The Chelsea Thread
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1. He is injured and needs a full summer to recover
2. He needs to gel with his teammates
3. Our tactics do not suit his style of play
4. Drogba chews up his competition
5. He does not get enough service
6. He is depressed
And now he has a stomach bug. I always knew its never his fault. Such a unlucky dude
Ah, we're talking stats, are we? *rubs hands*
Why is it that Torres takes fewer shots? Perhaps it is, as you suggest, that he's not being found in the right areas. But let us consider the kind of people supplying Torres' ammunition compared to, say, Tevez's and Van Persie's. Tevez has Aguero, Nasri and Silva in the band behind him. RVP has Rooney, Valencia and Young. Torres has Mata, Oscar and Hazard. Which of those three sets of four is the weakest? By my reckoning, it certainly isn't Chelsea. If anything, it is United, with City and Chelsea pretty equal. You mentioned Carrick too, but is he a better player than Yaya Toure? Probably not.
My point is, it is pretty unlikely to be someone else's fault Torres isn't getting the ball in the right areas. In fact, United's attacking band of three behind Van Persie contribute 4.9 key passes per game on average. Compare that to City (6.9) and then Chelsea (5.9) and actually it becomes clear that United's supply line is anything but as imperious as you claim. So, with Chelsea having the second-best attackers to support Torres in this little three-horse race of ours, better than United's, why is it that he 'isn't getting the ball in the right areas'?
Could just be a (remarkably huge) coincidence, but I think one of two things is far more likely. 1) Torres just isn't getting into the positions that make him a threat, or more likely 2) Not only is he not taking enough shots, he's missing them when he does. I'm afraid all evidence points towards this still being Torres' fault.
If there is ever a argument involving statistics, no better lad to have than GC by your side
To be fair, this is most definitely not a purely statistical argument, but if someone wants to look at it as just that then I feel the evidence to suggest Torres is playing well might be a little thin on the ground...
If he is unfit and apparently Ba picked up a knock too that's why he didn't start then you start none of them!
Everything is ***** when you have RVP.
Frankly I thought the crowd reaction to him being subbed off was damning. Even the most ardent supporters are frustrated by him. When you are putting in those sort of performances pretty often after two seasons then frankly I dont blame them.
Should have just started me. At least I will run around and show some passion
Pick me, just to help the club i am even willing to take only half of Fernandos wages.
This is the biggest issue. Its not just that he isnt scoring, he is taking enough shots. 2.3 a game last time I checked. For a lone striker that isnt enough.
Then there's option 3: Most managers actually have more than half a braincell and noticed by now Chelsea is very one-dimensional when going forward and just tries to hammer everything through center, and when that fails, entire attack plan falls apart. So that's what they prepare for. Cut off the striker, and rest of the game is an exercise in futility.
Ba definitely needs a run of games, if nothing else because Torres looks exhausted lately. I especially want to see how Ba plays at the Bridge, because Chelsea are actually pretty **** good away, but at the Bridge when most teams naturally sit deeper and leave less space between formations (Villa didn't , we know what happened), they're awful. The dreadful transitions, lack of width, Luiz losing contact with his brain few times per game, all that comes back and bites them in the ***.
Chicken and egg argument. He wouldn't be so easy to cut off if he had some space, but you play so narrow he basically plays vs. 4 defenders rather then vs. 2.
We shall see how Ba does.
rawson1974
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Except only 32% of Chelsea's attacks come down the middle. So that's wrong.
Not wrong, just numbers don't always tell the whole story, or propably in this case, notice the narrow formation and tendency to cut inside a lot. Even their wide attacks aren't actually very wide.
Indeed they don't, but they're also a **** of a lot more reliable than one person's anecdotal evidence. They play a narrow formation high up the pitch and there's a tendency to cut inside a lot, but in Cole/Bertrand and Azpilicueta Chelsea finally have width from both full-backs.
Chelsea have no more of a central-based attacking play than, say, City, it's just that City have a striker who does more than sit there like a lemon and miss everything. Indeed, Aguero's clever movement, all-round player and blistering pace are very similar to what Torres used to be (albeit with a lot less aerial presence and perhaps a little more balance, acceleration and raw skill and trickery).
Chelsea are undeniably a narrow team, but not to the point where it's totally unworkable. A little patience and perhaps a little more Victor Moses would be a good remedy, but even if they DO solve that problem the main one is still that Torres is pretty much a non-entity.
Nick Chelsea
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We will miss Moses I must say. Oscar is not as good out wide as he is in the middle.