In an interview that will not go over well in the Chelsea dressing room, Fernando Torres says that his poor goalscoring record at Chelsea is due to theclub’s ‘very slow’ and ‘older’ players.
Torres says that it is the squad’s lack of pace and the fact a number of players are approaching the twilight of their careers as a key reason behind his lack of goals, but has indicated Villas-Boas is trying to freshen things up.
“When I changed club, I knew it was going to be a slow process, although I didn’t expect it to be so long,'”said Torres. “Chelsea is, between the English teams, maybe the least English. That’s because of the kind of player Chelsea has, an older player, who plays very slow, who has a lot of possession and that’s what the club is trying to change.”
The older, slower players that Torres are obviously referring too are Didier Drogba, John Terry, Florent Malouda, Ashley Cole and Frank Lampard who are all over 30.
Torres went on to say that the arrival of Juan Mata from Valencia and the return of the suspended Daniel Sturridge can help inject more urgency.
“When the team start to get the ideas of the new coach, about paced and vertical football, it’s going to be good.”
Interesting comments from Torres. Do you agree or disagree with them? For Torres to be successful he needs to play in a team that plays a certain tempo and one that can quickly break from defence into attack. That is not a style of football that Chelsea has played since Mourinho left, so I can see his points. But I am sure that John Terry and Frank Lampard will let him know that they are not amused at being called slow and old.