Chelsea 0-1 Corinthians: 5 Talking Points from the Club World Cup Final

Corinthians have been crowned champions of the world after defeating Chelsea 1-0 at the International Yokohama Stadium in Japan.

Tite's troops performed with admirable combativeness and bite to stifle a star-studded Blues attack, and it was Jose Paolo Guerrero who grabbed the winner with 70 minutes on the clock.

Here are five talking points from another drab performance by Rafa Benitez's side.

Is Fernando Torres Actually Any Good?

We'll address the elephant in the room first, shall we?

One of the reasons for optimism regarding the Rafa Benitez appointment was that he may just coax Fernando Torres back to form.

He grabbed a goal against Nordsjaelland and was awarded one by FIFA against Monterrey (despite it going yards wide but for the defender's contact), showing in spates that he threatens to return to form.

But every other week he puts in a woeful performance to remind us all that he's been nothing but a constant disappointment for Chelsea, who really need to look elsewhere come January.

He missed an absolute sitter in the dying moments, had a goal ruled out for ridiculously poor positional play (offside) and generally took way too many touches when it wasn't necessary.

Forget form, forget methods, forget confidence. Is he any good?

Questionable Refereeing

The only thing more questionable than Fernando Torres' goalscoring instincts was the referee's performance.

It took a long, long time for the man in charge to book anyone despite ferocious challenges flying in from all angles. David Luiz went into the book for his first offence, yet other players must have been on their third or fourth strike.

Corinthians, at times, were a little dramatic, with Emerson in particular needing six rolls to illustrate his point after a foul while Gary Cahill was shown a straight red card for reasons unclear.

So Azpilicueta Has a Long Throw?

It's always a revelation to find out one of your players has a long throw.

It's such an effective method and it seems you can't train it—it's an innate ability that has been unlocked in players like Ryan Shotton, Eric Lichaj, Giorgio Chiellini and Jose Angel over recent years.

Chelsea fans should be excited to have one of their own capable of doing it, as it was Cesar Azpilicueta's bullet shoulders that caused the chaos leading up to Fernando Torres' miss.

Unfortunately, this may be the only positive drawn from a dull showing.

How Meaningful Is This Competition?

A 1-0 loss to the South American champions, a missed trophy and a tad more pressure on Rafa Benitez's shoulders—but what does this competition mean to Chelsea?

It was a final, yes, it was a chance to lift a cup, yes, and it was a chance to be crowned world champions, but it still felt like a preseason run out.

How much does this mean? We'll find out on Saturday Dec. 23, when Chelsea face Aston Villa. Will they have a hangover, or will they be fired up to make a splash and get their English Premier League season back on track?

Midfield (lack Of) Movement

A recurring theme and problem for Chelsea this season has been a genuine lack of movement from deep in the midfield.

This problem was temporarily solved by David Luiz's impressive cameo as a deep-lying midfielder against Monterrey—the Blues had vertical movement, positivity and a real dribbling threat.

Fast forward to the final and that movement is gone, Luiz is in defence and it's clear that Frank Lampard is not the answer. Granted he's been injured, but he is not the player who can fix this problem.

It's troubling to see the same problems hindering the team week in, week out.

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