A winning formula; substitute Torres!
Chelsea’s narrow, hard fought victory against West Brom last Saturday saw them collect maximum points for the first time this season – but not for the first time, the win came once Fernando Torres had left the field of play. For all of Torres’ apparent sharpness at the start of this new campaign, there still remains a pattern which has followed Chelsea more often than not, since the Spaniard’s expensive arrival at the club – a win trail which seems to follow, whenever Torres has left the pitch.
As of yet, it may not be deemed too alarming a situation for Chelsea, and their fans. After all, a win trail means they are still collecting 3-points when all’s said and done. But it will be very alarming for Fernando Torres, especially as the pattern becomes more and more noticeable. The thing is, the Chelsea number-9 is yet to find his goalscoring boots since arriving in London (leading many to claim he’s forgotten to pack them). And whilst his personal drought continues, he will always be under scrutiny – whether Chelsea win or lose. Unfortunately for the £50 million man, big price-tags bring big expectations and pressure, and this coupled with his poor form straight from the off, led to the immediate and intense scrutiny of his Chelsea career.
It took Torres until his 15th game in Chelsea colours to finally score for his new team, but rather than the flood gates opening as many predicted, he has failed to add to his tally of one goal. Even the much maligned and scrutinised Andy Carroll has scored more goals than Torres since he replaced the Spaniard at Anfield, to many people’s amazement. Most notably, ‘expert’ Paul Merson, who made a (bigger) fool of himself when stating that Liverpool had made a mistake in letting Torres go and replacing him with Carroll and Suarez, as the Spaniard would score more than the pair of them put together during the rest of that season. Don’t stick to your day job Paul…
Pre-season was supposed to bring a fresh start for all at Chelsea and more so to Torres. New manager, new tactics, new team-mates – and a chance to start the new season 100% fit. However the Spaniard continued to misfire during their Asian tour, leading to touchy and tetchy interviews whenever questioned on his form. ‘I have not forgotten how to score – I will score!’ he stated, rather sharply – which only managed to intensify the whole situation.
Even Abramovich must now be wondering if he gave the go-ahead for the massive signing of the correct striker, such has been Sergio Aguero’s (who Chelsea were linked with over a number of years) instant brilliance at Manchester City since joining his new club. The Argentine has scored more goals in 30 minutes of Premier League action, than Torres has in 6-months. The comparisons with Shevchenko – another expensive flop at Chelsea, continue to grow and grow. The situation becomes even more intriguing, the more Chelsea find ways to win once their costly number-9 is substituted – giving new manager Andre Villas-Boas a striking conundrum.
You see Chelsea already have strikers at the club, and whilst they may be deemed past their prime, they are proven goalscorers for the club – and proven winners whilst wearing Blue. Although Chelsea may be trying to usher in a new period – led by Torres, they still find themselves in situations where they have to fall back on the ‘old-guard’ of Drogba and Anelka to win games, such has been Torres’ failings. That’s not to say things will remain the same – Torres has looked visibly sharper in the season’s opening two fixtures, winning the Man of the Match award in the first. But the fact still remains; they drew the opening fixture 0-0 with Torres playing 89 minutes, then against West Brom it wasn’t until they withdrew Torres for Drogba on 58 minutes, that they took the lead and won the game 2-1. It is a worrying, reoccurring pattern which stretches back to last season with Chelsea gaining better results once Torres has left the pitch.
Until Villas-Boas finds a perfect solution and formation for Torres, a player who throughout his career has always performed best individually when playing up-front alone (Atletico, Liverpool and Spain as evidence), or Torres himself finally manages to adapt his game in a way he has never done before, then his career in the ‘Big Smoke’, may go up in smoke.
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Why the surpsire, he was a useless sulky lump at Anfield for nearly 18 months. He’s reverted to the Torres of Athletico who looked terrific but hardly ever scored. Fear for Chelsea must be that he doesn’t become Shevchenko mkII.
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Chelsea were awful against West Brom, especially Kalou.
The media obsession around Torres seems to have distracted from the reality that two members of the ‘old guard’ in Lampard and Drogba have been absolutely woeful.
Chelsea cannot continue playing Lampard as a playmaker. He simply isn’t good enough for that job. Need a player who will do more than make runs into the box.
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mato clarke Reply:
August 25th, 2011 at 12:22 pm
about Kalu is wrong…. he played the worst
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As a liverpool supporter i was sad to see torres go and did laugh at his gosl scoring problems at chelsea,but he is still to good a player and once he gets a run going he will be hard to stop.Stick with him,the talent is still inside him somewhere
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Torres worked his butt off for LFC-he strived and stretched,(as did other LFC players-all of whom finished up with groin or ham-string injuries.),as he did!He was never the same after those injuries!The new owners recognised this and planned his sale to Chelsea by holding back as the transfer deadline approached,by which time Torres had to make the decision of asking for a transfer! A VERY SHREWD MOVE BY THE OWNERS to pick up 50mil quid!
However if Torres is to regain his form-IT IS ABSOLUTELY IMPERATIVE THAT HE HAS A PARTNER IN THE SAME MOULD AS STEVEN GERRARD TO PLAY ALONGSIDE HIM!
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Torres was not scoring when chelsea bought him from liverpool, he was playing so bad, i new he is never a good player, but he was lucky to play along Xavi, Inesta and steven gerald these men gave him wonderful passes. now thinking that lampard will help him is not gonna happen, because there is no creativity in lampards game now.
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After a great first season at Liverpool, Torres has slowly been on the decline.
Chelsea have only gained 1.5pts per game when he starts, but 2pts per game when he does not. May its time for Villas-Boas to bench him…
http://footballfollower.com/football-blog/should-andre-villas-boas-stick-with-fernando-torres/
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