Fernando Torres: Although he had been having a poor season with Liverpool, when Fernando Torres left Merseyside for London last January, you would still have expected him to be in double figures in terms of goals in the 12 months since. But he has in fact scored just 5 goals in 39 appearances, and his Chelsea career has stalled badly.
His form seemed to be better at the start of the season, and he looked motivated and getting back to somewhere near his best. But the goals didn’t start coming, and a horror miss against Manchester United at Old Trafford didn’t help him much either. He’s fallen out of favour recently too, with Andre Villas-Boas preferring to select Didier Drogba and Daniel Sturridge in the starting XI, and often not even bringing Torres off the bench.
But with Drogba away with the Ivory Coast for most of January, Torres has to contribute, or his career at Chelsea, as well as Chelsea’s season, could be over.
Owen Hargreaves: Yaya Toure is the only Manchester City player to have started every league game this season. The powerful central midfielder can be a dominant force, with slaloming runs through defences, hard work, and strong defensive instincts. But he’ll be representing the Ivory Coast at the African Cup of Nations in January, and it is time for Owen Hargreaves to prove himself to City fans.
When Hargreaves joined City in August, it was one of the biggest surprises of the summer transfer window. He had endured a miserable spell at rivals Manchester United, with a horribly long list of serious injuries restricting him to just 26 starts in 4 years. He’s made just three appearances for City since his signing, scoring on his debut against Birmingham in the Carling Cup, but hasn’t played since November.
It’s now or never for Hargreaves. In the absence of Toure, it’s surely the last chance for Hargreaves to prove that he still has the fitness and desire to play football at the highest level.
Thierry Henry: While Arsenal only have two players representing their country at the ANC, it just happens to be two strikers, Gervinho and Marouane Chamakh that are heading off to Africa. That would have left Arsene Wenger with only Robin Van Persie, and perhaps Theo Walcott as striking options for January, if it hadn’t been for the loan signing of Gunners legend Thierry Henry.
Since leaving Arsenal in 2007, Henry had three years with Barcelona, and two in MLS with the New York Red Bulls. He scored 15 goals in 25 appearances for the club in 2011, before re-signing for Arsenal at the beginning of January. But it’s hard to know if Henry still has what it takes to play at a higher level. He lost his place to Pedro in his final season with Barcelona and his final season at Arsenal was a disappointment too.
Wenger won’t expect too much from him in a two-month loan spell, but there will be some pressure on Henry’s shoulders to help maintain the clubs push for Champions League football.
Dan Gosling: After breaking into the Everton first team as an 18 year old, Dan Gosling looked like a real talent. He scored his first goal for the club in just his second appearance, then scored a memorable
extra time winner against Liverpool in the FA Cup. He suffered a long-term cruciate ligament injury in March 2010, and never played for Everton again.
With his contract expiring, he rejected an offer from Everton, and a PFCC tribunal ruled that Gosling would be allowed to leave without Everton receiving compensation. Despite still recovering from injury, he signed for Newcastle in July 2010. He made just a single first team appearance for Newcastle last season, and has barely featured this term. He did score his first goal for the club in a 3-1 defeat to Manchester City, but was sent off against Norwich in December.
Newcastle’s midfield has been outstanding this season, but the outstanding Cheik Tiote will be in Africa for the next few weeks, and it is time for Gosling to make his mark.
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I’m no fan of Chelsea or El Nino, but it seems the “goal-counters” only value Torres if he scores. I get it – his transfer fee was an insane 50 million. However, his fluid play and ability to set up his peers when on the pitch of late tells me he really isn’t in bad form at all.
As for Gosling, he’s 21 and playing well. Happy to have him at the club.
Torres is a striker. His role in the team is to score goals. He may do a lot of great work in other ways, but Chelsea signed him to score 20+ goals a season.
BullS***