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Posts Tagged ‘autumn’

• Villas-Boas insists Torres is performing well for Chelsea
• ‘He’s one of our best suppliers of assists,’ says manager

André Villas-Boas has insisted that Fernando Torres has been worth the British-record £50m fee paid to Liverpool to secure his services last January and believes he can still rediscover the goalscoring form of his early days in the Premier League.

Torres is expected to start Sunday’s game against his former club at Stamford Bridge having shown only flashes of form during his spell at the London club. Villas-Boas pointed to the 27-year-old’s recent all-round contribution as cause for optimism, and a burst of four goals in as many games in the autumn as evidence of improvement, though the Spaniard has still to justify the size of the fee required to prise him from Anfield at the turn of the year.

Yet, when asked if Torres was worth that amount, and if he would pay a similar sized fee now to sign him, Villas-Boas replied: “Of course. Of course I would. In a career or a person’s life, you have better moments and worse moments. At the moment, Fernando’s best moments in terms of goalscoring were the Liverpool days. That does not mean those days won’t arrive in this club, and that does not mean that, at the moment, he is not performing for the team, because he is.

“Isolate the last four months with the goals he’s scored [four in seven games in all competitions] and it isn’t bad. A striker is not just there to put the ball in the back of the net. He’s there to perform and create. We create enough opportunities if we’re winning or losing games and, at the moment, our best goalscorers are our two midfielders [Frank Lampard and Ramires]. But for them to finish, someone is creating. The team is creating, so I’m happy at the moment.

“Fernando helped create our goal in Genk – that was a one-two [with Ramires] – so it’s not just a question of numbers and goals scored. It’s about how you make your team perform around you. He’s one of the best suppliers of assists at the club, with four or five this season. He’s assisting people and the team and getting wins out of that. I think Fernando has picked up from last season, not only with his form but physically and also with his availability and movement for the team. He’s been back to his old sharpness, and goalscoring, and we’re pretty happy with the way he’s performed.”

Raul Meireles, another player plucked from Liverpool, is also expected to start Sunday’s game as Chelsea plunge into a seven-match run, culminating in the visit of the leaders Manchester City to south-west London in mid-December, that will go some way towards shaping their Premier League challenge, as well as their continued participation in the Carling Cup and Champions League. “Bearing in mind the calendar, it’s important the team returns to the good standard we set in the beginning,” said Villas-Boas. “It could be an ideal time to do that because we play teams like Liverpool, Newcastle and City.”

The Portuguese has denied a Football Association charge over his post-match criticisms of the referee Chris Foy after Chelsea’s defeat to Queens Park Rangers on 23 October but has opted against seeking a personal hearing with the governing body. “I have other things to do,” he added. “I’m not worried. I understand that a charge cannot be taken lightly. This is the maximum body of English football and I respect that, but it doesn’t mean I agree with it and it doesn’t mean I have to defend it to death. The charge implies that I was calling the referee biased or questioning his integrity. I was not.”

ChelseaLiverpoolPremier LeaguePremier League 2011-12Dominic Fifieldguardian.co.uk

There will be no turning back for the Liverpool manager who is convinced his squad are developing a formidable strength

Not all transitions are as smooth as Kenny Dalglish succeeding Kevin Keegan in the Liverpool sides of the 1970s, as the current manager would have testified after the 4-0 caning at Tottenham Hotspur last weekend – the heaviest of his two spells as

• Liverpool and Chelsea spending could reach combined £150m
• Fernando Torres the most expensive signing by a British club

Liverpool and Chelsea produced an extraordinary finale to the January window today by both agreeing to break the British transfer record to sign Andy Carroll and Fernando Torres respectively in a combined spending spree that could reach almost £150m.

Torres was set to become the most expensive signing made by a British club when Chelsea finally met Liverpool’s £50m asking price but it was the Anfield club’s decision to pay £35m to lure Carroll from Newcastle United that caused the greater surprise on deadline day. Fenway Sports Group, Liverpool’s owner, is committed to a further £22.8m to secure the signature of Luis Suárez from Ajax while Roman Abramovich’s outlay eventually reached £76.5m when Chelsea sealed a deal worth £26.5m for David Luiz from Benfica.

Liverpool moved for Carroll as they prepared to allow Torres to complete his acrimonious departure from Anfield. An initial £25m offer was rejected by Mike Ashley, the Newcastle owner, but Liverpool were informed an additional £10m would be sufficient to sign a 21-year-old who has made only 41 appearances in the Premier League and won one England cap. FSG then sanctioned Liverpool’s club record transfer and, despite claims that Newcastle had rejected the deal and were reluctant to let their homegrown talent leave, Carroll flew to Merseyside in a private jet to undergo a medical and finalise personal terms after submitting a transfer request.

Carroll will join Suárez in a new-look Liverpool attack once the Uruguay international has been granted a work permit. At the time of going to press, FSG was also looking to end its protracted pursuit of the midfielder Charlie Adam having made a third offer to Blackpool in the region of £10m. A deal for Adam would take Liverpool’s spending to around £70m in one day and underlined FSG’s intention to move on without Torres.

Kenny Dalglish, Liverpool’s caretaker manager, warned the Spain international that he was leaving a club on the rise and issued a public rebuke to any player who believed themselves more important than Liverpool. He also vowed that, as was the case when he replaced Kevin Keegan in 1977 and reinvested Ian Rush’s transfer fee from Juventus in 1987, Liverpool would progress whether Torres, who ironically had become disillusioned by the lack of new faces at Anfield, remained or not.

Dalglish said: “I started off at Celtic and moved on but if Kevin Keegan had not gone, maybe I would not be here. It’s no different now – people move on. The most important thing is the club. That is much more important and bigger than any one individual, no matter who has been through it previously and who will in the future – the club is the club. I will never forget that and anyone who does is being a wee bit stupid and irresponsible.”

Torres is expected to take the No9 shirt at Chelsea, having arrived in London tonight to undergo a medical, while Suárez has been allocated Dalglish’s former No7 jersey at Liverpool. Chelsea’s lavish outlay came on the day the club announced losses