Is Torres Back??

Torres celebrating his goal against RKC Genk in a Champion's League tie.

    The £50m Chelsea striker Fernando Torres managed to grab only his 3rd goal in the Premier League this season after a 6 month drought. The season started brightly for Torres, getting goals against Manchester United and Swansea but receiving a red card in the Swansea game allowed Drogba to take Torres’ place. Torres then managed to grab 2 goals in a Champion’s League home tie against RKC Genk. However his form dramatically dropped and AVB lost faith with the striker. Quite often Torres was an 85^th minute substitution which must have really dropped his confidence.

    AVB was then sacked after a disappointing 1-0 loss to West Bromwich Albion and former Chelsea midfielder and ex WBA manager Roberto Di Matteo was put in temporary charge. Di Matteo had plenty of faith in getting the low in confidence striker saying “it doesn’t matter who gets the goals, Torres has been involved” which I agreed with, before the Aston Villa game Torres only had 2 Premier League goals but had 8 assists.

    Torres was constantly picked in the starting XI by Di Matteo and that faith in him soon led to Torres getting 2 goals and an assist in an FA Cup Quarter Final home tie against a feisty Leicester and was rightly named ‘Man of the Match’. Torres got his first with a side footed finish and then grabbed a second with a header from a corner. Torres was named man of the match and showed signs of getting back to his ‘old’ self. In the next match against league contenders Manchester City Torres showed a supreme amount of positives before being brought off to his dismay. However Di Matteo was resting him for an important Champion’s League away tie at Benfica’s Stadium of Light.

Torres powering past to get the crucial assist for Kalou's goal.

     Benfica, a team full of tacticians, playmakers and goal scorers were a dangerous threat to Chelsea throughout. Torres’ pace helped him in the match and some off the ball movements made by him were similar to that of when he was playing for Liverpool.  Torres played an influential part in the game and with 15 minutes to go Torres broke clear down the right wing crossing for Kalou to stab home the crucial away goal. What I had noticed after Kalou had scored Torres punched the air in ecstasy, which to me showed he had the desire to praise himself for what he had done. Was Torres getting back to his best?

    The next game was an away match against a deeply saddened Aston Villa after they heard the news of Stilian Petrov diagnosed with acute leukaemia (all our thoughts are with him and I wish him a healthy recovery). Torres started the game brightly and with David Luiz playing him through after a couple of minutes Torres had a chance to get a goal but Shay Given denied him. Then in the 9th minute neat play from Chelsea led to Mata playing a pass to Torres who had virtually an open goal but a last ditch block on the line by Warnock prevented the striker from scoring but Warnock’s block went to Sturridge who couldn’t miss. Watching the reaction of Torres was even more encouraging, he lifted his arms in celebration something he wouldn’t have done 6 months ago.

The moment Torres broke his 6 month Premier League goal drought.

    When Ivanovic got his first goal from a corner Torres punched the air in delight and I was thinking he has to be full of confidence to even celebrate like that without even scoring. That action was repeated when he flicked on a corner onto Ivanovic’s head to make it 3-2. The sheer delight in Torres was wonderful to see and I was wondering whether it would be his day to get a goal. Surely enough it was, a quick counter attack led by Daniel Sturridge who broke into the Villa half and squared the ball to Torres. He took one touch and fired the ball crisply into the bottom left hand corner, Torres ran off celebrating and you could see the joy in his face after such a torrid time he has had. Yet again Torres deserved ‘Man of the Match.’  Match of the Day summed up his goal perfectly saying “6 months ago Torres would’ve passed across the goal for someone else to score” which I believe is 100% true. The confidence of Torres earlier in the season must have been at an all time low but now he seems to be full of self belief and has now recognised his own ability.

    Can Torres now push on and help Chelsea get that all important Champion’s League place? The way Torres has been playing under Di Matteo has to be promising and I really hope that he can get back to his best because if he can Chelsea will be a real threat. What I did notice is that the front three of Mata, Sturridge and Torres is perfect as they all seem to be on the same wave length. Drogba must be thinking he might not get a game now if Torres has come up trump at an important time in the season.