Yossi Benayoun is featured heavily in the press this morning, speaking of his mate Fernando Torres. Benayoun has once again stuck up for his friend after Torres received criticism for his recent performances and the fact that he has scored just once in his last fifteen appearances.
He said:
“It has been a hard time for him. The situation from the beginning was managed bad with him. This is my opinion. When he came in, he was on the bench, then on the pitch and so he did not get the confidence when he came in. And with the £50m above his head, it is not easy for any player.
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This season he was scoring a few in a row and then another bad spell but he just needs to believe in himself, to keep doing the right movements. Against Wigan he played well but the goal did not come. The keeper made two or three great saves. If he scores, it changes everything and his confidence comes back. Hopefully he will get a few more soon and you will see the real Fernando Torres.
You can understand it is not easy, from being the top striker at Liverpool … he was unbelievable, you gave him the ball and you knew he would score, but he had a bad time in the beginning at Chelsea and this season is the first time that he has been given the chance to be No1, because Drogba was here, so there was competition.
This is the first year the club gave him the 100% confidence that he needs to be No.1. He has had good spells and bad spells but he has 15 goals already. That is not bad but hopefully he will finish with 25. It would be good to get his confidence back and be his old self. Personally, I believe in him 100%. For me, he is still one of the best.”
It is important to remember that he has scored 15 goals so far this season and compared to how he started at the club, it’s an improvement!
I have stuck up for Torres since he has been at Chelsea but of late, my opinion has begun to change. If a player is low on confidence you would think they would keep working hard, keep plugging away at their game to try and make things better for themselves. For the most part he has but of late he looks like his confidence in front of goal is shot.
I have to believe that it has. After all, when a club pays the monies they did to bring him here, you want the confidence of the manager. People can argue that he either had it or didn’t with Ancelotti, AVB and Di Matteo but you cannot ignore his stats.
I have stated numerous times in the past that Chelsea needed to adapt their style to look to get the ball forward to him quickly and to have him push up and play high on the shoulder of the last defender. That never happened and he got sucked back deeper to get involved which isn’t his game..
Whether anyone will officially admit it, Rafa Benitez was brought into Chelsea to get Torres firing. One goal in fifteen games isn’t exactly what Roman and the board had hoped for is it!.
I still think at times we look for Torres too late and miss his initial run. We still see him throw his arms in despair at not being passed the ball in and around the box and that’s a good sign. With the players we have now, with the attacking ability we have in the side, you can only imagine that one day it will all click into place.
The question is will Fernando Torres remain at Chelsea beyond this season for us all to find out as reports of a deal being agreed with Falcao have appeared this week?
For now, we have to focus on the present and the performances of Fernando Torres. We can ask questions of previous managers but surely at some point we finally have to point the finger at the player in question and hope we get some sort of answer.
So do you agree with Benayoun and think over time at Chelsea he has been managed badly?
Carefree & KTBFFH
