Originally posted by cannotmakeit
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His contract would have just expired then.
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What a player he was for usOriginally posted by dom9 View PostHis contract would have just expired then.Comment
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Yes he was a very special playerComment
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Jose Mourinho says it is Fernando Torres' "responsibility" to make the most of Chelsea's support as the striker bids to return to peak form.
"I will try. That's my job. With him and with everybody else," he exclusively tells BBC Sport's Richard Conway in Bangkok.
"But, at the end of the day, we can do everything to a player but it's up to them. It is their responsibility and Fernando has to cope with that."Comment
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Hahahaha, Mourinho is going to kick Torres out of the club so hard he'll probably spin round the world and end up back at Stamford Bridge.
One tit for another.
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Unlucky Fernando.Comment
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go minions
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Rumours on Twitter today that we're looking to take Torres back as a replacement for Suarez.
Why do people bother in making such things up?!Comment
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Probably already been posted but Carra delivers a straight taking view on The Final Days of Fernando...
I remember the day Fernando Torres first whacked me. It was during a typically competitive training session at Melwood, just after he had become Liverpool’s record signing.
We both went for a high ball but such was his determination to win the header, nothing was going to stop him. He didn’t think twice about leaving me on the floor. Had the roles been reversed, I’d have picked him up and apologised for being overly exuberant.
But Fernando didn’t bat an eyelid and carried on regardless. Do you know what? I thought it was brilliant. Here was a winner, someone who wanted to go to war. He cost Liverpool £26million but, in the summer of 2007, he was everything we were looking for.
Strong, fast and clinical, Torres was not the most technically gifted striker I have played with but he came alive on match day. With big open spaces to run into, he terrified defenders. He was fearless, too. On his Anfield debut against Chelsea, he laughed off John Terry’s attempts to intimidate him.
One game away to Marseille in December 2007 stands out. We needed a win to progress in the Champions League but the outcome was never in doubt once Torres waltzed past a couple of defenders to score a superb solo goal.
A little more than six months later, Torres conjured up the winning goal for Spain at Euro 2008. He had cemented his burgeoning reputation. If a goal needed scoring, you would look no further than Fernando.
Which brings us to Monday night at Old Trafford. When Torres was left out of the Chelsea line-up against Manchester United, I immediately said: ‘That’s the end’. To be overlooked for Andre Schurrle, simply because the German winger has more mobility, was a damning indictment.
Being on the bench for big Chelsea games is nothing new for Torres — think about the Champions League final in 2012, the trip to Juventus that cost Roberto Di Matteo his job — but this feels like he has reached the point of no return at Stamford Bridge.
The Torres you see now bears no similarity to the one who dazzled during his first two seasons at Anfield. Consider this: in 102 Premier League appearances for Liverpool, he scored 65 goals. For Chelsea, 94 games have yielded a meagre 15. However, he has been a regular scorer in Europe — as he stylishly proved again on Friday night.
Yet it goes deeper. We knew when Torres left Liverpool in January 2011 that Chelsea were not getting a £50m striker. Injuries had started to take a toll on him — he suffered significant groin and knee problems during the 2009-10 campaign — and he had lost a yard of pace.
There were other things. His attitude, for instance, dropped alarmingly. You could tell from his body language in a pre-match warm-up what type of performance you were going to get. If Fernando was going through the motions, a few of us would look at each other and say: ‘Here we go again’.
If he then started arguing with the referee after a couple of minutes, you knew you would be in for a four out of 10 performance from him. The days when he was at least a nine out of 10 became increasingly rare.
As the night in Marseille stood out for all the right reasons, a trip to Goodison in October 2010 was memorable for all the wrong reasons. The minimum expected of a Liverpool player against Everton is total desire and commitment but Fernando wasn’t interested.
I played a couple of balls into space for him in the first half. They were not great passes by any means but, as I was under pressure, I needed him to give me an option. He made no attempt to chase them.
That was the final straw. I lost my temper and we ended up exchanging words. Whether he was frustrated with the state of the club — we had just been close to administration and failed to qualify for the Champions League — or whether he felt he was too good for us was impossible to know. It always felt like he was an outsider.
So when he eventually left, I had no particular wish to see him do well but I do respect he has lifted the Champions League, FA Cup and Europa League with Chelsea and added another European Championship to his World Cup winner’s medal.
Something, however, has never felt right about his time there. Torres has seen off four managers — Carlo Ancelotti, Andre Villas-Boas, Di Matteo and Rafa Benitez — but there is little chance he will do the same to Jose Mourinho.
Mourinho’s decision not to play Torres at Old Trafford, coupled with his signing of Samuel Eto’o, should leave nobody in doubt about his place in the pecking order. Surely now Torres has to think about salvaging his reputation.
There is only one way to do that. This has been a summer when players have pressed for moves, so wouldn’t it be refreshing if Torres actually said to Chelsea: ‘This hasn’t worked, I need to leave. I need to play.’
If he were to join Valencia, Atletico Madrid or Sevilla, just to become a regular starter, I’m positive people would have great respect for him. Should he end up staying at Chelsea, though, one thing is certain: more miserable nights beckon.
This is not about Chelsea cutting their losses. This is about Torres forcing a move to revive his career.A lot of people run a race to see who is fastest. I run to see who has the most guts, who can punish himself into exhausting pace, and then at the end, punish himself even more.Comment
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Ouch, clearly no love lost there.Comment
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Carra is a fantastic analyst of the game. A much needed breath of fresh air in an industry filled with crap and cliches.Are we winning?Comment
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Carra spot on with that."Its not about the long ball or the short ball, its about the right ball." Bob PaisleyComment
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The only gracious way to accept an insult is to ignore it; if you can't ignore it, top it; if you can't top it, laugh at it; if you can't laugh at it, it's probably deserved.Comment
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Is right Carra, tear into him lad!
His latest act of petulance didnt go unnoticed either with that despicable challenge on ex Spanish team mate Javi Martinez.Comment
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