Sunday’s game was not a classic or even the best match of the weekend but it did tell us a lot about the teams. It showed that Chelsea have given up on their strong defensive ability in favour of trying and failing to play Barcelona-style football. It also showed that Liverpool no longer needs Steven Gerrard, with their energetic style and harassment of opponents paying off with a great result. But perhaps most importantly for both teams, it showed that the most expensive transfer of 2011 was a horrific decision by the Blues.
Fernando Torres was again left on the bench again yesterday as his new team was beaten 2-1 by the Merseysiders. Didier Drogba was chosen to spearhead the attack from the start and then Daniel Sturridge was sent on before the Spaniard as they chased the game in the second half.
Although the 27-year-old came on for the final 10 minutes of the game his most significant contribution was to win the ball on the left and cut inside with power and tenacity only to clip the ball harmlessly out of play when attempting a cross come shot that was awful and misplaced whatever it was meant to be.
Football’s fourth most expensive player has had a nightmare start to his time in London. He made his debut against his former employers and looked completely impotent as they were beaten 1-0 and it took him more than 15 hours to score his first goal for his new side having played terribly below-par as the club fell away from the title race.
The lethargic performances that were seen during his final weeks on Merseyside and were put down to playing in a poor side were replaced by over-enthusiastic displays, running round like a headless chicken in an attempt to make an impact.
This season has been a vast improvement as he made a man-of-the-match performance against Stoke, only failing to score because of a world-class display from Asmir Begovic, and scoring four goals in 13 games. However, the form that has seen his last two transfers total more than £76 million still seems to desert him. During the game against Manchester United at Old Trafford in September he bagged his first goal of the season but after rounding David de Gea to leave the net gaping at the Stretford End he could only put the ball in the side netting, a miss that put the game out of sight for his team and plunged his confidence back to rock bottom.
Since then he has been sent off for a two-footed tackle against Swansea having scored again and looks like a man so anxious to impress that he is struggling to cope with the self-induced pressure.
The latest error in his short Stamford Bridge career smacked of desperation. This is the man who was meant to spark a change in style and bring goals to a club that is falling back from the top. It appeared to be an unwritten plan to move Drogba out over the summer and use Torres as the main man but all of this was thrown out of the water by his failure to shine and even the introduction of Juan Mata to drag his compatriot into form has fallen flat.
Rather than being the first-choice striker, Chelsea’s number nine is falling down the pecking order, with the Ivorian still first choice despite constantly being linked with a move and now Daniel Sturridge being considered a better choice than him. Nicolas Anelka is another who is more fancied by Villas-Boas for the big games and while Romelu Lukaku is still getting used to the Premier League, if Torres doesn’t start scoring soon it won’t be long before he’s even further down the line.