So, Fernando Torres not only scored yesterday but managed to do so with his first touch after coming on as a sub. Of course, he’s already scored this pre-season but that apparently doesn’t count although since it is pre-season we’re talking about maybe yesterday didn’t really count as far as anyone outside Chelsea is concerned.
For us though, Torres could score in his back garden right now and we’d celebrate it – I know I would – and his team-mates are no different. With the eyes of the world dying to see our £50 million signing fail, Frank Lampard insists no-one at Chelsea has ever thought he would. After yesterday’s win, the Chelsea midfielder insisted “It’s very pleasing to see Fernando Torres score. He’s a top player and a top striker, but obviously when players aren’t scoring people are going to talk about it. He’s kept his head down and worked hard. He hasn’t played all that much in pre-season, like a lot of us, and it can be quite hard particularly for strikers to get into good nick without having many minutes under your belt. But there’s nothing better than coming on and scoring with your first touch so we are all delighted for him.
Of course, no one inside the club has ever doubted him; he’s a world-class striker and has proven that over many years. When we got him here we were all delighted to get a player of his quality. I’m sure he’s going to get a lot of goals. Obviously there is a lot of pressure – after he moved perhaps many people from the outside were looking for an opportunity to criticise him and it’s not been easy.
It has been six months here, he wasn’t fully fit straight away and had to adapt to a new team and I think he, like of all us, is now feeling refreshed after the break and we’re now going to see the best of him.”
I bloody hope so!