Chelsea manager, Andre Villas-Boas, will be aware of the fact that http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Fernando-Torres-c13707 has only scored two goals this season, should they cut their losses or hold on?
When Russian millionaire and Chelsea owner, Roman Abramovich, broke the transfer record on deadline day, eleven months ago to bring Spanish World Cup winning striker, Fernando Torres, to Chelsea, many hailed it as a coup.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Liverpool-c39809 fans were left heartbroken and Chelsea fans had a new hero wearing their side’s number nine shirt. It has been almost a year and the Blues fans are still wondering why the striker who cost a cool £50-million cannot find the back of the net.
In the beginning pundits and fans alike were not concerned with Torres’s slow start, pinning the lack of goals to the fact that the talented striker needed time to settle in and adjust to his new teammates and different style of play. Days turned to weeks and slowly but steadily the criticism became increasingly more common.
The new season brought with it new hopes and promise, yet instead of things falling into place it has been a case of more of the same. In 13 appearances so far this season Torres has only managed a return of two goals.
To be fair most of those appearances have been as a substitute, yet the fact that he cannot make Andre Villas-Boas’s starting line-up should tell everyone everything they need to know.
If one was to look at the cause of the forwards dip in form, then he or she needs to go all the way back to the season leading up to the World Cup. Torres opted to go ahead with a surgery to treat an injury so he could be fit for the premier tournament.
It seems that El http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Nino-c28051 was just never the same after that, as he lost that extra yard of pace that made him such a deadly striker and set him apart from all the rest.
Spending more time warming the bench than running on the field it would not surprise everyone if Chelsea were to put the striker on sale in January and cut their losses. However, not everyone is an expert and not everyone is as quick to panic.
There is an old saying about form being temporary and class being permanent and no one can deny that the Spanish striker is a class act.
Even after the injury Torres showed glimpses of his earlier brilliance, albeit, on a much less frequent scale. In his previous start against Fulham he controlled a cross field pass brilliantly on his chest before sending the ball on its way to goal.
Whether it was bad luck or some superb goal keeping, the ball never made it past the keeper and it pretty much summed up the Blues number nine’s time at http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Chelsea-c38786.
He puts in the effort yet it seems the results have not followed. He seems to be caught in a downward spiral, with each mis-controlled ball, shot off-target and failed dribble only pushing him further down.
In that case, Andre Villas-Boas’s move to bench him for a few games and start him once all of that was out of his system seems rather shrewd. It almost paid off had Torres only had a bit of luck on his side.
The Chelsea manager may not look like it, but he seems to understand how to handle the striker and one can expect him to be near his best sooner rather than later. All he needs is that one goal.
Selling him now could prove to be a big mistake, but come the end of the season that might change.
Disclaimer: the views and opinions expressed in this article are the writer’s own and do not reflect the editorial policy of Bettor.com
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