Torrid for Torres

Tuesday, 15/02/2011

On current form Fernando Torres certainly doesn’t look anything like a £50m player.

His Chelsea debut against his former Liverpool side at the weekend was one of the worst-ever first appearances and resulted in him being substituted after 66 minutes.

On Monday night against Fulham he managed a further five minutes but was still far from convincing.

At Craven Cottage he had three decent chances to silence the chants of “What a waste of money” but he failed on each occasion.

A year ago you would have bet your house on him scoring from those chances.

But a dismal World Cup later, injuries and a torrid time at Liverpool earlier this season have put a question mark over his form.

And form it is that has to be questioned: class is permanent, form is temporary.

Torres currently appears to lack the confidence that made him stand out so much and convince Chelsea he was worth that record-breaking transfer.

The speed appears to be there still, the tricks don’t appear to be quite achievable, the ball control is nowhere near what it was and heading ability is sadly lacking.

The longer the Spain striker goes without scoring the more difficult it is going to get for him.

No matter what he might say, or how much support his manager gives him - £50m is a lot of cash.

And it’s a lot of reasons for fans around the country to keep chanting about money being thrown away.

Mind you, at least he has played. Injury has meant that Andy Carroll, his £35m replacement at Anfield, hasn’t had a game yet…

• 

• Have your say