Is Torres the man to lead our attack?

[Strike 6,958]

Chelsea Football Club was engulfed in a flurry of excitement 2 years ago when the club pulled off a British record 50m transfer of Spanish striker Fernando Torres on transfer deadline day. A Torres-Drogba combination up front was something you’d expect to see on FIFA but Roman Abramovich with his abundant wealth made it happen for Chelsea. However, the optimism surrounding Torres’ arrival soon faded as he failed to find the back of the net for 903 mins (14 games) in a Chelsea shirt and 2 years on now, his Chelsea career has been nothing short of a train wreck. Now with Roberto di Matteo in charge and a shift in the style of play, Torres has run into some kind of form but the question still remains, Is he the man to lead Chelsea’s attack?

Torres started the season on the back of a horrid 2011-12 season. The shocker of a miss at Old Trafford, the red card after scoring a goal against Swansea and the fact that he was forced to watch our revival under di Matteo from the bench, sums up his season. Sure, he won the FA Cup and the Champions League but he did not start either of the finals. The sight of Salomon Kalou starting ahead of him in Munich clearly got to his head and he had this to say regarding the matter:-

I'm not happy. Before the game I felt it was going to be one of my best moments and I came with great desire and ambition. But then I had to start on the bench. I felt huge disappointment when I saw the starting line up, maybe the biggest disappointment of my life. In the end I was able to play a bit and help the team. Right now I do feel it's all worth it but the truth is I've gone through some very bad moments.

But then in the summer, Didier Drogba left the club and Torres was confirmed as the number one striker. In addition to that, the club replaced Kalouda with skillful technical players like Hazard and Oscar who are better suited to Torres’ style of play and now 7 games into the season, things are looking better for the Spaniard with 6 goals already to his name this season (4 in the league) and Chelsea are sitting pretty at the top of the table, 4 points clear of the nearest rival. But despite the better goal return, Torres’ has looked a shadow of the player he once was. There was a time when he took Vidic for a spin at Old Trafford but now he seems to be unable to get past Anton Ferdinand.

Take note of the fact that 2 of the goals he has scored are from set-pieces and not due to his prowess in front of goal. He is no longer “terrorizing” the opposition defence and he has been anonymous in a fair few games this season restricting his involvement to linking up with the midfielders and running the channels. The Torres’ of the old would look for the through balls behind the opposition defence and bury his chances but as we saw against Arsenal and against Norwich, he seems reluctant to pull the trigger these days. He was away from Koscielny and bearing down on goal and instead of burying it in the corner he tried to get past the advancing keeper allowing Koscielny to nick possession from him.

On the other hand, things have definitely improved. His goal against Newcastle was excellent and showed that his finishing is still good. Now that there is not much competition for the striker’s slot, he has started all of Chelsea’s games this season (the only player to do so) and the continuous run of games has boosted his confidence (see Rabona against Newcastle) Plus, he is now receiving better service from the 3 maestros – Oscar Mata and Hazard. But is he the man to lead our attack? He is 28 now and has got maybe 2-3 seasons in his tank and with Daniel Sturridge and Romelu Lukaku already waiting in the wings at Chelsea. Sturridge, as we all know is a terrific talent and has been waiting for a run of games in the centre-forward role and Lukaku has been in brilliant form on his loan spell at West Brom.

I am on the fence regarding the whole Torres matter. Fernando has been good(ish) so far but needs to get much better as the season progresses. Our defenders and midfielders chip in with a fair few goals but it was Didier Drogba who used to fire for us in the big games. He has scored 9 times in Final matches and has scored 8 goals in 8 games at Wembley. Moreover, he has 13 goals against Arsenal and 4 goals in 4 FA Cup finals. Now, with Drogba gone, Torres needs to step up for us in the big games and add that little spark up front. It doesn’t matter how many goals he scores against the likes of Reading and Norwich if he keeps bottling in the big games.This is a key season in that aspect for Torres as the coming months will decide whether he will be remembered for his time in a Blue shirt.

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[BlueLion. 21,491]

Yes, and no. This is the season we will come to judge him by. At present he is doing a sound job, and he has scored in the two 'big' games this season against Newcastle and Arsenal respectively.

The first thing to realise is that he is not Didier Drogba, and that will always do the man a discredit.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Outstanding work, btw.

[Strike 6,958]

Yes, and no. This is the season we will come to judge him by. At present he is doing a sound job, and he has scored in the two 'big' games this season against Newcastle and Arsenal respectively.

The first thing to realise is that he is not Didier Drogba, and that will always do the man a discredit.

yeah but he has missed a fair few chances this season. sitters. also his goals except for the newcastle one were fairly routine finishes that u shud expect out of him. remarkably better so far but the next few games will show us whether he is main striker material

[Blue Armour 4,158]

You're right when you say that the next few games against Spurs and United could be crucial for him. Torres in his prime never had trouble scoring against top opposition. He regularly caused problems for Chelsea and Man Utd defenders. This season he's already notched one against city and was a nuisance for Arsenal, so there are good signs. I just hope he can maintain the same level of work rate he has put in so far.

[Reddish-Blue 2,212]

Time for Torres to show he is the man to lead the line at Chelsea.

If he keeps up the work rate throughout the whole season, and scores around 20 goals, I got no problem with Torres being the man at Chelsea.

I just hope Sturridge is 100% match fit as soon as possible, cause I don't want to see Torres burn out.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

The Torres issues have been so devastating for the club and the fans that I often find myself thinking, after one decent performance like the one at Arsenal, that he will come good. I think we sometimes want him to succeed so bad that we sometimes overlook the obvious facts: He has been here for almost 2 years, he has already flopped.

[Jase 43,479]

The Torres issues have been so devastating for the club and the fans that I often find myself thinking, after one decent performance like the one at Arsenal, that he will come good. I think we sometimes want him to succeed so bad that we sometimes overlook the obvious facts: He has been here for almost 2 years, he has already flopped.

I think most of us do realized that he has been here for almost 2 years but he was excused in the first year or so because our playing style didn't suit him and the presence of Drogba scared him off like a cat.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

I think most of us do realized that he has been here for almost 2 years but he was excused in the first year or so because our playing style didn't suit him and the presence of Drogba scared him off like a cat.

Those excuses are exactly what I meant by us bending reality to try and convince ourselves that he is not a flop.

[Jase 43,479]

Those excuses are exactly what I meant by us bending reality to try and convince ourselves that he is not a flop.

Get your point but think most just want to wipe the slate clean and give him a fresh chance especially this year when the team is built for him and the playing style is suitable for him. Don't get me wrong though, I have been wanting him out for awhile now. Will be more than happy to be proven wrong but don't think he can ever hit the heights like he did at Liverpool. He has been psychologically and emotionally affected in a negative manner for the past few years and an example of this would be those easy one-on-one chances Strike pointed out where he completely fluffed them. Luckily for him, we won at Arsenal. Otherwise, we would be looking at the chance he missed to put us 2-0 up in the first half. And that chance he missed against Norwich when it was still 0-0 really pissed me off everytime I watch it. The old Torres would have buried those chances but instead, he tried to be too precise and walk the ball into the net.

[BOSS 372]

I dont trust him. Its easy to understand : there are somany more that would do waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better than him in the role that he has in Chelsea FC. And it does not have to be Falcao there are somany more strikers that are better than Torres tbh. CFC fans just cant accept that he is a flop and that he wont come good, they will receive a reality check in the coming weeks.

[Strike 6,958]

Get your point but think most just want to wipe the slate clean and give him a fresh chance especially this year when the team is built for him and the playing style is suitable for him.

tbf the club shouldn't have been sympathetic with him in the summer and go into the season with only torres and sturridge as the strikers. if we were gonna be ruthless with players like drogba, essien, meireles, malouda...why not torres as well? maybe the 50mil price tag played in their minds

[BOSS 372]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wgb-Q9sU1_s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mE6fLoKjgqM&feature=channel&list=UL

Just look at what we can have!!! Look what this monster did the past week.

[didierforever 7,349]

one word- "no".

[Jase 43,479]

tbf the club shouldn't have been sympathetic with him in the summer and go into the season with only torres and sturridge as the strikers. if we were gonna be ruthless with players like drogba, essien, meireles, malouda...why not torres as well? maybe the 50mil price tag played in their minds

Was mainly talking about the fans' behavior towards Torres, not the cub. It's another matter from their POV. Think they did want get another striker in during the summer and that's why we kept on hearing links with Remy, Cavani, Falcao, Lewandowski etc back then. But we didn't get any of them and they probably thought we could get till January with just 2 strikers in Torres and Sturridge and in the worst case scenario, play Moses upfront.

[Strike 6,958]

Was mainly talking about the fans' behavior towards Torres, not the cub. It's another matter from their POV. Think they did want get another striker in during the summer and that's why we kept on hearing links with Remy, Cavani, Falcao, Lewandowski etc back then. But we didn't get any of them and they probably thought we could get till January with just 2 strikers in Torres and Sturridge and in the worst case scenario, play Moses upfront.

yeah. maybe they thought lukaku and piazon are waiting in the wings and thus no need to sign a striker. the other option was to sell torres for 20-odd million and sign a replacement. maybe they thought it was too soon for that. one more season for torres makes sense

[chelseathebest 150]

He is not the man to lead our attack.

I am sure that he will never regain his old Liverpool form. He's been decent in the last couple of matches, scored a few goals, but in his game it is clearly visible that he is not good enough.

I agree that, overall, he's been acceptable this season, but that is just delaying the moment when we all realize: "How the fuck was he our first striker?". And it will cost us in some crucial matches.

Like you said, fans just won't accept that he is gone and after every goal of his, they say: "Torres is back" and shit.

Imo, he will only score sitters that our Magic Trio brings to him, and nothing on his own (like Drogba used to).

I believe and hope this is the last season we watch Torres in Chelsea.

Top clubs need top players, Torres is nowhere near top player. It's simple as that.

[kellzfresh 7,226]

When a player can't even trap the ball well he becomes an average player.

When a striker easily falls down well....

When a striker is scared to shoot while in front of the keeper then who can score?

When a striker stands in the box without making the run for the pass, expecting an inch perfect pirlo pass to where ever he is standing. Instead of making the run and creating space then it becomes indirectly 10 men in the pitch.

This is what fernando torres has turned out to be, I would even take demba ba over him right now