We all know Torres has not performed to our expectations as fans, to the club management's expectations and even to Roman Abrahamovic's expectations.
Some would question Roman Abrahamovic's intentions of bringing Torres to the bridge. They were all good. At the time, Torres was one of the deadliest strikers in the world. So, obviously, Abrahamovic had good intentions, he coughed 50million pounds, a record transfer fee that still stands to date.
Some people, including a few coaches have made it clear that Didier Drogba would me missed, not for his goals, not for how much he believed in Chelsea ( I wait to see the day Torres would pull "an Overbro" like Drogba did) not for his set pieces but mainly for the sole reason that in big matches, Drogba would always stand out. He was a big match sort of player, and when it comes to such...he always took the limelight.
When Torres was signed at CFC, I was for one very happy and looked forward to a deadly combination between him and DD with Anelka, Kalou and Malouda in support. Well, that never happened. I remember clearly his first match was against his old team Liverpool, we the fans thought he would score and so did Ancelloti but that never came to pass. We ended up losing that match courtesy of a Raul Meirelles strike. We then kept counting, we waited, we sang his name, we supported him and some like, David Luiz even prayed for him but still there was nothing.
Well, there are those who gave up. The coaches did. Drogba became the main man again and things started looking normal again. Big matches were played, big goals were scored and it wasnt Torres. It was Didier. He then gave us a reason why he thought he wasnt scoring. The midfield was too slow, he was quoted. A friend of mine joked, that according to Torres if wanted him to score, we had to replace those "donkeys" behind him. Others even said it was Drogba who kept "breaking the wind" every time Torres went near him, hence the two couldn't play together.
The first thing Chelsea did was to replace "the donkeys" behind Torres. We now had a more energetic Ramires, the hawk eyed tattoo lover called Raul Meirelles and a more skillful Mata behind. Still, the goals didn't come and as such, Drogba still remained our main man. The problem however wasn't Drogba. The problem was a young england player called Sturridge who was making all the headlines and scoring match after match. He was stealing the show. Someone had to stop him. He wasnt the heir to this throne. Now, it became clear, it wasnt the "donkeys" fault after all.
There were two more reasons. Perhaps it was Drogba. Not because of his alleged behavior of "breaking the wind' every time they were together in the field but due to the fact that he has always been the dominant force. Or so we believed. So, we decided to ship him to China, far far away. But that was not the whole plan, we also decided to bring in more fast and skillful players so we never hear of that "donkey phenomenon" ever again. We brought in Oscar, Hazard and Marko Marin. All these players had excellent assist records for their clubs. We were optimistic. Some saw 40 + goals, others saw golden boot awards and some said, only a long term injury would stop our Fernando.
The reality however was that still goals didn't come. There were no single shots from him, on target or anywhere in some matches. You cant score without attempting or so I hear. But its true. Personally I don't like hating on a player. This unsettles them and could make them even perform worse. So we kept on singing his name, praising him and still hoping. Then came the moment, the moment we substituted him and he went straight to the dressing room mumbling words. That was the moment. We were astonished. We wondered. Some of us loud enough to heard, some just wished it away while others kept singing, but not as loud as before. They were doing it, this time not for their Fernando, but for the love of the blue flag that is Chelsea.
The fact remained, we had replaced managers, we had replaced the donkeys behind, we have replaced those who used to break the wind. Maybe its time to replace him. But then again, maybe not. Just maybe!!!
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