With the recent Mascherano debacle over and the way his departure has left a bitter taste in our mouths, it got me thinking are there, if any, players apart from local lads that play for Liverpool because of their sheer love for it? Players who have the desire to win the greatest honours possible, not motivated by money or greed and never kick up a stick if they don’t get their own way?
And then I thought of our very own number 9, Fernando Torres. I don’t know if you had noticed but it seems that Fernando hasn’t been his usual happy self lately, since coming back from where you expect him to be ‘bouncing’ after Spain’s World Cup victory in July. Now, I know that he didn’t have the best of tournaments but with injury and lack of playing time prior to the start of the WC, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to work out these are both major contributing factors in Fernando’s WC performance.
Either way you would have thought that Fernando would have been absolutely over the moon and full of optimism upon his return to Anfield. However, after watching him play in the few games that he has done for us this season, he didn’t seem to be playing with that usual smile and spark he normally does, he looked slightly unhappy, something I’ve never seen from Fernando. I was wondering could it be because he hadn’t scored any goals for a while and he’d started to get frustrated? or the fact that he was carrying yet another injury?
Then it dawned on me that the reason for his unhappy look could possibly be his love for the club. As we all know the behind the scenes at the club is a shambles with us having two very (for the want of a nicer word) poor (in more ways than one) owners. Like me and you, maybe Fernando has let the current demise of the club and the way it has been poorly run and handled in the media, affect him at heart. Maybe his love for the club which he is watching 1st hand fall apart is the reason for his down hearted appearance.
During the summer Fernando was linked with the likes of Chelsea, Man City and Barcelona, which is pretty normal for a player of his calibre, but this summer after our fall from grace last season it seemed if a move for him away from the club could have been possible. In all honesty I could not have begrudged him a move if he decided to leave us, even if it was for a rival, Chelsea or City. Because this is a guy who had left his home town club Atletico which is engraved in his heart, so that he could play Champions League football and more importantly win trophies. And if the truth in the media is anything to go by, he even took a pay cut to join us.
And how have the club repaid his decision to leave his home and the area of his family? By giving him broken promises, telling him that we were going to go all the places and achieve the goals he wanted to. But the sad fact of the matter is, since Fernando has joined us, Atletico have won more trophies than us.
So is it any wonder that it may have crossed his mind that it was time he left? And even if it was to Chelsea or City, where else could he go, who else could afford him? Barcelona had just bought David Villa so I doubt they would have had enough money for another striker, Fernando would never play for Real Madrid being an Atletico boy and I very much doubt he’d go to Italy where I think the league is 2nd class (despite Inter’s CL win) compared to the Premiership and La liga. That doesn’t exactly leave him much options. Chelsea had just won the double and City are spending money like it’s going out of fashion and sooner or later their millions will reap rewards.
Despite all that when Fernando returned he came out, and much to our relief and delight, he committed himself to a club he clearly loves. Fernando could have upped and just left this ‘sinking ship’ but he didn’t and I think this goes to show the measure of the man, you never see him in the press falling out of a club at 3am or linked with this model or that model. And to me that shows that he’s not just a mercenary, he’s not just in it for the money, he really does care and does want to be a success at Liverpool FC.
Fernando has also gone on record of saying that we need new owners and that is a brave move for someone to say to his own employers that they are no good. He clearly loves the city and most importantly the fans just as much as we love him.
Unless we get new owners soon and show Fernando that we are moving forward and that we can make all his dreams come true then I fear he’ll have no other choice but to leave us. Fernando is instrumental to the success of this club, he has the quality, desire and most importantly, love that is needed to make us great again. Fernando Torres I salute you as you are definitely more than your average foreign import.
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the fact is, if torres had not been injured we would have beaten athletico in fact we should have beaten them without him, what bothers me is that team spirit could be damaged by carraghers anti rafa agenda, others at the club respected him, again i say he should belt up
The club needs decent owners and fast is there anyone out there with the money that has the clubs interest at heart?
we cant blame fernando if he leaves all these promises he has been made not one of them the truth from the yanks. I would not blame him if he leaves us unless we get these new owners in & the yanks out go u r not wanted at anfield hicks & gillet go b4 torres does
Well, it is important to us all to know that players are fans as much we off the pitch are. Torres loves this team, the fans, the appreciation. We too love this team with or without the current players. We are down, we feel betrayed by all!! From David Moore and Parry to H&G, Purslow, Brouhgton, and the players if you like! Such many promises, the behind the scene Senior sources who created stories in the media, the lack of funds from the Board to the Manager when promised in January of big summers, guarantees to have money generated from player sales, and then the blame on the Manager for EVERYTHING!!! These things continue to make us feel very pessimistic, very frustrated and even the anti Rafa Carra has publically conceded that we are not premier league materials. The way in which promises were made that Rafa is integral to finding new owners only to have Carra and Purslow have him pushed out unceremoniously!
What do you expect when some Senior players go public and criticize one of the best Managers to have grace our shores. I mean to have been part of the team and been part of the success and failures and go out because it is time for a testimonial to join the media pundits wagon and blame the Manager to have been responsible for the down fall of the club name, isn’t something your fans let alone your team mates especially those who have reached their room and fame due to that honest man!!
Paul on Tomkins Times wrote a piece about a divided club on his website. There were times our ex players or “Experts” as Rafa used to refer to them, used to say the dressing room is divided when they wanted to create some of those sensationalism to unset Rafa. Well if there were times when the team was divided from the dressing room, ITI IS NOW!!!!!!!!!And Torres body language is no stranger to this conclusion. He is not the only one at all by the way and the words uttered by our used to be Mr. Liverpool (CARRA) about Mascherano, Rafa Benitez has really not helped the team and has in fact a bad taste in not only our mouths but also some of the players feel let down, including Torres, Reina, Lucas etc.
So do not be surprised by the way some players look or do not look. I mean getting rid of Benitez without bringing a like for a like, not to invest in the team which Benitez asked, not to avail all money from transfers which Benitez wanted to be assured all these years but never got, what do you have to motivate your star [layers or the fns??
NOTHING!!!!
The board need to look at it this way if the Yanks manage another refinance deal somehow, then we will lose our best players aka Gerrard and Torres and Reina, and we won’t be able to bring in anyone decent to replace them, even if the Yanks did hav the money. The clubs been damaged by them we can’t even attract half decent players we seem to be getting snubbed by everyone, and in the end we will end up a mid-table team, so the board and RBS need to tell them to piss off back to the USA……YNWA
to all the pessimists out there:
‘… At the end of the storm lies a golden sky, and the sweet silver song of a lark…’
LFC FOREVER
YNWA
Nice Sharat – I like that
@Sharat when will the storm end ???
jbosco, great post, sharrat with the yanks and a few others, it at the end of the storm lies
He had teh same face on for the latter part of last season, as a supporter i know how he feels. We are all fed up.
I would hate to see Torres leave, what a fantastic player he is of course i would not blame him if he did.
The problem lies in the fact that if the yanks keep the club the money from his sale goes straight into their pocket with an extremely cheap replacement coming in.
That is what is going to hurt the most.
It would truely hurt if torres leaves But we wont blame him.