After a long time spent as Chelsea’s only viable attacking option, Mourinho had decided to make Fernando Torres the Blues’ second choice. Even so, the Spaniard still remains confident that he is going to fight his way for a spot in the starting eleven. He might be the only one thinking that, after spending some of the worst years of his career playing at Stamford Bridge. Mourinho is known for having a few favorite players and Eto’o is one of them. Even if the 32 year old forward has not been performing at the same level as Torres but never-the-less he has so far been “The Special One’s” first choice.
Torres’ hopes were fuelled by his performance against Swindon Town. He managed a goal and put in a great effort during the Capital One Cup match. After the match, the Spaniard declared that he is happy to have such great competition for his spot in the first team and that the squad has increased in efficiency in front of goal since Eto’o’s arrival.
The good news for Torres is he had a great 2012-2013 season when it comes to all competitions besides the Premier League. That may help him get some time on the pitch and earn the respect of his manager.
Even if Torres scored 22 goals last season he missed a lot more than that. He may have contributed to Chelsea’s Europa League trophy but he also made fans and the Blue’s management sigh after some really poor reactions in front of goal in the League. The 29-year old was a bit lucky that Mourinho was not able to sign a striker by the name of Wayne Rooney this summer. If Wayne Rooney would have come to London, the Spaniard would have surely been pushed down the pecking order.
According to Metro, Torres is pretty happy with his team’s situation and he is all about the trophies. He also said that he would love to play more but that is up to him to convince Chelsea’s manager to use him more often. It looks like he is going to have to fight to appear in important matches but Saturday’s feisty performance when the Spaniard started the game against Tottenham can only help the striker’s chances. He got the start, looked lively and made numerous intelligent runs and was unlucky not to get on the score sheet and was even more unlucky to be sent off courtesy of a dubious second yellow card when the foul could easily have been called against Vertonghen. Torres battled hard all afternoon against the Belgian and was a real handful. The competition with Eto’o looks like it could be bringing the best out of Torres and his suspension comes at a frustrating time when he might have just moved into position as the boss’s preferred option upfront.