Why so many complaints after Shakhtar game?

Torres was certainly looking more predatory in front but still falls short unfortunately...

Torres had a vicious look on his face, and at least in the early stages of the game, showed the same speed, aggression, and desire to get a goal as he did in his prime Liverpool days - it's as though he actually wants to play for us.
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He was doing exactly the same for 10 minutes as Sturridge does in all his games.

Torres was rubbish again, Sturridge must be counting the days till January.

? i dont know what game you went to or watched, we were very poor in comparison to shakhter.

we were at home also.

yes there were some positives, but overall we once again were on the back foot against quality european opposition.

we are a work in progress, but im affraid to say Torres is not helping himself in this squad, our defensive ability is poor , and this is a issue which is caused by the midfields lack of cover for the defence and the defences lack of leadership without J/T..

Positives are that you won.

If Shakhtar had a decent keeper u would have lost with ease imo.

But great teams find a way to dig deep and win.

boss, postiives, hazard, mata & oscar are the future of cfc, the team will be built around them.

Mikel was cfc man of the match he has come on leaps and bounds.

Moses came on and made the difference quality footballer.

+ YES we did win.

Over the past week we have been given footballing lessons by Swansea and Shakhtar. Both teams dominated us for large parts of the game and didn't really let us create many clear cut chances.

Swansea and Shakhtar showed us how to press as a team and how to keep possession of the ball in the opponents half of the pitch for long periods. The only place on the pitch we can put a few passes together is at the back where Cech, Luiz and Ivanovic pass the ball around for half the game.

But then again we are a young team and more we play together the better we will get.

I finally got to watch the game (had to suffice with the gamecast while I was working) and I honestly didn't see Shaktar dominate outside of the first 10 mins of the second half. They had their moments of nice play, but like Swansea they didn't turn it into clear chances. It was hardly like Barcelona or Munich.

After reading some of the write ups, I thought we got slaughtered, but I split the game into 10 min sections and it was pretty even. I'm not saying we were better, but they weren't either.

They didn't really create another clear cut chance until the end. Why is everyone so critical?

Great result, but plenty still to do. Historic result in Turin anyone? Come on Chelsea!!!

Watching the game, it often felt that Shakhtar dominated possession, and that we were completely incapable of dispossessing them. However, looking at the stats, possession was split about even between the two teams, so Shakhtar wasn't as dominant as you might think.

Second, our performance was clearly an improvement over what we produced in the first leg, and we showed better spirit. The new Chelsea squad is beginning to gel, with a consequent improvement in the results.

Yes, our defence is problematic, and this will continue until Luiz matures. I'm not sure the problem is a lack of midfield cover for the defence so much as the fact that our defenders often believe their primary role is to act as extra attacking midfielders. However, the Luiz/Cahill partnership is not hopeless - they made us European champs last season. The talent is there, and the adjustments they have to make are tactical and mental.

Furthermore, I think that if Torres were more effective up front, Luiz and Cahill would be less inclined to drift towards goal to attempt to score headers.

Terry - in the Swansea game, Chelsea had greater possession than the Welsh, so it's not quite as dire as you make it out to be; aside from a few stretches of the game, it's difficult to agree with the notion that Swans gave us a footballing lesson. Fact is, we should have won that game, and probably would have if we had pressed for a second, or if not for the carelessness of our defence.

Some teams play a possession game, and the fact that our midfield can't match, let's say, Shakhtar's possession game, does not mean we are, overall, less effective as a team. Arsenal and Swans have a more possession-oriented game than we do, and yet neither team is as effective as Chelsea at getting results; for that matter, these days, neither team's game is as attractive or entertaining as ours.

ifarka - Torres wasn't great, but for perhaps the first time ever in a Chelsea shirt, at least early in the game, he looked like he had a <i>genuine</i>, rather than forced, hunger to score. I'd still appreciate it if RDM gave Sturridge more opportunities/minutes.

Anyway, good spirit/good result.