Torres Back To Form? Things Learned From The 1-3 Win By Chelsea In The Stadium Of Lights

A 6-1 win followed by a 1-3 away win at Sunderland and it looks like Chelsea are coming back to their best. The fixture list is being kind to Chelsea, and particularly Benitez, right now.  Overwhelmingly, for the second match in a row, we learned that the opposition was very poor. 

A Sunderland land side that tasted success before 3 league matches and are currently at the drop zone. Though they managed to have long periods of possession where they took the offensive and tried to batter down Chelsea’s door but, for the most part, the looked like a side likely to be relegation-bound unless something significant changes very quickly. 

Chelsea were flattered by their opponents, and the scoreline probably wasn’t a fair reflection of the game. Blues lacked a great deal of dynamism in second halves of both periods, and while they left the door unlocked for their opponents, they were lucky to see only one goal go past Cech.

The early loss of Oriol Romeu was unfortunate: and it took Blues quite some time to readjust. Once he got used to playing there, Oscar looked good in the holding role: and, along with the short-lived experimentation with David Luiz here on Wednesday, it is interesting to see Rafael Benitez try to get extra versatility from the players. 

In the second half, the Victor Moses for Ryan Bertrand switch seemed to be an admission by Benitez that Chelsea had done enough: which was disappointing. 
It was good to see Frank Lamapard return, even if it was only a 15-minute cameo. 

FT 9

Torres had a good day against the black cats, will he continue this form ?

Fernando Torres was the usual enigma and, despite his two goals, I think the ‘interim’ manager’s call that he has turned the corner is a touch premature. He is turning the screws, but not completely turned and far from being called as the return of Torres to his best. As usual Torres missed sitters, and was often off the pace. But his positioning is improving, and he could easily have had a hat-trick. 

It was interesting how keen Torres was to grab the ball when the penalty was awarded, which surely has to be a positive sign. And as far as the penalty itself which he converted in style.