Nemanja Vidic still has nightmares. He’s still haunted by the ghost of one of Liverpool’s and English football’s finest imports. “You weren’t there man” is his response to the derision of his peers for being laid to waste by one of football’s most expensive flops, but Nemanja Vidic remembers. It just so happens that, at long last, El Nino is starting to remember as well.
He’s not back yet though. Vidic will testify to that, however there are definitely signs that Torres is beginning to put one foot in front of the other in order to make his way along the long road to recovery. He’s had to rebuild himself as a player after moving to Chelsea. There’s been no second striker to work with or no dedicated midfielder to feed him through balls meaning he can no longer hang off a defenders shoulder.
He now moves into the channels, he stretches defences horizontally rather than making more direct runs through the heart of the opposition’s back-line. The most striking change is that his work rate has nearly hit Dirk Kuyt levels of intensity. Whether it was a result of his barren run of scoring or not, the fact of the matter is that he ran and he ran and he ran and he ran. Admittedly it’s not why Roman Abramovich, the only man in the world who says the phrase “you’re fired” more than Lord Sugar, spent £50million on him but it was something, and from that he could build upon it.
More recently Torres has looked a lot more like his old self. In the last 5 games where he’s played more than 45 minutes he’s managed 3 goals and 2 assists – not a bad return for a seemingly struggling striker. His goal against Aston Villa can only be described as Torres-esque. A direct run through the middle and a sweeping finish to the far post. Yes it wasn’t a winning goal. Yes Villa were chasing the game, but it’s a start.
Could this be Torres teasing with the idea of getting into some kind of form? Any fan of football should hope so. He may not ever live up to his gargantuan price tag, in reality who could? However he might be coming good at the right time for Chelsea. If he manages to fire them to 4th place come the end of the season then I’m sure all would be forgiven. And if there’s anyone who doesn’t believe Torres doesn’t have it in him, ask Vidic. He remembers.
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