Post European Game Syndrome

There is often an argument that after European games, teams tend to struggle to get the three points in their next game. Some argue that it’s due to the lack of preparation time, or the lack of quality in depth or even the lack of fitness. I myself have always thought that it was something along those lines too. 

Now, of course, there needs to be a degree of rationality and a consideration of the wider perspective.
Think about it, often teams can play poorly, yet still walk away with a win. So there is an argument that when people say a team isn’t as efficient or effective after a European game, they could mean in terms of performances, not the result. 

However, I wanted to see how each side that represented the Premier League in Europe this season faired in comparison to each other. 

However, before I point out my observations, we have to consider a few things. Firstly, we have to recognise some teams played more games after a European game, due to their progress in Europe. In order to combat this, I have added the points per game stat. 

Table: Premier League sides representing in Europe: Their record after European Games

Key Observations

·         Business as usual for Manchester United: After European games, Man United have been machine efficient. United won 7 of their 8 post European games which clearly demonstrates this. Perhaps Sir Alex Ferguson’s effective rotation and strength in depth played a key role in Man United’s consistency.

·         Arsenal unbeaten after European games: Both Arsenal and Man United are unbeaten after their European games. But considering this from Arsenal’s perspective, it shows how difficult they are to beat. Their experience and knowhow through many years of having to manage the Champions League and the Premier League is one of the reasons why they remained unbeaten.

·         Man City distinctly average after European games: Man City’s record is pretty average, to be fair. Although they only lost once and conceded the least out of the teams analysed (5), I think they should have done better. But Man City will argue, they had tough games after their Champions League duties, after all, they faced Liverpool away, then Arsenal at home and then Man United at home. But given the squad at Manicni’s disposal, you’d expect them to win one of those games.

·         Liverpool consistently inconsistent: Liverpool’s record after European games isn’t great. The key issue is the high number of draws, which is one of the differences from them being a top 6 side. However, what is interesting is that Liverpool kept 4 clean sheets, which is the highest (alongside Chelsea). In some respects, this shows progress is being made at Anfield, but clearly, more work needs to be done to sustain and build on it.

·         Newcastle shipping goals: Newcastle conceded 20 goals, which is an incredibly high number for a side playing in Europe and for me it symbolises their immense decline this season. Last season, Newcastle were far more solid and settled side defensively. Perhaps the club have missed Steven Taylor and Fabricio Coloccini who have missed parts of the season for one reason or another.

·         Newcastle actually doing rather well…: Although Newcastle are conceding a hell of a lot of goals, they are actually winning fair number of games too. It’s intriguing; there was strong criticism that the lack of depth effected Newcastle’s campaign this season. Although this may well be a valid point, one may need to take it with a pinch of salt. As Newcastle won 5 games from 13, this shows the club has the ability to win games even when playing on a Thursday and then on a Sunday. But it is crucial to note, all 5 of Newcastle’s wins came at home.

Football Tweets of the week 28/07

This weeks 10 funniest football tweets! (In no order too!)

1.) Owen Hargreaves is training with QPR. Their physios will be the only people busier than John Terry's lawyers. - @PickThatOneOut

2.) Man United change their logo to match their new kit: - @AndreVillyB

3.) Maradona: "Messi scores a goal and screams. Cristiano scores a goal then poses as if he's trying to sell you shampoo in a commercial."- @Simon_Hughes__

4.) FIFA13 Achievement Unlocked: Complete a full 90 minutes with either Owen Hargreaves, Keiron Dyer or Michael Owen- @BigJohnTerry

5.) How do you fix a £50m striker who never scores? Sign 4 attacking midfielders worth £90m (Mata, Marin, Hazard & Oscar). @FootballFunnys

6.) This Olympics opening ceremony costs £27m, or roughly half a Fernando Torres. @scatterbull

7.) BREAKING: Luis Suarez may have apologised for his racist remarks, but this is a little too far. - @BBCSporf 



8.) Mancini's answer to Fergie. - @FootyMemes

 9.) BREAKING: Nuri Sahin is set to move on-loan to a "Big Premier League Team". That's Tottenham out of the queston.- @FootyTrollz

10.) Exclusive images of Robin van Persie in a Manchester United shirt. - @robboma3

 Be sure to follow all these guys on Twitter, you can follow us at @ReviewFootball

See last weeks funny tweets here 

Football Tweets of the week 20/07

This weeks 10 funniest football tweets! (In no order too!)

1.) Martin O'Neill in talks with Ken Bates over the Leeds job (@Iwanrunner)

  2.) Ashley Cole v Arsenal: (@FootyMemes)

3.) The awkward moment when Chelsea's official Twitter account gets hacked.: (@SkitlaSays)

  4.) Why is Emile Heskey so good at tennis? Because he never hits the net.- @StupidFootball

  5.) Now Ledley King has retired the most fragile thing in football is a Liverpool fan...- (@RealParkJiSung)
 
  6.) BREAKING: Newcastle sold Andy Carroll for £35m. To buy Cisse, Ba, Cabaye, Tiote, Ben Arfa,    Santon & Andy Carroll. (@FootballFunnys)

 7.) Ibrahimovic confirmed at PSG. He's earned about €100 in the time it took you to read this tweet. (@mark_eurosport)

 8.) Bear found not guilty of shitting in the woods after hiring John Terry’s lawyer. - (@FormidableRed)

 9.)  United's biggest fan from our game yesterday: (@Leyshon_MUFC)

 10.) Owen Hargreaves has been selected as captain of the Team GB Olympic football squad. He's said to be delighted to be part of the Paralympics.(@SkySporksNews)

Be sure to follow all these guys on Twitter, you can follow us at @ReviewFootball

See last weeks funny tweets here 

What next for Liverpool?

Another game for Liverpool in 2012, and another defeat for Liverpool.  That’s been sequence this season for Liverpool. 

Their defeat in the FA Cup final against Chelsea was the defeat which confirmed Liverpool’s season as a devastating disappointment. 

And let’s be honest, Liverpool at times this season have been lacklustre, woeful and embarrassing to the clubs faithful supporters.

But it’s been an odd season for Liverpool supporters.

Indeed, the club reached two cup finals and they did break the club’s trophy drought which had covered a shadow over the club and symbolised Liverpool’s decline.

But at the same time, it’s been a forgettable season for Liverpool fans. It’s been a season which has left them with more questions than answers as the season has progressed. 

One of the most pressing unanswered questions is that of the King Kenny Dalglish. 

Do Liverpool stick or twist?

Do Liverpool keep him on his throne, or do the club attempt to remove him from his beloved palace. 

Indeed, there are a lot of rumours circulating than Dalglish will be ‘moved upstairs’  as it were given the vacant director of football role, while others feel he maybe shown the door as a whole.

The money men at Anfield face some tough decisions this summer. 

But the situation at especially at Anfield is abundantly clear. Liverpool have been poor, utterly poor. I mean 6 wins at home at Anfield is unacceptable. No wait, it’s not even that, it’s an offensive record for one of Europe’s greatest clubs and what has been before and what the club stands for.

But the poor record at home tells you a few interesting things.

It tells you some of the players especially the new boys, have struggled to deal with the expectations, culture and demands of playing for a club where it expected you have to win each week.

Instead of Anfield being a fortress, it’s become a ground where all the opponent has to do is virtually turn up, defend reasonably well and pick up the point on their way out.

It’s been as simple as that for Liverpool fans.

 In fact, Anfield has become a points shelter for Premier League clubs. 

There is saying amongst football fans that, you know you’re having a bad season, if Liverpool beat you at Anfield. 

But coming away from performances on the pitch, Liverpool’s performances in the transfer market have been even worse. 

Whether Liverpool keep Dalglish, or someone else comes in, Liverpool must be more rational and shrewd in the transfer market.

This season, thanks to the likes of Newcastle, the big boys in the Premier League have learnt a humble lesson.

They’ve learnt of the best things in life can be cheap and cheerful. Newcastle spent a net of around £15mill. Yet the northern club now find themselves with two fantastic and profilc strikers in Papiss Cisse and Demba Ba. While in midfield, Newcastle boast the technically gifted creator Yohan Cabaye. All of whom, cost collectively less than Andy Carroll. 

While Liverpool with their best of British transfer policy, spent hugely on distinctly average players who haven’t really added much to the side. In fact, they’ve made Rafa’s signings at Liverpool look all the more allusive and crucial to the side. 

It seems a majority of Liverpool’s summer signings, bar Craig Bellamy and perhaps even Seb Coates, have all fallen for the big club – little club syndrome. 

Yes, that syndrome. The one where the players are amazing for the respective smaller clubs, but when the big fish goes to the big pound he is nowhere to be seen. 

Yeah, that one.

But you can’t argue, the crazy valuations placed on top of their heads has not helped either. I mean, if you splash £19million on a winger, you expect a few goals and a few assists. But it’s not happened. At all.

The price tags on these new players have been like big rocks being placed on their backs in the blazing sun. They can try their best, but everyone will point out, ‘that isn’t £19million worth of quality.’ The fee that brought them to Anfield is constantly reminded to not only them but to the coaches and directors.

It seems Damien Comolli paid the price for splashing out insane figures for average players. Perhaps this is a sign, the powers that be at Anfield don’t want the same mistakes to happen again.

There has been a lot of talk amongst Liverpool fans of whether Liverpool should sell the likes of Downing, Henderson and the other new buys. I firmly believe the new players deserve another chance. Sometimes, a second season can do the players the world of good.

The pressure of not being the ‘new kid on the block’ could take away some of the pressure on them, also more importantly, chopping and changing will not help Liverpool move up the table.

If you look at the Liverpool team of 08/09, when they finished second, the spine of the team had been at the club for three years or more. It takes years to build a great competitive team, ask Fergie, ask Arsene Wenger and heck as Pep Guardiola too.

Liverpool are in the stage of forming and developing. And they won’t move out of that stage if they keep changing managers and players. 

That’s also why I think Dalglish should stay, so long as the players still believe in him. For me, Liverpool seem to be trying to implement a pass and move type of game. And for most of the season, it hasn’t worked for them. But when it has, Liverpool have at times been unplayable and if the finishing had been better, Liverpool would certainly be higher up in the table. 

But with astute additions, Liverpool have a good chance of making progress. But it is imperative Liverpool get their signings right this summer. Liverpool are currently feeling the consequences of selling very good players and replacing them poorly. Is it really surprising Liverpool have struggled to dominate midfields without people who can effectively play in-between the lines like Raul Merieles?

Success does not happen over night. Ask Man City, ask Chelsea. After years of heavy investment, Man City now only find themselves on the brink of winning the Premier League title. While Chelsea after 10 years of the Abramovich era find themselves only in their second CL final in their history.

Liverpool need to be patient, stability is the clubs best answer. And the club are fortunate in the sense they have a man who is undeniably just as determined as the fans to be successful. While some managers may get their heads turned by offers elsewhere, Dalglish isn’t one of them.

He has unfinished business at Anfield.  And if anything, this season has given him even more unfinished business.

But he must get it right this summer not only in his transfers, but his tactical decision making, in another summer of change for Liverpool. 

The team need carry on playing with the same methodology and the players must look to further establish a greater understanding. The cup final against Chelsea was a prime example. The reds played with little cohesion and struggled to even get into the Chelsea half in the first 60 minutes. 

Liverpool had no penetration, no idea and no connection between the midfield and attack. Meaning their most threatening player Luis Suarez was left to feed off scraps. 

This summer is huge for Liverpool. The club is at a cross roads. The right decisions could see them move right up the table next season. While the wrong decisions could see the club fall even further behind.

Refereeing: So little to gain, yet so much to lose.

They say a picture tells a 1,000 words. Boy, didn’t that certainly happen a few Sundays ago.

Martin Atkinson was hammered home with criticism for his decision to give Juan Mata’s effort the green light to make it two nil to Chelsea. 

Everyone was having a dig at Atkinson’s decision. Everyone.

In the virtual worlds, in the pubs and in the stands, Martin Atkinson become the butt of jokes, irony and frustration to some.  

And let’s face it, everyone got involved. Everyone had a say on Atkinson’s decision.

Most were commenting on how the ref’s decision had cost Tottenham their final chance of silverware this season.  And this anger quickly transferred from the Tottenham stands at Wembley to all around the globe.

Yet when it was revealed during the game Martin Atkinson was to be a linesman for the euros, it was met with a chorus of laughter. People were questioning how can such a man be given the responsibility of checking whether the ball had crossed the line, when he failed at it when it really mattered.

I won’t lie, I had a chuckle when I heard that news during the game. 

But there is one after the semi-final which typifies just how much anger there was towards Martin Atkinson. Harry Redknapp in his post-match comments revealed Atkinson had apologised for his mistake. 

A referee apologising for his mistake? That is practically unheard of in the English game. No scratch that. It’s practically unheard of in any league, nation or even continent. 

But apologising for his ‘mistake’ paints a sad sad picture. It shows how emotionally hurt, damaged and effected Atkinson was for going with his gut. 

Just imagine what he was going through during the game.The incident must have been swirling again and again round his head, with him thinking, did I really get that right? Maybe I didn’t…

It’s crazy, one tough decision, could not only have broken his career at the top level, but it could have also broken Spurs’ chance for trophies yet another season. 

That’s the life of a referee, you can’t win, but you’ve got so much to lose.

But when THAT picture was revealed a few hours later, people were quick to lay into Spurs, for trying to hide behind the excuse of an ‘unjust’ decision at the time. It wasn’t just the fans who were saying this, it was football journalists too.

Indeed, Tottenham had got it wrong, it was a goal. But none of us can lie, we all got it wrong.

We all thought that goal was certainly not in. 

Yet when it turned out it was a genuine goal, no one praised Martin Atkinson’s fine decision. No one.

Call it luck, fortunate or whatever, but for Atkinson to make a correct decision within a split second with all that pressure, it shows what a decent referee he is.

Everyone had something to say about Martin Atkinson when the decision was up in the air. But when it turned out he was right, those who heavily damned him did not show an ounce of respect towards the broken Martin Atkinson.

There has been a lot of talk about the drop in standards of refereeing in England. The likes of Roberto Mancini have been quite vocal about it, but how can we expect the standards to get better if we keep criticising, every wrong decision they make?

Sadly, in modern football, there is little appeal in becoming a referee. All referees are subject to criticism, abuse and nit picking. 

I firmly believe referees need to be praised more and it should be emphasised just how hard their job is.

Think about it, they get one angle, one chance and literally one second to make a choice on a decision which could change a team’s fate. 

While we, get various angles, various chances and a good few minutes to see if the decision was right or wrong.

Indeed, Atkinson’s decision against Chelsea was justified by technology, but how many referees have ultimately made the right decision but because of the lack of technology have seen their refereeing careers being tarnished? 

I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a support group for it.

The reality is, referees need help. They need technology. The game is so quick, so advanced and there is so much hanging on games that one small error could cost a team severely. 

But till then, I feel referees need to be given more praise, more respect and more empathy. 

Referees are humans just like us, believe it or not. And if we want the standards of refs to improve we have to reinvigorate the value of being a referee. 

Whenever we think of refs now, we think of middle aged men, making bad decisions. 

Martin Atkinson decision against Spurs could have cost him his career as a top level referee. Fortunately for him it didn’t. But without technology, one wonders how many more referees careers will be instantly terminated by one error in the heat of the moment?

Benfica vs Chelsea: A Tactical Preview

Chinmay Pandya gives The Football Front a tactical preview of Chelsea's trip to Benfica. crisis.

Chelsea head to Portugal for the first leg of the CL quarter finals as they take on Benfica at the Estadio da Luz, where they have been undefeated in 39 of their last 42 home games in the Liga Sagres. Benfica had a tremendous start to their CL campaign as they managed to top their group, a run of results which saw the tournament favourites Manchester United go crashing into the Europa league. The Portuguese side managed to earn a draw both home and away to United and that too, very impressively. Their last CL game at the Estadio da Luz ended in a convincing 2-0 win over a very strong Zenit and had also managed to score 2 crucial away goals in Russia which aided their victory over the two legs. While Chelsea, who have been quite poor on the road this season which reflected in their 3-1 defeat to Napoli at the San Paolo stadium in the first knock out round. Chelsea’s defence, especially under AVB looked very shaky although after his departure, things have looked somewhat solid again at the back, which has been evident in their impressive rum of 4 straight wins before defeat against Manchester City in the league. Their dramatic win over Napoli was seen as the turning point of their miserable season Yet once again, they failed to capitalize on this momentum and ended up with back-to-back poor performances against Manchester City and Tottenham. Two late goals conceded away from home after failing to hold on to a 1-0 lead and then failing to score at home aren’t the best signs heading into this fixture.

Benfica generally line up with a 4-2-3-1 formation which is quite fluid as it changes when in possession of the ball, normally to a 3-3-1-3 with the holding midfielder Javi Garcia dropping in between the two central defenders changing it into a back 3 with the wing backs pushing on and against in the knock out stages. However, it is quite different. Napoli’s back three weren’t very mobile, were very vulnerable to fast break situations and also defending crosses whipped into the box. Benfica’s back three has a lot of variety. The midfielder who drops between the central defenders is very quick across the turf, can tackle and make last ditch challenges and also provide a lot of energy in the midfield when not in possession. Luisao, the bedrock of the Benfica defence and Jardel is the weakest of the three - a weakness the Londoners should try to exploit, especially at set-pieces, as against Napoli.
When in possession, the back 4 changes into a back 3, the wing backs start acting as the wingers and the positioning of Gaitan, Cesar/Aimar, Rodrigo and Witsel are very fluid. Cardozo acts as the target – man who’d be up against Terry, also very good in the air. This system, however, isn’t flawless. During fast break situations, Witsel, the only remaining Midfielder stays rooted and creates a big hole in the midfield which might mean Chelsea, with the likes of Lampard and Essien might dominate the midfield. In another situation, when Chelsea’s full backs push up, which they normally do, the game can be won or lost on the wings itself because of the spaces these full backs might leave behind. Benfica’s right wing back, Pereira is known for his goal threat and his superb service to Cardozo but is susceptible to be caught napping.

A pressing game from the part of Chelsea, could prove very effective, given Benfica may lack in personnel in the centre of midfield.

However, the move would not make much sense, if Rodrigo does go on to pair up with Cardozo as the latter with his raw pace could cause terror in a high Chelsea back-line. To sum up, this match could me won or lost in the midfield or the wings, as Benfica’s complicated system might leave them with less numbers in the miefield and Rodrigo’s raw pace, Witsel’s passing ability and some trickery from Gaitan might give the Chelsea backline a nightmare.

Prediction: Benfica 1-1 Chelsea

This article was written by Chinmay Pandya, you can find his work at http://nimblefootwork.blog.com/ and you can follow him on Twitter: @_thesoccerist

Chelsea: The Impossible Job?

So, another one bites the dust. Chelsea sack yet another manager. Another Chelsea manager was quickly ushered in and before you know it, he is hastily ushered out. The uncompromising trigger of Roman Abramovic has been pulled yet again.

Chelsea’s have had all sorts of managers under Roman Abramovich reign of the club. The Blues have had Champions League winners, mediocre unknown managers, a World Cup Winner, then an international manager, then back to Champions League Winners, and then to a young, up and coming manager, Andre Villas Boas.

So many have arrived at Chelsea, yet so many managers have failed to deal with huge expectations of the Chelsea owner.

There is a beautiful irony surrounding Chelsea. On one hand you have a selection of fine players, some of whom are arguably world class. While on the other, Chelsea have huge transfer funds, meaning the club can attract the finest players around the globe.

But there is a sting at Chelsea which has caught so many managers out.

There are three elements to this ‘sting’ which make Chelsea the impossible job in club football.

1) The players mentality – (especially the senior players at Chelsea) - It seems the players feel so secure at the club that they feel it is their way or the highway for the manager.

2) Roman Abramovic – The Russian’s susceptibility to pull the trigger when the going gets tough make the job impossible for Chelsea managers to make a real impact on the club.

3) Jose Mourinho (Chelsea’s most successful manager) and his shadow – Whoever comes in at Chelsea will be compared to the great Jose Mourinho. Not only this, people will compare the rapport the new manager has with the players in comparison to the rapport Mourinho had with the Chelsea players.

The Chelsea players should be embarrassed with their application towards Andre Villas Boas. Some of the players put their own interests ahead of the club and the Chelsea fans. The likes of Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole made their frustration very clear to the press. How a legend like Frank Lampard thinks informing the press of his frosty relationship with Villas –Boas is in the interests of Chelsea Football Club is beyond me. These unneeded comments by an experienced international only poured more fuel and cranked up the pressure on Chelsea and Villas –Boas.

Lampard’s unhappiness at being dropped for various Chelsea games lead to him publicly questioning Andre Villas-Boas’ management. But the reality is Frank Lampard is 33. He is no longer the future of Chelsea.

Frank Lampard should do his talking on the pitch, rather than vent his anger to the media. Lampard already has ammunition to do his talking on the pitch. Frank Lampard has created the second highest amount of chances for Chelsea (41). While the 33 year old is Chelsea’s top goal scorer in the Premier League with 10 goals. Lampard statistics prove his value to the Chelsea side. The stats show Lampard is contributing and does make a difference to the side.

One can’t deny Villas-Boas didn’t handle some of the senior players brilliantly. He seemed to alleinate and unsettle a number of them. However, did the Chelsea players really make an effort to warm or conform to the Portuguese manager’s philosophy? Perhaps we will never know. But it seemed the players were incredibly unwilling to conform to his ways.

But it seems the Chelsea players have this mentality whereby they know they will outlive their manager at the club. This poor mentality has unfortunately lead to some of the players being unwilling to adhere to the new managers style of management, if it doesn’t suit them. This is what’s sad about Chelsea. The mentality of some of the players typifies everything what’s wrong with player power in the modern game. As Chelsea’s player power hasn’t led to sustained success, it has led to hefty pay outs and abrupt seasons.

Whoever becomes the next full time manager at Chelsea, face the same the issues Carlo Ancelotti and Andre Villas-Boas faced. The same arrogant players control and dominate the dressing room. While restricting the new manager from being able to fully implement their own style and mentality on the club.

The problem at Chelsea is that the managers aren’t given time, and if they try to change things too quickly, it can lead to serious decline, as the team have to develop cohesion and understanding, without unsettling and alienating the existing players . Another crucial point, especially at Chelsea, is most players have been at the club longer than manager, meaning they will oppose the changes as it would be against their interests and their way of doing things. Perhaps this was Andre Villas-Boas mistake at Chelsea. Changing too much too quickly.

Andre Villas –Boas is a talented manager. He is a manager who will go onto achieve great things. The sad thing is it is reported Villas-Boas often slept at Chelsea’s training ground. Its regrettable, a man this committed, this passionate about his job was not given the time to see the job through. It’s also a shame that the former managers determination didn’t rub off with his players.

Chelsea is the impossible job in club football. The shadows of Jose Mourinho are still ever dominant, no matter whom the manager is.

Look at Carlo Ancelotti. In his first season, he won the double. While in his career overall, the guy has won four European cups. Yet he was shown the door for coming second. This demonstrates the sheer monstrosity of the job. It shows the magnitude of this gig. It shows how fine the line is between success and failure at Chelsea.

The impossible nature of the Chelsea job has and will continue to put off the finest managers across the globe. The likes of Pep Guaridola have quickly distanced themselves away from the job. While former Chelsea coach Brendan Rodgers when asked if he was interested in the Blues job, he said wisely he wanted to ‘build’ his career, rather than ‘destroy’ it. Rodgers comments superbly define the issues surrounding the Chelsea managers job. It doesn’t lead to great success, it leads to condemnation, it leads to humiliation and it leads to utter emotional pain.

For the Chelsea job to be viewed as possible, the culture surrounding the club’s hiring and firing policy must change. Changes have to be made at Chelsea. There is no other way around it. The Chelsea team needs fresh players, fresh ideas and a fresh mentality. At the moment, the old guard’s mentality is rife at the club and instead of improving the club, it is actually leading to the club’s decline.

What’s sad is Andre Villas-Boas often insisted Chelsea’s needed to be rid themselves of the club’s existing culture of sacking and the players controlling the dressing room. Villas Boas spoke of his desire to create a new cultural identity at the club.

Regrettably, the same culture Villas –Boas was looking to eradicate, ended up getting him the sack.

The curious case of Fernando Torres

Chinmay Pandya explains to The Football Front why Fernando Torres may not recover from his confidence crisis.

Fernando Torres has been struggling. Yes, we’re all aware of that story, We’ve heard it like a million times, haven’t we?

Has he lost his mojo?

Or is it just a temporary drop in form and confidence?

Is he a double agent who’s SO loyal to Liverpool, that he’s come to Chelsea and deliberately destroyed his own career? Has losing a yard of pace affected his game so much? A million questions can be asked, and some unrealistic too.

What has happened to him?

Has someone had a plastic surgery, kidnapped the real Torres and replaced him at Chelsea? Well, whatever it is, it surely gives us, journalists something to write about. Well, for starters, we all would agree that he surely has lost a yard of pace. Let’s face it, he isn’t 23 anymore. He’s had a major injury right after the World Cup and has been playing with little niggles since then. Torres barely looks a shadow of his former self. He was brought in with a vision to replace Drogba in the near future but who is he replacing? The “Le Sulk” role recently vacated by Anelka?

During a soggy night in Naples, Under-fire manager André Villas-Boas saw his team give away yet another lead to slump to their 2nd defeat in the last 5 games. After Chelsea went 3-1 down, AVB made a double substitution introducing Essein and Lampard in a hope to give his team a glimmer of hope in progressing to the Quarterfinals of the Champion’s League. Needing a goal or two, the most obvious option would have been Fernando Torres, once one of the most feared strikers on the planet, but AVB opted to bring on the Chelsea veterans instead.

This may just be one substitution during one match, but this overlook of Torres signalled rock bottom in what has been possibly the greatest collapse of talent ever witnessed. This gesture by the Chelsea manager represented a tremendous loss of faith in the abilities of his 50 million man and also saw Torres’s career hit a new low. The saddest part is a majority of the Chelsea fans and Torres admirers would not question that decision.

People claim about his lack of confidence in front of goal, his reluctance to shoot or some even blame the midfield for their lack of creativity or service. Robin Van Persie has been the top scorer in the league. Which might mean Arsenal’s midfield is more productive than Chelsea’s. Well, these stats below are a total of the Average key passes and accurate crosses made per game by Chelsea and Arsenal’s midfield respectively.

Chelsea

Player	Avg Key Passes PG	Acc. Crosses PG
Juan Mata	3.2	1.9
Frank Lampard	1.7	0.7
Raul Meireles	1.4	0.4
Florent Malouda	1.3	0.9
Daniel Sturridge	1.1	0.3
Jose Bosingwa	1.0	0.9
Ashley Cole	0.9	0.6
Ramires	0.8	0.1
Total	11.4	5.8

Arsenal

Players	Avg Key Passes PG	Avg Crosses PG
Mikel Arteta	2.1	0.8
Aaron Ramsey	2	0.3
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain	1.5	0.7
Gervinho	1.5	0.1
Tomas Rosicky	1.3	0.3
Theo Walcott	1.2	0.6
Alexandre Song	1.2	0.1
Andrey Arshavin	1	0.3
Total	11.8	4.1

Arsenal edge Chelsea in terms of key passes made per game, while Chelsea are well ahead in terms of the crosses made per game. To sum up, we can imply that Chelsea’s midfield (including the full backs, as they are involved in the build up equally) and Arsenal’s midfield are equally creative.

We can now officially rule out lack of creativity as the reason behind the drought. Fernando Torres has admitted, his lack of goals might be a result of Chelsea’s style of play, where he has to be involved in the build up, while at Liverpool all he did was get on the end of some amazing balls. However, during the game away at Man United in September, Chelsea were losing 3-1 but were playing well: the feeling was that they could go on and maybe get a draw the game. Torres found himself with the ball at his feet and only the goalkeeper to beat, which he did. Now all he had to do was tuck the ball into an empty net, which he of course, did not manage to do.

Torres fell to the ground; his head fell between his hands. A wave of laughter echoed across the old Trafford, most of it coming from the home fans, of course. This is not the Fernando Torres who Chelsea paid a record English transfer fee of £50 million.

When Fernando Torres blames Chelsea’s style of play for his failure to score and denies the obvious lack of confidence evident in the incident against Man United. One cannot help but conclude that Fernando Torres is in denial, the worst situation he can be in right now. Accepting his lack of confidence would be a step in the right direction as he’d begin to get over his denial.

One of my psychologist friends I spoke to, seemed to agree with me when I said a lack of confidence was the reason behind his failure. He was suffering from a certain situation that every athlete goes through at least once in his or her career, an inexplicable dip in form. One of the main reasons being over-thinking or trying too hard, training twice the amount you used to, earlier and forgetting the most important aspect of your game that made you who you were, enjoying your game like you used to do when you were a kid. While some recover from this, some don’t.

In Torres’ situation, judging by the severity and the amount of elements combined that Fernando Torres has to go through every second of this Chelsea situation; the chances of him recovering are very slim.

Stats Via: WhoScored.

This article was written by Chinmay Pandya, you can find his work at http://nimblefootwork.blog.com/ and you can follow him on Twitter: @_thesoccerist