Fernando Torres is back - maybe

When Fernando Torres stared down the open net and missed his second goal, even the hardened Manchester United fans felt for the man. Personally, as a dyed-in-the-wool United man who fears Chelsea's money and squad, I'm not sure I've ever felt more sympathy for an opposition player in a moment of struggle.

Certain sections of the Old Trafford stands jeered, but for a player who has tormented United while playing for their greatest rival and threatens to do likewise for another, the reception was hardly vitriolic. The enormity of such a one-off was obvious. The most outgoing commentators were left speechless.

After showing signs he was back to his best throughout - including a much-vaunted first goal since February - Fernando Torres' may have hit his lowest point for some time with his stunning with a freak miss.

His self-confidence has already been shaken - certainly his body language at Liverpool and at times for the Blues has been intermittently downtrodden. He has looked markedly better this term, buoyed by the freshness coming from a summer off and the Samson-like return of his blonde highlights and alice-band. Perhaps new teammates and coaching staff have paid dividends.

It was not a freak out, a brain-fart or choke, but one of those moments where something - anything - goes awry and a "given" becomes far less so. He - and Chelsea - deserved another goal as he began to look more and more the Torres of old, wending his way around and through United defenders. Looking at the replay again and again, he didn't pull out on the shot, lose balance or even have time to think.

courtesy: blogs.montrealgazette.com

Perhaps the greatest criticism that could be levelled at him for the miss was that he wasn't aware of just how much time he had, leading to a rushed shot. As any coach will tell you, when a player is five games into the season, results are less important than process - and the process he completed to get into scoring positions on Sunday was outstanding. Though Chelsea failed their first big test of the season, coach Villas-Boas has much to be encouraged about.

Unfortunately, Sunday's game will be remembered for his miss rather than his prior goal, or pace and wonderful shimmy around the stranded De Gea. We remember end results - spectacular or horrifying - which makes football the most highlight-friendly sport in the world. But such highlights tell only a modicum of the whole story.

Cheer up, Fernando Torres.

Fernando Torres will rediscover his form again. Some day. He's too good a player not to, really. But those happy times seem a long way away after yet another match in which he's failed to find the net. It's now eight straight goalless matches he's played for the Blues; more galling is that he's only registered one shot on target during his six EPL matches for Chelsea, one less than fellow new arrival David Luiz - a centre-back.

Even though he's (probably) earned a nice raise and has escaped the flotsam and jetsam that marked Roy Hodgson's Liverpool reign, Fernando Torres doesn't seem happy; in fact he seems about two more goalless games away from dressing all in black and breaking out the goth makeup.

You've got got dream move, Fernando, why so sad? Chelsea (more particularly owner Roman Abramovich) gambled that his Liverpool funk was a result of injury, perhaps burnout and displeasure at the club's circumstances only to have so far been proven wrong. Torres will rediscover his touch again but unfortunately, sometimes form slumps are difficult to break. Exhibit A: Wayne Rooney, only just regaining some of his best touch after a horrible twelve months.

We posited in November that Torres needed to get the swagger back into his game. Following his two sublime goals for the Reds against Chelsea, he was apparently back to his best but has failed to kick on and his body language remains poor. He's in a rough trot and knows it. From the outside, it seems Torres is being very hard on himself - opting often for negative, rather than positive reinforcement. When this happens, the joy of simply playing the game can be easily lost. Good morale promotes good performances - the reverse is also true.

Sometimes the only way to get back your groove is to convince yourself that it's already done - to walk out onto the pitch and play the part of the confident scorer. Such an attitude requires mental strength to maintain under adversity, but it is possible to assure yourself by believing good things will happen if you're in the right place at the right time. It's no substitute for real confidence, but a good breeding ground which can allow self-belief to grow. The first step in having others believe you're a threat is to believe the same thing of yourself. You can tell a lot about a player's self-confidence by the way they hold themselves.

Players who come to terms with their form (and situation) aren't usually players who swear at cameramen or moan about negative refereeing decisions. In a media climate in which players like Rooney, Terry and Torres reside, much of their publicity is bi-polar: news reports see them deified or crucified with almost no middle ground. With the spotlight on him, perhaps it's time for Fernando Torres to start believing what he should know is true - that he's possibly the best centre-forward in the world and, eventually, the goals will come - rather than what others report as true.

As he lines up for Chelsea against arch-enemies Manchester United on Wednesday, he'll look across the field to see direct opponents Nemanja Vidic and Chris Smalling. In the past, Vidic has been putty in his hands. Smalling remains three years removed from the Isthmian Premier League. For Chelsea and Fernando Torres, there will never be a better time to start believing.

Fernando Torres is the new Chili Palmer

Watching a bit of Liverpool's weekend over Chelsea, I - like most - was taken by the form of the Reds' Spanish tyro Fernando Torres. After a mediocre time of it recently (except when playing Nemanja Vidic) dating back to an injury-plagued 2009-10 and poor World Cup, he spun startlingly back into form against the League Leaders with a magical performance.

Both his goals weren't from the top drawer, they were from on top of the dresser. His second should win the Premiership's "Goal of the Month" award after he wrong-footed a backpedalling Branislav Ivanovic and curling a wicked shot into Petr Cech's far-post side netting. His first was great as well, slicing into the box and leaving three-fifths of the most high-profile defence in the world in his wake (Cech, Ashley Cole & John Terry) before smashing the ball past the sliding goalkeeper.

And it struck me: Fernando Torres has possibly the most obvious body language in World Football today, an award he shares with "The Varnished One" Cristiano Ronaldo. When both of these players are feeling good in themselves and performing confidence and attitude simply oozes from them: you can read that confidence in the way they walk, run, in their first touch and in their passing. You can read it in the way they get to the right positions. It's especially evident when they score.

That's not to say that when down on form Torres (or indeed Ronaldo) lacks the same speed, touch or finishing ability, far from it. What I am saying is that he's easy to read. During the World Cup, a lot of criticism was aimed at "El Nino" for his lacklustre performances in a Spain team which occasionally couldn't convert it's possession into leads. His head wasn't completely right and it was obvious. He was frustrated both by his lack of form, some rough treatment from defenders and by his body's inability to answer the call. This term it's been much the same: rounded shoulders, head down, still blessed with that one-in-a-million combination of pace and skill but seemingly ill at ease.

One of my favourite movies is "Get Shorty". At one point in the movie, debt-collector Chili Palmer (John Travolta) is trying to teach an actor how to look straight into a man's innermost soul and create fear, fear which makes them do whatever you want. He says: "I look straight at them and what I'm thinking is I own you. What I'm not doing is feeling anything about it". Rent the movie, watch that scene and tell me that's not the perfect attitude to have when playing sport. Good athletes - be they from any sport, always have this confidence, this arrogance which allows them the belief to do whatever is needed to win. Torres had this look on Sunday - he knew he owned Terry & Alex. He believed it. It showed in the way he carried himself.

The difference when comparing his previous Premier League performances to Sunday's is stark and doesn't bode well for his coming opponents. The confidence, the swagger, the 'tude is back. A player of his class doesn't magically "rediscover" form only to lose it again the next week, it just doesn't happen. In all likelihood his outstanding game during a win that Liverpool FC so desperately needed could be just the thing he needs to kick start his year. It's an ominous time for the rest of the league.