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AVB: Torres must ‘compete’ for Blues first spot

Comment: 0 September 12th, 2011 by: admin

Andrea Villas-boas recently stated that striker Fernando Torres must fight to regain a starting place in the Chelsea squad.

Dumped to the substitute’s bench last Saturday against Sunderland, the £50 million man watched on as the Blues cruised to a 2-1 victory at the Stadium of Light, sealing their third straight Premier League win (and their seventh straight in Sunderland territory).

The striker warmed his seat until the 74^th minute, when he was brought in for Juan Mata.

‘To get back into the first team, [Torres] just has to compete,’ Villas-boas told reporters.  ‘It is nothing special.  Everybody has to compete for their place and he has to compete just like all the other players.’

Saturday’s match saw Nicolas Anelka on the starting lineup for the Blues, which Villas-boas dismissed as having no special meaning or significance.

‘We have four wonderful strikers and they all compete for the forward position,’ he stated.  ‘They all offer a different threat and talents, and today the choice fell to Anelka.  There’s nothing special about that.’

With the Blues set to begin their Champions League campaign on Tuesday, Villas-boas insisted that Torres’ presence in the squad has remained instrumental.

‘Fernando offers the same and has been playing magnificently well for the last three games as well, but Nicolas showed what he can do with his minutes on the pitch.

‘We decided to go with this because Nicolas hasn’t played in the international break.’

Chelsea’s 2-1 victory began with an 18^th minute goal by John Terry, set up by Anelka.  Daniel Sturridge came and rocketed another during the 51^st minute, with assistance from new signing Raul Meireles.

‘It went very well for us in terms of what we want to achieve,’ noted Villas-boas.  ‘Not that we haven’t tried to do it before but it just didn’t happen in the other three games.

‘Fortunately, we were able to do the passing game that relates more to how we train and I have to say we’re very happy.’

As for Torres, who has been hit with constant criticism for his under-par performance, his substitute performance Saturday came after being axed last week from the Spanish national team during a Euro 2012 game against Liechtenstein.

The 6-0 victory by Spain under the management of Vicente del Bosque had Torres missing even from the substitutes’ bench.

‘The people selected for the national team are those who do well for their clubs, not the other way around,’ del Bosque had said.

As of Saturday, Torres remains with only one goal in over 20 Premier League appearances for Chelsea.

 

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