After winning the Europa League with an Injury time winner. I thought about what Torres did in that game. I know he won’t emulate Drogba’s goalscoring record but I think he could actually add more goals to his Chelsea record. I could even say that we keep the Strikers we have and bring back Lukaku and have the 3 rotate. Possibly with Torres and Ba starting most of our games having Lukaku start Capital One Cup games and FA Cup with some games against the lesser teams in the league but also have Lukaku on the bench to bring on in all other games. If we used this tactic I can see all three getting into the double figures for goals like this:
Fernando Torres 18+
Demba Ba 14+
Romelu Lukaku 10+
I can see all of them easily achieving these goal targets with the amount of games we could be playing.
Why do I say this?
I say this because in the final Torres did quite literally what he used to do, he made something out of nothing. He did extremely well to hold off Luisao (look at the size difference) and go round Artur, both times he could of gone down a got one of them sent off but he stayed up determind to score and he did. Im happy he scored out of all the players this season he deserved it the most. If you look at last season compared to this season he has improved in leaps and bounds, I think it was because he was in Drogba’s shadow from the moment he joined. However the first season without Drogba here Torres has done well. He’s scored 22 goals this season which is good considering the form he has been in. I have always said he was a good purchase it just took Torres a little time to pay that back but he is starting to I think it started at the Nou Camp after that goal he scored which made us qualify for the Final if we split the money we get from advancing to the final 3 same as the amount of goals we scored in that round, each goal gave us around 12millions euros each. So that single goal paid back around £10million, then you can do the maths for his other goals as my head started to hurt when I tried to work it out.
Is he worth keeping?
Yes I do believe he is, he has not just scored goals but he has got assists in his game as well. I know its not so important for a Striker but in our team and the way we are starting to play yes it is important for a Striker to have assists in his arsenal. Torres does contribute as well by his movement as he creates space for players to run into. He also harasses and pester opposition defences and they do slip up sometimes, for example take the 2nd half of the Final, Torres pestered Luisao and Garay that they where getting frustrated and tired from this making them cause more slip up’s and lose concentration, Torres’s goal and then the bad marking from Luisao on Ivanovic for his goal.
Change a Formation?
Could a change of formation benefit our strikers? I was thinking this and may do another article on changing the formation. If we look at the play of our Strikers, Torres sometimes drifts onto the wings leaving no one in the middle for the receiving end of the cross. This is where we could play with two strikers up top or play a false 9 formation, with Torres one of the wider strikers.
Is Torres worth keeping? Does he deserve to stay?
31 thoughts on “Do we need a Striker after the Europa League performance by Torres?”
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Interesting article, been thinking alot about this myself.
although I think maybe we should play 4-1-3-2 formation, playing torres and lukaku, and then let ba rotate. Lukaku is out future striker, so why not let him get play time in chelsea? He proved this season at WBA that he is already a world class striker at the age of 20. He came in as a substitute in the 5-5 manchester united draw, and wrecked them.
just for thought.
That was my thinking as well, I think he is ready to play for us regularly, but I have a feeling he may be loaned to a team in the PL playing in Europe like Swansea to experience there and then we’d bring him back.
@ admin I don’t agree with you!! Torres just performed when Rafa got here! He did not perform under 3 previous coaches!Inspite of the 3 playmakers brought in to make him tick!!!! If Jose Mourinho comes Torres will slide back to his sulking self as JM goes for power up front and that is Lukaku! Torres shld be sold now as his market value has increased since the return to goals! He is still lacking inalot of areas! He doesn’t track back as much when he loses the ball and by the Juan Mata too has joined in that attitude! We all know Jose doesn’t like ‘team primadonnas’ he wants hard working team players and he doesn’t ‘babysit anyone’ Rafa babysitted Torres to get this level of performance from him! Sometimes even leaving him on when he needed subbing or subbing Demba Ba when both were on the field
Are you kidding me. Mata and Torres are the ones working on and off the ball all the time. They track back, then attack with lung busting runs.
It seems that u didnt watch the final.
Torres was at the halfline and if the ball came there, he attacked it.
Mata was just outside the box. How deep do you wish for them to go. They are not supposed to enter their own half.
Anti-Torres fans are not needed!!!
Hate to say it mate look at the stats Torres is in the top 10 of the PL for covering ground and the only striker in the top 20. Torres has worked his socks off to prove people like you wrong and he has
Torres deserve to stay. Infact,for now,Torres is our BEST STRIKER. He can also play from the wings.
Drogba and £50M affected Torres so much. With £50m,everyone expect him to score in each game. And with Drogba’s pressence,the pressure became extremely high.
But now,I think he has got his confidence back.
On a good Day,Torres is by far better than Van Persi and Robert Lewandoski.
If we could buy one more striker or bring back Lukaku,will do us much good. But with Torres late performance,I think we must KEEP him,if we must WIN more trophies…
My most worries, is our Defence, Midfield and Goalkeeper. We need a balance Team in Chelsea…a Team that can beat Man City, Bercelona and Fc Beryen.
Cech always make some silly mistates,and he’s the only one Chelsea have got. We got to bring back our young keeper on Loan at At-Madrid to help Cech.
Our defence: Terry is no longer the Terry,and Paulo Ferrari must go. These are places we need to cover.
Midfield: Lampard cant play ever game and Bernayou must go. And I dont think Romeu have any part to play in Chelsea.
We need a world class striker that is onform.Europa League is 2nd tier football.
Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN
We do not need Strikers. We need CDM and CB.
Also, a genuine winger would do us a world of good.
4-1-3-2 would be a good formation to work with but we need a relly good defensive midfielder.
One like Makelele (sorry if misspelt)
Till then, 4-2-3-1 will have to do. Maybe oscar there with long passing.
Maybe 4-3-3 with luiz and mata and even oscar there
Oh Lukaku! Chelsea needs him
WRONG! We need a regular goal scorer, a beast and its evident Torres, as good as he is isn’t what we need. Part of the reason Lampard got to 204 was because Drogba was always a Major Major Major threat to any defense. So nobody ever truely focused on Lampard, giving him ample opportunities to drift in and score.
Its evident Mata, Hazard, Oscar and just about anybody can score in Chelsea, so we need a beast of a strike to take all the attention thereby opening up opportunities everytime we go forward.
well…by that token…wasn’t Torres dangerous because Lamps scored so much this year? So again…. aren’t defenses focused on Torres if everyone else is scoring?
Wasn’t Torres still our leading Scorer this season?
Damba ba and moses should go. Bring in Lewandoski and Lukaku.
definitely
Yes
Torres should stay and don’t think of selling him..he have confidence+ Found his good form and what a wonderful performance he did..scoring 23 goals this season more than any other of his team mates..i want torres to stay..thats it
Your poinstg lays bare the truth
That’s a crackerjack answer to an interesting question
So that’s the case? Quite a revelation that is.
Torres is CFC’s goodluck charm (voo-doo). Whether happy or sulking. He Played vital roles in UCL and europa league glory, both on and off the pitch. He can only get better. Lets not be aggressive with our views.
Chelsea torres = some crazy destiny.
Just bring lukaku back !
We should leave hardworking torres alone and hope that players like yossi, marin, romeu, paulo, hilario, turnbull et.c leave our dear club and free good amount in weekly wages.
So that determined and more talented players who can contribute to our course are brought here. We were lucky to have suceeded this past season with a lean squad, filled with a good number of cheer-leaders. Thnks
can’t blame Romeu…he was injured for most of this season…
Romeu has been injured since Christmas and he is promising player and was supposed to be playing more when Mikel went to Afcon but he got injured so couldn’t play. Yossi,Hilario,Turnbull and Paulo contracts run out so they are going. Marin was being overlooked by Yossi while Rafa was here
you might all love him but deep down you know we cant depend on torres az our main striker….. This season he lost us the super cup, world clubs, and even ended up having RDM sacked because he played without a striker after torres’s poor showing.. But he undisputedly took e europa to e bribge for us.. We need lukaku back and an attack minded defensive midfilder who doesnt kick e ball back more than up front… @admin.. Without torres goal we stil had qualified for eufa finals on away goal.. Give credit to ramires classic chip in.. I knw u like torres but dont make a mountain out of an anti hill of his contribution
Without Torres we wouldn’t have got that corner that Drogba scored from
M nt da biggest torres fan and dnt believe he is da answer for our problems. He ws good at da end of lasr season and we expected thing he couldnt deliver. We actuall dnt need ba to be honest he is average and bought fr rotation. I wld like to see lukaku baq i ddnt see him play much and wsnt aware why there ws all da hype abt him bt saw da manu game truelly speakin he played beyter then torrez he tracks baq is huge and made a fool of manu’s player of da year carrick like he ws an ametuer all dis at such young age. Imagine wen we get a coach like mou he cn really blossom. We actualy need CD we dnt need wingers get baq KDB rather then selling him keep moses we hav oscar. We need a striker nt very expensive like ramdal or cavani bt we cn persue lewdonski if he cost close to 30 something it will be ok. The cdm we hav plenty we hav mikel, luiz, romeu, and we cn get back essien from loan rather den havin a never ending list of loanees. So to conclude we need a striker
Maybe u should suspend writing for a while bcos u’ve begin to write rubish now…..this and the one about mou are total rubish….how will chelsea not buy a striker after what we faced during the season…..pls keep ur pen somewhere for a while so u can tink more pls
Huh? what mourinho article? I have never written one about him I love the man I want him to come back. And why would we not buy a striker? FFP we have 2/3 good young strikers who in a few years and one of them say after next season could be top quality strikers.
It’s a pleausre to find someone who can think so clearly
First of all I would like to thank you for your analyses regarding the strikers at our disposal. I shall address the strategy of using Lukaku as a fringe player to be a worse one. This is because of his feats for WBA where he literally ripped the red d3vils defence in 5-5 draw. The strikers whose game times have been sacrificed in the hope of rejuvenating Torres have seen part of their season damaged such as Daniel Sturridge. Chelsea could have scored many goals and not drawn matches had Torres not missed easy goals. Lukaku has the makings of world class playerbin him and best suited to the formation of a lone striker.
I wrote this before the West Brom vs United game but I do know what you mean
absolute yes