For DS. Not at all. But for Llorente, yes.
Never said he choosed to play badly. And he works as hard as the rest, nothing special. Also the article Subtle posted earlier highlighted just how much he is lacking in movement and effort which is costing us goalscoring chances
And get real. Chelsea just won the CL. Greatest night in the clubs history. And Torres immediately goes to give an interview where he complains about how he is not getting enough minutes and implies he might leve etc. Stuff which would be kept in the dressing room and certainly not revealed at such times.
Certain Chelsea players have done worse but at least they perform on the field majority of the time. This guy does neither so he is not helping the club in any way
Basically just trying to show how Torres has had the full support of the club and fans despite the fact that many players would get far less at other clubs and has still failed. It's his own fault really... Certainly don't feel anyone else can be blamed
I partly agree with you on DS. Even though we looked far more of a threat going forward with him leading the line as compared to Torres against WBA... DS needs to get a run of games before we come to any definitive conclusions. He should start against Juventus, we got nothing to lose
Why not Sturridge? Considering you're advocating giving Torres yet more chances, it seems incredibly harsh that a player of Sturridge's undoubted talent shouldn't even get a chance even when the first choice striker can't hit a barn door with a banjo.
Should add, i'd still be looking for a striker and recalling Lukaku in January if I was Di Matteo. Chelsea would probably have to lose 40+ million on Torres.
No we've been watching Sturridge for years, certainly enough to draw conclusions; what you see is largely want you get, he will play that same way every time he gets on the pitch, which is why he is on the bench most of the time. It speaks volumes of what Di Matteo wants when DS comes on, has a hatful of chances and takes none, and he says "It was not enough" Its clear what he wants from a leading man, neither Torres nor DS currently fit that, but Torres is possibly closer (not if he plays as badly as he did against West Brom though)
Should add, i'd still be looking for a striker and recalling Lukaku in January if I was Di Matteo. Chelsea would probably have to lose 40+ million on Torres.
I would be surprised if they couldn't get at least 15-20m for Torres.. He's only 28, could still potentially play for 4-5 seasons.
Who, though? The only clubs who'd be willing to shell out that kind of money are big spenders like PSG (who have Ibra) and City (who have 3 top-class forwards), or big clubs like United, Madrid, Barca, Bayern and so on, all of whom already have excellent striking options.
Pretty sure Villa spunked nearly 20m on Darren Bent the other year?
Yeah but he can actually score.
In most jobs, if you deliberately demeaned someone to force them to leave their role in order to save the company money, the company is asking for a lawsuit against it. He isn't refusing to play football or breaching his contract in any way.
Yet Torres has twice as many league goals as Bent this season.
The point is, there are plenty of teams that would be willing to ***** 15-20m on a big name signing, as a world cup winner, european cup winner and champions league winner, he comes with some pedigree.
Given that Bent's been in shocking form this year and isn't even starting for a team in the bottom three whereas Torres is seemingly undroppable for a team in the top three and with the best creative midfield in the league behind him, I'd say it's not a particularly sparkling stat.
See, you say that, but I reckon my point still stands. Whether a club is willing to chuck £20 million at him isn't necessarily the point, it's whether it's possible. No club outside Madrid or Barca in Spain has the funds to spend that kind of money without financing it through player sales, no club in England is likely to take a punt on him, German teams aren't really feasible and French teams are a possibility but perhaps of too low a standard. Perhaps an Italian team? Juve are maybe the only side I can think of that have both the financial power and the need for a top-class forward.
Yet Torres has twice as many league goals as Bent this season.
I'd imagine a major part of what Di Matteo wants from his leading man is goals, and Sturridge is much more likely to produce one given an actual shot.
Russian teams are pretty **** hot at throwing a **** tonne of money at average players. Wouldn't be surprised if he ended up there.
That's a fair point. 7 goals out of 19 games? At this rate if he plays as much games as in last season, he'll be nearing 20, more goals than Drogba had most seasons. Not exactly complete disaster people are making it out to be.
I'm not so sure about that, granted i only saw maybe 5-6 Chelsea games this year, but given how narrow they seem to play, i'd figure the whole nine-and-the-half/false nine/whatever is at least partially by design.
Fair point, actually. I guess the sticking point there is whether he'd want to move there, since if he did his international career would be pretty much over.