdrawal of 1 of the 3 affects the other 2, i honestly don't know how we can correct that flaw. That is why squad rotation as a backup plan is necessary. Mata shouldn't be compatible with only Oscar and Hazard but with all other players brought in to replace them, same goes for Hazard and Oscar, squad Rotation helps blend the team. For goodness sake why the hell was marin purchased if we weren't going to play him? Along with Piazon and moses? Give this guys more than a chance to prove their worth. If really we are in a transition faze then player should be fully integrated utilizing this season. I could leave with my self if we win nothing in this season at the expense of making sure all the players gel, but winning nothing next season would and should not be tolerated, PERIOD.

Tugay08

....If I am taking a guess, it has more to do with Sturridge's contract situation and the club's decision or attempt to recoup some money from a very bad investment gone bad....wasn't that you in response to BLU_RUN @KAKU?? Geez this guy is "amazing"

@Mq

... No one wants to recognize the fact that Sturridge, Lukaku and Torres are all low quality in the CF position...is that not tantamount to saying Sturridge is crap KAKU??

@Mq

@cobhamblue, we may have conceded goals recently with Luiz, but do we then ignore the clean sheets we kept with him on the side? 1 goal per game over the season still comes out to 38 goals which is still bad. Most of the goals we've conceded this season has come from our left flank. Because of our pathetic team defending on that flank. I believe the corner yesterday was even conceded by hazard or someone. I am not even saying Luiz is a world beater by any means. When we concede from his mistake, his is just bad. Bad positioning, loss of concentration etc.....but when others do, it is not talked about much. That still doesn't negate the fact that we concede goals with or without Luiz in the lineup. Let's not kid ourselves, pool were absolutely rubbish yesterday and yesterday was suarez's worst game in a mile. 3 shots on target all coming after Suarez scored isn't testing our defense much. If they were on fire yesterday, we could have been buried.

KAKUfrank

@kaku, I'll try cahill upfront as a CF if it takes that to stop torres from giving fans heartache all over the world, I don't get ur point on a player is shet and all that with moses, he haven't played for cfc as CF once and yet u write confidently as if u know everything about footballers, what is to say moses won't thrive as CF when be fed by mazacar? How are u so sure? I would play moses even if he can get that odd header inside the net per game. Moses is not kalou, they faster and stronger than eachother and have more position awareness than each other, even kalou still manages to start some games and salvage so needed points for us, so I don't buy into ur rather "cocksure" argument on that, until I see that he is tried as a CF atleast twice, it will be enough for most people to form an opinion, if he is crappy as torres or better. I am atleast 70% sure he'll be better

Desmondadonis

@Mq...You have the right to be critical,that's who u are...you find every reason to be critical,feel free to criticize the existence of air....The idea of rotation is not just throwing any player on the pitch in whatever positions,its a gradual step into phasing a player in rotational wise without altering team morale and understanding. We have been playing pretty important games for the last few weeks,u would expect Robbie to start his strongest squad based on the gravity of those games. Liverpool had the luxury of resting a few players in mid week at the Euro's...so it was expected we would tire out,and they would grow into the game,especially after changing formations to a 4-3-3. But before the players tired out it could have been done and dusted,we could have scored 3 or 4 goals. No point dragging we drew and i don't see the crisis in the club except for the JT injury which could turn out to be if long-term.

nelyvanile

....And talking about Sturridge or getting more chances doesn't even change the fact he is not our long term future like Torres. He is not signing a new contract. Won't play much since he is a ***** footballer etc....all in this same article KAKU now you denying you called Sturridge a crap player. LoL *pity you*

@Mq

Mq is very right on one count at least. RDM is very late with his subs, sometimes inexplicably so.

Carefree_1990

Read properly Mq. Sturridge contract situation which I explained. A bad investment gone bad being Torres. How many times do I have to say that? Bad investment gone bad is Torres. The whole knows he is poor, but sitting him on the bench thinking we will offload him for 10mm to 20mm with no stats or improvement in performance to show for it is wishful thinking. Sturridge's contract situation has forced him to bench. Chelsea is probably playing Torres in the hopes of improving his performance so that some money can be recouped if we do offload.

KAKUfrank

why not make the subs earlier then NELY why wait till the 80th minute unless you expecting some sort of miracle?? I've never seen a Manager as reluctant to change as RDM, not in Chelsea's history and certainly not in the "big games" I've watched of other teams. Managers make changes earlier and as soon as they can see a chance to win (the opponents are tired) or fatigue in our team, and as you rightly put that we did not rest players ala the fools why can't RDM make the changes quicker then??...

@Mq

Then again, this is the same man who moved Ramires to CM, dropped Lamps and brought Oscar on after a visit from Roman so his ability to "do the right" is highly questionable.

@Mq

so why deny you said Sturridge is a crap player when I've asked to provide football facts to back this claim then KAKU?? You said he's a crap #9, prove it. Just like you saying Moses would flop at false #9, prove it...

@Mq

Then again its pretty funny the amount of comments when things don't go our way...200+ comments compared to comments when we win...fans love to be critical don't they? LoL

nelyvanile

@sojofjand "definitely RDM will not read any of your comments you just shout here even fans in the stadium didn't complain as much as you guys did" LOL Have u ever been to Stamford bridge? Everybody at the bridge complains! even when we win, they have something to cry about. And I am positive that RDM is a passive (inactive) member of Vital Chelsea... According to the Chelseafc Shed end, this is the number 1 Chelsea unofficial site in the world. lots of important CFC personalities check on this website with crazy interest but they WILL NOT participate... your opinions are surely being heard as are most other fans' on a few other sites.

Blue in Colorado

Lets face the facts, we have a very average Manager who can't make his own decisions, tactically crap and has been incredible lucky. He's done nothing to change any of those 3 ever since he was appointed

@Mq

Still, his players still love him and want to play for him, have you been reading Mata's comments? A manager needs that above anything else.

Carefree_1990

@mq, u are wrong about the fact that RDM is the coach that don't make quick subs in cfc history, when did u start watching cfc? Hiddink a major parts of his time at cfc leaves it late too atimes. But the difference is that we mostly win under him

Desmondadonis

@mq u are taking this too far mate, can't u debate without making everyone go against u? Jeez!

Desmondadonis

People forget that as you play an opposing scout is watching for weaknesses, recall Rodgers said he played more mids to negate our attacking mid trio's threat simply because he'd been watching us and looking for weaknesses and for 1 reason or another he came away with a decent result with average players. 1 thing ManUre does very well is win convincingly such that their opponents already have some fear factor, it's called "football goodwill"

@Mq

I'm not criticizing the late subs per-se DESMOND but the failure to respond when necessary. It's not just about subs but doing what needs to be done to win the match comprehensively in preparation for the next game. Where you 'struggle' to win games best believe your opponent comes more confident that when you thoroughly win outright, it helps instill fear in the next opponent and makes them approach the game more 'timid'.

@Mq

@Kaku... I really don't understand why u dislike Sturridge this much. Anyway, we all have our glaring stands, at least for the period between now and next transfer window, I'll definitely prefer to have Sturridge start than allow Torres keep sinking us...

Latunvic

Facts are Facts unless proven otherwise DESMOND and right now my fact is that RDM is highly indecisive, tactically naive and given the players he's had, he's the luckiest Manager I know. Unless I see progressive changes this will always be a fact of mine (last I checked VC is not about praising the Manager but discussing all things Chelsea with different people giving their individual opinions)

@Mq

under RDM we dont seem to have a plan B! it is just 4-2-3-1 and thats it! we needed to maybe change it to 4-3-3/4-4-2 or even try 3 at the back as at the moment teams are sussing us out and are just stifling the zone where the 3 attacking players of our team play. against shakhtar we were crying our for width and we never really got it even when moses came on as no one used him when he was wide right. with a 4-4-2 we could use marin and hazard wide,moses can play wide even mata and oscar can if neee be play wide,same with ramires,its just we some times need to switch it and give the opposition something else to think about. at the moment we are way too predictable.

Dave-David

Again the plan B talk resurfaces in November around here. This is being talked about since Scolari if memory serves me right.

I just love how @Mq is the know it all and notice it all guy for Chelsea FC. Apparently, he understands why, when, who much better then RDM or any of the coaching staff because he sees games on television, yet when someone says that the person has been to the game and how much different the experience is and how you see things you never ever see on television, @Mq is nowhere to comment, possibly because he never was to any games, or more likely never ever played a game for a team even in local amateur pub league in his life so he doesn't understand how things work. But he does have fifa and whatnot, and my god, it works so much better when you bring on the first sub in the 61st minute and then 2nd in 70th and you see how things go and don't go beyond 85th minute without a sub because you wan't to have cover for injuries, or you go beyond if you want to stall time or some other reason.

Yeah, RDM is totally clueless, and his staff as well. Bunch of *****er no goods obviously.

We should all write a petition to CFC for them to consider demoting RDM to assistant manager, and well, frankly, just get the @Mq for whatever he will agree on for life.. CFC problem solved. CFC European and Club and League champions every year onward.

Easy peasy

zg2000fs

You are being too extreme ZG2000...

@Mq

I can't single out one core reason to why we lost last night. We were poor in general. Mazacar 38 looked tired, ramires and mikel were average at best, FT9 .......uh I'm giving up on him now, RDM...well aside from not making changes soon enough and, when he did, not resulting in change in formation (Mosses for Oscar, Sturridge for Torres...all 'like for like' changes, still 4231) I can't really blame him for any of what happened though......he's just not good enough, I'm afraid (I pray for him to prove me wrong)......all in all it hadn't been a good couple of days to be blue. Anyways here is for a better tomorrow......KTBFFH!!!

zosBlue

Funny that Mikel get's criticized, Torr-Mented1 get's criticized, Luiz get's criticized Sturridge is called a $hitty player by some, but dare criticize RDM and you are singled out as primarily being "anti Chelsea" even when you have points to back your assertions... is RDM the new "Lamps"?? *smh*

@Mq

Reading Mata comments after the game makes me laugh...he's talking as though the Mazacar cant be benched.....like they are untouchable or so!

Krested Kal-el

@Mq has always wanted Robbie out... ever since pre season when we couldn't manage a draw. If we lose to JUVE, there's a 95% chance he will get fired as the Roman axe is very swift and ruthless. If Riviera gets fired, I'll be even sadder but I'll definitely respect the decision. Hopefully, he gets to stay with the club in some capacity. Knowing the incredible luck Robbie has however, I wont be surprised if we draw or sneak an undeserved win lol.

Blue in Colorado

*rdm .... gosh my trackpad keeps misspelling certain words.

Blue in Colorado

Dont get it twisted....the mazacar are the best thing that has happen to chelsea for a long while....but we need to try other players......i'v bn giving Rdm the benefit of the doubt concerning marko Marin case....but seriously Can someone explain to me why the guy name is always on the sub list but never plays even a minute....and No one should give me that crap 'bout he's injured or trying to be fit..........HATE to complain but it's annoying watching chelsea draw against against a weak liverpool team......it felt like we losed..Goddamm! Gotta take a break!

Krested Kal-el

this game was a joke, some friends of mine who are liverpool fans were upset that we didn't win. Thanks to the FA and the Media, United are on top, and look like they're gonna runaway with it once again. aaaaaaarggh i can't believe Mata missed that chance, of all people :(....if anything i believe our proformance was due to playing so many games, and most of our players are new and need to get used to level of being in a team of champion, which mean a hell of a lot of games.

BluesManCFC

we need to try ... marin , mata , moses ... the three m's as a change with torres up front ..

haji ahmed

And guys, Jones in goal for liverpool...was insane, we may have missed our chances, but that's due to the quality he brought to the game. I have my negative feeling towards Torres and Mikel, but i'm still gonna keep faith until they get the boot of course.

BluesManCFC

Marin remains on bench because RDM doesn't believe in him..

Latunvic

Yesterday result is much better than we got against liverpool for a few seasons now at the bridge

Gaban

I can see where this is heading to....

Pep.Guardiola

I said Sturridge is a crap footballer. What does a crap footballer have to do have to do with whether an investment is bad or not. If I buy a beat down house on Times Square for 7mm today and sell it in 2015 for 15mm. It is not a bad investment. But that doesn't stop the house from being what it is - a crap house. If you don't understand this, then stick to cashing checks

KAKUfrank

Ermmmmmm elemzy. Are you joining some members and interpreting whatever You will like to interprete. When did I say we don't need falcao? Didn't I say he is not enough and we need other scoring strikers in addition to him?

KAKUfrank

@zg2000fs...Dude ur comment was sarcastically classy...Well done.

nelyvanile

@Desmond, Suggestions of playing upfront as a center forward is similar to calls to play Luiz as a CDM- "dreams". You might spend the next 2 years like other coaching geniuses waiting for Luiz in CDM or right back. Good luck with that wait. I will love Drogba to start next week, but I won't utter such fairy tales on here. Dreams mate. @Latunvic, I don't hate Sturridge. He is just an overrated donkey like theo Walcott.

KAKUfrank

tKrested Kal-el. the mazacar are the best thing that has happen to chelsea for a long while Hhhhm i think winning the champions league was the best thing that has happend in chelseas history and it didnt happend a long time ago

Lakupiippu

shaka09 mabye we are missing Lampard?

Lakupiippu

We did concede yesterday and the defending wasn't great for the goal. But it was a blatant foul by Suarez on Ramires and should never have stood.

CobhamBlue

No one is talking about their goal being a blatant foul in the media as welland Howard Webb had a great view of the goal.

nelyvanile

The goal was well taken goal, no one expects a perfect game, if pool fans are here, they'll laugh themselves hoarse and say we are grasping at straws. @kaku, luiz have not played as a cdm before, moses have played as a cf at some stage in his career albeit early, that argument is classless pal, look for another example, as for drogs loan, it can happen if the club wants it, drogba will surely welcome it and all we have to do is negotiate with shangai, so get better counter points to dismiss a feasible scenario like mine, everton did it with landon donovan twice! Man utd with eric larson once, arsenal with thiery henry. Wanna deny it?

Desmondadonis

if Mata would have scored or Pool's goal would have been disaalowed for a foul on Ramires by Suares things would have been so diffrence..bdw Torres was not that bad..its just that he cant play as a lone striker nowdays according to me..he needs a strike partner which means a change in formation..

Malhotra

@Desmond, please mention when Moses has played as a CF please. At what level and league? Drogba will play on loan next week? Fairy tales mate.....

KAKUfrank

Sturridge and Torres are just not good enough at this point in time.Torres has been givin every chance,but what he had is gone.The worse thing of all is watching him run with his head down and giving away the ball.Take the ball down pass it and get into the box,it's just not happening.Sturridge is just not a good enough player.

THEBREEZE

After mentioning at what level and league Moses played CF, make SURE you mention what his goal to game ratio as a CF is and tell us if you will use such experience to determine whether to put Moses upfront as a CF? At a stage in his career, albeit early? What was his goal to game ratio there and why was he moved out wide?

KAKUfrank

still waiting for "footballing" reasons why you feel Sturridge is crap KAKU...

@Mq

I said I have dreams of Drogba playing next week for us and you actually believe it can happen? My argument is classless pal? Really? You want to take a 21 year old that hasn't played CF or in the middle in the premier league with only 20 goals in 135 appearances in his career and you want to move him to the middle? They was a reason he was moved from CF to the wings and not stayed at CF. You want RDM to shred the books and start playing a system with different players of which he has had no training for? No preseason training for them to get used to themselves? No nothing? You want RDM to take a CURRENT SQUAD player who comes on in the 80th minute and start playing him upfront for which the player has no finishing skills to speak or any admirable goal scoring record and move him to the middle? Gosh. I think I need to start talking to realistic folks since some of you think there is an iota of possibility of Drogba will be included in the squad next week.......

KAKUfrank

It takes you 6+ hours to grasp that being a crap footballer has nothing to do with whether an investment is bad or not. Not sure I have the energy and time to explain one or 2 points over and over again and for you to interpret it as whatever you want it to mean. I also agree with zg2000......Very true.

KAKUfrank

I've had my reservations BLUEIN and have my reasons to back my assertions, and based on what I've seen thus far RDM hasn't done enough to warrant keeping this job fulltime. He's done quite well but it's not enough yet because, as I said, he hasn't shown any tactical ability, neither has he shown championship-winning attitude and drive and he's very much predictable (Carlo part 2). I'll give him kudos for his 'man management' although I feel this "nice guy" style is what's making the team not be as competitive as it truly should be

@Mq

btw I doubt Pep is coming, seems Man$hitty has pretty much laid the groundwork for his appointment.

@Mq

I'm not referring to investment KAKU I'm talking about the reasons why you say Sturridge is a crap footballer...What are the footballing reasons for that assertion, not for the investment bit (I deal with investments daily, I probably know about them more than you)

@Mq

I am definitely SURE YOU DO NOT have a fraction of my investment knowledge. Absolutely sure!!!! Not even close. And if you want to test it. Try me.

KAKUfrank

let's just keep to the football for now KAKU give me 1 "footballing" reason why you say Sturridge is a crap player (not asking about investment)...*waiting*

@Mq

Continue waiting.

KAKUfrank

@kaku, state where I said drogba should be included in the team next week, u are a bad liar pal and ur argument is classless, refer to when I said he should be in the squad next week? I said by next month, moses played as a striker for crystal palace and atimes for the under age at england level at a time, I am not a crystal fan so I don't know the goals per game ratio, but would defo check it out if its on google

Desmondadonis

@Desmond, I am not a liar. It is you that chose to interpret whatever I said. I said in my post: "I will love Drogba to start next week, but I won't utter such fairy tales on here. Dreams mate." Do you see it clearly? NEXT WEEK. You tried to look smart and you said: "as for drogs loan, it can happen if the club wants it, drogba will surely welcome it and all we have to do is negotiate with shangai, so get better counter points to dismiss a feasible scenario like mine". I never said anything about a loan. I clearly stated I will love Drogba to start next week. You tried to rebutt that point by asking me if I "wanna deny that"? Deny what exactly? I never said anything about a loan. I want him next week and you are talking about a loan. So how is my argument "classless" when it is clear you don't even understand the simple statement - "I will love Drogba to start next week". Understand that first before trying concoct an argument that is outside what we were discussing.

KAKUfrank

Maybe it is good and quite worth it to check a players stats at the under-age or below the premier league level before suggesting he should be a striker/false 9 for a top side. Messi and Ronaldo were scoring machines from the wings before moving them to the middle at Barcelona and Man U respectively. Moses stats as widemen/cf is not impressive and is indicative of a player who is not a finisher. That's why he should not be moved to the middle in addition to having no training or pre-season work with the players. Moses is not yet a starter for Chelsea and he is still developing. You are now proposing he should be moved to the middle when his other pre-requisite skills have not been developed. Gosh!!!!!!!!

KAKUfrank

Here is more on his goals for crystal palace and everything about him is on this link. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/player/_/id/112547/victor-moses?cc=5739

Desmondadonis

For someone that have the will and have been entirely successful than torres with what both have played this season, then I have not lost my marbles in asking him to be tried as a cf, this is a lad that scored 50 goals for crystal palace, admitted that it aint in the same class as chelsean but u made it sound as if u are sure he will fail if tried there, u should give me a break and admit that it is likely to work than what torres is offering us

Desmondadonis

This is a lad that have scored three times this season for chelsea and have not played 7 games on a roll, while torres have played almost all our games this season including preseason, if its on this season their goals per game ratio is analysed, then he will get the nod ahead of nando.

Desmondadonis

"The Nigeria international, who can play on the wing or as a second striker, caught the eye at 14 after scoring 50 goals for Crystal Palace's Under-14 side and later starred for England at youth level." 50 goals for the under-14 side. UNDER-14 SIDE. UNDER-14 SIDE. Jesus Christ.....Who am I discussing with here!!!!!!!!!!Give you a break based on his under-14 STATS???? Oh Lord.....In case you don't want to spill out Moses stats at Crystal Palace because it is medicore, here it is: 3 goals in 15 appearances. 2 goals in 34 appearances the next season. In case you also don't want to do this as well, check out Salomon Kalou's stats as a sub and his goal to game ratio as a starter. Please don't pull out his under-12 stats because that is embarrassing to use please. When and if you do that, you will understand why Kalou isn't a starter and maybe even Dzeko this season.

KAKUfrank

n case you don't want to spill out Moses stats at Crystal Palace because it is medicore, here it is: 3 goals in 15 appearances. 2 goals in 34 appearances the next season. And then 6 goals in 18 for a total of 11 goals in 64 appearances. If Moses was in the CF position through out those years, then that is poor for a CF. Please please please please don't pull out UNDER-14 STATS if you ever want to make a point about a player being a striker. It is embarrassing.

KAKUfrank

The argument was if he can play as a CF, and where he started his career, I argued he started as a CF, 2 goals in 34 as what? A regular? 2nd season a return of 6-18 isn't that improvement itself? U are twisting the facts , u stated if he have played as a cf and it was there that he can, my basis for saying he should play as a cf in nando's stead was the amount of games he got this season and goals compared to lamps, if u ask a 7 year old he'll tell u he prefers the striker that has more goals per game ratio than torres, its a no brainer, so don't twist the point to make urself look good pal, ask anybody in the whole world who understands their football without sentiments, they'll pick moses over nando on current form, end off discusion pal.

Desmondadonis

Your point is mute. It is irrelevant whether a 7 year old should start of Torres. The point here is simple: is Moses good enough to start in the cf position for Chelsea? Your argument and points are pathetic and embarrassing. You are using his under 14 stats and trying to justify 1 season of 6 goals in 18 matches to justify it. That's ridiculous and you are clearly out of your marbles. I can say piazon, Cahill and even Eddie newton should start ahead of Torres , but it has to be based on something. If it is based on U14 and 1 year crystal palace performance, then gosh, conversation should really end with you because your reasoning is quite baffling. It is late. Go to Bed.

KAKUfrank

In case you didn't read the first season. Read it again. 3 goals in 15 in his 1st season. 2 in 34 goals (yes as a regular) in his 2nd season and 6 in 18 his third season. 11 goals in 67 appearances is pathetic if he was playing CF and should be a red flag not to play him there. But ditto, it is impressive enough for you to justify your point along with his u14 performances. Under 14. Really heard it all.

KAKUfrank

@kaku, u just pick a reason to justify ur excuse, I will ask u a question, if u are to chose between someone that have not played upto 7 games as a sub this season who scored 3 goals to someone who played almost 22 games as a starter (preseason included) who have scored only 7 goals, who will u chose? Its a no brainer, u lost this debate and u know it, don't try to save face, take it as a man and stop being a coward. Everybody knows that the lad has a better goal scoring stats than torres this season via the amount of goals they scored and the games they play, if u can't see that then I am afraid ur head needs to be examined.

Desmondadonis

Its as clear as daylight and only someone that is deluded that won't see the facts that is so glaring, ask anybody and they will prefer a hungry moses as a CF who can chip in goals if he is played there than torres who won't score even if it is to save his life. There is honour in a man when he eats the humble pie and admits defeat, u clearly don't want to admit and its such a shame. Brings all the respect I have for ur opinions atimes to nothing

Desmondadonis

And oh kaku,in His stats, was he a point man? No he definitely is not, he played only as a striker in his teens which was what brought about the link,u argues that he never played as a striker and I said he did early in his career. So accept the fact that u are wrong and admit to defeat, its not that bad to lose an argument. It keeps u informed and more prepared for another day. I am off to bed, its been a nice and enlightening debate, I hope u lot learn a few things? I sure did

Desmondadonis

And oh kaku,in His stats, was he a point man? No he definitely is not, he played only as a striker in his teens which was what brought about the link,u argued that he never played as a striker and I said he did early in his career. So accept the fact that u are wrong and admit to defeat, its not that bad to lose an argument. It keeps u informed and more prepared for another day. I am off to bed, its been a nice and enlightening debate, I hope u lot learn a few things? I sure did

Desmondadonis

You guys should write a book and sell it to RDM to read and learn tactics from, but mind you football is actually more than tongue lashing and spitting fantasy, if you guys have ever been on a football pitch you will know better. Good night.

sojofjand

i thought azpi was superb would like to see him continue there & no one seriously willing to give bertrand some credit i thought after that shocker in midweek he was excellent & bounced back well

Gondo

so you failed to prove your assertion that Sturridge is crap...Give me a 'sub' winger with a better goals/games ratio in the EPL the past 2 seasons KAKU

@Mq

dude run his mouth without fact or reason to substantiate his point...*pitiful*

@Mq

@Lakupiipu.....i'm not talking 'bout trophies mate...i'm talking 'bout the way we play good football.something you should have easily understood....thumbs up to Kaku for clearing some peeps doubt..yea right moses is good but why use him as a centre forward when we already have sturidge?.....playing on the wing is totally different from striking..because he scored three goals doesn't mean his a good striker......infact that means hazard also can play 9.,...even ivanovic.Lol..

Krested Kal-el

Krested kal-el, u are contradicting urself if that is the case, we all know sturridge is better playing from the wing, what prompted the moses talk if read the comments is that he is a better option than what torres is giving us now as a striker, and kakku said he can't play as a cf and won't be a better option than torres, so we argued about it as u can see, I based my argument on what I noticed of moses, his positional awareness in the box, his power, pace and also his goals ratio this season compared to nando, and krested kal el, have u ever seen moses play for his national team? I guess u haven't, if u can get a link to our african nations cup qualifier and see that game, I am sure u will be wondering why he is not getting game time or starting ahead of nando atimes.

Desmondadonis

Krested kal-el, u are contradicting urself if that is the case, we all know sturridge is better playing from the wing too, what prompted the moses talk if u read the comments is that he is a better option than what torres is giving us now as a striker, and kakku said he can't play as a cf and won't be a better option than torres, so we argued about it as u can see, I based my argument on what I noticed of moses, his positional awareness in the box, his power, pace and also his goals ratio this season compared to nando's, and krested kal el, have u ever seen moses play for his national team? I guess u haven't, if u can get a link to our last african nations cup qualifier and see that game, I am sure u will be wondering why he is not getting more game time or starting ahead of nando atimes. I won't mind if hazard was played as 9 even if ivanovic play as 9, I am sure he has more position awareness than torres and gets into positions torres won't get into In a game, so it seem funny to u, but seriously I won't mind if we play anybody that has a better chance than what torres is offering us now, I was watching a re-run of chelsea tv this morning, when they showed some of our games against pool, at a time we had anelka,drogba, kalou scoring for us, chelsea is a team where we thrive with good no9 from what I know since I have been a fan, our lack of a good CF will ruin us a lot b4 january if we don't come up with something, hence my claim of moses and sturridge as better alternatives

Desmondadonis

We need start Sturridge in the next game and Torres start getting that touch from the bench also.

Kendemsblue

Chill out Desmond and KAKU.LOL!

cfc250

Cfc250, I made my point, he made his so its aint a big deal, I backed my points with facts and that's the end of it, no sane mind person will start torres ahead of better prospect in moses and sturridge, but the more I think about it, I keep thinking that roman ordered rdm to play torres all season long

Desmondadonis

Desmond.Moses does not look like a good finisher.We'll have to go with Torres till 31st December whether people like it or not.Sturridge is a donkey.He's not Chelsea quality.Do you think RDM is a fool to start the PL's biggest flop week in week out?I am not sure if its Roman's orders.If such orders have been placed,they would have been placed ever since he joined us.But Carlo,AVB and RDM,all of them went with Drogba.Because they knew Drogba was unplayable if he was in the mood.But Sturridge is not even even a fraction of that level.And it would be a risk to start Moses there.Don't go by these 3 goals.Last season,John Terry scored as many as Drogba and Torres.Playing Lampard there is still debatable.

cfc250

I'd somewhat believe that DESMOND but seeing how RDM persisted with Lamps, it seems persistence is his trait so I wouldn't be sure Roman ordered him to play Torr-Mented1 throughout

@Mq

Cfc250, I disagree if we have drogba in the team, rdm will use him and get results and it won't matter to roman, since the ucl final, torres with his interview got the undiputed starting no9 role, @mq, lamps is different, they were team mates once, so I think that is more of a loyalty reason.

Desmondadonis

@desmond....guez u talkin 'bout the 6-1 win where moses scored twice or so.....so he played 9?

Krested Kal-el

http://www.goal.com/en/news/596/exclusive/2012/11/13/3523978/chelsea-close-in-on-falcao-swoop-after-opening-talks-over

@Mq

@krested kal-el, yes I am talking about that game, if u watched the game, then u'll be of a mind that he might do well for there atleast till january, and we won't have to bear this heartache torres brings for us each match days

Desmondadonis

It seems Falcao is headed for the Bridge after all!

Ohans

Admit to defeat? Defeat of what? Stop sounding like a greeek soldier and use your head for once and think. I never argued that he never played as a CF......I know that already. Any one who read his mirror football biography knows that. They was a point to this statement:"please mention when Moses has played as a CF please. At what level and league?" How does that translate to "he never played as a striker"? Oh Lord. The reason I asked you for that was try to see your reasoning behind Moses to play in CF and your justification was he played it in the UNDER-14????? But it is clear you simply do not understand the point of the question.....But you've change that to because he had impressive goal to game ratio as a sub, he should be included. So an example is, Callejon was having similar goal to game stats as a sub last season for Real Madrid. If Higuain and Benzema were in poor form, it absolutely makes sense for Mourinho to sit Higuain and Benzema on the bench and play Callejon upfront because Callejon has experience scoring over 50 goals in his UNDER-14 and he is hungry and his hunger translates to scoring from the bench? Is that your reasoning?

KAKUfrank

No Mq, I didn't fail to give it you. I just cannot discuss with someone who couldn't differentiate a crap footballer doesn't translate to a bad investment. You simply preconceived notions so there is absolutely no point discussing. When you are made to look like an ass, you change the topic. So I have no energy nor will I waste words discussing footy with you. If Latunvic or GabeU or someone else asked me, I will explain to them, but not you. You live in shell world thinking you know everything there is about life e.g. investments, footy, contract about players etc......But you are absolutely clueless. I wished you would have tried me in investments when it is clear you absolutely know zilch.......

KAKUfrank

Goal.com is your source. Wayne Veysey is the idiot posting this Falcao link. If someone had any idea of PL transfers before, he would know what link to post. Veysey is goal.com's version of Harry Harris in case you don't know. His resume as an insider includes the following: http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2565/exclusives/2010/06/10/1967603/revealed-joe-cole-has-signed-a-contract-to-join-arsenal. Before you move to his archives and start looking at stuff that has come out right, the guardian, telegraph and co already had it up before he did.

KAKUfrank

I hate the price tag on falcao and kinda tired of hearing rumours concerning him to my beloved club..but somehow it gives me hope! Better dayz ahead.

Krested Kal-el

Kaku u don't get the simple point I made and u ho on and on about so many things that didn't do justice to the argument, if we have a coach that is more experienced than rdm, that coach with drop torres by now and would have used one of sturridge or moses, which would suit most fans and we'll surely get a better return of goals than what torres is giving us, that is my point and the reasoning for calling for moses or studge.

Desmondadonis

You argued that it won't happen that torres is a better option than both at cf, hence we argued about what they have achieved this season as players of cfc, based on what I have seen of both players so far this season, I would pick moses ahed of torres, and if. I see what sturridge brings to the table and if its more than torres, than I'll say we start sturridge ahead of him. Its a simple case of what is best in footballing terms for cfc, hence my deductions

Desmondadonis

LoL I pity you because clearly you cannot substantiate your point about Sturridge being a crap player. I agreed your bad investment point wasn't about him, now all I await is the reason you say Sturridge is a crap player....

@Mq

Funny you the 1 changing the topic by resorting to rhetoric and name dropping other people...If I'm so "clueless" because I merely posted a goal.com link without saying anything else I wonder what being "clued up" is, seeing as you cannot simply shut me up by giving reasons to back your claims KAKU you really are pitiful calling me all sorts of names and trying to divert attention from the issue at hand. All I asked and still ask is for you to state, substantiate and collaborate your assertion that Sturridge is a crap player. *shut me up plz* :)

@Mq

Do we really have to go on and call others names?

Kendemsblue

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