Fernando Torres : The End

By Guest Author
10 years Ago

When Nicolas Anelka slid the ball through to Fernando Torres on a rainy day in late April 2011, Chelsea fans watching across the globe held their collective breath. It had been 734 goalless minutes for the A?50,000,000 man ai??i?? at the time, the most expensive player in British transfer history ai??i?? and with every passing week, the notion that he would not score for his new club before the end of the season seemed more plausible. The torrential rain had all but washed away the atmosphere and intensity of a London derby against West Ham at Stamford Bridge, but a few moments after that Anelka pass, there was pandemonium in the stands.

Torres latched on to the through ball, and in a bid to get a shot away, pushed the ball away from his body. In a rare instant of luck ai??i?? moments which seem to have eluded him ever since ai??i?? the ball got stuck in the sludge in front of Robert Greenai??i??s goal, completely fooling the defenders that were on Torresai??i?? case. The Spaniard was first to react. With a sharp turn, he got to the ball ahead of his man and finished coolly in the bottom corner with his left foot. As he slid across the turf with his arms raised in triumph ai??i?? a celebration that, in retrospect, was far too grandiose for a goal that would not seem out of place in Sunday league football ai??i?? Stamford Bridge erupted like never before. Fernando Torres was ai???backai??i??.

Torresai??i?? fall from grace has been as steep and as dramatic as any other in modern football. From a striker that could genuinely lay claim to being amongst the best in the world, to a striker that is now the football worldai??i??s favorite target for a joke. Innumerable theories – many of them valid – have been floated about to explain what could possibly have gone wrong for Torres at Chelsea. It is difficult to pinpoint exactly one or two of them as the main reason for his decline ai??i?? whether it was his loss of pace, Chelseaai??i??s style of play, the pressure of his price tag or the astonishing drop in confidence he seemed to suffer as one moment of ignominy followed another with alarming frequency. Perhaps it was an amalgamation of these factors, and more, that caused him to flop in the manner he has at the Bridge. One way or another, after three and a half years, one hundred and seventy-two appearances and more moments of humiliation than of glory, it seems as though Fernando Torresai??i?? Chelsea career is finally at an end.

When dissecting Torresai??i?? Chelsea career and reflecting on how it all went so horribly wrong for El Nino, the obvious place to start seems to be to consider whether or not the manager at the time, Carlo Ancelotti, actually wanted the Spaniard as part of his squad. Ancelotti had had a record-breaking 2009-2010 season, winning the League and Cup double with Chelsea who, in the process, scored an astonishing 142 goals. A three-pronged attack consisting of Didier Drogba, Nicolas Anelka and Florent Malouda helped Chelsea pillage 103 goals in the league, a Premier League record that stands unbeaten to this day. Despite the poor run of results at the end of 2010, Chelseaai??i??s forward-line was evidently not in particular need of reinforcement. It was reportedly Chelseaai??i??s billionaire owner, Roman Abramovich, who personally pushed for the move and convinced Torres to commit his future to the Blues.

Signing a player for A?50 million pounds on a whim of the owner meant that, for better or worse, Ancelotti had to play him in the team. Given that Anelka, Drogba and Malouda had developed a nigh-telepathic understanding between them, the arrival of Torres was a disruptive force. Ancelottiai??i??s favored 4-3-3 had no real place for both Torres and Didier Drogba ai??i?? center-forwards used to being the focal point of their teamsai??i?? attacks. Not only did Ancelotti have to worry about catching up to a very consistent Manchester United side, he also had to figure out a system that could get the best out of his two main strikers. That Torres did not score until his 14th game for Chelsea made matters worse, with the Italian coach having to find different ways to deflect the focus of the worldai??i??s media away from the Spaniardai??i??s goal-scoring woes. Chelsea finished the season without silverware, with Fernando Torres getting just one goal in his 18 appearances for the club. What now stands out as the single worst decision by Chelsea in the Roman era was arguably one of the main reasons for the next one in line ai??i?? the unceremonious dismissal of the double-winning Ancelotti in the summer of 2011.

It canai??i??t have helped Torresai??i?? cause either, that he has had to play under five different managers in his three-and-a-half year spell at Chelsea. In a bid to play more attractive football, Andres Villas-Boas was brought in by Chelsea to replace Carlo Ancelotti in June 2011. The young Portuguese manager sought to make his mark on English football, and promptly moved away from Chelseaai??i??s customary 4-3-3 to a 4-2-3-1 formation. One of Torresai??i?? key weapons at Liverpool, along with his finishing, was his pace. Chelseaai??i??s game that now involved building up from the back and through midfield meant that a majority of teams sat back against the Blues, not allowing Torres much space to run into behind the defence. In addition, Chelsea did not possess central midfielders of the ilk of Steven Gerrard or Xabi Alonso – both players who possessed the passing range, which enabled them to quickly release Torres with a ball in behind the defence during transitions.

The change meant that Torres often found himself playing with his back to goal rather than running into space. That is not to say that Torres could never have adapted to the system. However, the crucial sharpness and burst of pace that made defenders think twice about getting tight to Torres seemed missing. It has been hypothesized that the Spaniard was never the same following the knee surgery he underwent at the end of the 2009-10 season, and that he was already on the decline, physically, when Chelsea signed him for a British transfer record fee. Whilst is it impossible to quantify how much pace or sharpness he had lost, they could well have been factors – exacerbated by a shot confidence ai??i?? that contributed towards Torresai??i?? decline. Villas-Boasai??i?? tactical rigidity and poor results meant that he was sacked half-way through the season and replaced by ex-Chelsea player Roberto Di Matteo.

Di Matteo had an incredible end to the 2011-12 season, winning the FA Cup and Chelseaai??i??s first-ever Champions League. Torres, however, did not play a major part in either. Chelseaai??i??s defensive tactics, particularly in the Champions League, meant that Didier Drogba was the preferred choice up front ai??i?? the Ivorianai??i??s ability in the air and with his back to goal being far superior to that of his Spanish counterpart. Torres, understandably, felt like his contribution wasnai??i??t significant towards the end of the season. Indeed, Torres said after the Champions League win,

I want to win the Champions League again, but in a different way. At times I was thinking, ai???I will sit here on the bench. I wonai??i??t make any noise. I donai??i??t even want to play.ai???

Drogbaai??i??s departure from Chelsea following that heroic performance in Munich meant that Fernando Torres was now Chelseaai??i??s main man. A reunion with former boss Rafa Benitez after the sacking of Di Matteo in November 2012, did get something of a ai???good runai??i?? out of El Nino. A regular in the side, Torres scored consistently in the run up to Chelseaai??i??s Europa League triumph, including a superb goal in the final against Benfica. However, that has proved to be another false dawn. Jose Mourinho returned to Chelsea in the summer of 2013 and recruited Samuel Etoai??i??o to be his main man. Throughout the season, the Portuguese boss kept alluding to the fact that he lacked strikers ai??i?? something that could not have helped Torresai??i?? confidence. Confidence is probably what it ultimately boils down to. The pressure of his price-tag combined with the incredibly slow start to his Chelsea career ostensibly weighed heavily on Torresai??i?? mind. The lack of confidence along with niggling injuries throughout his time at Chelsea, and a lack of goals meant that he was stuck in this vicious cycle of poor form, injury and loss of confidence.

Despite all this, there are a few precious moments of joy that Fernando Torres shared with Chelsea fans. The last-minute goal at the Nou Camp to knock out Barcelona and send Chelsea through to the Champions League final will be etched in the memory of the Bluesai??i?? faithful for eternity. So too, the last minute winner at Stamford Bridge to down Manchester City, causing Jose Mourinho to quite literally jump into the stands behind the managerai??i??s dug-out. That miss at Old Trafford against Manchester United was quite painful at the time. Now, perhaps, with Torres on his way out and United in disarray, Chelsea fans are in a position to look back at it with fond nostalgia. If nothing else, Fernando Torres serves as a lesson to the Chelsea board and Roman Abramovich. Indeed, the lesson might already have been learnt, a marked change in Chelseaai??i??s transfer policy following the Torres transfer, an indication. Perhaps now, Roman will think twice about spending copious amounts on his personal favorites.

It is hard to imagine Chelsea fans being upset to see the back of Fernando Torres. Indeed, if social media is even a half-accurate gauge, the level of excitement at his departure eclipses that of his arrival. In a new league, with a new challenge at AC Milan ai??i?? a club whose decline has been at least as tragic as Torresai??i?? ai??i?? perhaps El Nino will find the success and joy that has deserted him during his time in London.

Chelsea now have Diego Costa to lead their attack ai??i?? signed for a sensible A?32million ai??i?? and a returning Didier Drogba. Manchester United have just broken the British transfer record by signing Angel di Maria for A?59.7 million. It seems as though, at long last, Chelsea and British football are ready to move on. When bidding farewell, however, it is hard not to cast a wistful glance at the Torres of old, the Torres of Anfield ai??i?? the world-class striker that ran rings around the likes of Nemanja Vidic and Fabio Cannavaro ai??i?? and wonder what might have been.

AdiA?s y buena suerte, Nando.

~ written by Guest Author Malhar Bhadhbhade

Categories: Chelsea FC, English Premier League, Features
Tags: Ancelotti Chelsea FC Torres

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