Saturday 16 March 2013

Fernando Torres, what happened?


As a football fan of Manchester United, when it comes to transfers i don't usually get jealous about other signings clubs make.
However, when Liverpool lodged a bid and had it accepted for Fernando Torres i was extremely jealous and partly angry as Manchester United had and still continue to miss out on some bargains/good players!
He was bought by Liverpool for £20 million and for the time he was there, he was worth every penny for the Merseyside club and helped them to mount their best Premier League challenge to date in 2008-2009.

During his time at Liverpool, his manager was confident enough in him to lead Liverpools line on his own with a midfield consisting of Steven Gerrard, Xabi Alonso and Javier Mascherano. With Mascherano and Xabi Alonso sitting deep in the defensive quadrant, this gave Gerrard permission to venture forward and express his passing skills to his maximum ability and set up Torres near enough every game and 9 times out of 10, Torres would finish the move with a goal, most of which were world class.
In his first season, Torres would go on to score 24 goals in 33 appearances and in that season alone he went on to break records that once belonged to the likes of  Ruud Van Nistelrooy and Liverpool legends Robbie Fowler and Michael Owen but was beaten to the PFA player of the year award by Cristiano Ronaldo.

That season alone put fear into many world class defenders in the Premier League and more often than not when Liverpool played Manchester United, Fernando Torres and Nemanja Vidic got into personal battles on the pitch and more often than not, Torres succeeded and even ended up getting Vidic sent off by luring him into fouling him.
In the 2010-2011 season Fernando Torres was sold by Liverpool to Chelsea for a total of £50 million pounds with a record of 65 goals in 102 games, Liverpool later replaced Fernando Torres with Andy Carroll from Newcastle United for a fee of £35 million pound.
Torres had been brought into a Chelsea side that had been led by the world class, powerhouse Didier Drogba for half a decade and that has seemingly affected Torres' confidence.
During his second season at Chelsea, Fernando Torres led Chelseas line up at Old Trafford when they took on Manchester United who went in to half time, 3-0 up. After half time, less than 5 minutes into the second half, Torres went on to score for Chelsea after a smart pass from Nicolas Anelka however later on in the match when Chelsea had improved from their first half display, Torres was through on goal against De Gea and went round the goalkeeper only to hit a shot on his weak foot wide with the net wide open.
Incidents like that don't happen often to world class finishers in this current day and age and this HAS had to affect Torres in one way or another, despite him not being his old self before that happened though, his form has dipped alarmingly since.
He has helped recoup the fee that Chelseas owner had spent on the Spaniard by getting his team through to the Champions League final of 2011-2012, when a Chelsea defender cleared the ball from a Barcelona attack, Torres ran through on goal,rounded Victor Valdes and then placed the ball into an empty net.
In the Champions League final however it was Didier Drogba who stole the show with an 89th minute equaliser for Chelsea and scored the winning penalty to secure the clubs first ever Champions League trophy against Bayern Munich in the German giants home stadium.


Now, few people could argue that Torres this season is playing in a team containing a midfield that was as good as any midfield he played in front of during his whole time at Liverpool and i believe that is true however that's not helping him whatsoever.
With Eden Hazard, Juan Mata and Oscar playing behind him, he has three attacking midfielders capable of pulling any trick out of the bag and being able to rescue Chelsea when necessary and you'd think this would help Torres find his old form but you're mistaken.
Those are three midfielders that are finding their feet in the English game and however successful they were before they joined Chelsea they are still players that are attempting to make a name for themselves in world football, do not mistake that for me claiming they are pushing for moves to another club.

At Liverpool, Torres was playing in front of Steven Gerrard who's a midfielder who's already made his name in the game worldwide and Xabi Alonso who's become a vital part of Spains squad for every major tournament and was doing so at the time.

At Chelsea, he's playing in front of midfielders that are making their own mark on the game and are not the correct players to get the most out of Fernando Torres and get the old Torres back, however creative the afore mentioned may be!


In conclusion i believe to get the best out Fernando Torres, you should play him in midfielders that are willing to make him centre stage, players that have already made their mark and are open to making Torres become his old self.


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