Robbie's reaction
Roberto believes that Chelsea were good throughout the game and deserved the win, despite the shaky 10 minutes at the start of the second half. He also underlined the fact that he has no problem with the Cahill and Luiz partnership and believes they can go a long way with them.
Gary Cahill scored a brilliant volley and Di Matteo was pleased with a great start. Mikel and Ramires were standout performers for him and was not surprised by Cahill's goal. Gary scores like that everyday in training.
On the John Terry incident, he respects the board's decision to keep him as the captain.
360 reaction
Three points at White Hart lane , can go a long way in deciding where the Premier League title ends up. One thing that is sure though is that the London clubs will give in a strong fight.
Di Matteo knew he needed good counter-attacks to decide the game and press exactly when needed to. The front 4 did a brilliant job. Torres did not score but worked brilliantly behind behind the scenes as he drifted wide, opened space and played for the team.
It is almost certain that Chelsea can cover up their defensive vulnerabilities at the moment as their attacks keeps bringing home the goals. Gary Cahill had a good game and I expect him to fit in well.
The fans were the best part of all this as they showed up in huge numbers at White Hart Lane. With chants and beautiful football like this, the nickname "Three Point Lane" could be back !
Tough tests are yet to come and Chelsea have overcome their biggest so far. Manchester United twice in a row will be a huge decider on how Chelsea carry on with their excellent form.
Come on Chelsea ! Carefree since 1905.
Sherry Philips (@bluebloodSherry), Deputy Editor
I agree with everything you said.Torres did not score but worked brilliantly behind the scenes. It makes me so sad to hear people bashing him every time he doesn't score... But it's all right. We have now shaktar and united and maybe Torres scores the winners there. Great game for us today.
ReplyDeleteStand up tall o Roman's blue army. From Arthur Osadebe
ReplyDeleteWhy are u people bringing up Torres again. Nobody said anything oh. Besides can't you do what he is doing on the field especially if you get his salary. Dribbles!
ReplyDeleteHope that the "u" doesn't mean me !
DeleteThe Torres debate will stop the day he scores an unrealistic amount of goals in a season or even in one match.
DeleteNope, it will stop the day he can surprise us.
DeleteSuprise you with what exactly?
DeleteOk, this is getting pretty interesting. I decided to just forget about Torres and let him play whatever he wants as the only solution to this performance saga. But if you want to justify him every time we win because of the performance of others, then you don't understand football. Strikers are brought into the team to score goals e.g Dzeko, Van persie, Holt etc not midfielders or defenders. When you see Torres missing easy chances, that's if you actually see him, I hope you don't get surprised. You are talking as if he is meant to miss all his chances. I would like you to explain the role of Torres in the team, why we bought him for £50M and then made him one of the highest earners at the club. Do you even know why strikers/ goa scorers earn the most money? If you watched Sturidge, you would see how he left Torres to open up for Mata. Torres could have at least provided another option for Mata but he decided to stay where he was. You are talking like this because Torres is making it look difficult for a striker to score goals in Chelsea but we learnt from Sturidge. If he keeps not converting, it is his confidence he would be damaging and it would get worse when you try to assure him that it is ok. If I were Dimateo, I would try to manage the minutes he spends on the field effectively so that it does not add to his problems. You can see that he fades out towards the end of the game. It is not his duty to dribble from deep and loose the ball most of the time, the entire team works hard and everyone makes dangerous movements in the attacking third. Please don't make me think about this any more.
DeleteWhere were lookin during that 4th goal? Torres was just behind Sturridge.
DeleteExactly. This is a good place to start. Torres and Sturridge where at the same location, then Sturridge moved in out wide to provide an option for Mata, Torres could also have moved towards Mata while pulling back a bit but he just stood where he was. I know for sure that Mata would pick Torres over Sturridge in an opportunity like that especially when Torres has not scored but Torres was somehow not interested. Maybe this is why we don't connect with crosses more frequently, because players don't move into dangerous positions.
DeletePeople talk about Torres cus he do not play well. Fortunately for him, Chelsea keep winning and l hope it continues. One thing l realise is that the coach RDM is a fantastic man manager. he understands torres's emotion. hope u understand me.
ReplyDeleteI hope you begin to read the game better. Understand what I'm saying?
DeleteYes we analyse his performance from a yardstick and try to distinguish playing well from playing baldly or just OK. We eased the pressure on Torres as we took away the burden of his price tag, nationality and world class status to just judge him as a plain ordinary striker. We compare his highly rated technique and finishing to that of others in the team to see how potent he is at scoring goals. We also look at his movement and positioning which has been impressive. So far this season, his best game has been against Newcastle where I can give him a 7.0
DeleteBring in new striker, but not expensive one. Period!
ReplyDeleteThis is where the problem actually lies. Any stiker would fancy playing in front of our dynamic mid fielders, but not any would be just a back up to Torres. In fact, we already have a good striker in Sturidge and a new striker in Lukaku. But the problem now is that Torres needs all the minutes and he is not solving most of our striking needs hence people keep talking of the need of a new striker whereas in proper understanding of the team, there is no space for a new striker. I just feel for Sturidge because he would end up being the sacrificial lamb on the basis of Torres performance.
DeleteIn football, when a payer(striker) is having a bad day, you can take him off and bring in another one. The worse thing that can happen is that the substitute would also have a bad game. In Chelsea its like there is no option up front or maybe player power still exists.
ReplyDeleteDo you guys not know that Sturridge just came back after being out for over a month! On top of all that Torres has scored and assisted, is involved in team plays and blends well with the trio behind him. His defensive work is up and he puts 100% in every game!
DeletePlease are you talking about Mikel? And also, before Sturridge got injured, he rarely had game time as a striker.
DeleteWell done Chelsea! 3 point lane could be back, I've got a feW spurs supporters who weren't happy to hear me chant that yesterday. Now to focus on Shaktar and the Man Utd double header.
ReplyDeleteIt seems like the Torres bashers are still here so let me step into the fray. People, Torres might have missed two clear chances yesterday but the man worked his ass off. His sccoring touch I slowly coming back, I dont think he'll ever be the el'nino of old but a threat he will always be. We dragged the tottenham defence all over the place, openin channels for MaZaCar to do what they wanted behind him. His recent transformation to all round team player has made him more irritating to defenders, they don't know if he'll Shoot or pass. Yesterday's perfomance gets a solid 6 from me, the only reason being the two misses. But I still would not have started Sturridge over him, that we can do in the shaktar game. To rest Torres for the United game. We don't need to buy a new striker, we have enough cover in Sturridge and Piazon is the perfect false 9.
I hope that for the Shaktar game we rest Iva, Mikel, Hazard, Oscar and Torres. They can be on the bench, but Cesar, Romeu, Moses, Piazon and Sturridge can get a run against a tough opponent. But I think they can handle it well.
I think the Shakter game is still crucial for our qualification but we can rest players in the home leg. A club like Chelsea needs a striker that can go on a steady 7.5. If you notice, Luiz and Cahill can score goals but their true value to the team is based on the quality of defensive shape they keep, goals they prevent, interceptions made, shot blocked etc. All our players work hard, Ashley, Cech, Oscar, Mata, Mikel, Ramires etc You can't fault the work rate of the entire team so I don't see it as a unique quality to vindicate any player from primary duty.
DeleteSherry, I have been waiting for your tactical analysis since yesterday :-(
ReplyDeleteTorres was bought to score goals not to keep wasting chances every week.Assuming we have potent striker,he would have scored more than 4 goals!We need a striker in JAN!
ReplyDeleteIt's lucky for Torres that the team keeps cleaning up behind him.....everybody keeps scoring n d team keeps winning,n that's whats important.. He's our player n his qualities our very very valuable to us winning now we play.... He could have scored two goals but he should have scored one....he's got to do better in away games....his game is getting better in snail pace but our team is buzzing n I'm scared that by d start of d next season we will see the best of el niño.....
ReplyDeleteThe Irony of it all is that he is in a better shape now than when we bought him. But will he get to that level he used to be at Liverpool before we bought him? All I've seen and heard is that he won't. So why did we buy him? So that we can hope.
ReplyDeleteEveryone is so concerned with Torres being a prolific goal scorer, that they dont seem to notice that the tactic we are playing doesn't make him our only finishing option.
ReplyDeleteWhether now or before, Chelsea have never had a striker as the only finishing option. Justifying Torres is so boring and besides, what kind of player in football do you purchase with £50M.
DeletePlease I'm a bit confused. Is there any team that has a striker as the only finishing option.
DeleteYou don't get the point. At this point, there is NOBODY, who can do what Torres does for the tactics RDM creates. False 9 with drifting when needed is not child's play. The day's have gone when strikers only score. Move on from Drogba !
DeleteExactly. I'm trying to explain to people here the same thing. We're not playing long ball or direct anymore. Do you see the ball being kicked up field onto Torres' chest to control it,turn and bump over defenders like Drogba did? Does the play build up for the main objective being that the striker must get the ball everytime? No! It's about possession,being patient on the ball and frustrate the opposition. Defenders get so frustrated that they'll try and intercept only to leave a space open. It's so obvious,Torres drags defenders away from the box so that those around him can drift into open space. Look at Sturridge's tap in. One of the backs could have dropped back but he had to mark Torres,allowing Sturridge to run into his position. Torres could have scored that final goal but then they had to deal with 2 defenders.
DeleteThere is no premise leading to a fact that a false 9 will score less. In fact Messi is a false 9 so you have to check the number of goals he scored last season. I'm not saying that Torres should not drift but that doesn't stops him from scoring when the opportunity arises. I believe Messi is more tightly marked than Torres so there is no logic trying to blame his false 9 role for him missing chances. Messi is a far better false 9 than Torres as he can operate in all the positions behind the striker. A false 9 formation simply make it difficult to mark out the striker. It seems your ideas of a false nine is more like a defender or midfielder. A false 9 is basically a striker and based on ability, he can contribute to midfield while striking. Its obvious that Torres contributes more to striking than the midfield unlike Messi who is balanced and yet he doesn't score more. With such fluidity in the team, anyone can be played through which explains why we had those chances. Long balls or short balls, a striker should score when he has good opportunities. If you think Torres is marked out then how does he get the opportunities. The movement of the trio behind Torres is more devastating than whatever movement Torres is making. In fact the dynamic trio are the ones who disrupt the defensive shape to allow for through balls. They swap amongst themselves and with Torres accordingly (false strikers) totally disrupting the opposition's shape.
DeleteIf one understands the role of a false 9 then one can analyse Torres correctly. A false 9 must be a good finisher for it to work whether he is naturally a striker or midfielder. Then about Drogba, he did not only scored but also assisted. In fact a target mans game provide for more assist as he nods down for others. Drogba was always marked, if not easily marked but he used is strength to pull out of those tight situations. False 9 deceives the defenders and enables the striker to sneak through. It favours players without the natural physics of a striker to play as a striker but also avoid such marking because of the lack of strength. Because of the movement, a dedicated mark man would fail especially if he is a defender. In other words, Drogba pulled defenders to himself more than Torres is doing now. Torres has to deceive the defenders/ his markers hence the concept of false 9 will not hold.
ReplyDelete