And now the talk is he may not make the Euro 2012 squad.... Karma has a scouse accent..
[size=14pt]Fernando Torres' rivals are closing in[/size]
Hunter By Graham Hunter
That sound Fernando Torres can hear at the moment is Roberto Soldado and Fernando Llorente breathing down his neck. And they are just, only just, drowning out the sound of time ticking away -- if not on Torres' career, than certainly on his chances of being either at Euro 2012 or being a central figure in Spain's defense of its European title.
To get things up front from the start, I haven't given up on Torres. His ability hasn't gone, but it appears his ability to scare the life out of defenders with his pace, power and wonderful technique temporarily has. That he and Chelsea chose poorly when they fluttered eyelashes at each other in January is a stone-cold certainty.
Torres' fitness was an issue when he arrived at Stamford Bridge for 50 million pounds nearly a year ago. He has started 22 matches in all competitions and received as many bookings, five, as he has scored goals. Whether his fitness and attitude have sufficiently improved is a matter of fierce debate.
Is he fourth-choice striker or fifth-? It's hard to tell. Does Andre Villas-Boas believe in him? He doesn't give that impression. Does Vicente Del Bosque? Much, much less than previously, it would appear. But the fact that Spain would be more powerful, would have a better tournament temperament, would stand more chance of being the first nation in history to win three consecutive major tournaments if Torres was back at his devastating best is self-evident.
The trouble is that while Torres wrestles with his own confidence, motivation and the doubts he has about his teammates' willingness to give him the ball when he needs it, his rivals are closing in on him.
Torres' best form this season has been in the Champions League. Against Leverkusen in the first group game he created both goals and looked comfortable in his skin for the first time in a long time. Neither he nor I will ever know how he failed to leave the Mestalla stadium with two, probably three, goals after Valencia's Brazilian goalkeeper Diego Alves played utterly brilliantly against him. Alves made seven saves and afterward, when I asked him to name the best one, he said it was the one from a close-range volleyed hook-shot by Torres.
Four appearances, two goals, three assists -- the Spaniard has looked motivated and confident in this competition. Which makes it all the more ironic that Soldado, the most puzzling absence from Spain's recent matches, could help knock Torres and Chelsea out of the Champions League next week.
Soldado has 12 goals in fifteen Champions League matches and has hit the target 25 times in his past 27 appearances across all competitions -- the kind of bullish stats Torres used to post for Liverpool.
Torres failed to score, or really make an impact, as Chelsea was knocked out of the Carling Cup on Tuesday against his former club. And if Soldado's team can win or produce a scoring draw in London next week, the Blues will be out of the Champions League, too.
How much would that advance Soldado's case? Well, the excellence of some of Spain's blue-ribbon players in the past two tournament victories has obscured how vital some of the cameo roles were.
Luis Aragones consistently introduced Dani Guiza (remember him?), Cesc Fabregas, Santi Cazorla or Sergio Garcia (he and Guiza got three goals between them) in Euro 2008. And Fabregas not only ended up starting the final as second striker but was one of the tournament's most influential players, having scored the quarterfinal-winning penalty.
During Spain's World Cup win, Fabregas again had to start from the bench but made a big contribution, notably the assist in the final, as did Llorente, who changed the first knockout game against Portugal. Then there is Pedro, whose international profile was extremely low but whose form at Barca made him irresistible. The winger dragged Germany all over the pitch in the semifinal and started the final against the Netherlands.
So for all the superstar names you can reel off -- Iker Casillas, Sergio Ramos, David Villa, Xavi, Andres Iniesta -- tournament wins so often hinge on the man, or men, on form, even if he appears to be a "lesser" light when the competition begins.
Soldado threatens to be that man. But that's not to discount the threat of Llorente. His club, Athletic Bilbao, is now being coached by the idiosyncratic but patently talented Marcelo Bielsa.
For those who already adore Llorente's wonderful personality, Terminator physique and delightful skill set, the good news is that Bielsa is making him a more complete footballer. Accustomed to being the sole point of reference in the attack, Llorente's movement was designed to offer passing opportunities, to get him in space in front of goal or to drag a defender wide. Now Bielsa is teaching him to work harder for the team, to press, to drop back and make it hard for the opposition to win easy possession in midfield and, specifically, to be both more generous and more strategic in the work he puts in.
"Bielsa is demanding more of me, but I know I've got more to give," Llorente said. "His demand is that we all run more but with strategic intelligence in how and when we press -- and that it has to be done in groups. Being in great physical shape is very important, but I'm also enjoying my play more, scoring goals of different kinds."
If those words had come from the mouth of Torres -- working harder, enjoying my football, listening to the coach, putting in more effort for the team, sure of his potential to improve and scoring new types of goals -- think how Spain and Del Bosque would be lapping it up.
What remains unarguable is that Torres is the best footballer of the three, and you can throw Alvaro Negredo into that equation without changing the verdict. Torres is also a serial tournament winner for Spain. If you take youth and senior levels, he has reached, and won, four finals. Better still, in three of those four he scored the only goal in 1-0 wins -- against France and Germany (twice) to win the U-16 European championship, the U-19 championship and Euro 2008.
Even in the darkest of times it was still Torres' cross into the box at the World Cup final that unhinged Rafael van der Vaart and allowed Fabregas to set up Iniesta for the winner.
Not a bad record. You can see why Del Bosque hasn't yet lost faith in him. But past records will not take Torres all the way to Poland and Ukraine. He needs to show fitness, form, self-belief. More than anything, he needs to score.
If not, Soldado, Llorente and perhaps even Negredo threaten to usurp not only his place on the team but on the squad, too.
