Although Torres went to Chelsea, Qin Xiong and Torres were still friends. He would also pay attention to Torres's situation. After all, Chelsea was also an opponent that Liverpool needed to pay attention to, whether in the Premier League or the Champions League.
But Torres's recent situation seemed to have reached a bad peak after the 3: 3 draw with Manchester United.
"I've had some good games against Manchester United in the past. I scored against Manchester United in the last game. Hopefully this time we can beat them and get three points …"
This was Torres's statement on the Chelsea TV interview program before the game. At the same time, the media was counting down his "goal drought." After the game against Manchester United, the number was still rising. It was 1107 minutes. This was the accumulated time that "T9" did not score in a row, which had spanned 18 games so far.
In the game at Stamford Bridge, both sides contributed a total of six goals for the fans. Unfortunately, "Fernando Torres" was still not on the goal list.
In Di Matteo's view, Torres could have been the player to turn the game around, but he did not do it.
"Manchester United attacked without any scruples to try to equalize. If we had more possession of the ball, we could have found a chance to score another goal."
Di Matteo said, "Torres was facing the goal alone at one point. If he had taken a shot, it could have become 4: 2. The situation could have been reversed."
The goal that Di Matteo was talking about appeared in the 77th minute. Ivanović's header crossed and Torres got a chance to score alone. His first adjustment was slow and Evans caught up with him. T9's header slightly shook off his opponent. Unfortunately, he did not choose to shoot after that. Instead, he continued to spike the ball to shake off Evans. In the end, the opportunity was destroyed by Rafael, who came back.
From the start after receiving the ball, the speed of the adjustment, and the hesitation when facing the goal, the quick shot that blew up Vidic at Old Trafford seemed to be a little rusty now.
Torres did score against Manchester United the last time, but what left a deeper impression was his failure to score against an empty net at Old Trafford and his subsequent sigh.
"Bad Luck" haunted Torres like a ghost. After he scored against Swansea City, he immediately received a red card. Since then, T9 had no chance of scoring in the Premier League.
In Chelsea, there was a strange phenomenon that no one could explain. Everyone could score, except for Torres!
Before the match, the Brazilian center back, David Luiz, had chanted a spell to "cast a spell" for the T9 players. This superstition had been used since the match against Swansea. But even Luiz himself had scored in this match, so Torres still had no chance!
When Mata was bought in the summer, public opinion believed that it was to provide ammunition for Torres. In this match, T9 assisted Mata to score a world-class goal. The "supply and demand sides" were reversed, and the center forward still did not score a goal.
Since Torres joined Chelsea, the Blues had as many as seven players ranked ahead of him in the "minutes needed to score a goal." On average, they took less time to score a goal. For a center forward, this was an embarrassing statistic.
In response to Torres's problem, the word that DiMatteo mentioned the most was "confidence." But it seemed that he did not know how to restore the Spaniard to his former self.
"One goal may lead to a string of goals, but we have to wait because Torres needs continuity in his play," DiMatteo said.
"We've talked about it before. He's also looking for a feel. Psychologically, he's ready and knows what he has to do. In the game and in training, we're trying to improve his positioning. That's the only thing we can do."
As they spoke, it was already February. Torres's chances were running out. The shadow of the Beast was getting closer and closer.
Even if Ivory Coast played until the African Cup of Nations final on February 12, Drogba should have returned to the team by the first leg of the Champions League against Napoli on February 21. With Torres's recent performance, it would be difficult to keep his position as the main center forward. He was bound to give the position to Drogba. Before that, T9 still had a chance to play against Everton. Goodison Park would give the final answer to whether he could redeem himself before the end of the "failed winter."
Qin Xiong wanted to communicate with the club to discuss whether they could bring back Torres in the summer because he knew in advance that the club would not choose to renew Raúl's contract. The commercial returns, the club's influence, and the return on the competitive field that they should have gotten from Raúl had all been obtained. Liverpool did not need to spend money and have expectations on a 35-year-old veteran who was about to turn 35. After all, a 35-year-old player symbolized absolutely nothing to do with the future.
So, if Liverpool's forward line could bring back Torres, it would be a good addition to the forward line.
But Qin Xiong thought about it and finally suppressed the idea.
He should not interfere too much with the club's operations. At least the current Torres was not as important to the team as Alonso was two and a half years ago.
The team had a week's rest before the 25th round of the Premier League.
Liverpool would visit Old Trafford to challenge the Red Devils Manchester United in the 25th round.
Until then, the competition on the scoreboard was still extremely cruel.
Liverpool 55 points.
Manchester City 54 points.
Manchester United 54 points.
Tottenham Hotspur 50 points.
Chelsea 43 points.
Newcastle United 41 points.
Arsenal 40 points.
.....
The English derby between Manchester United and Liverpool would be played in the last game of the 25th round.
Before that, the other teams' games started one after another.
Arsenal defeated Sunderland 2: 1 at the Stadium of Light. Henry contributed a last-minute winner in the farewell game when his short-term loan contract was about to expire!
The temporary return of the King of Guns set off a wave of nostalgia among the fans.
Manchester City also had a hard time winning at Villa Park. In the end, Aston Villa defeated their opponent 1: 0 thanks to the goal of the iron defender, Lescott, and took all three points.
At Goodison Park, Chelsea encountered a strong sniper from Everton.
Chelsea, who lacked offensive strength, was defeated 0: 2 by the Toffees after Everton scored a goal in both the first and second half.
After Chelsea's loss, the BBC's Premier League program that night claimed that the current Chelsea was the worst team of the Roman era!
Since the Russian took over the Chelsea team, the total investment had been close to one billion pounds. In the past eight full seasons, Chelsea's ranking had never fallen out of the top three.
In the hearts of both the boss and the manager, the lowest goal was to reach the Champions League, whether it was directly or entering the qualifiers.
But judging from this season, Chelsea's possibility of getting into the top three and directly entering the Champions League was basically non-existent.
After the game between Everton and Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur defeated Newcastle United 5: 0 at home.
In this way, Tottenham Hotspur's points had reached 53 points, opening a two-digit gap with Chelsea.
After Arsenal reversed Sunderland's comeback in stoppage time, they overtook Chelsea on goal difference and became fifth in the league.
In the remaining 13 games, Chelsea and Arsenal had to face the other five teams in the top seven except for Manchester United. But in Arsenal's five tough games, only the game against Liverpool was a guest. The rest were home games. Chelsea only had two home games, which was naturally more difficult.
The only good news today was that Tottenham Hotspur gave Chelsea enough face and won against Chelsea's rival, Newcastle United. Otherwise, Chelsea could have fallen to seventh place in the league.
If that was the case, it would be even more difficult for Chelsea to qualify for the Champions League.
The fight for the Champions League was just an appetizer. The real big meal of this round was the English derby at the Theatre of Dreams at Old Trafford!
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