Ugh. I think Kalou has been gone long enough that people are starting to forget things. Certainly, Torres has been frustrating. But Kalou was never purchased with the weight of £50 million on his shoulders and was never (or hardly to my recollection) ever utilized as a central striker. Kalou was never expected to be a top goal scorer, nor was his role on the team ever suited to that end. Torres came to Chelsea with massive expectations, and his failure to reach them certainly amplifies our frustrations with him, but the comparison between him and Kalou is just wrong.
Well, then let me adjust my formula: Goals: 0.24 Goals per app for Kalou > 0.2 per per app for Torres. (Kalou 59 from 251 apps. Torres 25 from 125 apps in all competitions.) # of Embarassing misses: Torres > Kalou (Man U miss is the trump card) # of shots on goal not taken: Torres > Kalou (Kalou at least WOULD shoot at the defenders legs). Money paid : Kalou (9m) < Torres Kalou was expected to score goals, like Torres, and did a better job of it so far. I dont CARE about the "weight" of the pressure Torres faces due to his transfer cost and neither should HE. The comparison isnt wrong, we're talking about one forward vs. another forward, both of whom were/are extremely frustrating to watch, under deliver on the field and provide some of the most dumbfounding, beat my head against the wall type of play.
That was a bad miss surely, but his was a one time shot from a volleyed cross. This is much much MUCH worse.
I'll disagree and primarily because when Torres first got the ball he had a little bit of work to do knocking it past the keeper. He did that and then fluffed it when he went to steer it back towards the goal. If he had the ball where Kalou did and then missed it, I'd agree. As for Kalou's tragic effort, you make it sound like the ball was fired across at 100 mph!! It was volleyed, but a wonderfully controlled volley down to the ground so that when it was presented to Kalou all of the pace had been removed and it was dropping, not rising. I could have scored that one but for the Torres one, I doubt I would have had the pace or initial ball control to even get close to the position he went on to miss from. To each their own, but Kalou has the crown for me. Wonder what others think.
this was discussed quite a bit after the goal went in http://www.weaintgotnohistory.com/2012/12/21/3792404/becchio-goal-leeds-analysis-david-luiz-ivanovic keep in mind this is from WAGHN who imho tend to be some of the staunchest Luiz defenders (no pun intended) to the point where it is almost mind numbing that he can do no wrong I think a couple of key points stick out in their analysis for me which concern me in a couple of regards- first and foremost in simple tactical recognition and secondly in playing to ones assigned responsibility which is vital for a CD and a CM or DM where Luiz is being mentioned as playing again he (Luiz) had the space to go forward and Oscar stayed behind as cover. Of course, Oscar's ability to be a defensive cover is another question they go on to justify the reasoning for Luiz bombing forward but leaving someone like Oscar to cover for your space in CD reeks of irresponsibility or selfishness (or both) by Luiz Luiz had four options: Bertrand on his left and Torres on his right provided relatively safer options while Moses and Mata, ahead of him, presented high risk, high reward options. The Brazilian, somewhat unsurprisingly, chose the latter, high risk/reward option, and attempted a chip toward Moses/Mata, which was headed away. Michael Tonge picked up the loose ball and Leeds counter attack was on. Important points here which okocha was touching on. I find Luiz guilty of playing the Hollywood ball far too often which leads to him and his teammates getting into trouble. While he has improved. Ultimately whether he plays CD or DM he must improve his decision making when passing and learn that everyone once in a while the simple, boring square ball (see Ballack, Michael) is just as effective as the long, defensive splitting ball.