A thread to debate whether Rafa really can get more from Torres. I see this appointment as last chance saloon for Torres who has openly said Rafa was the most important manager in his career. Surely if Rafa can't get him going no one can.
As you have already mentioned, if there is one man that can get the best out of Torres then it will be Rafa. Rafa has admitted that Torres has a degenerative knee injury which is why he has lost the explosive pace. But he's no slouch. I think Torres is severely lacking in confidence and support, but I think Rafa will give it back to him.
Now Torress has no excuses. He has his favourite manager + the most creative midfield trio behind him. If he doesn't do well during the remainder of the season then he has to be sold in the summer
All I read into all of this, and Coco's comments, is that both he and Torres will be out on their sorry asses come May You Chelsea fans must be absolutely despairing, knowing that the man who has been one of the major reasons you haven't been scoring the goals has earned himself a free ticket onto every starting team-sheet, until the end of the season! Remember how stubborn Coco was at 'Pool? When things started to go wrong, instead of taking the blame and changing things around, he stuck obstinately to his guns, like some kind of stupid Spanish bull let loose in a clown workshop. That's what he's going to be like over the Torres affair. As the weeks pass by and Torres continues to prove that he is now washed up, instead of changing things round to do what is best for the team, Coco will stubbornly keep faith in Torres, in the hope that he can get at least one good game out of him before they are both sacked. Because, at least then, Coco will be able to say to the media (and his next boss), "See! I was right! I told you I could get the best out of Torres!" And you got rid of RDM for this!
I keep seeing points about his last Season at Liverpool posted on these threads time and time again! Rafa was not responsible for the mishap of my team dropping down the table that year! The fact of the matter was our club stupidly sold out best players and our midfield core due to certain Americans running the club. Now we did spend prior to this so don't go on about how much money Rafa did or did not spend that really is not relevant; we spent money and eventually got a 2nd place out of it. Rafa Benetez played Rotation football and was infamous for changing 7-9 players each and every week from one game to another, the media and fans a like actually used to complain because he didn't "stick to his guns". However i will grant you that he did not change systems when things were going wrong in his last season, and yes we did rely on certain players like Torres. This is because we did not have any choice! We sold so much that season and our squad was so weak, we actually did well to get 7th place! This was proven the following year when Roy took control. I think you are right about Rafa leaving in May; however it wont be for the reasons that you suggest. Rafa will get sacked for only being able to provide a 3rd place finish for Chelsea (due to not having time to settle), his sacking will have nothing (directly) to do with Torres.
