Onus on Villas-Boas and Mata to get Torres over open goal miss
Published:Andre Villas-Boas must keep faith with Fernando Torres despite that miss against Manchester United and Juan Manuel Mata could have a colossal role to play in helping the striker consistently return to his best.
Torres has shown glimpses of rediscovering his threat of old of late for virtually the first time since signing for Chelsea, particularly in the Champions League victory over Bayer Leverkusen and then at Old Trafford.
The Spaniard looked to have turned a corner against Manchester United, with his goal at the start of the second half just rewards for a fine display of pace and movement that had caused the home defence problems.
Confidence is certainly a big necessity for a striker and the goal sparked Torres into even greater life, until he missed an open goal.
There is the consensus that this setback will undo all of the confidence that Torres will have gained of late and the onus is on his countryman Mata and manager Villas-Boas to keep his head up.
Villas-Boas has already put the miss down as one of those crazy things that sometimes happens in football and he can show further support by picking Torres for Chelsea’s next Premier League at home to Swansea.
It is 1/3 in the Premier League odds that Torres does start against Swansea and 1/5 that Chelsea return to winning ways.
The signing of Mata has helped Torres both on and off the pitch.
Rumours were rife earlier this month that Torres felt that Chelsea were too slow in getting the ball forward and the midfield were not playing the correct passes to match his runs.
However, the arrival of Mata has sparked Torres into life, with his eye for an intricate pass helping to find Torres in more scoring positions.
If Mata continues to pick the right pass and Torres can stay fit for an extended period of time, he could certainly go some way to proving any doubters wrong that he is past his best, despite being just 27 years old and even potentially fire Chelsea to the Premier League title, which can now be backed at 9/2.
