Fernando Torres of Chelsea
Fernando Torres was once a name that made defenders and goalkeepers in the English Premier League shake in their boots. In the last 24 months the man that was once the fearsome €œEl Nino€ and €œLiverpool€™s No.€ has had a rather rough run of luck.
His massive 50 million pound move to Chelsea from Liverpool in the middle of a pivotal season for both club€™s seemed like a knife in the back to the fans that have once adored him, and a massively loud victory for the Blues€™ side of London.
However, all that is glitter does not always glow as Torres endured a long road back to what appears to be his best form in over two years. His first 18 months with Chelsea saw him only score 12 goals in 67 matches across all competitions. To put in perspective the gulf in quality that had seemed to have emerged, at Liverpool he had been the fastest Red in history to reach 50 goals doing so in 72 matches.
Additionally Torres had been plagued by another issue at Chelsea, what appeared to be the curse of Didier Drogba on any striker that wanted to claim the top spot in the pecking order. It did not matter that the Ivory Coast international was in his 30€²s, his power and knack for goal never diminished and Torres was never able to stake a claim.
In what is remembered as perhaps the worst goal miss of the 2011/12 season, Torres has missed an early wide open net against Manchester United for Chelsea during the opening matches of their campaign and it seemed only to pile on the lack of confidence in the player.
But in the end that was 2011/12 and a season that started rough for the player still saw him finally realize a dream by winning the UEFA Champions League, despite his desire to have been a much bigger part he was happy to win the most coveted trophy in European club football.
The task at hand for Torres now is to continue on in 2012/13 as the top man at Chelsea and so far without the shadow of Drogba over him he has appeared to be back to almost himself. A golden boot winning performance for Spain at the 2012 UEFA European Championship looks to have done the same for his as his 2008 UEFA European Championship winning goal against Germany did, restore his faith in himself.
With Chelsea heading into their next massively important London Derby of the season he gets the chance to once again prove he is the man to lead the line in big games, he also has a chance to put on over on another of his former managers in Spurs boss Andre Villas-Boas.
During his six matches for Liverpool against Tottenham Torres scored four goals in four games for a record of three wins and a draw. In the two matches that he did not score they were held to a draw and were beaten.
So far with Chelsea Torres has faced Tottenham five times, but in three of the games he only spent a combined 35 minutes on the pitch as a late second half substitute. However, his record again shines with two victories, two draws and only one loss.
A combined record of 5-4-2 at least means if he is in the game the Blues have a pretty good chance. With four goals in seven league fixtures so far this season he is also likely to have an opportunity to put his side up and continue to prove that Chelsea indeed has a storm brewing with €œEl Nino€ returning to form in what is likely to be the most important of his career to date.
Seeing how Torres matches up against Jan Vertonghen will also be interesting. Torres has the ability to post up against a defender and break a trap and it will be key for him to be able to break through on runs will allow him his one touch shots that were once his bread and butter.
Without Scott Parker in the first team for Tottenham it will be interesting to see how the midfield deals with trying to shackle down the forward as he will be pushing to burst through to the Tottenham defensive line through the link up play of his continually improving supporting cast.
The Spanish forward has the ability to be a real nightmare for Tottenham, but it is all down to his confidence that will make or break his performance at White Hart Lane a great one or a bust.
Chelsea News
 
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