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| Keeping Fernando Fit |
Fernando Jose Torres Sanz, 28, Spaniard and currently, Chelsea's only fit striker. After having a plethora of predatorial poachers last term in Didier Drogba, Salomon Kalou, Romelu Lukaku, Danny Sturridge and of course, Torres himself, Chelsea are left with only the latter duo this season, having released Drogba and Kalou and sending Lukaku on loan to West Brom. Sturridge is on the sidelines currently, with a hamstring injury. So, as Chelsea's solitary striker, frankly how important is the Spaniard's fitness?
Primarily speaking, you could raise an argument. Spain played the majority of the Euro 2012 with 6 midfielders, playing Fabregas a bit more upfront, and they won the trophy, didn't they? In our case, we could perfectly implement that, with our abundance of midfielders. With two of Mikel, Ramires, Lampard or even Romeu shielding the defence, Mata, Hazard and Marin or Moses up front, aiding our lone striker, Oscar. Fabregas is not a very physically intimidating figure and neither is Oscar, who actually is taller. His magical feints and trickery could be quite a handful for defenders, who are already clasping at straws to keep him at bay in his central midfield position.
But, that, my friends was the European Championships, this is the Premier League. With a reputation for being the most physically demanding league in Europe, England requires a striker that can boss defenders with his physicality. King Drogba was and Torres is a perfect example. It could not have been more obvious than against the Gunners - Torres shrugging off an equally physical Laurent Koscielny to score the opener. A striker less physical than Torres would definitely have not have been able to score such a goal or even put up a fight with Koscielny or any other towering, buff Premier League defender.
Moreover, Torres is in his prime now. Maybe not 'vintage' Torres all the way but definitely flashing more than mere cameos of his best moments. He's our top scorer this season, 6 in all competitions and 4 in the Premier League, out of 7 matches. Last season, around this time, Torres had scored 2 in 2, but right after his goal vs Swansea, got sent off, breaking his momentum. He returned and had to work harder to regain his goalscoring streak. An injury could do worse damage than a suspension, as it takes weeks of recovery, then rehab and then regaining match fitness, and finally the scoring touch. With a history of hamstring, ankle and back problems, the Chelsea med team, we hear, has been working hard with Torres so as to reduce his exhaustion while keeping injuries at bay at the same time. As our main targetman this season and firing on all guns, Torres and his form may just be the key to our exploits in the different competitions.
But if he does get injured, we can always turn to the defender-turned-striker Branislav Ivanovic, right?
Priya Ramesh
If he does get injured we could play Moses or even Piazon upfront. It won't be the same, but both offer some new variation to what Torres is doing.
ReplyDeleteAmazing write up Priya. I totally agree with all that you mentioned :)
ReplyDeleteWe seriously need to bring in another striker like Remy.
I don't believe so. Bringing Lukaku back from loan and integrating youngsters like Piazon and Bamford should suffice for attacking options.
DeleteGuys. I'm really getting fed up with Chelsea fans lately! Sell Torres,buy Falcao. It's all they say! £48mil is a waste of money on Falcao in my opinion. They say we are blind because of the love we have for Torres but it's obvious that they are blind. I can't believe people are so small minded,especially those who claim they have been supporters for years! I won't go into detail because I'm sure we all know what's currently happening with the squad.
ReplyDeleteyes, totally agree with you... can't stand plastic fans like that. just because Falcao scored a hat-trick against us, that doesn't mean buying him will help us dominate everything and solve all the problems in the world. if they can't even support our own players when they're out of form, why bother celebrating/supporting them when they score or are in top form? ridiculous. frankly, it makes me shameful to be a Chelsea fan at times...
DeleteThe problem is most of the people who want Torres out and Falcao in my opinion,has no real football experience. Whether that's at a profession or amateur level,it doesn't matter. I play football but it's not a career choice. It's just a local league here in my home town in South Africa. Players aint robots and should be managed well,especially the type of players they are. It was at the beginning of last season when I hit a dip in form that lasted almost 6 months. I'm not a striker,I'm an attacking midfielder but scoring goals and creating chances was my objectives. My situation can be related to Torres' when he joined Chelsea. When you have a dip in form,everything on the pitch goes bad for you,even team mates will hesitate to pass the ball to you. Look at the system Torres had to play in before the start of this season,a direct lump it up the field kind of style which wasn't suited to his style of play. Torres is finess and thrives from defence splitting passes and terrorising offside traps. The system has changed now and Torres has the type of playing style he craves but that doesn't mean he'll hit the ground running immediately. He'll have to find his goal scoring instinct,get his positioning skill sharpened and find the crucial confidence he deserves. It took me a while and quite a handfull of games to get back to top form when the style was changed back to what I enjoyed before and that's why I think people are too hard on El Nino. The squad is still in transition and gelling takes time so full form and players sharpness isn't quite there yet because the team chemistry isn't 100%. Mark my words Torres will maybe score about 15-20 goals,if not more,this season. But next season he'll be a beast once the players have a full season together behind them. Chelsea is still missing an important component and that's and effective deep laying playmaker for the double pivot. I'm sure Lampard will leave and we'll see a new signing or we could see De Bruyne used in that position. He's playing as a number 6 for Bremen,deep in midfield feeding forward running attackers long balls. These plastic fans are impatient!
ReplyDeleteMany people don't understand football. Chelsea is no longer a small club for training non talented players or practising to gain form. Remember we bought Torres for £50M, what do you think was the objective. The Torres project is no longer as effective as it was suppose to be but because Chelsea is a loving club, we decided to manage him. But it is business time again, and management must be ready to take those hard decision that so many can't. They must reach a consensus that benefits everyone e.g Torres can be a better player if he changes environment or goes to a club where he can get all the game time to work on himself. I feel more for Maluoda than for Torres, even more for our home grown players but back to business. Torres knows what to do to keep his job and about loosing form, the truth is that sometimes it doesn't come back.
ReplyDeleteThe objective? Ofcourse it was to score goals and lots of them. One thing people don't understand is that you can't just buy any player just because he performs brilliantly. The Chelsea board or rather Roman made a bad mistake when they/he bought Torres without doing their/his homework. You get different types of strikers,they're not all the same. Look at Aguero or Tevez who are pacey and very skilled smaller strikers who most makes their own goals. Now look at Drogba who's a power player who relies on long balls and crosses. Now look at Torres who is a finess player who relies on through passes and thrives from his attacking midfielders to open up space for him. These are all different types of strikers. Chelsea shouldn't have bought him because the team wasn't set up for him but now the team is and now he has to find his true form again after 18 months. He's already improving and scoring goals. Why do you think players like Hazard,Marin and Oscar was bought? Was Mata just a random buy? No I don't think so. It all started when he was bought last season. Hazard and co. was the final pieces in the puzzle for the attacking third. The Champions League victory was crucial for the arrivals of our new attacking players. I'm just concerned at how people see football and why they can't see the new style of play at Chelsea,especially what certain players can offer on the pitch.
ReplyDeleteInteresting piece, and then you are so right. But I would not like to go by the idea that our new purchase were made for Torres, rather I would prefer if we see that as a requirement for our new system/ philosophy. Torres is not a new purchase, neither is he one of the youngest players in Chelsea. I believe Torres is unconvincing and I don't understand what makes him feel he can be the main striker of a club like Chelsea. His CV is no longer so good and he didn't complain at the Euros when they played a midfielder in his position. The only logic here is that Torres has until january to convince the board he can do the job in a world class and clinical style. We all know everyone does their job at Chelsea especially Abramovich.
DeleteOr till saturday to prove plastic fans wrong,and till next week to be branded funny names like 'unconvincing','incosistent',and so on and so forth and so fifth,and what is funnier,while scoring!plastic fans like.........
ReplyDeleteI totaly agree with you. Plastic fans is what they are!! It's only Falcao and Falcao, I'm getting fed up with these "falcao fans". Why don't they support athletic, so they could love Falcao as much as they want.
ReplyDeletePlease Torres, you need to silent these plastic fans!
Falcao no, Torres yes.
I meant, "Torres, you need to silence these plastic fans!". Sorry.
ReplyDeleteIt's like they want the guy to score 40-50 goals this season.
ReplyDeleteLONG LIVE EL NINO.... I'll always say this as long as he is ours and remember guys HE's OUR CHELSEA NUMBER 9. Bringing another world class striker wouldn't do good. Instead of Falcao(£48million???), Ba is what i would prefer(he knows PL) to give some rest to Torres. He has the ability to score at any given time with perfect passes(taking his goal against Reading). He is ready to hit the back of the net. Bringing Ba during this Winter transfer, would be a boost for us upfront with Oscar, Mata, Hazard behind him. KTBFFH!!!
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