Selfish Players?

[AVB]

Is it just me or are some of the Chelsea players selfish?

Let me name 2 of the main players who I think are selfish.

Ramires,
Sturridge

I mean Ramires had good chances to pass to Torres, like the game against Wolves and against Portsmouths 3rd goal. AVB should start telling the players to pass to Torres more and now it seems like Torres is giving the through ball to his team mates instead, which makes him look like he is the creative player. I don't mind this, because he is scoring goals, but still, he is a midfield player.

Torres is a striker, but I don't think he is that selfish. If he had a clear chance on goal, he would probably pass to someone instead.

What do you guys think?

[Hutchinson56]

Sturridge is a striker, with a striker's instinct for goal. All the great, and most of the not so great strikers are the same.

And that paradoxically is what's "wrong" with Torres right now. His confidence in front of goal is at such a low ebb, that he'll pass rather than shoot, even when a shot looks the more obvious, easy option. If Torres isn't going to shoot, then there's not much point in players trying to set up chances for him. In each game, he still has his moments in front of goal. Against Portsmouth it was the header, if it had gone in, who knows what difference it might have made? Sadly though, Torres is currently a non-scoring striker.

[AVB]

Look at Torres assists though, other people are not passing to him, so he has to past the ball and create chances for the team.

I understand about Sturridge, he is played out of position but does the job really well.

[BlueBeard]

When it comes to players not passing to Torres, Malouda has to be top of the list of culprits.

[AVB]

I think we should sell Malouda and Kalou and bring on Hazard!

[JacksonvilleChelseaFan]

Malouda is startin to get up there in age anyway.... Bringing in someone like hazard is a strong investment for the club.

[AVB]

Hazard is the key to Silverware.

[Faiza]

Whatever you people say, but this is THE TRUTH: Sturridge does plays selfish at times.
I know I shouldn't be saying this being a Chelsea fan, but as someone raised the topic, I just had to! He hardly passes the ball to others.

[AVB]

Whatever you people say, but this is THE TRUTH: Sturridge does plays selfish at times.
I know I shouldn't be saying this being a Chelsea fan, but as someone raised the topic, I just had to! He hardly passes the ball to others.

I think he is getting better though.

We do see him cross the ball in once or twice, but would love to see more.
I think its because he is trained as a central striker, so he is therefore more of a selfish type player.

[JacksonvilleChelseaFan]

Like hutch said that is part of the mentality of a striker, you have a slightly selfish philosophy...but at the end off the day, when you play on a professional level in any sport, you should be able to adapt to the subtleties of your position... If your role requires more passing, that's what you have to do.... I don't see enough of Chelsea to say whether Sturridge is really selfish or not, but when there are players worth 50m who aren't scoring goals due to lack of opportunity( be it playing time or they are assisting and not recovering any help in return), you have to start moving the ball around more effectively in front of the net.

[Hutchinson56]

There's also the question of what instructions these players have been given.. "Florent, I want you to shoot on sight .. ", "Danny, you need to work on your passing game. Your greatest asset currently is the quality of your shooting, so if you have the choice of a difficult shot and a difficult pass, go for the shot every time. It's also a percentage game, the more shots you have, the more likely you are to get on the scoresheet".

For instance.

[JacksonvilleChelseaFan]

There's also the question of what instructions these players have been given.. "Florent, I want you to shoot on sight .. ", "Danny, you need to work on your passing game. Your greatest asset currently is the quality of your shooting, so if you have the choice of a difficult shot and a difficult pass, go for the shot every time. It's also a percentage game, the more shots you have, the more likely you are to get on the scoresheet".

For instance.

i agree with you to an extent...i dont know what AVB is saying to his team so its hard to know what their instructions are when they take the field...my observations is, when looking at shot count stat,obviously, you are looking at how many times a team got in a scoring position where someone was close enough to take a shot... however just because you took a shot, doesn't mean you took full advantage of your opportunity in scoring territory... theoretically, the more shots you have the more goals you should produce, but if you takeing a ton of low probability shots rather than pass the ball around searching for opportunities to exploit and get better quality shots off, i dont feel that you have taken advantage of your time in enemy territory... its also arguable moveing the ball around and maintaining possession can lead to wins as well if you can exploit mistakes made by opponents and capitalize with goals.

[realisoph]

I think its beacuse the players are used to playing with Drogba.
Torres is a different player that prefers through balls given to him, whether its over the defence or just under. (Gerrard was good with providing assists to Torres).
We just need our team to adapt to Torres's style of play, more passes around the box etc.. I think so far, the team is doing a good job. I see more passes to Torres than ever before.

[Mehitabel]

Do you think AVB is telling them to do this and that the players are ignoring him? Or do you think there is a different game plan pm AVB's head?

I can't help feeling that if it were simply a matter of the team adapting to Torres's play, it would have happened by now. The fact that it hasn't leads me to believe that maybe AVB is telling Torres to adapt to the others.

[Hutchinson56]

i agree with you to an extent...i dont know what AVB is saying to his team so its hard to know what their instructions are when they take the field...my observations is, when looking at shot count stat,obviously, you are looking at how many times a team got in a scoring position where someone was close enough to take a shot... however just because you took a shot, doesn't mean you took full advantage of your opportunity in scoring territory... theoretically, the more shots you have the more goals you should produce, but if you takeing a ton of low probability shots rather than pass the ball around searching for opportunities to exploit and get better quality shots off, i dont feel that you have taken advantage of your time in enemy territory... its also arguable moveing the ball around and maintaining possession can lead to wins as well if you can exploit mistakes made by opponents and capitalize with goals.

I'm not going to disagree with any of that. I certainly wasn't taking a guess at what AVB might actually be saying to the players, and the phrase you've highlighted is in this context, purely hypothetical.

The point I was trying to make was that it's all very well criticising players for being "selfish", but that if this is the case, then surely it's up to the manager to recognise and to address this selfishness, unless the players in question are in fact acting according to their manager's instructions, which could be the case if the manager considers that what is perceived as selfishness is actually beneficial, or is at least not detrimental, to the team.

[JacksonvilleChelseaFan]

I'm not going to disagree with any of that. I certainly wasn't taking a guess at what AVB might actually be saying to the players, and the phrase you've highlighted is in this context, purely hypothetical.

The point I was trying to make was that it's all very well criticising players for being "selfish", but that if this is the case, then surely it's up to the manager to recognise and to address this selfishness, unless the players in question are in fact acting according to their manager's instructions, which could be the case if the manager considers that what is perceived as selfishness is actually beneficial, or is at least not detrimental, to the team.

plus a manager has a better feel for what is going on with the team, on a day-to-day basis, than anyone else... i understand what you mean by "It's also a percentage game, the more shots you have, the more likely you are to get on the score sheet". i really dont believe that these people are selfish or instructed to be selfish, i just like pondering the ideas around... really i would like if torres to get some goals so the media forgets about this streak deal they keep talking about, but all and all if this team can keep winning, like we said in another thread, thats all that matters.

[AVB]

AVB lets them play freely I heard. So the players make the decisions rather than the manager giving them instructions.

[Mehitabel]

I find that a bit hard to believe, Kevlar. Of course spur of the moment decisions ned to be taken on the pitch by the players, but surely AVB has a general game plan which he expects the p[layers to adhere to ...

[Hutchinson56]

Well yes and no. Players aren't machines, they all have their own individual style of playing, different strengths and weaknesses, and so of course they have to take some responsibility for the way they approach the game.

However, any freedom of expression or otherwise will be within a set framework including formation, tactics, instructions etc, laid down by the manager.

[Marven gee]

Am sorry but some people are wrong,when it comes to players who selfish ,number 1 is sturridge and malouda but for players not passing to torres is sturridge ,he have a sweet left foot and good pace but will messup infront of goal without considering who is around him,goofball!!!,lol,he is good though.