Fernando Torres

[Kenneth]

David Luiz is quality! Hahaha the only lad id have at Liverpool from their dirty team!

Not funny, but a fanatic player.

[anfieldanfield]

I think Torres will score on Sunday.

[Shaggy]

I don't.

[Rudo]

Good piece by Oliver Holt in today's Daily Mirror:


Why Carlo Ancelotti should risk the wrath of Roman Abramovich and drop Fernando Torres at Old Trafford
by Oliver Holt, Daily Mirror 4/05/2011

SO, at the end of it all, a strange Premier League season seems to rest on a strange equation.

If Chelsea manager Carlo *Ancelotti picks the man who cost £50million in his starting line-up on Sunday, the odds are Manchester United will win the title.

If he leaves out the £50m man and entrusts Chelsea’s attack to Didier Drogba, then his team’s chances of pulling off one of the great title race comebacks will improve dramatically.

The reality is that even though Fernando Torres might finally have broken his goalscoring duck for the side he joined way back in January, he still looks an impediment to the team, not an asset.

Without him, Chelsea look a side capable of recapturing last season’s dominance. With him, they look uncertain and somehow inhibited.

So it is a big call for Ancelotti. The biggest he has had to make since he bottled it in the Champions League quarter-final meetings with United and started both men in the first leg and Torres in the second.

Playing them both doesn’t work. That has become obvious. The last time Ancelotti tried it, against Spurs on Saturday, Drogba was forced out wide on the right and looked ineffectual. After Torres was substituted and Drogba moved to a more central role, Chelsea improved and scored a fortunate late winner to go with their *fortunate equaliser.

But against United, Ancelotti will not get away with making the wrong choice and then trying to claw it back by restoring Drogba to his rightful position. On Sunday at Old *Trafford, the Chelsea boss has to get it right from the start because this is a game Chelsea must win.

He needs to play Drogba as the spearhead of the front three with Florent Malouda on one side of him and the in-form Salomon Kalou on the other.

There is no scope for trying to indulge owner Roman Abramovich or sparing the blushes of Torres.

This is a time for hard decisions, a time when *Ancelotti has to choose between being a cute politician or a man who can seize an unexpected *opportunity to land back-to-back Premier League titles.

He must know United supporters are praying he plays the political game and goes with Torres.

If they see his name on the teamsheet, there will be a *collective sigh of relief from the home fans.

Ancelotti is a bright man and a fine manager so he knows all the evidence is steering him towards playing Drogba, too. It has got to the stage where it would be bizarre if he does anything else.

It is not that Torres has suddenly become a bad player. It is just that he is still quite obviously lacking confidence and fitness after a desperately difficult 12 months.

He will be a force again as a striker, but not until next season. Not until he has had a summer off and the attack is tailored to his needs.

Ancelotti has already sacrificed the chance of progressing in the Champions League by playing Torres. Surely he won’t make the same mistake again.

There is a wider issue, too. If Ancelotti sticks with Torres and Chelsea lose, it will beg a whole army of questions about the health of the club.

If Torres plays from the start, it will suggest that, at the very least, the manager feels under *intolerable pressure from the owner to pick a certain player.

And that is not the kind of *situation that breeds success.

United are a good side but they are not a great side. They have only won four of their last eight league games. They are starting to slow down.

It will be hard for Chelsea to beat them, particularly at Old Trafford, but they have the momentum United have lost.

For the first time in a long time, United are looking over their *shoulder.

Some may still say Torres deserves to start, that he has enjoyed success against United’s central defender Nemanja Vidic in the past.

But that was a different Torres.

This Torres should start Sunday’s game from a seat on the bench.

If Ancelotti makes the right call, we could be in for quite a game.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/columnists/holt/2011/05/04/why-carlo-ancelotti-should-risk-the-wrath-of-roman-abramovich-and-drop-fernando-torres-at-old-trafford-115875-23105512/

He's spot on

[IN_RAFA_WE_TRUST]

Aye, he is. They can't blow it this time.

[The Erectile Banana]

I'd be shocked if Torres started on Sunday.

[Craig_H]

He'll start.

[Daniel 7]

Abramovich sabotage...

No way should he start, Torres is bad for their system. Holt is spot on.

[Rudo]

Abramovich sabotage...

No way should he start, Torres is bad for their system. Holt is spot on.

he destroys Drogba's game.

Really hope it's Malouda and Anelka/Kalou wide and Drogba up front on his own.

Would be really surprised if Torres doesn't start though and even more surprised if he actually does anything of note when he is playing.

[Kenneth]

Torres destroys Vidic. It's just the way of the world.

[Rudo]

Torres destroys Vidic. It's just the way of the world.

Yeah he really destroyed him at Stamford Bridge in the league and CL, and even more so at Old Trafford in the CL Qtrs 2nd leg

[Daniel 7]

Again, like Holt says - that was not the same Torres

[Rudo]

Again, like Holt says - that was not the same Torres

Absolutely. Torres was quicker, more mobile and his confidence was sky high when he took Vidic to the cleaners.

[IN_RAFA_WE_TRUST]

I will cry on sunday if the scum win.

[Chrono]

I will cry on sunday if the scum win.

Then you better not watch.