The Fernando Torres Report No. 9 - New Year's 2012 - Aston Villa & Wolves
by Kevin Kostka on Jan 3, 2012 3:31 AM GMT
in Chelsea FC: Players
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The latest edition of The Fernando Torres Report is here! In this column, I offer my perspective on the £50m man and his team! Today, I look at the recent Premier League matches against Aston Villa and Wolverhampton Wanderers.
A month ago, had one asked me whether I was worried about Didier Drogba leaving to get his Cote d'Ivoire on, I couldn't have said I was overly positive. Didier had been doing well, and was a big part of all things good in our attack. Fernando Torres, his presumptive replacement, was faltering in a series of feckless cameos. That changed when he somewhat unexpectedly got the start in Chelsea's disappointing 1-1 draw against Fulham. Contrary to everything we thought we knew about Everyone's Favourite Waste of Money,* he didn't suck. In fact, he was one of Chelsea's best players in the game. Despite not getting himself on the scoresheet, he was pretty consistently dangerous, and probably should have got himself a goal to go with the assist on Juan Mata's goal. David Stockdale, The Human Magnet, attracted all but one of Chelsea's shots on target to himself, keeping Fulham in a game begging for an equaliser. Despite the disappointing result, and the definite end to our title hopes,** we saw enough to make us hope a resurgence was on for Torres. Unless, that is, he, as I put it, fell down again. So, with two games in three days against West Midlands duo Aston Villa and Wolves, did Fernando fall down, or did he find his footing?
*Even I, the official apologist, will readily admit Fernando was a waste of money, but we've got him, so we've got to make the best of it.
**I'll be happy to be proved wrong about our title hopes should we end up even remotely in the title race.
So, then, how did he fare? At home to Villa, as Graham's new wife got the most fabulous wedding gift, Fernando had to make do with a cameo off the bench. Despite his being pretty poor[, apart from winning and barely converting a penalty], Didier Drogba didn't come off for Fernando. Instead, Torres slotted into the right wing position of Daniel Sturridge, whom he replaced. Despite it not being his natural position, Nando still managed to impress. With his first touch, he let loose a wonder-strike from all of 30 yards, beating Villa keeper Brad Guzan all ends up, only to see his patented NandoMagic* guide it onto the crossbar and out.
*Yes, that's a thing.
Even after his misadventure with the woodwork, he continued to be impressive, several times setting up his teammates, who, sadly, couldn't make anything of them. Nando didn't really have much in the way of further chances, and Chelsea's pressure failed to create the goal it deserved before being put to the sword by a resurgent Aston Villa. Despite the overall disappointment, many of us were pleased by Torres' effort, and hoped to see another good one at Molineux.
Today, we got our wish. Fernando Torres was pretty easily our man of the match, despite not scoring and not providing an assist on either goal. Yes, he did provide the wonderful ball to Ashley Cole, who then found the seemingly-inevitable Frank Lampard with an excellent cross for the winner, but I don't count secondary assists. In fact, Fernando's most creative moments had virtually no effect on the end result. Oddly enough, for a striker who was easily Chelsea's consensus Man of the Match, he had very few opportunities to score for himself, apart from one chance he utterly flubbed. How then, could he have earned such an honour? Frankly, he was our most creative player by a mile.
Nando could, and possibly should, have had two assists inside 15 minutes, as he slipped in both Mata and Lampard. Mata's chance wasn't exactly easy, but you have to feel he could have done better with the chance, which Wolves keeper Hennessey saved. It really was a fabulous through-ball, and was probably one of the best[, and few] for us this season. That is, until he did it again four minutes later when he slipped a ball in for Lampard. Again, Lampard should have scored from it, but Wolves defender Stearman managed to just get across to kill the chance. I can't blame Lampard, it was fabulous defending. Those were the two best opportunities in a match full of amazing creative play.
In short, Torres was a menace today. This was surely his best match since joining nearly one year ago. He didn't score, and he didn't directly provide on the goals, but he did pretty consistently provide the ball before the killer ball. Why buy Luka Modric when you can use a striker, whom you already spent 10m more on, and who doesn't score anymore? To be honest, there's a cruel irony in the fact that the player whose performance would have done the most to awaken the dormant scoring powers of Fernando Torres is the man himself. Therefore, unless Fernando learns to be in two places at once, or Roman spends a fortune to clone him, the Torres problem will persist.
He should get a good run of games this month with Drogba away, and will hopefully continue the upward trend he's been on of late. As we all know, the force of NandoMagic means we can't put any faith in that. Therefore, we can assume it's equally likely, either in two weeks against Sunderland, or next week against Portsmouth, Fernando will somehow get himself sent off while turning his knees into something that resembles the end-product of a wood-chipper as he is to score. Folks, don't piss off any pagan gods. The result could be devastating.
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Good write up. I imagine his form would keep improving with more starts. So much so,
he might actually score a few.
Excuse me while I go knock on wood.
On another note, would Torres actually have gotten those two assists today if Danny was on the end of his passes? I would imagine so.
I'm not sure how much better anyone could have done on the Mata one, but...
…I think someone pacier like Sturridge could have done better on Lampard’s. Not that Lampard didn’t do well, but Danny would have blown Stearman away, and had the decent effort Lampard couldn’t.
Author and Official Fernando Torres Apologist for We Ain't Got No History!
Even though he's not scoring
If he keeps up his good performances he’ll gain confidence and then we might see goals. Ultimately goals is what’s going to matter.
by el chelsea fuerte on Jan 3, 2012 4:23 AM GMT reply actions
If he keeps it going, eventually he'll...
…either start scoring, or regularly providing. Either way, it’s a good thing for us.
Author and Official Fernando Torres Apologist for We Ain't Got No History!
I agree with this...
….but if he’s going to be one of our best passers (as he was yesterday) while continuing to be utterly ineffective as a striker (as he has been since arrival at Chelsea), will AVB have the gall to put him where he will do the most damage?
I’m still looking for the EPL defenders he can actually beat to and/or keep off the ball, and haven’t found one yet (yes, perhaps I’m exaggerating, but not by much).
There aint any transfer thread?
Btw is van der Wiel to Valencia wrapped up?
And Vargas to naples?
Where’s Beckham?
Any other transfer titbits?
by RamStamford on Jan 3, 2012 4:38 AM GMT via mobile reply actions
I'd guess there'll be a deadline day thread
But why should a Chelsea blog care about all these random foreign transfers?
There's nothing really happening anyway this early in the window.
Anything Chelsea-related happens, and I’m sure Stephen will be on it.
Author and Official Fernando Torres Apologist for We Ain't Got No History!
Transfers?!
Any news on the Cahill transfer – ‘TalkSport’ hardly a reliable source says – Cahill wants £120k/week (lol) and we’re saying no ( without the laughter I’m sure)..,,
In my opinion – think Samba at Blackburn for £ 5 – 8M would be a better buy – still British (I think) …
Just a thought! :)
He's not English
And also not Homegrown. But probably a similar calibre of player. If Cahill wants that kind of money, then Samba’s not a bad alternative.
I agree
Yup I agree..n considering samba is pretty decent at defending and really gud at set pieces(he got great physical strength and easily take 2 defenders with him) ..infact I wish we buy him more than cahill and just hope this deal goes thru quickly coz im frustrated watching luiz as full back..he should be as RB rather
Albiol is also available?!
Samba would be my preference but, if you needed a defender who could play RB and CB …and also start attacks from the back – a real ‘ball playing’ footballer on the cheap (except maybe salary) and is well known to both Torres and Mata …
Albiol is your guy! :)
If Cahill really wants that money
than it’s just outright crazy whatever his transfer fee may be
Tor ilisar'thera'nal!
Just smiled myself
because based on our past transfer history early movements in the transfer window would be so untypical that for Chelsea it’s nearly safe to say nothing would happen before the window entered at least the last week, not to mention deadline day :D
Tor ilisar'thera'nal!
I'm not sure, but I Stephen is pretty good about the transfer news.
VDW, I have no idea about, Vargas to Napoli is done, I think DB to PSG is almost done, and that’s it. I’m not really a transfer guy.
Author and Official Fernando Torres Apologist for We Ain't Got No History!
We generally try to avoid any sort of random speculation type rumors in general
Beckham to PSG really has nothing to do with Chelsea, so I doubt we’ll even touch on it. Vargas to Napoli was covered a few weeks ago, and the VDW stuff is just rumor at this point. If anything that appears to have some substance happens we’ll be all over it, but I wouldn’t expect to see us covering every ridiculous rumor that gets started.
by Stephen Schmidt on Jan 3, 2012 1:10 PM GMT up reply actions
Odd observation I just noticed on the eighth time watching it.
David Luiz ran over to the bench to celebrate the Lampard goal with AVB and RDM, rather than the scrum of players further upfield. It was one of those beautiful DL moments. I wonder if he believed that newspaper story…
Author and Official Fernando Torres Apologist for We Ain't Got No History!
I noticed that on first time watching :p
Also the media are claiming JT and FL didn’t join the bench for Rami’s goal,but I can swear I saw JT was there at the very end of the celebrations and also FL was nearby gesturing happily towards the bench.
by RamStamford on Jan 3, 2012 5:19 AM GMT via mobile up reply actions
Frank was on his way
But as the joke went, he’s old, slow…and fat.
Terry was there, towards the end. I’m sure Torres was bemused by it all, while Cech just sat in his goal.
That Czech bastard!
Was about to say FL8 is fat and slow,but restrained
:p
by RamStamford on Jan 3, 2012 7:16 AM GMT via mobile up reply actions
Yes, pretty sure it was mentioned in the gamethread
Sideshow was definitely down with celebrating with AVB every chance he got.
Was it?
I must have missed the mention in the excitement.
Author and Official Fernando Torres Apologist for We Ain't Got No History!
Is David Luiz the secret Chelsea informant the SUN have paid for this story?
AVB said SUN should get their money back after they published this story. Conspiracy theory!
Tor ilisar'thera'nal!
Nandomagic?!
I can’t tell you how much I enjoy reading these….with all the negative press FT gets it’s nice to read an objective opinion and positive too boot about his performances!!
Armed with your praise and Marcotti’s comments during the match re: close to turning a corner….I can endure – the goals will come!
2012 – this will be Fernando’s year! :)
fingers crossed – sacrifices made – prayers to be answered
These reports are probably the farthest thing from objective. : )
That said, I do try to be fair about it.
Author and Official Fernando Torres Apologist for We Ain't Got No History!
lol :)
I stand corrected lol, but either way I find your reports a great read and quite informative!
Much appreciated feedback even with the bias! ;)
You could make something out of it
mixing Kevin’s reports with some of the Daily Mail – and in between you get something worthwile :D
Tor ilisar'thera'nal!
agree completely, except for:
“This was surely his best match since joining nearly one year ago.”
In the first game against Genk, he was on fire. Hit the post a few mins in, two goals, and some chances at the third later on.
That said, the passing and awareness of teammates were excellent today, and it was his best Prem match, no doubt. Great stuff. Hope he can keep it up!
I'll give you that.
I really liked this match because he was at the centre of most of our positives. The rest of the team, except Ramires and Lampard late on were pretty flat for me. Against Genk, everyone was pretty fired up, so I think Torres had less influence in that match. Really, I guess I was judging on impact on the game.
[Plus, the Genk match may have slipped my mind. : D ]
Author and Official Fernando Torres Apologist for We Ain't Got No History!
except
for mata who was almost as good as torres n I also think he is trying really hard to set it up for our no.9 …btw did u guys observe how frustrated torres was in 92nd minute i think when there were no defenders in front of him(even though he was midway of pitch) and ramires(i think) didn’t give a thru ball rather passed it backward..it was only for 2-3 frames but u could c how angry and desperate he was..also that backpass proved to be wrong n almost got a goal for wolves
I have to watch that part again
but another mentioned it in the game review thread, I think. It’s probably just another sample of when he is frustrated that something didn’t go the way he expected or hoped for it to. You’ll see quite a few of those. Newcastle and Sturridge comes to mind, in the dying minutes. But I wouldn’t read too much into those… Drogba threw his arms up a couple of times in the match the other day.
What I do notice though, is that he does more to try to pick out passes and make certain runs happen than others often notice, or point out. If you watch his hand gestures, you’ll see him tell the others who and where to pass once in awhile. Just seems that he can’t always get on the same radio frequency as the other players… funny how that works. With some players in his past, he didnt even need to try.. they just had it.
Strikers
I think it is in their DNA to throw their arms up and make pouty faces.
It’s like attacking midfielders falling down, rolling over, and crying as if you’ve just cut their ankle off.
Some people are just meant to be footballers. :-D
As Hernan Crespo (I think) once said
Scoring a goal is better than sex.
So I understand. I throw my arms up and make pouty faces when I get cockblocked too.
Agreed
I think people read into most of the gestures on the field a bit too much. I mean, you’ll see guys want to rip each other to shreds on the pitch that are actually great friends off of it. Just like people reading waaaay too much into the first goal celebration (and then Frank’s).
DPeezy brings up an interesting point… maybe Torres just needs a little blue pill… in the form of another Mata! Or maybe not… this theme goes nicely though with AVB’s talk of penetration- ha!
Surely debatable
which match is his best – I agree he did well in all two of them both Genk and Wolves but to me he impressed me most in the Stoke match, the first of our this season’s league campaign. Given that he had barely support in that match and had to do everything upfront himself on his own, that at least did me impress much more; since it’s so much more difficult to put in a good performance when the rest of the team don’t
Tor ilisar'thera'nal!
In unrelated news, Spurs will be playing 2 games this week.
So they are 2 points ahead of us with 2 games in hand. (I hope they lose both!)
I'm assuming you mean tomorrow against West Brom and...
…next Wednesday against Everton, and not this weekend’s FA Cup game against Cheltenham.
I don’t think Spurs will lose both, but I can see a draw in either or both, or even a loss to one of them. If they have to lose one, I hope it’s tomorrow against West Brom, who are my second team.
Author and Official Fernando Torres Apologist for We Ain't Got No History!
Why are people so worried about Torres not scoring?
Just reading these comments, that seems to be the gist of the reaction to his game. Correct me if I’m wrong.
If he keeps playing like he did today, then I’m happy. Effort is what counts for me, and Torres provided plenty of that.
Maybe
some of us fans are too concerned about what ought to be than what really happened, and we focus too much on what we think should be. I’m an obvious culprit myself, since I rant so much Frank scores too much and creates too less. I should remind myself more often and accept that we need more players creating, but it doesn’t necessarily have all to fall on Frank. Vice versa with Torres; we need players to score, but it doesn’t necessarily have to fall on him
Tor ilisar'thera'nal!
You know...
that is a good point you bring up in how I may need to think about Lampard’s position. Funny how he and Torres “switching” seems to solve one another’s problems when we can get past what roles they are designated on the team sheet.
I'd be very happy with these types of displays when he's not scoring
But as a CF his main job is to score, not create. We can’t keep relying on Sturridge to get us the goals, which is Torres’s job as well.
by el chelsea fuerte on Jan 3, 2012 8:04 PM GMT up reply actions
Wow but till when??
After such a long,and probably second or third,time majority of us are overly pleased with nando in the last match.There were signs of his form and relieved that he got his 90 minutes,played really well,and is going to get more such full match runs for the next month or two atleast.So seems the focal point in the attack is now shifted from drogs to torres.And now finally will be the time to judge his performances.But,till when are we going to have to deal with signs only?
Obviously its the win that matters and i do not mind him not scoring,but assisting or playmaking.But sometime soon we are going to be facing teams miles ahead of teams like wolves or villa.So,because of the brilliant defending they shall be having,we surely will need torres in more goal scoring roles and not playmaking roles,because i dont think he is still so fast to beat em all.
I still struggle to see the team chemistry that the team posesses with drogba,same applied with torres.When it is drogba out there,it is like the entire team is searching for him,but not to the same extent with torres.Is it because of torres’s inability to be in good positions?I say this because in counter or normal open play,there have been many many times when someone from the wings is giving a cross or passes and torres is not even there in the box,who probably is the first person that one expects to see.Also torres is seen to fail making runs to open positions behind the strikers where the through ball could be given easily,and he is many a times seen stuck between two defenders,again in counter or open play.At the same times,we see torres making runs and nobody gives the through ball!There arent even more quality crosses from the wings for him.
Another concern is the sturridge-torres thing.Both of them being our best hopes of keeping the defenders busy,sturridge is hardly seen forming a good partnership with torres.He acts selfish alongside drogba in good positions,i do not know if he will ever form a chemistry with torres.And the selfishness is the only thing that makes me not like sturridge as much as i should.I know selfish players tend to learn and turn out to be more useful.but he is not 18.And he should probably understand his role more,and stop whining everytime he is substituted.There are others who go through the same.
What is the answer to this 50 mp question,only the technical gurus can give(one of them enjoying the win on his honeymoon probably).I just loved the way he dribbled past the 3 wolves and missing out because of the last faint touch.A UTD fan alongside me thought he deserved a goal for that.All our hopes are always there,but i am still confused whose inefficiency is costing us more?the supplier’s,nando’s or the chemistry.
All in all.Great performance NANDO!!!
Regarding the Sturridge and Drogba/Torres thing
I’m still not entirely sure if Sturridge tends to be more / less selfish if Drogba or Torres plays in the center, as I have more the impression it depends on the match. Sturridge has days when he cares for the team and has days when he is only concerned to get himself on the scoresheet; he had games where he formed a good partnership with Drogba but also had ones where you get the impression he wasn’t all aware about his teammates. Sure, he needs to improve on that, no doubt, but I have my doubts the Drogba / Torres selection factors into it at all.
Tor ilisar'thera'nal!
I don't think that's fair at all
He’s a relatively young player who’s always been a center forward. Everything he’s been taught for the majority of his development says to shoot when he has the opportunity. He doesn’t care any more or less on any given day, he just has days where he plays more as a wing and days when everything he’s been taught for years takes over.
by Stephen Schmidt on Jan 3, 2012 1:14 PM GMT up reply actions
I don't mean the shots when he is in a good position
there isn’t much about to say if a striker comes into a good shooting position and shoots but misses the target or hits the keeper, at least not so much about his decision making. I mean those situations where Sturridge is in a bad shooting position himself while his teammates are in a better / not marked position and he decides to shoot.
Tor ilisar'thera'nal!
Fernando and Lamps
I really feel for the both of them. The scrutiny on Torres has been unbelievable and I truly hope he comes good. He was energetic today and this needs to continue. I am bit tired of one game Drogba or Torres are running about and then in others it appears the effort seems to be missing a bit. Drogba was unplayable against Valencia. Brilliant. Much of it appeared due to appetite on and off the ball and this has not been present regularly since. Fernando has times where the switch appears off too but if he keeps his effort level to todays standard, the goals will come.
As far as Lamps, a true professional. I have found myself frustrated by some of his play this year but he has a lot to offer this club yet. I support AVB and the changes that need to be made, but having respect for players who have done so much for this club must be a characteristic of Chelsea. I loved this interview w/ Frank after the game. He truly loves the sport and this club. Loyalty should go both ways and in many ways players are mercenaries now but I feel Lampard’s love for this club shines through in his comments in his press conferences. I hope he gets a run of games, and I wouldnt write off a goal scoring streak from Super Frank just yet.
I share very much your sentiments about Frank
though I fear my verdicts on Frank and my hopes on his future are largely stemmed by the fact I can never be really partial about Frank due to the fact I liked him even before I became a Chelsea supporter, and though I grew more and more frustrated about him last season (and therefore, my many rants) it never outweighed my positive view.
Tor ilisar'thera'nal!
I'm not sure starting players out of pure loyalty is a good policy
Frank knows as much, too, and that has come through many times in post-match comments. He’s been a fixture in the side for a decade, he wants to start, but he understands that things are changing around him. All he can do is train hard and play to the best of his abilities when he’s out there, either as a starter or as a sub. He is still up there among the leaders in minutes played (2nd most for a midfielder after Ramires), he still loves the club (even though AVB is now his 7th manager here) and he’s willing to give it his all.
My ideal scenario for Frank is to see out his career at Chelsea. As his role diminishes into his mid- and late-30s, he becomes even more of a veteran presence/leader…more and more off the pitch than on, eventually moving into a non-playing role for the club. He has 18 months left on the current contract – I could see that extended a couple more times (and that’s where the loyalty comes in – if Frank’s willing to take on a potentially reduced role, I definitely want to see Chelsea repay his loyalty).
all am saying is..
am a fan of torres and all bt am thinking a bit more of the team than an individual player..so here is what i think and wish..i heard rumors that AVB has got 150million 2 spend..i think he shouldd spend it on hulk(i know he is expensive) but trust me that beast is worth it and avb knows how 2 use him, then he should also buy João Moutinho i mean seriously is there a better midfielder than him, the we should solve the bosingwa problem because he almost cost us a game against wolves am suggesting Gregory van der Wiel from ajax the guy is really good. then cahil isnt a bad addiction either..if we get all those players i see chelsea play some beautiful attacking football. the line up being
van der Wiel Ivanovic\david luiz terry cole
oriol romue
ramirez João Moutinho
hulk mata
Sturridge
just the thought of mata linking up with João Moutinho in the midfield is just sick. all those players have something in common ie they are fast and attacking oriented..i choose sturridge to be the striker over torres coz he has more confidence infront of the goal than torres right nw…and when we hit a counter sturridge can keep up with hulk in terms of the pace..its alot of money to spend bt its a team 2 compete for premier and a team 2 win champions league next season..
I like João Moutinho
But think that for that sort of money we could do better than Hulk and VdW. Having said that, the whole thing is moot because there’s no way we’re spending £150m in January.
i know ashley hasnt been good this yr
but bosingwa is much more of a liability IMO. his set piece defending, crosses, and unibrow are tough to watch
by Jimm Bmore on Jan 3, 2012 4:09 PM GMT via Android app up reply actions
AVB should send him on loan to one your
London rivals who are in desperate need of a fullback right now.
by Sabrina Dessipe on Jan 3, 2012 4:13 PM GMT up reply actions
haha
i still cant believe we loaned yossi to arsenal. dumb
by Jimm Bmore on Jan 3, 2012 4:45 PM GMT via Android app up reply actions
I'm not happy about that either
but leaving Yossi on the bench / not even on the bench isn’t helping either of us and Yossi himself so it makes perfectly sense in a way
Tor ilisar'thera'nal!
I'd like him to stay at Arsenal
hopefully something can be worked out.
by Sabrina Dessipe on Jan 3, 2012 4:56 PM GMT up reply actions
Meh
Coming off the injury he had absolutely zero in resale value. Smaller clubs couldn’t afford his wages to take him on loan, so Arsenal it was. He’s playing well enough that we ought too at least get a little for him should we decide to sell.
by Stephen Schmidt on Jan 3, 2012 5:21 PM GMT up reply actions
Provided Arsenal want to take him
selling him to them would be a fine solution, because he seems to be happy there and it would make no sense to take him back
Tor ilisar'thera'nal!
Except to be mean!
Not outside the realm of possibility. :cP
by Sabrina Dessipe on Jan 3, 2012 5:38 PM GMT up reply actions
We're mean to our own players?
Not entirely impossible, agree, but I hope we don’t do what Spuds to do their players. I don’t wish us to treat any of our players that way
Tor ilisar'thera'nal!
It's not Arsenal or bust
He’s established value at this point, we don’t have any obligation to sell him to Arsenal. He’ll be returned to Chelsea in the summer for us to decide what to do with.
by Stephen Schmidt on Jan 3, 2012 5:39 PM GMT up reply actions
True it doesn't need to be Arsenal
but since he seems to be happy there it would be his obvious destination if he has the choice to leave
Tor ilisar'thera'nal!
As with all things though, it's up to Wenger to actually agree to a fee
He wouldn’t have been loaned if he had enough value for anyone to buy, and next summer he appears to have re-established that value. It would make sense to sell to Arsenal should they choose to buy, but it wouldn’t surprise me if the penny pincher won’t bite
by Stephen Schmidt on Jan 3, 2012 5:42 PM GMT up reply actions
I'd imagine we could safely get 5 million for him
by Stephen Schmidt on Jan 3, 2012 9:17 PM GMT up reply actions
Sounds good to me
Hopefully Arsene wouldn’t mind that.
by Sabrina Dessipe on Jan 3, 2012 10:09 PM GMT up reply actions
Wouldn't mind if he went to another club
wouldn’t even mind if he stayed with us but I can’t see much sense in that and honestly I also can’t see that happening
Tor ilisar'thera'nal!
I'd think that we'd be happy not to sell to Arsenal if he keeps up his decent performances
I can’t imagine us letting him stay at a direct competitor for good. But, weirder things have happened, and it also depends on his wishes.
i dont agree that his loan wasnt a terrible idea
it’s to a rival…who is usually right around you in the table.. wages alone is not enough of a reason. i understand saving money for FFP but giving him.to arsenal was a bad footballing decision.
by Jimm Bmore on Jan 3, 2012 6:25 PM GMT via Android app up reply actions
I would tend to agree with you there...
But Bosingwa was a crock of shite defensively against Wolves. Lost his man at pretty much every opportunity.
That he was; absolutely maddening v. Wolves
Let’s move him back to central defense. Or left back. He’s clearly way too complacent when playing his usual position.
But overall, Bosingwa’s an easy target…even though he has had a few decent games. He saved our ass a couple times v. Man City. Ashley Cole has been consistently bad.
Here’s a fun stat, from whoscored.com (disclaimer: I can’t, for the life of me, verify a) where they get their stats and b) what their exact definitions are):
Number of times beaten by an opponent’s dribble (for the season):
Jose Bosingwa: 3
Ashley Cole: 22
(disclaimer #2: they only provide this on the overview/summary page and is not broken down by game – that is, it’s not available on a per-match basis. So I really have no clue how they arrive at it).
But, taken at face value, that’s a pretty significant difference. I still have nightmares of Ashley getting pants’d by Bryan Ruiz as if he were 12 years old.
I realize that there are no good statistics available for things such as missed marking assignments or lazy positioning or bone-headed decisions…but in almost every single available defensive metric, Bosingwa is better than Cole. Yet he gets all the grief.
Maybe what Bosingwa needs is a loan deal
short term to get himself a good run of games at least until Bacary comes back and then he’ll return. He can play LB at another club for a while so that there’s no way he can cost you any points. Remember Cole is like the best left back there is!
by Sabrina Dessipe on Jan 3, 2012 6:48 PM GMT up reply actions
I think the obvious solution
Is to buy Bryan Ruiz…
But yes, you’re right, we need to upgrade both of our fullbacks. I’m kinda hoping that we’ll get Ivan back soon so Bosingwa won’t have to play anymore and that Bertrand might miraculously be ready to start every week by next season :p
I go on whoscored.com, but I only get a tiny bit of information. Where do you click on
to get detailed stats on players, like that?
Click on a team name and scroll down
ex.: http://www.whoscored.com/Teams/15
From there you can click on players/etc or navigate over to fixtures and examine individual matches.
It's only displayed on the main squad page
So in the link above, just scroll down to where it says ‘CHELSEA SQUAD’ and then click on ‘Defensive’ so that a different set of stats shows up for the players. ‘Drb’ is the ‘Dribbled by other team players’ stat. It shows it on a per-game basis, but if you hover over that number, it’ll pop up the number of total times as the tooltip.
My biggest problem with this stat is that it’s not show on the stat pages for the individual matches, just on this one summary page. So it’s a bit wonky.
That's Darth Vader, not Lord Sidious
Also, old news (c’mon man, this is the internet!) and Cech no longer has the facemask (sadface).
That was my first thought
But I wonder whether he meant that we’ve already got Vader, so we only need Sidious to complete the Dream Team and miss out on the playoffs.
I don't know
I thought Ramires deserved MOTM more. Not to say that Torres didn’t have a good game or look good but as you said he really didn’t have any effect on the final outcome of the match at all. I figure the MOTM award should go to someone who had a game changing effect on the game either from an attacking stand point or defensively or both if they’re extra awesome!
While Torres deserves praise for his display and an “A for effort” so to speak he neither scored nor assisted a goal and that doesn’t really make for a MOTM performance. Of course you’d all like to see him build on the positive signs from yesterday’s performance but we have seen him have good performances like that before where he gets into good positions and seems to just be missing the finishing touch but then he has another game where he’s not so great. Maybe with a run of games, but almost there isn’t really MOTM worthy in my opinion. I get it, you’re his Official Apologist and want to show off how well he’s done. I hope I don’t come off as being super harsh.
Being more of a playmaker rather than a CF might be the best thing for him. He does seem to have a better eye for the pass than for the goal these days. Get a striker in the window and play Torres behind him! No more Torres problem…
Oddly enough...
…having watched the match a third time, I noticed that Fernando was much more involved in both goals than I thought. In the first, he both won the corner Ramires scored from, and occupied the defender who would have closed him down. The second, with no disrespect to Ash or Frank, has a lot to do with his pass. The pass, the cross, and the run by Lampard are all equal parts of that second goal.
Author and Official Fernando Torres Apologist for We Ain't Got No History!
by Kevin Kostka on Jan 3, 2012 5:30 PM GMT via mobile up reply actions
I've noticed that the second goal reminded me a little of the link up between Torres and Cole in Swansea
they sometimes seem to read each other’s runs and ideas better than I think Torres can with Bosingwa. That could be that he seems to favor the left wing in general (at least according to AVB’s recent comments about his style of play, versus, say, Drogba’s).
I think this is a fair position to take
and is actually one lots of people agree with. I believe Ramires got the official MotM. In the case of the author here, while he is the apologist, you’ll notice int he WAGNH poll that there are apparently a bunch of others that agree with his standpoint. I found it difficult to vote on actually, because of the things you had pointed out about Torres’s performance. In the end, I gave it to him not because he was pretty (he should get some reward for that, ha), but mostly because I didn’t find anyone’s performance to stand out that much over another’s, in this particular match, and I weighed in the past couple of performances from the matches where the result didn’t go in our favor, and felt Torres was deserving on those occasions too, when added with this one. I gather by definition that mine was not a “man of THE match”, but otherwise I probably wouldn’t have voted.
But even people that typically find Torres’s faults, and still did in this game, found him to be pretty influential in the resulting goals, and most of the chances.
I guess but I wouldn't call him the MOTM
by Sabrina Dessipe on Jan 3, 2012 5:40 PM GMT up reply actions
When I look at Man of the Match...
…I use three criteria. Most Dangerous, Most Influential, and Most Effective. Torres, for me, won the first two yesterday, while Ramires was probably the most effective.
That’s my method, but I can also see how Ramires or even Lampard could be viewed as a potential MotM. Not everyone agrees on what constitutes such a performance, which is what makes things fun.
Author and Official Fernando Torres Apologist for We Ain't Got No History!
That's fair
It’s really a matter of opinion and there are a lot of factors than can be considered.
by Sabrina Dessipe on Jan 3, 2012 6:22 PM GMT up reply actions
Oh that is certainly interesting
because I never thought of it so thoroughly. Two of your three criteria will most likely remove goalkeepers or, sometimes, even defenders from the MOTM honour because goalkeepers are rarely the most dangerous and most influential player in a team (if they are there is probably something wrong in your team then;)); same could also apply to defenders if they do their job well (end just defend and don’t do a Luiz). I don’t mean it negatively, I’m just curious ;)
Tor ilisar'thera'nal!
But if a keeper is responsible for a win due to amazing saves and goalkeeping skill...
…he would win most influential and most effective and thus the MotM. I would define them as “having the most influence on the tone of the game” and “having the most influence on the result of the game,” respectively. Most Dangerous is sort of, “having the most influence in the attack.” A keeper could win that as well if he was very effective in starting attacks from the back. All that said, I don’t really sit down and apply these criteria to every match, they’re more tiebreaks when there are multiple good candidates in a match.
Author and Official Fernando Torres Apologist for We Ain't Got No History!
I didn't get time to read all the comments and will shortly but i enjoyed the article.
Does anyone think Torres is being told to go deep and play as a creative forward rather than a finisher?
He does seem to be excellent at defense splitting through balls and with danny on the right that could become a lot of assists but i can’t help but feel it would be a waste of a striker if he was playing the deep lying role. Surely a left winger similar to danny on the right and mata behind Torres would be more fruitful?
Not sure if it is planned by AVB or Torres himself
I sort of think it is a choice by the latter to adapt to the current needs of the team. You’ll hear everyone on the team comment on his working hard in training, and I feel like it is sort of this. Earlier on, he was criticized a lot of the time by fans and pundits for not going to the ball enough, not helping out his teammates in midfield, and waiting for service up top. Well, the lack of service going forward specifically to the CF from Chelsea translated that into him being lazy. Now people praise his effort, even though he’s sort of out of position, but he is actively helping he team.
The guy kinda can’t win there… sometimes it is the same people that bitch that he was lazy that are now saying he is out of position and not doing his job. Pretty funny. But, that said… I think that if we were to get a creative midfielder, or a winger, we’d see him return to more of the standard CF role. The weird thing about it, is that I am not sure that is actually something Chelsea so desperately needs. A couple of goal-scoring wingers and a false-9 could actually do them fine. I’ve noticed with the last couple of games that this (probably) temporary adoption points out just how many of us are hooked on an idea of what a labeled position on the teamsheet means. Goes to show that the idea of “total football” is not one that applies well to the EPL fanbase. We can’t seem to wrap our heads around it! But really, Chelsea having a fluid frontline and AM may not be a bad thing.
In the meantime, Chelsea ought to just call Frank a CF and Torres an AM, and the problem is solved and we can all stop letting our minds get stuck on it.
position doesn't count for much
if you find yourself in the box receiving a cross you try and score whether you’re a defender or a striker and if you’re deep and a midfielder has run ahead of you, you make the pass.
Drogba always seems to be deep or on the wings also so it could be a temporary tactic. But like you said could just be players doing what they have to to win a game.
at the moment i’m not to bothered as long as we string together some decent results
Agreed
Others seem to have trouble with it.. or at least the have trouble with Torres and it. Or it could be for them that the other forwards are getting more goals than him. Now that he may be playing regularly again, we’ll see if he can make up that deficit or if the numbers stay the same.
You know, watching Pool v Citeh, they could certainly use SOME NandoMagic.
They’ve been dreadful
5 Up, 5 Down - A uniquely unofficial look at the comings and goings of Chelsea FC and the EPL
Gareth Barry got sent off, but City are 3-0 up.
In the long run, that’s good for us.
Author and Official Fernando Torres Apologist for We Ain't Got No History!
Yep, Pool is playing just as we expected them too w/o El Burro
Shitteh
5 Up, 5 Down - A uniquely unofficial look at the comings and goings of Chelsea FC and the EPL
Spurs not imploding.
CRISIS in CRISIS!!!
Author and Official Fernando Torres Apologist for We Ain't Got No History!
by Kevin Kostka on Jan 3, 2012 10:01 PM GMT up reply actions
Spuds had their fair share of crisis right away at the beginning of the season
when they were hammered by Citeh early in the season. Don’t you forget :D
Tor ilisar'thera'nal!
That was much too short
everyone else is at least having a few games. They need a few more, preferably right now.
Not a long one
but back then it felt cut deeper than a share of draws we endured. But then – isn’t that true that Spuds like to crack at the end of the season? I need to look up
Tor ilisar'thera'nal!
Was Stevie G playing?
I was kinda thinking he’d start translating into the kind of service that Carroll likes, with Suarez being out. Guess not? Eh.. .don’t really know… just been reading what some of the pundits have been saying… and we all know how valuable most of their opinions are.
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