Torres worship thread

[StevieG08]

If he keeps scoring goals like the second one against Porto the other night he will go on to be a legend and you can't put a price on legends!

[carrsim]

in a slight contrast contrast. don't you just love the way rafa doesn't get carried away?


RAFA BENITEZ today spoke of his delight at the way Fernando Torres has settled in at Anfield - but insisted the Spanish striker still needs to improve.

Torres has scored 10 goals in just 12 starts for Liverpool since joining the club in a record breaking £20m deal in the summer.

With Liverpool’s scouting department having compiled a detailed dossier on Torres prior to his move from Atletico Madrid, Benitez is not at all surprised at the way he has adjusted to life in the Premiership.

But the Reds boss says Torres will only be able to fulfil his huge potential if he continues to work hard on the training pitch.

He said: “It is clear that he must improve.

“He has given a lot to us but he must improve and he knows this. But the main thing for me is his mentality is really good, it is really positive and I know he will try to improve.

“He needs to train on specific things, change two or three details and also work on his strengths.

“We are not really surprised at the way Fernando has settled in because we were talking before we decided to sign him and we were talking about his pace, his physical strength and mentally.

“We knew that he had a very good character – so we were aware of all that. He wants to be successful here. He is really happy with the city and the supporters and everything so I think that the key is that we knew the player before.

“We had a list of strikers and we were looking for one with the right mentality for England, it’s not just about quality.

“Also, the fact that Fernando is just 23 means that in terms of business and performance we have signed the right player.”

Pepe Reina is in no doubt that Torres will continue to impress in a red shirt.

“Fernando is a great player,” he said. “All of us know that because we see it in training every day, so it is no surprise for us.

“I said when we signed Fernando that he can score 20-25 goals for us this season and I have seen nothing since to make me change my mind.”

[AFII]

He need to train on one on ones with the keeper. I have lost count on how many of them he missed so far.

[Red_hot]

I love him.

Him and Garcia......

[Shaggy]

"It is clear that he must improve"

Mental.

Okay he's got some improving to do, but Rafa is one hard taskmaster.

He's settled in way better than I hoped. 10 goals already? He'll be some player when he "settles in".

Many of us have said it - you get a buzz when you know he's playing. You get a buzz when he gets the ball, and what a ****ing buzz when he scores.

As I've said on countless occasions - he makes me feel like a 12 year old kid again. I can't give him any higher praise than that.

[Parm]

Hopefully the owners will have watched Torres and realised what 18mil can get you can give Rafa the funds in Jan to sign more quality.

[cobain]

If I was a woman, I'd suck his balls

[sonsofthedesert]

I'd suck his balls

[Joe Le Toff]

Many of us have said it - you get a buzz when you know he's playing. You get a buzz when he gets the ball, and what a ****ing buzz when he scores.

As I've said on countless occasions - he makes me feel like a 12 year old kid again. I can't give him any higher praise than that

Spot on

[Nic83]

[dww]

It will always get confused cos half the time the lazy journos are having figures quotes in Euros, not Sterling.

€26m is about £18.5. Which I think was the deal. Plus Luis, who was worth about £4m. So I reckon all in he 'owes us' about £22.5. Which is a cracking piece of business.

He owes us under £23 and he hasn't paid it back - tight ****er

[carrsim]

"It is clear that he must improve"

Mental.

Okay he's got some improving to do, but Rafa is one hard taskmaster.

In fact, I’m more surprised when Rafa comes out and pays me a compliment. I know how he works now. He’s the complete opposite to Houllier. If Liverpool win and I stick away a dead good hat-trick and do ninety-eight things right and two wrong, Rafa will pull me sharpish. ‘Stevie, about those two mistakes,’ he will say, and then he’ll speak to me for ten minutes about them. Nothing about the hat-trick or the ninety-eight good things! Rafa will never, ever mention the goals, the tackles, the passes. Initially, I was gobsmacked by this. ‘Doesn’t the gaffer like me?’ I thought. ‘Has he got something against me?’ Friends ask me whether Rafa’s cold attitude pisses me off, but it honestly doesn’t. That indifference is one of the million reasons why Rafa is top man in the coaching world. He doesn’t like giving out pats on the back. Sometimes, though, I need that little bit of love, that reassurance during a bad patch. Recently, I’ve detected a slight mellowing in the boss, a willingness to think about giving a compliment. But even then it’s done in such a low-key way I almost don’t realize Rafa has made it.

After the FA Cup final, Liverpool threw a party for the players and families, and Rafa was there. I wandered across to him, buzzing with our victory. As I walked towards him, my mind was full of one hope. Go on, just say it, Rafa. Just say, ‘Well done, Stevie.’ For once. Would he? No chance! Our chat once again revolved around things that went wrong on the day; it was nothing to do with how well Liverpool had done to get back into one of the greatest FA Cup finals ever. ‘Next season,’ Rafa kept saying. ‘Next season, we have to do better in the Premiership.’ Typical Rafa, always looking forward, never revelling in the moment like me and Carra. Rafa never even mentioned my two goals. Top goals, great goals, rescue-act goals. Not a squeak! I smacked in twenty-three goals that season for
Liverpool – not bad for a midfielder. Any other manager would have been all over me. Not Liverpool’s gaffer. ‘You never hit twenty-five,’ he remarked. ‘You missed the target by two!’ But, a smile! Amazing! Rafa actually smiled! Thank God. I wandered back to the lads, thinking, ‘Jesus, that was a compliment off Rafa.’

There I was, on top of the world after the FA Cup final and having scored twenty-three goals over the season, and there was Rafa bringing me back down to earth. Even his tiny compliment was an encouragement to improve. But that’s Rafa, always challenging me to push myself higher. Go for twenty-five goals. Go for thirty. Don’t relax. And Rafa has helped my performances go to another level. He’s such a hungry manager. ‘Small details, Steven, small details’ is one of his biggest shouts. Leave nothing to chance, even the tiniest detail. I’m getting to like this Spaniard more and more, and my aim is still to get a ‘well done’ off him before I retire. But then, if he gives me a ‘well done’, I might need treatment and a long lie-down. My legs would go all wobbly, like that French presenter girl who fainted at the Champions League draw when I was handing the cup back. And it wouldn’t be just me who would keel over if Rafa dished out a compliment. Every player in the Liverpool squad would need serious attention off Doc Waller if Rafa went soft on us. His hardness drives me on. I must crack it, though. I want to deliver in games to impress Rafa. I dream of that ‘well done’!

rafa
stevie

fernando will get used to it

[AFII]

I still remember when Cisse had scored a last minute goal and Rafa walked up to him and started to tell him what he could have done better in the game

Cisse looked totally

[carrsim]

I still remember when Cisse had scored a last minute goal and Rafa walked up to him and started to tell him what he could have done better in the game

Cisse looked totally

and when baros scored a hattrick against palace. stood with him in the box pointing out which runs he should have made.

i'm not even sure its healthy to be that fanatical. good for LFC though

[Morph]

he said he does that, because it's easier for him to get his point across in the heat of the moment, after the match he may forget things, or not put the point across how he would like