After watching the boys get harshly beaten last night (Yes, harshly! Two rare Brana errors and a wrongly disallowed Ba goal), I woke up with this question on my mind: Who will start at Stoke? Roman’s blonde baby or the fans’ current hope?
Going by the eighty-one minutes put in by Fernando Torres last night, the obvious choice to start should be Demba Ba. However, if Rafa’s post-match comments is anything to go by, Torres will get the nod again. If this happens, what message will that send to the fans? Is Rafa here to assemble a starting eleven that pleases the owner or is the number reason of being in the game, competition, still topmost?
To think that Torres played his 100th game for Chelsea last night is tiresome. It reminded me of a 100 games I have had to watch and pray endlessly for one player to shine. It reminded me of endless chances I have wished we had a proper striker to finish off. It reminded me of the pain of watching us play with 10men so many times it has almost become a tradition. It reminded me of a certain night in January 2011 I celebrated the arrival of a ‘marquee’ striker who was going to fire us to our 4th EPL title.
Today, we have a proven striker in Demba Ba. His 9 minutes yesterday was far more lively than the 81 mintes before he came on. it should be a no-brainer to start him ahead of Torres at Stoke. I just hope Benitez uses his head and not his heart. We need Demba Ba because we cannot afford to slip out of the top four.
Ba should be the ANSWER!
i agree with you, its more than obvious who is the better choice. Ba is having a great season so far and with the players we have around him he is a golden boot candidate. Torres just doesnt have it anymore, and i’ve been hoping for a long time(like most chelsea fans) that Torres would regain some of his old form. But we cant risk the rest of the season on hoping Nando will figure it out. The season is half way over and we are hanging by a thread in the top 4. We gotta put someone who is gonna lead the line and get goals for us or else we wont catch up to the Manchester clubs. I hope Benitez doesnt play favorites with Torres cuz it could cost us many points. To be honest i think we should sign another striker because if Ba gets injured or something we’ll be left with Torres again and we can kiss the season goodbye. We need another striker, and a pivot midfielder(preferably a playmaker like Paulinho or Miralem Pjanic).
Ba should definitely start this game. He’s strength and aerial ability will be needed. I personally feel Torres should hand in a transfer request. Not that I’m jumping on the Anti-Torres bandwagon,he’s just not suited for this squad and probably not the EPL anymore. For me he is still an outstanding player who has just been misunderstood by ChelseaFC and most of it’s fans.
I agree that Torres should hand in a transfer request and that will most likely happen if Benitez somehow finds the balls to do so for the next 2 games. Even if we don’t get any striker in, Feruz and Piazon could be cover for Ba. only challenge again is Ba is cup-tied for the Europa league
Ba should start because with Torres Chelsea is 10men. I go for Ba!
I think we should buy another striker if we need Europa league. And definitely we need to win it. I think we should bring back Lukaku bcoz Torres is done..Roman should sell him
No he shouldnt.
yes I said it,and before everyone jumps on my ass saying im one of thoes Torres fan girls just hear me out.
yes Ba is in form striker (unlike Torres who isnt either on form nor striker),he is younger then Nando and and has a bright future in Chelsea but in this case i would give the 50mill flop a chance and heres why :
-we had a lot of matches in a short period and its not gonna get any less crowded until the end of January so we should rotate our players especially the front line since we have only 2 Forwards (not counting Piazon who is a real real last resort,and Victor who is in AFCON),in 3 days we have a Soton match who is gonna requier more brute class in the center forward possition when Ba should play,so the logical choice for choice for tommorow is Fernando.
-also Stoke is very hard team to beat especially in the Britania stadium due to their phisical strenght,also they are not shy about parking the bus when they have to. So direct aproach (that the admins mentioned in the previous articles ) wont be any good,since Stoke city is probably the only team who is officially stronger in the air then us in the EPL.
-despite their toughness against any opposition we somehow menaged to take 3points on a regular basis,and every single time its due to individual brilliance (of Mata) in the last minute that cut their defence and delivered us a deserved victory,and we have people who can do that in the squad (Juan,Eden,Lamps),and its gonna be easier on then when they have Fernando who can take a defender with him with his niffty little movements and changes of direction (couse lets face it its the only thing Torres is good for),unlike Ba who would try to score by his own with mentioned Dirrect aproach.
Torres should not play when the opposition park the bus. Fulham,QPR and Swansea all parked the bus and in those game,Torres had no space to make his trademark runs. Besides,he isn’t strong to wrestle with Stoke’s bruising defenders. Demba Ba should start and finish the game.
sorry budddy are you serious? the thing here is not just giving a chence to Torres the fact is that we need a threat to our Opponents,Playng Torres is like PLAYING WITH A AMAN DOWN.
Look, you’re not right !! Torres is a very good player he has done so many things for the team don’t hate him cuz he’s not the same !!! people change !!!! face the music !! he is a striker but striker’s job is not only to score goals there are so many things and you don’t know how Torres feels and what HE think of his playing STOP hating him and STOP saying that Ba is better cuz every player have his own qualities !! they are not the same Ba is agressive Torres not so WHAT big deal he’s the player who have to be ot the pitch he have got more experience and knows what to do and also there are 10 more people in the team who must help him he can’t do everything on his own so if you blame someone for the lost blame the hole team !!!!!! and if you are a true Chelsea fan you will support him no matter what !!!! One For All, All For One !!! Torres is not guilty for every Chelsea lost !!!!
Look, I, like most Chelsea fans have begged every game for that little bit of luck that will kick-start Torres’ Blues career, but he scores once and just goes on another poor run, resulting in the sacking of a manager. I watch him every week, and his movement is poor, and he doesn’t look happy. The three playmakers in behind him do not suit his style of play. He prefers balls over the top that he can run onto, his positioning in the box is really poor. This is why I feel it is finally time to cut our losses and let him go. No matter how much Roman loves him, we have to face it: he hates it at Chelsea, and he will never do it for us. We need someone who suits our system. Have a frontline of Ba, Lukaku and Falcao to call upon next season I think.
As far as am concerned Torres is history.