Fernando Torres

osarusan

kingtubby wrote: »

But he scored the opener against Newcastle, the equaliser against Norwich and he scored to put Chelsea ahead against Reading with only 10 mins to go.

Just because Chelsea went on to win those games by more than one goal does not mean they weren't all vital.

Absolutely. The idea that if Chelsea eventually won the game by more than one goal, Torres' goal can't have been that important is infantile in the extreme.

upandcumming

Chucky the tree wrote: »

Under Rafa 09/10 - 18 goals 22 league games
Under Roy 2010 Sept - December - 6 goals 19 league games
Under Kenny 2011 January - 3 goals in 4 league games.


Of course his form didn't dip when Roy was manager, what a crazy suggestion.:pac:

And he loved it so much he handed in a transfer request and left.

And two of those in January 2011 were against Wolves! Ah here!

Blatter

What are peoples views on him now? 14 goals in 30 appearances this season.

Still not the player he was but a fairly big improvement in fairness. Could easily end up with 30 goals by the end of the campaign.

darced

This post has been deleted.

Rekop dog

I reckon Emile Heskey genuinely would have bagged at least 10 in that many games this season playing in front of Mata/Hazard/Oscar/Moses.

Hank Scorpio

Inconsistent, tends to go missing in alot of games, scores in games where Chelsea are dominating, not someone to rely on, that would be my opinion of him

Andersonisgod

Blatter wrote: »

What are peoples views on him now? 14 goals in 30 appearances this season.

Still not the player he was but a fairly big improvement in fairness. Could easily end up with 30 goals by the end of the campaign.

It's an improvement and he has looked better since Rafa took over as he seems to be moving off the ball more and is aided by the team getting the ball forward quicker and Moses and Hazard staying wide (this giving him more room to run into the channels) but he will never get back to his best. His pace is all but gone and he is struggling to adjust his game to the current condition of his body. I expect us to sign another striker in January (not Falcao apparently but maybe a short term solution) and then in the Summer I expect him to leave with a big money striker being signed.

Blatter

Rekop dog wrote: »

I reckon Emile Heskey genuinely would have bagged at least 10 in that many games this season playing in front of Mata/Hazard/Oscar/Moses.

Aguero has 8 goals in 22 appearances for City this season despite playing with the likes of Tevez, Silva, Nasri, Toure etc.

I don't think it's as simple as any professional striker being guaranteed to have a decent strike rate just because he's getting excellent support. Of course it has a big part to play, but Torres does deserve credit for putting the ball in the net.

Courtesy Flush

His first 18 months or so at Liverpool he was the best striker in the world. If you could think of the attributes that make a great striker, he had them. Dont know what happened to him, he was on the wane his last year or so at Pool and his tenure at Chelsea has been pretty terrible by his standards. Maybe Rafa will get the best out of him but at that club he has never looked really happy

GavRedKing

Blatter wrote: »

What are peoples views on him now? 14 goals in 30 appearances this season.

Still not the player he was but a fairly big improvement in fairness. Could easily end up with 30 goals by the end of the campaign.

The problem is people will say he should have more.

The guy is damned either way really.

Of his 7 league goals hes opened the scoring in 4 of those games and scored in the first half 6 of those games so he is scoring when it matters.

His overall play has been better as hes more focused on the centre of the pitch where as under AVB and RDM hes pulled out wide and tried involving himself more hes now playing where he should be, centrally.

He'll finish with 25+ goals I reckon and could easily finish with 15 in the league if he keeps it up, it all depends on what happens in Janary with another CF.

slingerz

Key to Torres' form is the inclusion of Victor Moses in the side. He has helped balance things up as Oscar, Hazard and Mata are three similar players

dreamers75

Seen this on BBC other day

Fernando Torres without Rafael Benitez is like Gary Barlow without the rest of Take That.

That was Torres' 59th goal in 84 Premier League matches under Benitez. He has scored 20 goals for five other managers in 81 Premier League matches.

Leiva

and still a little but in love with Liverpool

Neil3030 wrote: »

There's deluded, and there's LFC. Honest to christ... ::rolleyes:

Well Neil Ashton now seems to saying the same as what I have been thinking..

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2260472/Fernando-Torres-Chelsea-crisis--striker-tells-team-mates-wants-Liverpool-return.html?ITO=1490&ns_campaign=1490&ns_mchannel=rss

his team mates have lost count of the number of times he has told them he wishes to be back at Liverpool.

Paully D

Courtesy Flush wrote: »

His first 18 months or so at Liverpool he was the best striker in the world. If you could think of the attributes that make a great striker, he had them. Dont know what happened to him, he was on the wane his last year or so at Pool and his tenure at Chelsea has been pretty terrible by his standards. Maybe Rafa will get the best out of him but at that club he has never looked really happy

I like Torres and he was excellent back then, but in reality he wasn't even the best striker from his country. David Villa was absolutely amazing at that time.

Melion

Leiva wrote: »

Well Neil Ashton now seems to saying the same as what I have been thinking..

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2260472/Fernando-Torres-Chelsea-crisis--striker-tells-team-mates-wants-Liverpool-return.html?ITO=1490&ns_campaign=1490&ns_mchannel=rss

If he asked nicely and we got him for 12-15m I'd take him back in a heart beat.

Yakult

Melion wrote: »

If he asked nicely and we got him for 12-15m I'd take him back in a heart beat.

Why?

fullstop

Leiva wrote: »

Well Neil Ashton now seems to saying the same as what I have been thinking..

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2260472/Fernando-Torres-Chelsea-crisis--striker-tells-team-mates-wants-Liverpool-return.html?ITO=1490&ns_campaign=1490&ns_mchannel=rss

Don't see any quotes in the article to back up that claim...

Augmerson

DaaaaaaaaaaN wrote: »

People are missing the main reason as to why his form has dropped so rapidly over the past two years, and its actually blindingly obvious. Its simply because he cut his hair. Back when he had glorious long blonde hair he was banging them in for the pool left right and center, and was arguably the best striker in the league. Then, for some crazy reason, in mid 2010 he decided to cut his hair considerably shorter. Almost immediately his form went into decline, spiraling downward to the point of no return.

While some argue that this is pure coincidence, one only has to look at the statistics to see the clear correlation. Based on various newspaper articles online, Torres defaced his hair in late May 2010, essentially at the end of the 2009-10 season. Up until that point, Torres had a remarkable scoring record, bagging 24 goals in 33 league games in the 2007-08 during his debut season, 14 goals in 24 league games in his second season, and a further 18 goals in 22 games in the 2009-10 season. This gave him an impressive pre-haircut premier league goal-to-game ratio of 1.4 (79/56).

Almost immediately after this, the goals began to dry up as did his confidence. In the season following the onslaught of his hair, which I will now refer to as 'the incident', he only managed a mere 9 goals in 23 league games which, while still a respectable tally, really didn't live up to the high standards set over his previous three seasons. Add to that his poor performance for Spain at the 2010 World Cup, some early alarm bells were beginning to ring. Unfortunately for Chelsea, they did not hear these bells and signed Fernando in January 2011 for an insane amount of money, enough for him to get all the haircuts and hair extensions in the world. It wasn't enough however for him to regain his confidence and form, as things quickly went from bad to worse. During his first half season with Chelsea he struggled to find the net scoring only once in 14 premier league games, which I believe is solely attributable to him still mourning over the loss of his once magnificent long golden locks. By the end of the 2011-12 season, he scored a pathetic 7 goals in 46 league appearances. While things have improved very very slightly this season, with 4 goals in 10 league games, he is undoubtedly still a shadow of his former self. This is clearly highlighted by his post-haircut premier league goal-to-game ratio, which increased dramatically from the impressive pre-haircut ratio 1.4 to a painful 5.1 (56/11). I just want to highlight the severity of these figures in simpler terms, this means that he now only scores a goal every 5 games since 'the incident' as opposed a goal every 1.4 games which he enjoyed during his glory years. Coincidence? I think not.

So there you have it, I hope you will all now agree that it wasn't his deep love of Liverpool nor the weight of a ridiculously high transfer fee on his shoulders that lead to his steady deterioration in form, it was simply due to the catastrophic mistake of cutting his hair, the source of all his power and skill.

This.

Crann na Beatha

This post has been deleted.

J. Marston

Yakult wrote: »

Why?

Exactly, why? He's past it, and playing in Anfield isn't magically going to bring it back. It's been over two years of uselessness from him with a couple of very brief moments of ''Maybe he's turning it around?'' which is quickly followed by ''Nope, he's crap.''

Melion

For 10-12m, he'd be worth the gamble. Certainly more than Daniel Sturridge was, it could prove to be a bargain signing or he'd keep up his Chelsea form and we could sell him to someone in Spain for 10m+. It's a no lose situation IMO.

I don't believe it will ever happen but I wouldn't be against it.

eagle eye

As soon as managers start to believe what people here believe(that he is past it) he will start scoring regularly again.

Every time I see him play he is taking defenders out of position and creating room for others. I don't think for one second he is finished. He used to be a very greedy player but scored lots of goals, now he is a team player and still scores goals. He has 7 Premier League goals this term which is one less than Sergio Aguero but I don't hear people saying Aguero is done.

RayCon

So now that the boo boys have started on Torres - is that it ... is he now done at Chelsea ?

Corvo

RayCon wrote: »

So now that the boo boys have started on Torres - is that it ... is he now done at Chelsea ?

I certainly think so. Would not be surprised to see Chelsea move for another player that would cost approx. £12-£18m (Lewandowski or Benteke) to add to the frontline.

For some reason I really can't see Roman going for Falcao due to the fee and possible wages.

Gonzovision

Griffin1988 wrote: »

I certainly think so. Would not be surprised to see Chelsea move for another player that would cost approx. £12-£18m (Lewandowski or Benteke) to add to the frontline.

For some reason I really can't see Roman going for Falcao due to the fee and possible wages.

Why would Chelsea move for Benteke when they have Lukaku......

Corvo

gonzovision wrote: »

Why would Chelsea move for Benteke when they have Lukaku......

Forgot about him. Apologies!

MUSEIST

RayCon wrote: »

So now that the boo boys have started on Torres - is that it ... is he now done at Chelsea ?

Hopefully yes. He has been at the club for 2 years now and has constantly flopped. We have built the team around him and played him purely because of how much he cost. It would not suprise me if he was loaned out to spain and chances are he will be gone in the summer. It amazes me how much support he has got from the chelsea fans considering how poor his performances have been.

SlickRic

he's only being booed out of association with Rafa.

such is the fickle football fan.

but I do think that, along with the fact Ba looks twice the forward player, the booing means his days are numbered unless he REALLY pulls the finger out.

and I don't think he cares enough to do that.

opr

SlickRic wrote: »

he's only being booed out of association with Rafa.

such is the fickle football fan.

but I do think that, along with the fact Ba looks twice the forward player, the booing means his days are numbered unless he REALLY pulls the finger out.

and I don't think he cares enough to do that.

Ah I don't think that was it the other night. Did you see the game Slick? Rafa replaced Lampard for him towards the end of the game when they were looking for a goal.

He came on and almost straight off the bat managed to inadvertently block a shot from Demba Ba inside the penalty area. He wasted a few other opportunities shooting wildly off target and lost the ball a couple of times. He clearly came on looking to try and make a point but as with most of his time at Chelsea he looked completely out of sorts.

Opr

carlop

Phoenix wrote: »

will Atlético Madrid take him back + cash for Falcao I wonder?:pac:

Unfortunately yes. Atleti's owners are money-grabbing c1nts and the only thing that keeps them in check is their fear of falling foul of the fans. A majority already aren't too fond of them but the teams recent success has kept them sweet. Torres is still worshipped at the Calderon do this deal will suit everyone, even if in a long-term footballing sense it will f1ck over Atleti, who in Diego Costa already have Falcao's replacement.