Since his premier league record transfer from Liverpool in January 2011 for £50m, Fernando Torres was not the kind of similar sharp shooter he was at Anfield. His difficulty in replicating his Anfield form at Stamford Bridge remains one of the Premier League’s biggest mysteries. Many reasons can be acclaimed for that as the knee injury he suffered in 2010 hurting his fitness level way much and his confidence has been at rock bottom for much of his first year and half at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea fans have supported him through out this phase and will continue to do so in his time at Chelsea.
Roman Abramovic and the board have hired-and-fired many managers in spite to get the best out of the spaniard but, despite improvements this past season, we didn’t get the Torres we knew from his time at Anfield. And know Jose Mourinho has returned and the Portuguese’s comments after the win over Inter Milan in friendly brings an exciting prospect for all of us to see our wish come true…
Mourinho said: ‘We know Torres’s game. When we see Torres with his back to goal surrounded by two or three opponents, we know that he is not going to produce a piece of magic. But this is Torres. We want the team not to learn how to play with him, but to improve how to play with him.
‘We won’t re-model his game, it is impossible to re-model his game. But we want to adapt the team and teach the team how to use his best qualities, because his game is his game.
This is an intelligent piece of analysis and problem solving by Jose Mourinho. One of the reasons he is the best manager in the world is because of his understanding about a certain player and how to get the best out of his talent. And despite having a great talented squad last season(which was certainly short in depth), we lacked a manager to understand the players needs and how to find a solution to get 110% from all the players.
RDM figured it would be giving Torres a long run of games as the undisputed striker which would give him confidence to smash in goals and return to his former self. It didn’t work as we all remember. Rafael Benitez who knows him very well, figured it his fitness level which wasn’t similar to the way he was used to at Liverpool. They started doing some strength and pace training with Torres but still his confidence and overall ability wasn’t something we excepted although he did very well at the end of the season by leading the line and winning us the Europa League last season by featuring in every game in the tournament.
So now, bring in The master tactician and master of man management in football, Jose Mourinho. His quotes from above says a lot about Jose’s ambition to improve the players he have in the squad rather than overhauling the team in his own image. That is a smart tactic and Torres should take this opportunity and cement himself as one of our top strikers in the club’s history. Yes, there is still 3 years left in his contract until 2016 and he will be very happy to continue at the club and finish his contract. So, he has an opportunity to leave his mark in the club’s history by doing what king Didier did for us during his time at the club by delivering key goals and winning us trophies.
Mourinho went on and said, ‘He is not a kid any more, he is at an age where it is difficult to change his play. He is what he is and he is very good with the qualities that he has got. So we need to learn and support his game.
‘I feel he is highly motivated, he works very hard. I think some of the work we do with the team in terms of attack suits his qualities.
‘So let’s see what happens. We are here to support him.’
Torres enjoyed a reputation as one of Europe’s most potent strikers during his stay at Liverpool, where he used his blistering pace to latch on to precise through balls from Steven Gerrard and Xabi Alonso. And it’s that kind of service that will benefit Torres to perform to his absolute best and to rectify his huge transfer fee Chelsea paid for him in 2011. I still believe he is one of the top strikers in the world and if he gets the right kind of condition and confidence which he will be getting from Mourinho, we might finally see the Torres that terrorized the premier league defenses while at Liverpool in a blue shirt at Stamford bridge at his best.
What do you make of Jose’s comments about Torres and do you think we will see an improvement? Let us now your opinions through comments below. Thanks for reading and KTBFFH!!!
You call this an article? I think your losing it in there with the recent write ups.
Bro. You say it is an intelligent piece of analysis and problem solving from Mourinho. To be honest,he is just saying the obvious. Time and time again on this site and to people I personally know,I said almost the same thing.
Torres didn’t suit Chelsea when the club bought him due to tactical reasons. People talk about confidence. I don’t buy that. When a player has confidence,it’s because he or she built match momentum throughout a series of good games. Yes,Torres probably never had a good run of games ever at Chelsea where he has been consistant. I don’t want to contradict myself and I won’t if football fans will atleast try to learn the game in a tactical view point.
In a team where you are a misfit,you’ll never do what you can do unless the whole team gets overhauled to suit you. Like Mourinho said,Torres is not a target man or atleast in my point of view,not a complete one. You get different centre fowards in football. You get the Drogba type who are your bully types and then you get the Suarez types who are slick and slippery,constantly involved in the build up play (finess strikers). Torres is like a cross between the two. He has decent heading ability like the bully types who can tower above tough defenses but then he is also the finess type who loves to drop deep,dribble and use his gifted pace for a player of his height.
Mourinho is an intelligent manager and I’m confident he’ll improve the team in leaps and bounds. Chelsea played 69 games last season and Torres managed to contribute 22 goals. For me that is average when looked at the amount of games played. But then we have to think of the inconsistency of the entire team throughout the season. Will Mourinho pull the belt a bit tighter for the team to be consistant or aleast do much better? Remains to be seen but if he does,Torres should atleast net 25-30 goals if he gets enough games to do so. Again fellow Chelsea fans should realise,we are not a one player team.
Torres doesnt suit Chelsea’s style of play. Chelsea has a slow build up. Teams like liverpool and A. Madrid take only 4-5 passes and then shoot. Like passes from over the top of defenders from Alonso. If Torres was to go back to a team like Liverpool, he would become pretty good striker again. His poor form at Chelsea is not because of confidence
This is a good article which is stating the obvious. . But we need to state the obvious cause many Cfc fans only look at the price tag and dont want to know or understand what is really wrong. Its right that RDM thought it was abt confidence, Benitez thought it was about fitness and Mourinho thinks its the style of play.. the style of play is the most obvious but it took too long to understand his qualities and so confidence and fitness also became a issue. Just look at his run against Inter and you know he has still got it. And consistency is Mourinho’s forte. So expect the best out of the whole team.. not just Torres.
Torres still has what it takes to be a highly successful striker all he needs to do is cub age the chelsea game plan or go to another team. It’s quite simple when Torres was in Liverpool he was known for his pace but in chelsea it’s a different story. When chelsea try to score a goal it’s a whole team effort they pass far to often however in Liverpool Torres will get the long ball and start running and looking for the chance to score the goal. In chelsea it’s pass-pass-pass-pass- shoot-shoot-goal. If u understand what I’m trying to say Torres just needs to change the gameplay of the team to unleash his pace.