Fernando Torres

[dodojojo 510]

Hmmm...thought he was poor yesterday actually. Negredo was worst in the first half but Torres could have sealed the starting spot with a goal in the 2nd and didn't. He did have 3 or 4 decent chances. I would love for him to start against Italy but the general feeling was that whoever started the China game was most likely the starter for Italy because Del Bosque put out team of the likely XI for next Sunday. I don't know if Torres did enough in the 2nd half to change Del Bosque's mind. Negredo is a big favorite of his.

[dodojojo 510]

I watched his goals at livpool, I noticed someting very interesting before season 2009-2010 he is rediculously fast, but in 2009-2010 (before injury) he seems slowed down, my conclusion is that he got slower before the injury but even when he is slower he managed to score 31 goals in season and a half for the dippers(with alot of the games missed or coming off the bench).Now he is as fast as he was 2009-2010, which means that he is absolutely capable of scoring 30+ goals if he is played properly.

I don't think he will be as fast as he was before 2010. It's natural with age and injuries to slow down a bit. Having said that, he's still probably faster than a lot of CFs. But he's not the young fast Torres anymore. Watch highlights from the 2006 World Cup, he was incredible then, like a blur.

[Tortilla9 390]

Niether Torres or Negredo are setting the Spanish world on fire. While Torres wasn't great yesterday I thought he was better than Negredo. Again doesn't matter what I think only what VDB thinks.

I thought that first half was dull as dishwater. Second half Spain definitely picked it up. While I'd like to say it was because of Torres, the little man, Iniesta, was the man. And removing Xavi who had a poor game by his standards. Torres' speed did help and he helps pull the defenders more than Negredo does.

[Santiago. 1,500]

I've said this once and i'll say it again, Iniesta is by far the 3rd best footballer in the world.

Del Bosque is choosing experience for this campaign and so far neither Torres or Negredo impressed me, though these are only friendlies. I honestly think Nano needs rubber band pace training in order to get faster.

[Tortilla9 390]

I love watching ESP play but sometimes you can predict it to a T what they're going to do. I wish VDB would switch it up a little. I'm not an Alonso hater because he's an ex-LFC player but sometimes Alonso's inclusion seems redundant in the middle. What do I know, I've never won a WC or Euro Cup.

[Santiago. 1,500]

I love watching ESP play but sometimes you can predict it to a T what they're going to do. I wish VDB would switch it up a little. I'm not an Alonso hater because he's an ex-LFC player but sometimes Alonso's inclusion seems redundant in the middle. What do I know, I've never won a WC or Euro Cup.

Indeed. Alonso is quality but the fact of the matter is, displaying a 4231 will negate any creativity within the midfield when facing an opponent that will park the bus, in which case may teams do against Spain. Abandoning Iniesta out wide also gets on my nerve but that is the style and formation Del Bosque produces to get his results.

This would be my first choice

------------Torres-----------

Cesc----------------------Silva

------Iniesta-----Xavi-------

-----------Busquets-----------

Alba----------------------Ramos

-----J.Martinez--Pique----------

--------------Casillas------------

[Herry 0]

Torres is a flop...we must go for falcao , cavani ,higuain....we cn rely on him nxt season..wat dd he do when drogba was at african cup of nation? Nthng he is a flop 50mil..

[Tortilla9 390]

While the middle has their own issues and the slow buildup makes me crazy, I think the bigger problem is the defense. For the love of God I hope VDB has seen the light and doesn't put Arbeloa back out there anytime soon.

[Tomo 21,681]

If Torres comes good next season i will delighted to be proved wrong and he is looking good at the moment. Im only worried tho because i had so much hope last summer, i thought AVB, Mata's and to a lesser extent Meireles's arrival would have done him the world of good.

[termninja 5,290]

For me it's like this. If he shines at EURO we can keep him as a star striker. If he doesn't with the players like Xavi,Iniesta,Silva,Fabregas and Mata around him then I won't be optimistic due to the fact that he is 28 already, and if we were ever going to earn something from selling him, then the moment is this summer when his form seems to be growing and physically he is well.

I'm just tired of all the talk around him and I want it resolved. Either he finally starts turning heads week and week out or he can leave so I don't have to worry every match how will he play and hope to see him score...

[Joker10 946]

For me it's like this. If he shines at EURO we can keep him as a star striker. If he doesn't with the players like Xavi,Iniesta,Silva,Fabregas and Mata around him then I won't be optimistic due to the fact that he is 28 already, and if we were ever going to earn something from selling him, then the moment is this summer when his form seems to be growing and physically he is well.

I'm just tired of all the talk around him and I want it resolved. Either he finally starts turning heads week and week out or he can leave so I don't have to worry every match how will he play and hope to see him score...

The thing is Torres has never been spectacular with Spain, especially with Vicente Del Bosque and his playing style. Fernando Hierro has more goals with Spain then Torres, and he was a CB. lol

I wouldn't put much stock into his performance in the Euros. In fact few players have been able to replicate their success on the club level to international scene.

.

[TorontoChelsea 4,064]

I'm just tired of all the talk around him and I want it resolved. Either he finally starts turning heads week and week out or he can leave so I don't have to worry every match how will he play and hope to see him score...

Agreed. It was awful to watch every single game and have it revolve around "will Torres score"? for months. Then it's "what's wrong with Torres" and then "Torres looks like he's finally coming around" and then "what''s wrong with Torres again". Then, other players feel they need to talk Torres up and the manager has to say how much he still believes in him. Then the fans feel they need to defend him so they talk about how well he worked down the wings and how he's so close to bursting out again or how he just needs a different style of play. He obviously deserves most of the blame because he has performed poorly, but there are also such ridiculous expectations when you spend that kind of money on a player. He was never going to be worth £50M maybe only a few players in the world are, so, in a way, there was no way the signing could ever have really worked out.The whole thing is distracting and the only way it will ever stop being distracting is if Torres starts scoring 25-30 goals a year which just isn't going to happen.

[termninja 5,290]

The thing is Torres has never been spectacular with Spain, especially with Vicente Del Bosque and his playing style. Fernando Hierro has more goals with Spain then Torres, and he was a CB. lol

I wouldn't put much stock into his performance in the Euros. In fact few players have been able to replicate their success on the club level to international scene.

I don't give a fuck about excuses anymore. I have a feeling I heard every single one of them when it comes down to Torres...I'm not saying that he needs to be a player of the tournament, but score a goal or two, look sharp and dangerous. Couple of dribbles and shots just to show that he is dangerous.

[bushman 2,043]

Seeing that Hazard is in, Hulk is coming soon, I see Fernando getting better, scoring more goals next year. These two alone will help him a lot. If he flops & by January, he has not scored at least 6-8 goals, he might be transferred to the highest bidder, I feel.

Having these two new players & him still struggling, not even God is going to help him, then.

[headhunter23 70]

guys lamps was our leading scorer with 16 goals, if anyone watched our games it was a shitshow of the modern game, just side to side play, no creativity, therefore none of our forwards scored. That being said nando didnt help his cause, hopefully this year will be different.

[TacticalBlues 2,817]


I still find incredible to blame Torres for his struggles considering the awful offensive animation behind him, he's the last link of the chain, no matter if there's nothing behind him he'll be guilty.

Surprisingly when he had Anelka, Mata or Benayoun behind him giving him through balls he scored.

And considering he ended the season with 11 goals and 16 assists whereas performing most of the season without support and rather creating chances for others I still think he deserves credit for that.

http://www.eplindex....-analysis.html#


Torres shot 46 times this season, you must admit he shall have the ball to shoot. His chance conversion is far from being ridiculous with 13%. If you compare the amount of Clear Cut Chances (CCC, when the player is in in 1vs1 with the GK and expected to score) he received, just 11, he still has a 36% of conversion



Penaltys are considered as CCC so it explains the good percentage of the players taking them (RVP, Rooney, Dempsey, Yakubu, Adebuywhore, Lampard...). It's interesting to look at CCC conversion ratio for players who don't take penaltys such as Steven Fletcher who has rather terrific finishing stats






Although there were large parts of the season where he was getting incredibly poor service and not scoring as a result of that. That still doesn't cover up for the fact that Torres himself did deserve some blame, not to the scale he received but definitely some. You can look as early as the WC to prove that, he had some of the best service available; but still couldn't score or even look close to scoring (he may have been recovering from an injury, but thats no excuse imo, recovering from injuries is part of being a professional footballer). The latter end of the season further highlights that he was his own enemy at times, the players didn't change from Jan' to the end of the season. But he started performing well and scoring goals, he gained confidence (RDM definitely deserves credit here) and looked a little more like the player we'd last seen in 09-10.






Torres is a flop...we must go for falcao , cavani ,higuain....we cn rely on him nxt season..wat dd he do when drogba was at african cup of nation? Nthng he is a flop 50mil..






Not going to happen. Abramovich clearly wants him to be the No.1 and signing the likes of Falcao will definitely prevent that from happening. I like Falcao a lot as a player and imo he's the best striker in the world right now. But we can't turn into Man City and just buy players irrationally. We have Torres, thats not exactly a bad thing; I can guarantee you most fans would love to have him in their team (even now). Not to mention the fact the we have some great talents like Sturridge & Lukaku. So I don't think we should go for Falcao at this stage, anyhow the futures bright!

[dodojojo 510]

I can't access the Javi Martinez thread in the Transfer section so I'll put this here:

http://www.sportyou.es/blog/futbol/2012/06/05/javi-martinez-yo-era-del-atletico-por-torres-415042.html

“Por Torres, yo era del At. Madrid. Luego se fue al Liverpool y me hice del Liverpool. Y ahora soy un poco del Chelsea“.

Mata came partly because of Torres. Martinez is a Torres fanboy! Get on this Roman! I don't want to see Martinez at City.

[TacticalBlues 2,817]

Torres has to be properly identified to be judged, like many other players.

You evoke the World Cup, you aren't trying to question Torres' inability to find his place in a team playing possession football that high on the pitch aren't you ? He likes to call the ball behind the defenders. The problem was double: he completely lacked rythm because he managed to come back from a knee injury in 3 months and was judged ready by the medical staff something like 10 days before the list unveiled by Del Bosque. If you add that the problem he always had with the Spain National Team of his playing style not suited to the game plan and the result is this completely missed World Cup.

If we summarize Torres' season:

Assigned physical and fitness coach in July, growing slowly to perform very well at the end of the pre-season (game vs Rangers)

Good start of the season, not necessarly a lot of service (only when Mata or Anelka in a central support position) but he did leave his upfront position to touch the ball.

Then when things got wrong he was benched by Villas Boas something line 15 consecutive games for Drogba, who, to be honest, was faaar from performing during that period

When he regained his place at the Boxing Day, his performances were excellent in the play but still no goals. He played in a kind of attacking midfielder role and created chances and chances for his team mates.

I've an immense respect for what Di Matteo was as a player and his whole contribution to Chelsea FC. But we definitely cannot give him limitless credit for what he managed to change. He just came back to an intended game plan in what it means in terms of mutual covering, team balance (Mikel's role), space between players and lines, free kicks strategy and a system everybody wanted because it was the one we were informally using (Mata leaving his wing and playing as a CAM).

Then it became evident that the offensive animation was planned and effective, with the results on Torres quickly scoring goals. SOme seem to tend to think there's something of a voodoo influence on him whereas the mathematical process showed several times since Torres is a Chelsea player that when he has support and deliveries which he's suited*, then he scores.

I don't trust the whole anti-AVB campaign or revolt from the players as I don't think Di Matteo is a genuine master in terms of communication and giving confidence to his squad. He's not a manager who speaks a lot. The individual meetings with the players when he took charge did have an impact, we cannot deny it. But it's like when someone new comes, every player like to hear what is expected from him. I mean there's nothing extraordinary in that process

*:

-> We already knew it, I mean when you buy a player, he can expect you to put him in the proper conditions to shine. No matter of how much he cost, it's the basic process in evry football team.

-> Though Torres had not have those proper deliveries, he enlarged his palette to become a support striker and playing like he did never do at Liverpool. He has something like 7 or 8 assists in 3 years at Liverpool, he has 20 in 1 and a half season

Agree, the main problem with Torres though was his confidence. It affected important factors of his game. As a striker he should be mobile and try not to drop deep into flanks. A few games where he was even the lone striker he had the tendancy to drop deep. His service was terrible though so I can understand that aspect, and when your low on confidence it doesn't help. But recently, and the last two games in Spain you could see the confidence in his play. I'm hoping he has a good tournament, he has the service in Spain and coming back to Chelsea he may have it here too.