🇪🇸 Fernando Torres

[couris 232]

People forget he was the only striker available for us and we played him until he was exhausted. Although this excuse is only valid for Hazard Mata Oscar Lampard etc but not for Torres.

[The Skipper 20,609]

So do people want Torres as our number one striker now because he popped 4 against Tahiti and 1 against Nigeria?

[couris 232]

So do people want Torres as our number one striker now because he popped 4 against Tahiti and 1 against Nigeria?

??? We still need a new striker.

[Jase 43,479]

There is a lot of middle ground between those two ways of thinking about him. Whatever people might have thought about him, over the last couple of months he has picked up his performances and seems to be in some kind of form. That's not to say 'he's back' but whether we decide to sell him or not people have to acknowledge that something looks a bit better about him.

He lost his most important weapon - his pace. The same thing happened to Alan Shearer, but he adjusted his game and was still a threat. Maybe Torres is starting to re-mould himself into a different type of striker?

That is precisely why I said what I said. He scored a few goals here and there in past few months and suddenly, people are habouring hopes or starting to think that keeping Torres would be a decent idea. I don't see what Torres is doing differently to remould himself into a different kind of striker. What is obvious that he goes AWOL for most parts of games and then just suddenly pop up with goals out of nowhere. I don't see any change whatsoever in his performances.

I don't think too many people, besides the obvious fanboys, will quickly forget what happened before that...What it shows is that a scenario with him remaining with us this season may not be as bad as it sounds...

Judging from the impression I have been getting, seems most (not all) have suddenly have had their heads turned because of Torres's goals. It is not a total disaster keeping him but it's a pretty bad bad idea doing so especially for a ST who doesn't do much in games when we most need him to and is on ridiculous wages right now. We would be better of getting a better ST than Torres and can perform better than him while at the same, earn less than him!

And like I said earlier, irrespective of his club form, his record with the national team, even by recent standards, remains good. It has little to do with how his form for Chelsea is, and vice versa.

I don't see how scoring 4 goals against Tahiti and 1 against Nigeria suddenly suggests his form with Spain remains good. He only got back into the Spain NT for the Confederations Cup because of his late flurry of goals towards the end of last season and even then, all but 1 came in the Europa League. Prior to that, he was hardly getting picked by Del Bosque at all.

its not 'short form' though is it, He has clearly changed his game and improved! this isn't based on what he has done in the Confederations cup but how he has been playing for the last 2 or 3 months of the season!!! Rafa gave him his own training program he got Torres in the gym and it has really benefited him, he has told Torres to stop trying to do too much with the ball in wrong areas of the pitch and he has taken that on board, Mourinho will improve him further imo,

Benitez told Torres to stop trying to do too much with the ball? Has Torres even do anything meaningful with the ball during the season?! Can hardly see what Torres is doing majorly different under Benitez and before Benitez came in. How has Torres changed his game and improved himself? Tell me. Most of his goals scored and supposedly good performances that came towards the end of last season happened in the Europa League, against 3rd/4th tier level opposition - Sparta Prague, Steaua Bucharest, Rubin Kazan and Basel. Yet, when he came up against better teams in the Premier League, he went completely AWOL. Only 1 goal scored between last December and May this year tell its own story. He played against the likes of QPR, Reading, Wigan, Newcastle, Southampton, Fulham, Liverpool and Tottenham and hardly even contributed anything meaningful in those said games at all.

And you know what's funny about this whole situation, Torres goes AWOL for most of the season, causing us to basically play with 10 men in games but scored few goals here and there and it suddenly got people thinking of keeping him when most of his games and performances have suggested he's beyond repair. YET, in the case of Luiz, no doubt he makes defensive mistakes but it has been almost completely exaggerated like as if he makes 2-3 mistakes in every game when that's not the case. Luiz is still young and his mistakes can still be ironed out but people are already calling for him to be sold. Some people can still be patient and have hope for Torres even after 2 1/2 years of rubbishness from him and yet these people can't even be patient with Luiz!

[Special Juan 28,141]

So what do we do if he starts next season like a bag of shit again? Put our hands together and hope January quickly comes?

[The Mak 4,459]

Seriously, what is it guys? What makes you believe he'll 'change'? Because some of you are sounding like the other half of an abusive partner...

Is it his hair? His face? Because it's certainly not footballing reasons or his effort, they've been highlighted over and over again.

Perhaps people are just in love with the big name of 'Torres'? Because that's all I can see; a striker who made a big name for himself but is no longer a big striker. And now people just seem to be clinging to the name in hope rather than expectation....

[Leif 6,006]

People aren't saying "Let's keep Torres, he's good now". People are generally saying that should he stay, which looks likely, things could look brighter for him next season as he has improved more each season he's been with us and it's unlikely he'll regress under Mourinho.

Maybe I missed a post which lead to all these "You still want Torres here?" comments currently being posted.

All I see is people saying he's improved, most of which is followed up with "I still think he should go", then people going "LOL YOU GUYS ARE IDIOTS THINKING HE'S BACK" type posts. Is this going to be the new Mikel thread?

[Mouri_Matic 560]

Imagine he banging in the winner against Italy...Haha 'load of he is back' will come

[bluesman2610 1,417]

No matter what good he has done ( which has been mentioned many times in the past) will not make up for all the lack lusture performances over the last two and half seasons... but it can be said we in this forum have been pretty harsh on the man due to this, every goal he scores either brings "he's back" or the opposite "pub team" "the game was killed"... maybe because its torres that either side can't look at it objectively but he does need to go..

The Torres experiment did not work and we need to cut loses.. I still like Torres the person and even though he has been dismal for us I still like Torres the player so whether he is here or at another team I will always wish him the best

[Slam Dunk 1,442]

It's pretty apparent that he'll be here next season, though whether he's still first choice or not, we'll find out later on.

But if you accept that he'll be at Chelsea under Mourinho and he's looking like a better player lately, then that can only be good for Chelsea and surely you'd want him to be improving for the good of the club?

People aren't saying "Let's keep Torres, he's good now". People are generally saying that should he stay, which looks likely, things could look brighter for him next season as he has improved more each season he's been with us and it's unlikely he'll regress under Mourinho.

Maybe I missed a post which lead to all these "You still want Torres here?" comments currently being posted.

All I see is people saying he's improved, most of which is followed up with "I still think he should go", then people going "LOL YOU GUYS ARE IDIOTS THINKING HE'S BACK" type posts. Is this going to be the new Mikel thread?

Spot on.

[Fernando 6,585]

This all looks too familiar.

A great end to the season and good in cup competition just like last year.

It looks like we got the new malouda!

Play awesome one or two games and get lost for six.

But hey malouda had one awesome season, so maybe we will get lucky and also get one great season with torres. :-)

[Barbara 15,149]

Casillas is a spaniard with an ego

Sergio Ramos is a spaniard with an ego

Torres is a spaniard with an ego..

Spaniards... most of them have an ego. We're lucky Mata and Azpili don't.

[Tomo 21,751]

oh dear oh dear, half decent end to the season and Confed Cup and were debating whether to keep him

People say he has improved well lets be honest that isn't exactly hard considering his previous form is it? Every single season he has been with us he has suffered from horrendus goal droughts, i mean this is the player that went on a 17 game goal drought, scored a few goals then went on a 24 game goal drought. This season even he went what? 17 games with 1 goal against Brentford and this is under the manager that he supposedly "thrives" under.

4 manager's have tried with Torres, and it hasn't worked, we need to accept that we have signed a dud and move on, we did it with Sheva, Liverpool did it with Carroll and it's time we do the same with Torres, its widely accepted Essien is finished as a top class footballer but yet were harboring false hope over Torres?

[Leif 6,006]

Not a single person is saying we should keep him, are they? I should probably look a few pages back. I didn't think that was being debated at all.

[Pacquiao 1,834]

Benitez told Torres to stop trying to do too much with the ball? Has Torres even do anything meaningful with the ball during the season?!

I think your missing the point! if you have watched Torres since joining Chelsea then you would have seen him pick up the ball outside the box turn maybe take on one player then try to take on another 2 or 3 defenders and end up getting tackled or running straight into a defender an falling on the floor. Torres has stopped doing that now and plays much simpler outside the box, he lays the ball off straight away now, which has made things easier for him and his team-mates.

How has Torres changed his game and improved himself?

i have already said, how he changed his game and improved, the Benfica goal was a prime example, of the work he done in the gym paying off he showed great strength and pace to score that goal, he never would have scored that under RDM he would have fell over from the contact or would have looked like he was running in quicksand

[couris 232]

Of course Torres is different since Ba came to the club. It gave him much needed rest. Those who cant see this must be blind haters.

[Jase 43,479]

People aren't saying "Let's keep Torres, he's good now". People are generally saying that should he stay, which looks likely, things could look brighter for him next season as he has improved more each season he's been with us and it's unlikely he'll regress under Mourinho.

That is somewhat ironic of a post coming from someone who sometimes does that in other threads, like the Mikel one for example...

Anyway, I don't recall seeing a rule here on TC that we can't post reaction to latest beliefs or views of fans from beyond this forum. Surely, we are allowed to at least stimulate some debate or discussion in the forum, no?

Maybe I missed a post which lead to all these "You still want Torres here?" comments currently being posted.

All I see is people saying he's improved, most of which is followed up with "I still think he should go", then people going "LOL YOU GUYS ARE IDIOTS THINKING HE'S BACK" type posts. Is this going to be the new Mikel thread?

Talk about over-interpretation into posts/replies or overreaction (bolded words above). Hardly any responses about this have been abusive in any way and people have posted their views in civilized manner.

[Jase 43,479]

I think your missing the point! if you have watched Torres since joining Chelsea then you would have seen him pick up the ball outside the box turn maybe take on one player then try to take on another 2 or 3 defenders and end up getting tackled or running straight into a defender an falling on the floor. Torres has stopped doing that now and plays much simpler outside the box, he lays the ball off straight away now, which has made things easier for him and his team-mates.

I see. So now we are in the business of praising a 29 year old striker that basically just improved on one minor aspect of his game...

Still doesn't mean he has been great with this perceived improvement.

i have already said, how he changed his game and improved, the Benfica goal was a prime example, of the work he done in the gym paying off he showed great strength and pace to score that goal, he never would have scored that under RDM he would have fell over from the contact or would have looked like he was running in quicksand

Yes, I agree that he showed good strength and composure to hold off to Benfica defenders to score that goal. I credited him for that previously but again, it's only 1 incident. Far too little to use it to backup your point here. Where was he when playing against Premier League defenders?

[Jase 43,479]

Of course Torres is different since Ba came to the club. It gave him much needed rest. Those who cant see this must be blind haters.

And funnily enough, even with that rest, he still has hardly been performing to the level that is required of him, apart from knocking 1-2 goals past 3rd or 4th tier level teams.

[Pacquiao 1,834]

I see. So now we are in the business of praising a 29 year old striker that basically just improved on one minor aspect of his game. Still doesn't mean he has been great with this perceived improvement.

he hasn't improved 1 minor aspect, he has improved on alot of very important areas in his game, its a shame you haven't seen this. No one is saying he should be our 1st choice striker next season, but certainly he is a good option to come off the bench.

Yes, I agree that he showed good strength and composure to hold off to Benfica defenders to score that goal. I credited him for that but again, it's only 1 incident. Far too little to use it to backup your point here. Where was he when playing against Premier League defenders?

see this is the thing, there is no point continuing with this as you clearly haven't seen the improvement in his game, to me the improvement in his general play is so so clear, but obviously some people have failed to see it, I am not saying he is world class again, because he isnt, but i do think he is a good striker who is a threat to most teams. But for me i noticed his improved strength after around a month into the Rafa era, i noticed Torres not being knocked off the ball so easily and could see him trying to stay on his feet alot more, then there was the pace, i didnt think he was ever going to be quick enough any more to really hurt defences but i was surprised to see clear improvement in his sprint speed and acceleration and all of that what i was seeing in previous games came together perfectly in the EL final.

Then the improvement in his link up play, where he is playing much simpler now and taking one or two touches to lay the ball off to a team mate rather than trying to dribble past players himself and losing the ball, his movement has improved he started to make the right runs at the right time alot more often, he has generally looked alot sharper as well, if he improves yet again next season as he has done every season for us, lets be honest he hasnt been getting worse every season, he has been getting better, so if that improvement continues next season, we will have a very very good striker on our hands with another very very good striker in Lukaku, which to me is very promising.