Chelsea striker Fernando Torres must feel as though he has the weight of the world upon his back – it’s almost as though he has to carry around the £50m at which he’s valued upon his person every game. Such is the weight of expectation. Such is the apparent manner by which it appears that Torres has lost some pace since his move from Liverpool to Chelsea. Every game that passes without a goal for the Spaniard adds more pressure.
My first reaction to the whole ‘goal-drought-crisis’ thing was that he was a good enough player that the goals would come soon enough and that when a goal did eventually come, it would burst open the floodgates and Torres would start smashing them in. Time however, has marched forward and there’s still no goal to show for it. It’s frustrating because it gives the doubters and the Chelsea-haters ammunition to fire in the Blue’s direction whenever they please.
That’s why stories, such as the one that appeared in the Sunday Supplement yeserday exist; That’s why Patrick Barclay can slap unto Torres the tag of being “the worst signing in football history” and garner a preposterous amount of support in return.
I can understand why there’s such strong feeling about Torres. He left the generally beloved Liverpool to join Chelsea – who represent a genuine threat to the likes of Manchester United and Arsenal in the hunt for trophies. The cold hard truth is that Chelsea do not have as many admirer’s in the Press as the likes of United, Arsenal and Liverpool and as a result stories that paint the club in a bad light tend to thrive.
Where are all the ‘Give Torres a chance’ articles? No, the emphasis when it comes to Chelsea is usually negative.
Chelsea bought Torres halfway through a season requiring that he adapt quickly to a new system and new players. Granted this hasn’t happened yet – but I don’t find that fact particularly surprising. There used to be a mantra surrounding foreign players that they usually require about a season to assert themselves in the Premier League and start playing their best football. Well how long are we supposed to give players who make big moves across the country and have to adapt to entirely new systems? Surely he deserves at least half a season before we start attacking his ability?
I’m sure there will be goals before the end of the season for Torres. I, however, can’t wait to see what happens next season, when Torres has had a rest and spent the pre-season with other Chelsea players. Of course the media has been keen to suggest that Carlo Ancelotti is ready to offload the striker in the summer – but that’s absolute nonsense. After spending that much money on Torres, there’s no way he’d give up on him that quickly. He’ll be here next season and he’ll prove the doubters wrong.
Just because Cristiano Ronaldo performed immediately to a high standard when he arrived at Real Madrid with a huge price tag on his head doesn’t mean that Torres was going to do the same. Every player is different and every player will adapt differently to new situations.
As for Patrick Barclay, well he’s a fan of snap judgements and hyperbole that gets the rubble roused. It makes for a better headline to label Torres the ‘worst ever’ – rather than launch into a considered analysis of the player’s worth. I’m pretty sure in this case, however, that his story will come back to bite him in the ass next season.
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Lol
I think what they’re trying to get at is the fact that Torres is an established Premier League striker and should not have trouble fitting in to Chelsea after all, he is meant to be one of the best. But that’s life, Torres has £50 million on his head and needs to justify that. If the club thinks that he might not fit in after the summer – then they’ll sell him. They don’t need journalists guessing what they might do.
lol, yea once he has a good break he’ll be back to normal i was sayin that for the last two years at liverpool. he’s a sicknote lad, unlucky he’ll never be the same player. thats not sour grapes its the truth, reminds me of kewell a great talent ruinerd by inconsistency and injuries!
I lost interest when I read this “The cold hard truth is that Chelsea do not have as many admirer’s in the Press as the likes of United, Arsenal and Liverpool and as a result stories that paint the club in a bad light tend to thrive.”
I don’t know where you’ve been mate but as a Liverpool fan all I’ve seen is negativity surrounding us for decades. The press love the mancs, they love Spurs too and Wenger has won plaudits as well. But the complete and utter anti
Liverpool bias has been serious. Houllier got it but that was nothing compared to Benitez. The man is accused of spending over £250 million but what was his net spend? Less than £90 million so each year he had an average of £13-£14 million to spend won a CL, FA Cup, and finished in top 4 until the mismanagement of the club from the top destablised the club to a huge effect. As for Torres when you cost £50 million and you don’t score in 9 games questions will be asked. Is he what he was? Why has he not been himself for 18 months? And more importantly does his insistence he play as the main man hamper the team? Liverpool have quickly learned that they are better off with Suarez and Carroll then Torres. What happens if he sees off Drogba and Anelka and Chelsea has Kalou and another wide man/striker left. Then you’ll find yourself in trouble like we did if he’s continually hurt. At his best he’s worth comfortably more than £50 million but right now he’s not worth £25 million, will he ever get back to his best?
Footballers aren’t robots no matter how much you pay for them…!
Torres hasn’t had a break in 4yrs!
This summer he will have to recuperate and let old injuries heal.. There’s no questioning his ability though you obviously question his form!
Next season he will back to his deadly form and trying to stop us from winning the league….
I wish him good health and no luck!
Torres like Michael Owen is injury prone and has been recuperating for a few seasons now!
A great player on his day his best days could already be behind him. He may show sparks of what he can do every now and again but i feel he’ll miss more matches then he’ll play.
Chelsea are now in a predicament, should they sell Drogba to accomodate Torres or admit their mistake and get rid of the Spaniard in the summer??. Either way Liverpool are the clear winners here having received £50 million with which they’ve purchased two replacement forwards who are already performing and delivering the goods.
i think the Problem is Chelsea itself.The midfielders have not proven their worth recently.the ball hardly reaches the right person it hardly reaches Torres i think whenever Torres has the ball he does well with it but he hardly has the ball in the box.secondly, Chelsea has been accompanied by bad luck recently the other s strikers like the great Drogba have barely seen the net for a long time now i believe if Torres was in Chelsea(in those times the blues won their every match at least by four goals),Chelsea could have defeated by a minimum of 7 goals Torres is not the blame he shall score next match if Benayoun is put to play alongside him.Chelsea is a great side but not a lucky side