When Torres left the hell-hole that was 'Pool and joined Chelsea, I really believed that he would prosper. However, things have got far worse for him, because although he seems to have avoided the injuries that had dogged his career up to that point, he is proving that, despite a regular run, he simply cannot score. Sure, he still looks the part and seems to do everything that a top striker should do, except that he cannot do the most important thing, which is to score goals. The excuse made for him (by those that continue to believe that a rival in his fortunes lies just around the corner) is that he doesn't into Chelsea's "system" and that for him to prosper there, Chelsea would have to build the team around him. Well, let's break this down. What is Chelsea's system? What is it about Torres' style of play that makes him unsuitable? Shouldn't a £50 million player have been able to adapt to it by now? Given that AVB doesn't seem intent of changing this "system" any time soon, surely it's only a matter of time before Torres is given the boot? Would Torres find more goals playing for us? See, the problem I have with any of these arguments is the fact that Torres has, on several occasions, found himself one-on-one with the keeper, and he has made a complete hash of things. Whatever the relative merits or disagreements with Chelsea's "system" and it's affect on the player, he should, at the very least, be putting away the chances that actually fall his way, shouldn't he? So, my ultimate question is, will Torres stay in the EPL beyond the next couple of seasons?
Think Chelsea should cut losses and get rid for the best offer they can get. Seems to have lost so much confidence it's unreal. The chance yesterday where he took 4/5 touches before being tackled epitomised it, the old Torres would have slammed it in the back of the net with ease.
I'm surprised no one has mentioned this. His best scoring form has been when he was wearing red- the Mickeys/Spain. All Chelsea have to do is change their playing strip to red, voila! he recovers the scoring touch. Then again there would be 2 average London teams wearing red
I remember before saying that he must be a bit of a Samson and just needed to grow his hair again and dye it blonde but now he's done that, he's still pap. One thing I'm sure of is that he'd get goals by the bucket in our team.
Seriously I suspect you could be right YV he seems to be playing a different style to his teamates. He needs someone like 'Arry to put an arm round his shoulder tell him he's a smashing lad go out and score a few for the Spurs-job done.
He has tried to fit in at Chelsea but when he tried to bulk up a bit so he could play like the rest of their team, he lost some pace. He's still got enough pace but his instinct has gone from his game sure to a lack of quality delivery in the box to him. Give him a season with Bale and Lennon flashing low crosses across the 6 yard box, VDV and Modric spotting his runs early enough to get him in behind the defence and it'd all come flooding back to him. Just a shame he'd never take a paycut to join us and revive his career.
If the Russian oligarch was to put Torres up for sale at, say, £20 million, would you want Levy to take a punt?
Chelsea are far far too slow for Torres. Torres works at his best when hitting on the counter, catching defenders off-guard and pouncing. By the time Chelsea get the ball to Torres he's already swamped with defenders and is expected to barge through. Faster quick pass football and a formation where Torres is lone striker will see him regain form.
Correct me if I am wrong but is not Torres just vastly overated. He had a couple of high scoring seasons with Liverpool apart from which his record is not fantastic. Strikers always get the headlines but often their contribution to the game is minimal. Similar to Bent who despite being a fairly ordinary player IMO has commanded huge fees from a number of clubs. As I do not watch many games outside the Spurs ones I am interested to know why he is rated so highly. It's not unusual for vast fees to be paid for striking flops. Shevchenko, Postiga, Pavlyuchenko, Crouch, Rebrov, and as mentioned Bent. Just at Spurs we have a long list of such strikers. Often a player can make his mark in a high profile game and live off it for years, Poborsky for example. Is it all because the striker is so important, clubs are always looking for that magic player who will convert all their chances. In reality they are very rare indeed hence the high fees.
No. His form at Chelsea is the exception not the norm. He was sublime whilst with us. The lack of service he had to deal with at times was ridiculous yet he still managed to make some incredible goals and turn defenders inside out. He is in no way comparable to Bent
In the case of Rebrov, he had a similar problem to Torres' at Chelsea - we played the wrong football. If he was in the current squad, deployed in the Van Der Vaart role, he'd thrive on the service from Modric, Lennon, Bale et al. Instead he had a lot of balls lumped in his general direction, which was the exact opposite of the way he played. Shevchenko and Torres are interchangeable when discussing how Chelsea's system doesn't suit them for the same reason, as their system isn't quick enough to take advantage of what they bring to the table. That's £80m they spent on strikers that didn't fit their style of play, and they haven't learned - most other clubs would.
I am not comparing him as a player with Bent just comparing the high profiles and the number of clubs paying high prices. So you I presume have seen a lot of him and rate him. If he dealt with the 'lack of service' at Pool why not at Chelsea?
Because Chelsea dally and take their time higher up the field and then just side pass it to Torres who is heavily marked and out of position. What little service we gave to Torres at times was what he needed though ie quick counter/ and in a position in which he excelled. He played **** for Spain for exactly the same reason, ie out of position & slow/less direct build-up. Torres is far from being a complete forward but he worked perfectly in our system and if Chelsea want to get the best from him they should look at how he should be be utilised rather than cramming him into a formation and style that has not been altered one bit to suit their 50million signing
He struggled at Liverpool towards the end too but he was getting injured a lot and because of his importance to the team he was rushed back, much like we did with VDV last year. Plus it's likely that Chelsea had tapped him up the summer before he left so he may have been unsettled and lacking motivation.
I do find it strange that a club should pay £50 million for a player, and not build the team around him. Having said that, there have been numerous occasions where Torres has been one-on-one with the keeper, and he has screwed it up. You cannot blame Chelsea's system for that.
I think Torres is playing well except in the, admittedly crucial, aspect of scoring. His confidence is shot to pieces. But in general play, he looks sharp to me - for example the cross for Mata was fantastic yesterday. He needs a goal or two like no other player, but with Bale and Lennon to support him, I would back him to have a great season!
So just another example of Roman interfering and buying a star player without understanding how football works.
Yesterday said it all really,he had the chance to put the game to bed and didn't have the confidence to even try a shot.It's a shame but he seems totally lost and something major must happen if he is to rediscover his form. Maybe Spain might be his best bet now.
