TrojanMan

This.
I am, and will forever be, a Fernando Torres fan. And it's precisely because he DOES still try hard, he HAS tried to adapt his game to account for the lost pace.
Yes, I know, some on here like to say he's a pouting cry baby. I couldn't disagree more. I think he tells the truth. And from an athlete, that's sort of refreshing. A guy with his track record -- the medals, the period of time being one of the best strikers in the world, etc. -- SHOULD want to play all the time. He should want to be involved with everything. And as I and others have said several times, if he really was a whiny cancer in the dressing room (as some on here proclaim), his teammates wouldn't mob him every time he scores. Yet they do. So he must be a better teammate than a lot of people think.
Now, back to Torres the player. His pace isn't there. And that article is precisely right -- even in his early Liverpool days, his first touch wasn't great. It didn't need to be. He could poke the ball somewhere past the defender and then turn on the jets and beat him to it. He obviously can't anymore. But I commend him for TRYING to change his game. He's worked on improving his link up play. He's become a very good passer/crosser of the ball, and is unselfish (to a fault, too often).
I wish his killer instinct and confidence would come back, but you can understand how a man stripped of his most valuable physical tool would start to second guess himself.
So what do we do now? I don't know. He can't be option A in every game anymore; that much is clear, and has been for awhile. He's pretty expensive as an option B. Though, to be fair to him, he's on pace for what....30 goals this season in all competitions? That's nothing to sneeze at. So either he gets sold (probably back to Spain) in the summer, or he accepts a rotation policy. He's never going to score enough to justify his price tag, but for me, that doesn't make me like him, respect him, or cheer for him any less.

I'll echo what some have already said --- why are so many of you "extreme" on the Torres issue? Why must you love or hate him?
I lean a little towards the pro-Torres side, as opposed to the anti-Torres camp. I'm not going to make endless excuses for him, but I'm also not going to criticize everything he does (including the goals he scores).
When he gets involved in link-up play, passes well, works hard, etc., but doesn't score, it's: "screw the rest of that. He's a striker. If he's not scoring, he's worthless."
When he plays like today -- a goal, an assist, but MIA for much of the match -- it's: "who cares that he scored? The goal was lucky. And the opposition is poor. And his hair is stupid. And I don't like his choice of boots."
Here's what matters to me: He's a Chelsea player. And at the moment, he's our only striker. He has been playing better since Benitez came, and I hope it continues. I will continue to root for him every time he pulls on a Chelsea shirt. But, we still need another striker. Whether Torres stays or goes, we don't have enough quality or depth at the position. Hopefully Roman and Rafa address this in January. I'm one of the people who hopes Torres stays, but I hope it's in addition to a Falcao, Huntelaar, Cavani, etc.

I'll echo what some have already said --- why are so many of you "extreme" on the Torres issue? Why must you love or hate him?
I lean a little towards the pro-Torres side, as opposed to the anti-Torres camp. I'm not going to make endless excuses for him, but I'm also not going to criticize everything he does (including the goals he scores).
When he gets involved in link-up play, passes well, works hard, etc., but doesn't score, it's: "screw the rest of that. He's a striker. If he's not scoring, he's worthless."
When he plays like today -- a goal, an assist, but MIA for much of the match -- it's: "who cares that he scored? The goal was lucky. And the opposition is poor. And his hair is stupid. And I don't like his choice of boots."
Here's what matters to me: He's a Chelsea player. And at the moment, he's our only striker. He has been playing better since Benitez came, and I hope it continues. I will continue to root for him every time he pulls on a Chelsea shirt. But, we still need another striker. Whether Torres stays or goes, we don't have enough quality or depth at the position. Hopefully Roman and Rafa address this in January. I'm one of the people who hopes Torres stays, but I hope it's in addition to a Falcao, Huntelaar, Cavani, etc.

I'll echo what some have already said --- why are so many of you "extreme" on the Torres issue? Why must you love or hate him?
I lean a little towards the pro-Torres side, as opposed to the anti-Torres camp. I'm not going to make endless excuses for him, but I'm also not going to criticize everything he does (including the goals he scores).
When he gets involved in link-up play, passes well, works hard, etc., but doesn't score, it's: "screw the rest of that. He's a striker. If he's not scoring, he's worthless."
When he plays like today -- a goal, an assist, but MIA for much of the match -- it's: "who cares that he scored? The goal was lucky. And the opposition is poor. And his hair is stupid. And I don't like his choice of boots."
Here's what matters to me: He's a Chelsea player. And at the moment, he's our only striker. He has been playing better since Benitez came, and I hope it continues. I will continue to root for him every time he pulls on a Chelsea shirt. But, we still need another striker. Whether Torres stays or goes, we don't have enough quality or depth at the position. Hopefully Roman and Rafa address this in January. I'm one of the people who hopes Torres stays, but I hope it's in addition to a Falcao, Huntelaar, Cavani, etc.

I don't think it's fair to say that Torres doesn't care at all, or doesn't want to be there. If that were true, he wouldn't look all whiny and pissy when he gets subbed out. He'd look indifferent.
The chances of this happening are slim and none, but here's what I'd like to see:
Give Torres a striker partner. Sturridge, Hazard, Moses....whoever. Then instruct him to play like Chicharito. Look, I give Torres a bunch of credit for realizing that he's not the same player anymore, and that Chelsea don't play like Liverpool used to. So, he tried to adapt. He became a little better at link up play. He improved his passing and crossing. He contributes more on defense than he did for them. Etc., etc., etc. But at the moment, we need a pure goal scorer.
So tell him to do like Hernandez -- park your ass in the penalty area. Expend every ounce of energy you have in there. Forget tracking back. Forget going wide on counter attacks. Forget lining up at the back post on corners. Get aggressive, go for every ball that's anywhere near you in the penalty area and shoot the second you can get a foot on it. Shoot, shoot, shoot.
Maybe nothing comes of it. Who knows? But I can't imagine the results being any worse.

When he plays a generally good game but doesn't score: "Torres sucks. He's a striker. He needs to score. If he's not doing that, who cares about anything else?"
When he scores, but doesn't play a great overall game: "Torres sucks. That goal was lucky, and he did nothing after that."
Some people just like to bitch and moan.

When he plays a generally good game but doesn't score: "Torres sucks. He's a striker. He needs to score. If he's not doing that, who cares about anything else?"
When he scores, but doesn't play a great overall game: "Torres sucks. That goal was lucky, and he did nothing after that."
Some people just like to bitch and moan.

When he plays a generally good game but doesn't score: "Torres sucks. He's a striker. He needs to score. If he's not doing that, who cares about anything else?"
When he scores, but doesn't play a great overall game: "Torres sucks. That goal was lucky, and he did nothing after that."
Some people just like to bitch and moan.