Since leaving Liverpool football club in a £50million deal over a year ago, Fernando Torres has managed to score only three premier league goals for Chelsea. To add insult to injury, Torres was dropped from Spain's International squad last week, which will not do his confidence any good. Torres' catastrophic loss of form is mystifying considering his undeniable talent and quality, but despite all the doom and gloom over his form, El Nino still has the faith of his Andre Villas Boas, who believes he will eventually come good for Chelsea.
Torres left Anfield under a cloud of acrimony, but there's no denying that he was a phenomenal striker for Liverpool, and if/when he gets back to top form (which I believe he will), then Chelsea (or whomever he's playing for then) will have one hell of a player on their hands.
The Press are having a field day repeatedly pointing out Torres' stats over the last year, but AVB has maintained his public backing for the beleaguered striker, and the Portuguese still believes that Torres is one of the stars of world football. He recently told The Daily Mail:
"He is a super-talent of world football. Eventually, things will get better for him. As Fernando gets back to his goals, he will gain more confidence and I'm sure that he knows that as well"
Wishful thinking, or reality? Torres is only 28, so I find it hard to believe he's now in permanent decline. I would love to see El Nino back at Liverpool; yes, his final season was no great shakes, but under the encouraging and supportive guidance of Kenny Dalglish, I think Torres would thrive at Liverpool right now.
If Torres had stayed at Anfield, would he still have suffered the same year-long loss of form? I personally don't think so, but the signs were definitely there during his last few months at Liverpool.
Torres' international team-mate David Silva believes that Torres is 'not well' at the moment, but he too backs the Spaniard to come good again:
"Torres is a great player and he has given a lot to the Spain national team. He is not in a good moment, but he will return to his best and he will bring a lot to the team again.
"I am sure he is not well, but he is very strong and I am sure he will pick himself up"
Come back, Fernando - all is forgiven!
Jaimie Kanwar
Torres left Anfield under a cloud of acrimony, but there's no denying that he was a phenomenal striker for Liverpool, and if/when he gets back to top form (which I believe he will), then Chelsea (or whomever he's playing for then) will have one hell of a player on their hands.
The Press are having a field day repeatedly pointing out Torres' stats over the last year, but AVB has maintained his public backing for the beleaguered striker, and the Portuguese still believes that Torres is one of the stars of world football. He recently told The Daily Mail:
"He is a super-talent of world football. Eventually, things will get better for him. As Fernando gets back to his goals, he will gain more confidence and I'm sure that he knows that as well"
Wishful thinking, or reality? Torres is only 28, so I find it hard to believe he's now in permanent decline. I would love to see El Nino back at Liverpool; yes, his final season was no great shakes, but under the encouraging and supportive guidance of Kenny Dalglish, I think Torres would thrive at Liverpool right now.
If Torres had stayed at Anfield, would he still have suffered the same year-long loss of form? I personally don't think so, but the signs were definitely there during his last few months at Liverpool.
Torres' international team-mate David Silva believes that Torres is 'not well' at the moment, but he too backs the Spaniard to come good again:
"Torres is a great player and he has given a lot to the Spain national team. He is not in a good moment, but he will return to his best and he will bring a lot to the team again.
"I am sure he is not well, but he is very strong and I am sure he will pick himself up"
Come back, Fernando - all is forgiven!
Jaimie Kanwar
what? Does your girlfriend get paid by your parents?
ReplyDeleteMore delusional rubbish on here. Number of players LFC had signed before Torres put in his transfer request, about 2 days before the close of the window, zero. The players that were signed were done so because of the Torres transfer request. The maths makes it pretty obvious, Torres and Babel = 57 million less Suarez and Carroll = 57 million. The club even admit they paid so much for Carroll because they got so much for Torres. Doesn't that ring any alarm bells for some of you to realise that no Torres sale = no Carroll purchase. He did not sell us out, the club appear to have lied, as they did with Meireles, and then appear to have forced him to request a transfer or he would not be sold.
ReplyDeleteNonsense. No way was the guy a dud! And any good attacking midfielder could have created the chances for Torres to score for us.
ReplyDeleteSure, the tactics that Hiddink worked out against us was that if you marked Gerrard out of the game, Torres would not be so effective. Hence, he used Essien to dominate Gerrard, the so called best player in the world. But, when Gerrard could not play in the second leg, we were less predictable, Torres was still dangerous enough, without scoring, and, if anything, it showed the Gerrard had far too much influence on the team and it did not reflect his talents.
Yikes, talk about revisionism.n
ReplyDeleteYou are only as good as your last game. Don't mean that literally, i.e., more like recent form, instead of just the last game but same principle. That applies to not only to Torres but to other players such as Gerrard, etc.
ReplyDeleteCarroll has got to be one of the most immobile and tame £30m+ strikers I have ever seen, when it comes to movement in the box.
ReplyDeleteIts not all Downing's fault that Downing has been generally poor, its also down to factors such as Carroll as well as we don't put enough players in the box. None of the midfielders seem to want to break in the box to become the 2nd/3rd man.
Tornike Sorry I cant tell you how I know but I do know 100% that Torres forced his move to Chelsea. In the same way I know the Club forced Meireles to go
ReplyDeletewell it's Downer's fault he doesn't generally look where he puts his crosses, one might say we don't commit enough men into the opposition boxes, but his dribbling and crossing haven't really set the world alight, he was decent in the fa cup final and ekhem maybe for couple minutes against Man City oh and Brighton. So generally the fact he was poor is dependent on him because carroll hasn't been a first team player all the time, maybe it has changed recently.
ReplyDeleteDon't get me wrong, I think Downing has been poor, generally. Its just that his task is made needlessly harder by the lack of options in the box and the statue that is Carroll.
ReplyDeleteTorres was decent for Atletico, amazing for us, somewhat okay for Spain and dross for Chelsea. This shows that without Gerrard, he is decent at best, but far from being a 'super talent'. For his price tag, he is a bigger dud than Carroll would ever be! In fact, Carroll has not only been improving, he's scored more for us than Torres for Chelsea.
ReplyDeleteI think a good attacking midfielder is a flawed argument, because if we kept Aquilani or bought Mata instead of Downing, Lu and Andy would be scoring for fun! That Torres isn't scoring for fun despite the presence of Mata says that much about his talent. Now Sturridge? That's a talent!
Sometimes, it is not so much about talent as it is the partnership, e.g. Torres + Gerrard, Berbatov + Voronin, Lampard + Drogba; 'super talent' only truly applies to the likes of Raul, Fowler, Van Nistelrooy, Shearer, Cantona, Henry, Zola, Bergkamp - you get the point!
It excited me to watch Torres play for us because he was always likely to score - but despite claims that no 2 goals of his are the same, more than half of his goals for us were almost identical and all involved rounding the keeper and side footing into an empty net. It was frustrating to see how easily he was dispossessed or how sloppy his passing was. His ability to accelerate and speed of reflexes made him untouchable with the right tactics, but he is otherwise useless, especially now that he has lost his turn of pace.
ReplyDeleteNot sure that either Carroll or Suarez would be scoring for fun for us but I would imagine that Mata understands that if you want to succeed at Chelsea, you line up chances for Lampard or Drogba, more than anyone else. Are you really saying that Torres is inferior to Fowler and Shearer as a player? Torres has been outstanding for Spain many times. I've even seen him play well for Chelsea. The guy does not need Gerrard to prove that he is a top player! the fact that we spent so much on him in the first place suggests that he had more about him than that.
ReplyDeleteyes, exactly!
ReplyDeleteHe scores with his head, both feet, inside the area, outside the area, provided a great assist for Mata's goal against Man Utd, which made it 2-0, before Chelsea capitulated, and you are saying he is 'otherwise useless'? Could it be that Gerrard's performance has dipped since Torres left and maybe he is not the same player without Torres? Or maybe neither is linked and they are both not at their best at the moment? I think it is pretty easy for people to say Torres is useless now, and maybe injuries have finished him, but when he was at his best for us he was the real deal, no doubt about it.
ReplyDeleteI know, but, according to a poll on here, 82% think that Gerrard is better than Xavi? Better at what, i wonder? I agree, Torres has looked very poor, so people can easily say he is useless now, but, at the time, he was an outstanding striker for us who seemed to have everything. Gerrard's performances appear to be dipping this season, although he has been injured a lot, wonder how long it will take supporters, and Kenny, to appreciate this?
ReplyDelete